DiCloud Tutorial at GEC12

This page summarizes the DiCloud tutorial that was presented at GEC 12. Slides can be found here.

Tutorial section quick links:

• Pre-requisites
• Install dependent software packages
• Setup DiCloud's MySQL database
• Create Amazon user credentials
• Register a user on Amazon EC2
• Setup environment variables
• Running the DiCloud server
• Using the DiCloud console
• Using the DiCloud web portal
• Running a Gush experiment using DiCloud and Orca

Pre-requisites

1. Install VirtualBox: Download the latest ​VirtualBox software. If you already have VirtualBox installed on your machine, make sure it is version 4.08 or above.

Note to Ubuntu users: The version of VirtualBox distributed with Ubuntu 10.04 is old. Download the latest version from ​here.

2. Download VirtualBox VM image: Download the VirtualBox VM image (gec12-tutorials-final.ova) needed for the DiCloud tutorial from here. A README with a copy of these instructions is also available at the same location.

3. Install the gec12-tutorials-final.ova image: Start up VirtualBox, select File->Import Appliance..., and follow the instructions. Accept the default VM settings during the import. To run the virtual machine, go to the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager window, select the virtual machine gec12-tutorial-final and click the green arrow labeled Start at the top of this window.

If the install was successful, you should see the logon screen for the Ubuntu OS. Passwords for logging into the VM will be handed out at the tutorial.

4. Turn off the VM: Turn off the virtual machine by clicking on the power button icon on the bottom right of the screen.

5. Note that this release of tutorial software is intended for use at the GEC12 tutorial only. In particular, these directions are for Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS (Lucid Lynx). To find out your version of Ubuntu, open a terminal and run:

$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS \n \l

While the directions may work for other distributions, your mileage may vary.

Install dependent software packages

To install dependent software you need root access. The directions assume the user is able to use sudo to run commands as root.

$ sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner"
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk
$ sudo apt-get install maven2
$ sudo apt-get install apache2
$ sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5
$ sudo apt-get install php5-mysql
$ sudo a2enmod php5
$ sudo apt-get install mysql-server

MySQL server will ask you to set a root password. Remember the password.