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So what happens when I deploy?

alexlod
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
Can someone explain what happens when I deploy a particular web project?  I clicked the "deploy" button, and I can view the site just fine when I click the "Preview Site" button.  However, I can't seem to figure out how to view the site I just deployed.  Did a set of html files get generated and archived somewhere?  If so, where?  What happened?  How can I view the site I just deployed?

Alfresco looks really awesome so far.  Thanks!
7 REPLIES 7

alexlod
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
Can someone explain what happens when I deploy a particular web project?  I clicked the "deploy" button, and I can view the site just fine when I click the "Preview Site" button.  However, I can't seem to figure out how to view the site I just deployed.  Did a set of html files get generated and archived somewhere?  If so, where?  What happened?  How can I view the site I just deployed?

Alfresco looks really awesome so far.  Thanks!
I should have been more clear.  I followed the eval guide example and deployed to localhost.

Also, when I preview the site, it's previewed by alfrescodemo.net.  Why?

Thanks!

rdanner
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
Can someone explain what happens when I deploy a particular web project?  I clicked the "deploy" button, and I can view the site just fine when I click the "Preview Site" button.  However, I can't seem to figure out how to view the site I just deployed.  Did a set of html files get generated and archived somewhere?  If so, where?  What happened?  How can I view the site I just deployed?

Alfresco looks really awesome so far.  Thanks!
I should have been more clear.  I followed the eval guide example and deployed to localhost.

Also, when I preview the site, it's previewed by alfrescodemo.net.  Why?

Thanks!

The site is previewed by alfrescodemo.net because the virtualization server uses DNS wildcarding.  You don't have to use alfrescodemo if you don't want to – you can set up your own bind server.

When you hit deploy – Alfresco will deploy the files to the server(s) you specify in the web project configuration.  When you hit preview you are seeing the virtualization server (not the deployed site)  try setting up another tomcat and either using the deployment agent or running alfresco on another port.  Follow the instructions in the deployment server box in the web project settings folder to get a handle on pointing the deployment at a different server or the same server on a different port.

alexlod
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
The site is previewed by alfrescodemo.net because the virtualization server uses DNS wildcarding.  You don't have to use alfrescodemo if you don't want to – you can set up your own bind server.

When you hit deploy – Alfresco will deploy the files to the server(s) you specify in the web project configuration.  When you hit preview you are seeing the virtualization server (not the deployed site)  try setting up another tomcat and either using the deployment agent or running alfresco on another port.  Follow the instructions in the deployment server box in the web project settings folder to get a handle on pointing the deployment at a different server or the same server on a different port.

OK, so you're saying I should do the following if I want to deploy to localhost:

1) Start Alfresco with the Windows start menu program.
3) Setup a new Tomcat instance to run on port 8081. (also change the shutdown port)
4) Start the 8081 Tomcat instance.
5) Edit the deployment details in the web project settings page to deploy to localhost:8081
6) Deploy
7) Go to http://localhost:8081 and view the deployed page.

I tried the above steps and got a deployment failure when attempting to deploy.  The Tomcat instance console gave an error, "Could not Initialize Remote Connection to localhost."  I can access http://localhost:8081 just fine.  Any ideas?

What do you mean by "deployment server box?"  Do you mean the following text?
A comma separated list of servers to deploy the website to. Each entry either represents the location of a Deployment Receiver or an Alfresco Repository.

A file server entry must be prefixed with \\. Each server can be represented by a host name or an IP address and may also contain an RMI port number. If an RMI port number is not specified for a Deployment Receiver the default of 44100 will be used. If an RMI port number is not specified for an Alfresco Repository the default of 50500 will be used.

Example: \\liveserver1, \\liveserver2:44200, liverserver3, liverserver4:50900
That text doesn't mean much to me, because it still doesn't tell me what happens in deployment.  I'm still not sure if a new webapp is created or if the ROOT webapp is replaced?  What happens when I click the "deploy" link?  Do I need some sort of remote software in addition to my second Tomcat instance?

I'm sorry for the frustrated response here.  I've been digging through documentation and forum posts for quite some time now with very little success.  I appreciate your help.

Thanks.

mark_smithson
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
There are 2 types of deployment, deployment to another Alfresco instance or deplyment to the filesystem.

When deploying to another alfresco instance such as on a machine called live-site you would enter "live-site" into the deployment server box. When deploying to another alfresco instance the contents of the web project sandbox are deployment to a "live" sandbox on the other instance. Note this sandbox is normally hidden from the web client in Alfresco.

Note you can also deploy to "localhost" in which case the sandbox is copied to another sandbox on the same instance, but with the name suffixed with "live". This is sandbox is also hidden. If you want ot see it, you can create a web project with this name prior to deploying and Alfresco will use this rather than create a new hidden sandbox.

When deploying to the filesystem, you need to have the deployment receiver running, which is available as part of the deployment package. You configure this with a path to deploy to. When you do a deploy the contents of the sandbox are copied to this path. You configure alfresco to deploy to a filesystem receiver by entering \\live-server in the deployment server box.

Of course all the deployments are transactional within themselves. However if you deploy to multiple servers, the deployment is not transactional across the servers.

alexlod
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
There are 2 types of deployment, deployment to another Alfresco instance or deplyment to the filesystem.

When deploying to another alfresco instance such as on a machine called live-site you would enter "live-site" into the deployment server box. When deploying to another alfresco instance the contents of the web project sandbox are deployment to a "live" sandbox on the other instance. Note this sandbox is normally hidden from the web client in Alfresco.

Note you can also deploy to "localhost" in which case the sandbox is copied to another sandbox on the same instance, but with the name suffixed with "live". This is sandbox is also hidden. If you want ot see it, you can create a web project with this name prior to deploying and Alfresco will use this rather than create a new hidden sandbox.

When deploying to the filesystem, you need to have the deployment receiver running, which is available as part of the deployment package. You configure this with a path to deploy to. When you do a deploy the contents of the sandbox are copied to this path. You configure alfresco to deploy to a filesystem receiver by entering \\live-server in the deployment server box.

Of course all the deployments are transactional within themselves. However if you deploy to multiple servers, the deployment is not transactional across the servers.
This information is fantastic.  Thanks!

Can you say more about the deployment package?  The phrase "deployment package" is never used in the Wiki, and the first hit I get when searching Google for 'Alfresco "deployment package"' is this thread.  It appears as if there is no deployment package.

There is mention of a "deployment receiver" here:
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Deployment#Alfresco_To_File_Server_Deployment

And there was an unanswered request for the deployment receiver here:
http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?p=30072

(I made a post in that thread asking for a link to the "community drop")

Where can I get the deployment package and/or deployment receiver?

I'm almost there!  Thanks!

mark_smithson
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
Hi,

I meant deployment receiver. There is a download "package" for it here.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=143373&package_id=207402&release_id=524562

alfresco-community-deployment-2.1.0.zip

apologies for the confusion caused.

Mark

alexlod
Champ in-the-making
Champ in-the-making
Hi,

I meant deployment receiver. There is a download "package" for it here.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=143373&package_id=207402&release_id=524562

alfresco-community-deployment-2.1.0.zip

apologies for the confusion caused.

Mark
The receiver is receiving Smiley Wink.  Thanks!