CommuniGate Pro
Version 5.1
Installation
 
 
 
Installation

Installation

You should download the CommuniGate Pro software either from the CommuniGate Systems Web/FTP site, or from any authorized mirror site. Make sure you have the latest version of the software, and that the downloaded version is designed to work on the selected platform.

Install the Server following the instructions below, and then proceed with Initial Configuration.


Installation

On all systems, the CommuniGate Pro uses 2 directories (folders):

Installing on a Sun Solaris System.


Installing on a Linux System.

Note: some older versions of Linux (such as RedHat 9.0, SuSE 9.1 and some other distributions) used a very unstable version on the NPTL p-threads library.
To provide a workaround for these versions of the Linux OS, the CommuniGate Pro startup script uses the LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.1 command to make the Linux linker use the old, more stable version of the p-threads library.

Note: When the old p-threads library is used, each CommuniGate Pro thread is seen as a separate process when you use the ps and top system utilities. This is normal: all those "processes" are actually CommuniGate Pro Server threads, and they share all their resources - VRAM, file descriptors, etc.

Note: Linux kernels prior to 2.6.13 have critical flaws in their NFS client implementations. If you plan to use the Linux OS as your Dynamic Cluster backends, make sure that your kernel version is 2.6.13 or higher.

Note: Linux kernels do not support x86 hyperthreading correctly. Make sure hyperthreading is switched off in the x86 server BIOS.


Installing on a MS Windows System

You can also start the CommuniGate Pro server manually, as a "console application", by launching the CGServer.exe file. If started without parameters, the Server creates the C:\CommuniGatePro folder and uses it as its "base" folder". If you want to use any other location, use the --Base command line parameter:
CGServer.exe --Base D:\OtherDirectory

Note: Windows kernels do not support x86 hyperthreading correctly. Make sure hyperthreading is switched off in the x86 server BIOS.


Installing on a MacOS X (Darwin) System.


Installing on a FreeBSD System.

There are two CommuniGate Pro packages: one for FreeBSD 4.x (supporting FreeBSD 4.x versions), one - supporting FreeBSD 5.3 and later versions.


Installing on a NetBSD System.


Installing on an OpenBSD System.


Installing on a BSDI BSD/OS System.


Installing on an AIX System.


Installing on an HP/UX System.


Installing on a Tru64 (Digital Unix) System.


Installing on an SGI IRIX System.


Installing on an SCO UnixWare System.


Installing on an SCO OpenServer System.


Installing on an IBM OS/400 System.


Installing on an OpenVMS System.


Installing on a QNX System.


Installing on an IBM OS/2 System.


Installing on a MacOS Rhapsody System.


Installing on a BeOS System.

Note: Under BeOS, each thread in a multi-threaded application is seen as a "process" when you use the ps system utility. As a result, you may see 30+ CGServer "processes" when the server is just started, and more after it has been actively used. All those "processes" are actually CommuniGate Pro Server threads, and they share all their resources - VRAM, File Descriptors, etc.


Initial Configuration

When the CommuniGate Pro software is installed:

If you failed to enter a new postmaster password within 10 minutes, the Server will be shut down. When you are ready to enter the password, repeat the steps listed above.

The Migration section can help you to schedule your CommuniGate Pro deployment process.


Upgrading to a Newer Version

When you upgrade to a new version, the files in the application directory are substituted with the new files.

The base directory and all its files are not modified when you upgrade the CommuniGate Pro Server software, so all Accounts, Mailboxes, messages, settings, File Storage files, Licenses, customized Web Skin, and Real-Time Application files stay in place and continue to work with the new version of the CommuniGate Pro software.

Note: if you chose to manually modify Web Skin or Real-Time Application files right in the application directory, then you should save them before upgrading.

To upgrade:

Moving to a New Hardware Server

You may want to move your CommuniGate Pro server to a different computer - running the same or a different OS. All your module settings, account and domain settings, mailboxes, licenses, and other data can be preserved.

CommuniGate Pro keeps all its data in the base directory. This is the only directory you need to copy to your new server computer.

CommuniGate Pro uses the same file formats on all hardware and software (OS) platforms, so usually you can just pack the entire CommuniGate Pro base directory into an archive file (using tar and gzip on Unix systems, zip on MS Windows systems), and unpack the archive on the new server computer.

Additional processing is needed when you move the CommuniGate Pro Server from a computer running any MS Windows operating system to a computer running any flavor of Unix, or vice versa. CommuniGate Pro files are text files, and text files on MS Windows and Unix have different EOL (end of line) symbols: CR-LF (return - linefeed) on MS Windows and bare LF (linefeed) symbol on Unix systems. To copy files properly, you may want to use any FTP software to copy files between those systems: when an FTP client is instructed to transfer files in the ASCII mode, it properly converts EOL symbols.
Note: CommuniGate Pro base directory can contain non-text (binary) files in the WebSkins and PBXApps directories inside the Account and Domains subdirectories - graphic, audio, and video files used in the custom Skin Interfaces and Real-Time Applications.
Account File Storage can also contain binary files. These files are stored in the account.web directories inside the Account directories.
When you move a CommuniGate Pro base directory between systems using different EOL conventions, check that those binary files are copied in the BINARY mode (i.e. without EOL re-coding).

If the new server computer is running a Unix system, check that the copied directory and all its files and subdirectories have the same access rights as they had on the old system.

After the CommuniGate Pro base directory is copied, download and install the proper version of the CommuniGate Pro Server on the new server computer. There is no need to copy the content of application directory from the old server computer, even if both new and old computers are running the same operating system.

Check that the newly installed copy of the CommuniGate Pro Server (its startup script, if any) is configured to use the copied base directory, and then start the CommuniGate Pro Server on the new computer. Use the WebAdmin Interface to modify the computer-related settings on the new server. For example, you may need to update the Client IP Addresses table or re-assign IP addresses to CommuniGate Pro Domains.


CommuniGate® Pro Guide. Copyright © 1998-2007, Stalker Software, Inc.