View source for Gyrex/Administrator Guide

{{Gyrex}}
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''A guide to deployment and administration of Gyrex based servers.''


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= Getting Started =

== Overview ==
Gyrex is a Java base application. For proper operation it requires a Java Virtual Machine installed on the system (at least Java 6). It comes with a native launcher that is capable for searching for installed Java VMs.

== Quick Start ==
# Download Gyrex, unzip and run.
# Open Admin Console (by default running on http://localhost:3110/) and perform initial configuration


= Concepts & Features =

== Modularity ==
Gyrex is based on OSGi/Equinox and completely modular. It consists of components implementing key features which can be mixed at runtime, i.e. components can be installed and activated individually. In addition, components can run in multiple versions.

== Provisioning ==
Gyrex uses [[p2]] for all provisioning operations. Whenever something needs to installed into the system a p2 operation must be performed. Typically, applications (or just individual application components) are published by their maintainers into a repository. An administrator can then cherry-pick at runtime the desired applications from a maintainers repository and install/update them into a server.

== Cloud ==
With Gyrex it's possible to build your own private cloud platform. Gyrex integrates with [http://hadoop.apache.org/zookeeper/ ZooKeeper] in order to allow easy discovery and management of nodes. You'll be able to appoint and retire nodes in your cloud quickly. With the help of tags it's possible to distribute applications and tasks among them.

== Web ==
The scalable and performant [[Jetty]] web engine is also included with Gyrex. It allows for seamless development and deployment of pure OSGi based, modular and extensible web application. You can start with a single web application using the OSGi HttpService. Additionally, Gyrex provides an OSGi service for deploying and managing many application on different HTTP channels (secure, non-secure, different ports, etc.) on various nodes in your cloud. It's also possible to run multiple instances of the same application for multiple tenants including full separation of HTTP sessions, database connections, etc.

== Operation Mode ==
Gyrex servers run using an operation mode. This allows to operate a server either in ''production'' or ''development'' mode. Typically, a fresh server installation initially runs in development mode and must be configured to not run in development mode. Depending on the selected mode, different default settings are applied. For example, a non-development system will user more strict defaults regarding security and may not expose as much information to end users as a development system. In contrast, a development system may run with more convenient defaults which does not require developers to perform a time-consuming system setup procedure.

For more information on roles, please have a [[Gyrex/Developer_Guide/Roles|look at the development guide section on roles]].

''Please be aware that in production mode '''no default server roles''' will be applied. For example, the Jetty web server will not start by default. Instead, nodes that should server web content should be tagged with the '''webserver''' tag.'' See [[#Preparing_for_Production_Deployment|Preparing for Production Deployment]] in the guide for details.

== System Settings ==
A lot customization/configuration in Gyrex can be applied using system settings. System settings are usually set using a Java VM system property. Following the principles of the [http://12factor.net/ twelve factor apps], a process should allow to be configured using environment variables. Therefore, Gyrex uses the concept of System settings, which ensures that each system property can also be set using an environment variable.

''If not specified otherwise, the environment variable name is the same as the system property but using underscores instead of dots.
''

= Configuration =

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/Logging}}

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/Cloud}}

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/Jetty}}

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/ChangingPorts}}

= Administration =

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/Console}}

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/Software_Installation}}

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/Background_Tasks}}

{{:Gyrex/Administrator_Guide/Production_Mode}}


[[Category:Gyrex]]