Administration Server - Introduction

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What is the Admin Server?
Configuration of Zeus applications is primarily performed through the Administration (or Admin) server. The Admin Server is built around standard web protocols enabling Zeus applications to be configured through any web browser. The Admin server provides an easy interface to the installed Zeus applications, allowing you to quickly and easily perform common administrative tasks.

Running the Admin Server
The Zeus installation directory contains a script called start-zeus. This script will start up the Admin Server on an unused port, reporting the URL which it can be contacted on. Also it will attempt to startup any installed Zeus applications. For example:

olympia:/usr/local/zeus$ ./start-zeus Starting zadmin ... trying port 9090 ... port in use trying port 9091 ... port in use trying port 9092 ... ok Admin server running on http://olympia:9092/ Staring application web ... Zeus Web Application Server/3.0 (C) Zeus Technology Ltd 1997 - RELEASE Jul 27 1997 20:32:13 Here the start-zeus script started up the Admin Server on port 9092, and also started the installed Zeus Web Application Server.

Note, the Admin Server should be started as root if any of the Zeus applications require access to root services, e.g. bindng to ports less than 1024.

Stopping the Admin Server
The Admin Server can be shutdown in two different ways. You can either shut it down from the command-line using the script called stop-zeus available in the Zeus installation directory. This script will close down the Admin Server, and any Zeus applications that are currently running. For example:

olympia:/usr/local/zeus$ ./stop-zeus Terminating Zeus Applications .. done Note, if you started the Admin Server as root, you will need root privileges to close it down.

Alternatively, the Admin Server can be shutdown using your web-browser in the Admin Controller.

Viewing the Admin Server in your Browser
The Admin Server is itself a web server, albeit a very specialised one. To view the Admin Server pages and configure your site you will need to run a web browser. The browser need not be on the same machine as you run the server. The Zeus Admin server has been tested to work correctly with Netscape version 2 and above, Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3 and above and lynx version 2.7.

The server is accessed in the same way you would access any web site. All you need to do is type the Admin Server URL into the Location field of your web browser. The exact procedure may vary for different web browsers.

The Admin Server URL will be http://server-machine:port/ Where the server name is the host name of the machine you're running the server on. The default port number is 9090, although the Admin Server will try other ports if that port is in use. The URL is displayed in the output of the start-zeus described above.

The Admin Server front page will display a list of the installed Zeus applications and should look something like this:

The front page allows you to configure any of the installed Zeus applications, or the Admin Server itself. To configure the Admin Server click on the admin cog to enter the Admin Controller.