Forum Problems Installing LAMS: Lams URL

By: Fiona Malikoff

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Pedro,

This could be caused by a few different things.

* As you are using the address localhost, I assume you are trying to access LAMS using a web browser that is running on the server itself. Is that correct?

You will not be able to access LAMS using http://localhost/lams (or http://localhost:80/lams) from any other computer.

* The first thing you should check is if port 80 is being used by something else. Are you running Moodle on the same server? If so, Moodle may be using port 80.

To test, try going to http://localhost/

What do you see? If LAMS is using port 80, then you will get a large orange heading which says "JBoss".

If you get anything else, then port 80 is already being used and you will need to set LAMS on a different port.

* Could you try one other thing? Try accessing http://localhost:8080/

If that gets you the orange JBoss heading, then try http://localhost:8080/lams/

LAMS defaults to running on port 8080, and I just want to make sure that LAMS has really been set to port 80 - just in case we have a bug in our installer.

Fiona

Posted by Fiona Malikoff

By: Pedro Quaresma

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Thank you for your answer.

First the change from 8080 (default value) to 80, was made by me, I thought that LAMS needs to use the "default" apache port. I have a full web server installed (Debian/Linux) with personal pages, moodle, claroline, ... so the port 80

www - 80/tcp - http - # WorldWideWeb HTTP
www - 80/udp - - # HyperText Transfer Protocol

is in use. But

webcache - 8080/tcp - -# WWW caching service

I think is also in use.

When I try the 8080 (already after a new installation), I get

An error occurred while loading http://hilbert.mat.uc.pt:8080/lams/:
Could not connect to host hilbert.mat.uc.pt (port 8080).

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Jun-Dir Liew

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Since you have Apache and the WWW caching service occupying ports 80 and 8080, LAMS will not be able to start up properly (the message will be in the logs however).

You can get it to start up by changing the port number and restarting LAMS.  It's not necessary to reinstall to do this.  Here's how to change the port number:

1. Open up /path/to/jboss-4.0.2/server/default/deploy/jbossweb-tomcat55.sar/server.xml with your favourite editor
2. On line 12, which looks like this:

<Connector port="8080" address="${jboss.bind.address}"

change the port="8080" to port="8081" (or whatever port you wish to use).

3. Save the file, and restart LAMS.
4. Access LAMS by http://url:8081/lams/.

By the way, it's possible to configure Apache to serve LAMS pages on port 80 at the same time as your other websites using mod_jk or mod_ajp_proxy - but that's a topic for another thread :)

Posted by Jun-Dir Liew

By: Fiona Malikoff

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Pedro,

Once you can get up the login page in LAMS, you will need to change the server address in the database, or the pages won't look right.

If you can log in, go to the Sysadmin menu, select the Configuration Settings option and change the ServerURL setting to the new port.

If you can't get to the Sysadmin menu, then you will need to change the ServerURL setting in the lams_configuration table in the database.

Fiona

Posted by Fiona Malikoff

By: Pedro Quaresma

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Shame on me :)

After an unsucessfull atempt I forgot to restart the JBOSS server... so it was a bit difficult to get its webpage.

Sorry.

I already get the "http://hilbert.mat.uc.pt:8080/" JBOSS page but the LAMS it is still not working. There some problems with its instalation.

org.jboss.deployment.DeploymentInfo@24d484b9 { url=file:/usr/local/jboss-4.0.5.GA/server/default/deploy/lams.ear/ }
deployer: org.jboss.deployment.EARDeployer@12462b3
status: Deployment FAILED reason: URL file:/usr/local/jboss-4.0.5.GA/server/default/deploy/lams.ear/lams-central.war/ deployment failed
state: FAILED
watch: file:/usr/local/jboss-4.0.5.GA/server/default/deploy/lams.ear/META-INF/application.xml
altDD: null
lastDeployed: 1173898425684
lastModified: 1173898331000
mbeans:

--- MBeans waiting for other MBeans ---
ObjectName: jboss.web.deployment:war=lams-central.war,id=1572911055
State: FAILED
Reason: org.jboss.deployment.DeploymentException: URL file:/usr/local/jboss-4.0.5.GA/server/default/deploy/lams.ear/lams-central.war/ d eployment failed

--- MBEANS THAT ARE THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM ---
ObjectName: jboss.web.deployment:war=lams-central.war,id=1572911055
State: FAILED
Reason: org.jboss.deployment.DeploymentException: URL file:/usr/local/jboss-4.0.5.GA/server/default/deploy/lams.ear/lams-central.war/ d eployment failed

Pedro.

