alfresco install

[norricorp]

Have been reading install_configure_alfresco_ecm3.pdf and a bit confused as to what is necessary.
I have a machine with jdk, mysql, tomcat and openoffice already installed. Can I simply download the WAR file and load that under Tomcat? And have the functionality of  alfresco?
Is there configuration required within the web.xml file? Is that what the extension samples are for? (Page 16/17).
I notice there are parts of the install instructions that mention the alfresco home dir eg c:\alfresco - but I just install the war, this will not be present - for instance this is used by the the WCM component.

[mrogers]

Although installing the WAR file is a big part of configuring Alfresco, other configuration is required.  

Most importantly where to store the content being managed by Alfresco and how to connect to your database.  

Alfresco uses spring configuration files and properties files which go into your tomcat <extensions> folder to configure your custom configurations.     Basically if you want to change any of Alfresco's default settings you put your changes into the extensions folder.      And on Tomcat 6 you will need to create the <extensions> folder yourself.

It's probably easier to use one of the bundled installers until you become familiar with administering Alfresco.

[m_r_]

Can I simply download the WAR file and load that under Tomcat? And have the functionality of  alfresco?

You will need to unpack the WAR file so you can edit the various configs.   And you might have to edit some of the code to declare a path.

[derek]

Hi,
Do not unpack the WAR to modify your config.  You should use the sample extensions:

   http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Repository_Configuration#New_Installations

but read the rest of the page as well.  You can add the shared/classes to the classpath; this is done in catalina.properties:

shared.loader=${catalina.home}/shared/classes,${catalina.home}/shared/lib‍

Regards