NetKernel Installation Guide
Follow these steps to download, install, and run 1060®
Research NetKernel TM.
System requirements:
To run NetKernel you must have a computer and operating system
capable of running Java 1.4.2, 1.5 or 1.6.
NetKernel is platform neutral and has been deployed successfully on Windows 2000,
Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Apple Mac OS X,
Linux (Redhat, Suse) and Solaris.
Please consult the NetKernel forum topic focused on
installation issues
for up to date information or for assistance.
The installation process takes less than a minute, requires zero-configuration,
and once installed and running, uses a simple web-based user interface for management.
Download
First, download and install Java on your operating system.
You will need Java version 1.4.2 or later.
Check with your operating system vendor or Sun's Java
web site.
Verify which version of Java you have by running the following
command:
The Java JDK is preferred over the Java JRE.
The JDK include the Java compiler which NetKernel can use to
dynamically compile Java programs.
Next,
download NetKernel
from the 1060 Research web site.
Choose either the graphical installer or the tarball distribution,
depending on your machine configuration and preferences.
Install
Graphical Installer
The graphical (GUI) installer is available in a JAR file with
the name 1060-NetKernel-SE-DKx.x.x.jar, where "x.x.x" is
the specific release number of NetKernel.
For example, the 3.3.0 release of NetKernel has a graphical
installer 1060-NetKernel-SE-DK3.3.0.jar.
The graphical installer is suitable for client workstation installations
or server installations where a graphical interface is available.
The GUI installer is contained in an executable JAR file.
In the directory where you downloaded 1060-NetKernel-SE-DKxxx.jar
either double-click the jar file or at a command prompt type:
java -jar 1060-NetKernel-SE-DKx.x.x.jar
You will be presented with the language selection panel of the graphical installer.
Follow the on-screen prompts.
Please review the license terms and then indicate your agreement.
(For more information on licensing visit the
NetKernel Licensing Guide).
You will be requested to choose an installation directory.
NetKernel files will be placed into this directory and prepared for running.
On the final page you are presented with a button to "Generate an automatic installation script."
Don't worry about this irrelevant IzPack installer feature; NetKernel is now installed.
Tarball Distribution
The tarball distribution (tgz) is provided for installation on computers
without a graphical display or for people who prefer a pure
command-line driven installation.
Untar the tarball by typing in a shell or terminal:
tar -xzf 1060-NetKernel-SE-DKx.x.x.tgz
A directory
1060-NetKernel-SE-DKx.x.x/ will be created.
Please see the file
readme.txt for final installation instructions.
On Unix systems a configuration script
complete-install.sh
should be run to set the proper paths
and environment variables.
On Windows installations please see the readme for files for
directions to complete the installation.
Booting NetKernel
To boot NetKernel go to the install
directory you chose at installation (in the
documentation this is given the shorthand [install]).
Type the following at the command line:
bin/start.sh [Linux/Unix]
bin\startup.bat [Windows]
After NetKernel boots and performs post installation configuration
it is ready for you to explore with your browser.
To access NetKernel, the documentation and interactive
demos and tutorials use this address in your web-browser:
http://localhost:1060/
Post Installation Notes
File Permissions
We strongly recommend that you do not run NetKernel
as the root user on Unix or the administrator user on Windows.
After creating or selecting the operating system user
under which NetKernel will run, grant to that user read/write
permissions on the NetKernel installation directory.
Running NetKernel as a Daemon
An init.d script bin/netkernel is provided for managing NetKernel
as a daemon on Unix/Linux servers.
Edit the script and set
the value of NK_USER to the operating system user name under
which NetKernel will run (the default user is 'dexter').
Copy the script to /etc/init.d/netkernel - consult your OS documentation for
how to register the script's run levels - on some Linux
systems this is done with the chkconfig command.
Once registered the NetKernel options are [start|stop|hot-restart|cold-restart|restart].
hot-restart and cold-restart will perform hot/cold restarts on
NetKernel without downtime.
Port Conflicts
NetKernel uses port 8080 for application access and
port 1060 for system administration and developer access.
If these ports are already in use on your system, you will need to make
a modification to NetKernel's configuration.
The two configuration files are:
[install]/modules/mod-fulcrum-backend/TransportJettyConfig.xml
and
[install]/modules/mod-fulcrum-frontend/TransportJettyConfig.xml
To make the change, edit the
Port parameter in the addListener section:
<Call name="addListener">
<Arg>
<New class="org.mortbay.http.SocketListener">
<Set name="Port">1060</Set>
<Set name="MinThreads">5</Set>
<Set name="MaxThreads">50</Set>
<Set name="MaxIdleTimeMs">30000</Set>
<Set name="LowResourcePersistTimeMs">5000</Set>
</New>
</Arg>
</Call>
and then perform a cold restart of NetKernel.
Memory Footprint
NetKernel has been tested and can run embedded applications in a JVM with a
heap as small as 1M.
The scripts in [install]/bin/ scripts specify a heap of 64M to provide
room for a large in-memory resource cache.
The applications distributed with NetKernel run very well with a heap of 24M.
To modify NetKernel's memory requirements, change the Java VM option.
For example, to reduce NetKernel's size to 24M, use the following
Java VM option:
Headless Linux Servers
Some services use graphical libraries which by default
require you to run on a system with a graphical display.
Java 1.4+ is quite happy running on a headless
Linux platform however a poorly documented requirement
is that various X libraries must be present.
To ensure that graphical content is displayed properly,
verify that the XFree86-libs-4.x+ and Freetype-2.x+
libraries are installed.
NetKernel Initialization
The first time NetKernel runs it must expand various module
libraries.
Subsequently, NetKernel will initialize itself more rapidly.
Security
Please take the time to read the administrators security
guide before deploying a production NetKernel system.
In brief - it is very important to use a firewall to block access to
port 1060 from an external computer.
Preface
Configuration