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Jun-Dir Liew

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Try using jboss 4.0.2 instead of jboss 4.0.5 - lams isn't compatible with the more recent versions.

Posted by Jun-Dir Liew

By: Fiona Malikoff

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Pedro,

Yes, there is definitely a problem there! But I suspect the real error message will be further back up the file.

(1) We've never tested LAMS on jboss-4.0.5. We recommend using jboss-4.0.2 because we have found running LAMS in later versions of JBoss use up a particular type of memory much faster.

For those who are J2EE programmers - the PermGenSpace is used up much quicker, and it seems to be related to how Hibernate, Spring and cglib interact.

For those who are not J2EE programmers - don't worry about the reason, just take it that LAMS seems to run better on jboss-4.0.2 than later versions.

So, I have no idea if LAMS will even start on jboss-4.0.5.

Can you try installing jboss-4.0.2 and reinstall LAMS and see if it runs there?

(2) If it still doesn't run, then please turn on debugging and post the logs. The details on how to turn on debugging and the location of the log files is on the wiki page called Creating Debug Logs.

Fiona

Posted by Fiona Malikoff

By: Pedro Quaresma

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Still no luck :(

I uninstalled /usr/local/jboss-4.0.5.

I have now:

JBOSS_DIR=/usr/local/jboss-4.0.2
JDK_DIR=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.00
SQL_DIR=/usr/bin

mysql Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.24a, for pc-linux-gnu (i486) using readline 5.2

java version "1.6.0"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-b105)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-b105, mixed mode, sharing)

mysql Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.32, for pc-linux-gnu (i486) using readline 5.2

LAMS 2.0 - Learning Activity Management System (binary package)

I'm sending the Logs files.

Thank you for all your support.

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Pedro Quaresma

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Sorry I only send one of the attachements

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Pedro Quaresma

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It seems that we can only attach one file per message. Is this true or it is my inability to do otherwise?

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Fiona Malikoff

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Normally, yes it is one per post. But Ernie told me a trick once.

Write your message and turn on the Attach radio button. Click post and when it asks you for the attachment, upload your file as usual. When you get to the screen after the attachment screen (ie once the file is uploaded), click the back button in your browser. You should be able to upload another file. You can keep attaching and hitting back multiple times.

I've never tried it, but Ernie tells me it works!


I've had a look at the server log, and there is a problem with JBoss communicating with MySQL.

Can you check that your MySQL server is running?

Have a look at your /usr/local/jboss-4.0.2/server/default/deploy/mysql-ds.xml file. In this file is the definition of the database connection. Do you have this file?

In file is the username and password that is used to connect to the database. This is the username and password for the database, rather than a LAMS login.

Try running the mysql command line client and log in as that user. Then switch to the lams2 database and try selecting data from the lams_configuration table. Does this work?

Fiona

To run the command line client, you should get something like this:

fiona-malikoffs-computer:~ fiona$ mysql -u lams2 -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 73 to server version: 5.0.27-standard

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> use lams2;
Reading table information for completion of table and column Database changed

