VisTrails Server Setup

• lets assume that everything is going to be put in the /server dir:

  $ cd /server
  $ mkdir vistrails

• put VisTrails Source in vistrails/ folder:

  $ cd vistrails
  $ git clone git://vistrails.org:vistrails.git git # or just download the latest release or nightly build

• make a logs dir for the server:

  $ mkdir logs

• if you are running the server without crowdLabs or as a remote server, you need to create a media directory with the following structure:

  /path/to/media_dir/
                     wf_execution/
                     graphs/
                            workflows/
                            vistrails/
                     medleys/
                            images/

  You can run python scripts/create_server_media_dir_structure.py /path/to/media_dir to create the directory structure automatically.

• Determine how you will start the vistrails server. You have a choice of using Xvfb or not. If you use it, /server/vistrails/git/scripts/start_vistrails_xvfb.sh is what you will use, otherwise, use start_vistrails.sh

Using Xvfb is slower and not recommended if your workflows will make use of volume rendering or other graphics-card intensive techniques.

Using Xvfb

• edit /server/vistrails/git/scripts/start_vistrails_xvfb.sh file and make sure it is consistent with your system setup:

  LOG_DIR=/server/vistrails/logs
  Xvfb_CMD=/usr/bin/Xvfb
  VIRTUAL_DISPLAY=":6"
  VISTRAILS_DIR=/server/vistrails/git/vistrails
  ADDRESS="<your_server.com>"
  PORT="8081" #the port where the server will listen for requests
  CONF_FILE="server.cfg"
  NUMBER_OF_OTHER_VISTRAILS_INSTANCES="1"
  MULTI_OPTION="-M" #execute the main instance multithreaded

• The setup above will execute 2 instances of the server. You can add more instances by changing the variable NUMBER_OF_OTHER_VISTRAILS_INSTANCES. When using multiple instances, the ports and virtual displays will be used incrementally, so if the main instance is using port 8081 and virtual display :6, the next instance will use port 8082 and virtual display :7, and so on.

Connecting to X server directly

• If you decide no to use Xvfb, edit /server/vistrails/git/scripts/start_vistrails.sh file and make sure it is consistent with your system setup:

  LOG_DIR=/server/vistrails/logs
  VISTRAILS_DIR=/server/vistrails/git/vistrails
  ADDRESS="<your_server.com>"
  PORT="8081" #the port where the server will listen for requests
  CONF_FILE="server.cfg"
  NUMBER_OF_OTHER_VISTRAILS_INSTANCES="2"
  MULTI_OPTION="-M" #execute the main instance multithreaded

• The setup above will execute 3 instances of the server. You can add or remove more instances by changing the variable NUMBER_OF_OTHER_VISTRAILS_INSTANCES. When using multiple instances, the ports will be used incrementally, so if the main instance is using port 8081, the next instance will use port 8082, and so on.

Basic Configuration

• If the vistrails server will receive requests from the outside world and if you are using a firewall, make sure the ports used by the vistrails server are open and accessible.

• create a file called server.cfg in /server/vistrails/git/vistrails/ as follows:

  [access]
  permitted_addresses = localhost, 127.0.0.1, <crowdlabs-server-address>
  
  [media]
  media_dir=/server/crowdlabs/site_media/media
  
  [database]
  host = <vistrail database address>
  read_user = <read user>
  read_password = <read password>
  write_user = <write user>
  write_password = <write user password>
  
  [script]
  script_file=/server/vistrails/git/scripts/start_vistrails.sh
  virtual_display=<virtual display number>

• change permitted_addresses variable in to include the address of the machine running of the crowdLabs server (or other machines you want to be able to connect to the server):

  [access]
  permitted_addresses = localhost, 127.0.0.1, <crowdlabs-server-address>

• Add the password for the full permission mysql user created in VisTrails Database Setup:

  write_user = <write user>
  write_password = <write user password>

• Configure the full path to the script file and if you are using Xvfb, also specify the virtual display of the main instance:

  [script]
  script_file=/server/vistrails/git/scripts/start_vistrails.sh
  virtual_display=0 #not using any display

• run vistrails in server mode:

  $ cd /server/vistrails/git/scripts
  # If you are running Xvfb:
  $ ./start_vistrails_xvfb.sh
  # Or if you are connecting to X server directly:
  $ ./start_vistrails.sh