mysql> select * from lams_configuration;
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| config_key | config_value |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ServerURL | http://localhost:8080/lams/ |
| Version | 2.0 |
| TempDir | /var/opt/lams/temp |
| DumpDir | /var/opt/lams/dump |
| EARDir | /usr/local/jboss-4.0.2/server/default/deploy/lams.ear |
| SMTPServer | mail.lib.mq.edu.au |
| LamsSupportEmail | lams_support@melcoe.mq.edu.au |
| ContentRepositoryPath | /var/opt/lams/repository |
| UploadFileMaxSize | 1048576 |
| UploadLargeFileMaxSize | 10485760 |
| UploadFileMaxMemorySize | 4096 |
| ExecutableExtensions | .bat,.bin,.com,.cmd,.exe,.msi,.msp,.ocx,.pif,.scr,.sct,.sh,.shs,.vbs |
| UserInactiveTimeout | 86400 |
| UseCacheDebugListener | false |
| CleanupPreviewOlderThanDays | 7 |
| AuthoringActivitiesColour | true |
| AuthoringClientVersion | 2.0.200703151612 |
| MonitorClientVersion | 2.0.200703151612 |
| LearnerClientVersion | 2.0.200703151612 |
| ServerVersionNumber | 2.0.200703151612 |
| ServerLanguage | en_AU |
| ServerPageDirection | LTR |
| DictionaryDateCreated | 2006-12-08 |
| HelpURL | http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lamsdocs/ |
| XmppDomain | shaun.melcoe.mq.edu.au |
| XmppConference | conference.shaun.melcoe.mq.edu.au |
| XmppAdmin | admin |
| XmppPassword | wildfire |
| DefaultFlashTheme | default |
| DefaultHTMLTheme | defaultHTML |
| AllowDirectLessonLaunch | false |
| LAMS_Community_enable | false |
+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
32 rows in set (0.10 sec)

mysql>

Posted by Fiona Malikoff

By: Pedro Quaresma

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The problem was in the server name localhost against hilbert.mat.uc.pt.

Now I have:

---In "lams.properties---

# The port through which you want jboss to run
LAMS_PORT=8080

# The url you intend to use to run LAMS
# NOTE: Make sure the URL ends with a "/" or you will have problems running LAMS
SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8080/lams/


# The home directory of jboss-4.0.2
JBOSS_DIR=/usr/local/jboss-4.0.2

# The directory that contains your JDK. (Must be 1.5 or higher)
JDK_DIR=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.00

# The location of your mysql executable (Must be 5.0 or higher)
SQL_DIR=/usr/bin

# The URL that you jdbc driver will be running through
SQL_URL=jdbc:mysql://hilbert.mat.uc.pt/${DB_NAME}?characterEncoding=utf8

--- in mysql-ds.xml ---

connection-url
jdbc:mysql://hilbert.mat.uc.pt:3306/lams2
connection-url

And now LAMS is (!?) installed sucesfully ... not quite :(

"java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded"

And the JBOSS server is out

My system is a Linux/Debian 2.6.18-3-686-bigmem #1 SMP, box with a Pentium 4, 3Ghz, 2GB RAM.

In attachment the new server.log

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Pedro Quaresma

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The attachement fails to be sent, I will try again.

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Pedro Quaresma

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It is working now :)

I forgot to modify the memory settings when I (re)installed the JBOSS 4.0.2 (after uninstalling JBOSS 4.0.5).

Let me ask two other things:

The localhost:8080 setting in lams.properties affects in any way the server capability? I want to link LAMS and Moodle, and I want the the Moodle server be available from other computers.

The setting (in lams_configuration)

SMTPServer | mail.lib.mq.edu.au

shouldn't be changed to a local smtpserver?


Many (many, many, many :) thanks for all your help.

Posted by Pedro Quaresma

By: Fiona Malikoff

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Glad to hear it is working!

(1) The localhost:8080 in lams.properties: you should change that to use your "real" server name ie hilbert.mat.uc.pt

The lams.properties file is only used by the install - it isn't used while LAMS is running. So changing it in the lams.properties file now won't change how LAMS behaves. But you should change it so that you have a lams.properties files that is correct, should you ever have to re-install LAMS.

As you have already discovered, the configuration details used when LAMS is running is kept in the lams_configuration table in the database and can be updated via the sysadmin menu. You need to make sure that the setting there for the ServerURL is correct. This will need to be the same address that you put into the Moodle module to integrate the two systems, so you are right - localhost:8080 won't work!

The instructions for changing the serverURL setting are on the page Changing Server Ports for LAMS. I wrote this page yesterday to summarise all the advice we have been giving about changing the port that LAMS runs on - given the number of postings on this subject!

(2) The setting in the SMTPServer field should be your own smtpserver, or blank. We don't actually use it at the moment but we have plans to use it in the future.

(3) The instructions for linking LAMS and Moodle are available on LAMS v2.0 Integration Setup Step-by-Step Guide. The screendumps on this page say localhost, but that is only because they were done on my laptop and no one ever accesses that from another machine! In your case, it would be hilbert.mat.uc.pt and whatever servername you use for Moodle.

Fiona

Posted by Fiona Malikoff