Getting Started with EPrints 3

Creating an Archive

EPrints 3 can run run multiple archives under one install. Multiple archives will require giving additional DNS aliases to the machine running EPrints, EPrints can then create all the parts of the apache configuration file needed to run the virtual hosts.

Running epadmin

Make sure MySQL is actually running.

Change to your eprints user (probably "eprints").

Change directory to the eprints directory (/opt/eprints3 by default) and run

bin/epadmin create

You will get the following prompts (note that when you see something in [square brackets], it's the default value and can be selected by simply hitting enter)

• Archive ID - the system name for your archive. It's probably a good idea to think of something short and memorable. Once entered, an archive/<archive_id> directory will be created, and the standard configuration files will be copied in.
• Configure vital settings - Hit enter to say 'yes'. This will lead to more prompting about core settings:
  • Hostname - What someone will type into a web browser to get to your archive. Make sure that your systems team have a DNS alias pointing to your server for this.
  • Webserver Port - Which port to you want to serve the archive on? The default is 80, so unless you can think of a good reason not to, just hit enter to accept the default.
  • Alias - You can enter any number of aliases that will take users to this archive. Enter a '#' when you don't want to enter any more. You could have your archive served on eprints.myorganisation.org and eprints.myorg.org. As with the Hostname, your systems team need to be informed about these aliases too.
  • Administrator Email - Enter the email address of the repository administrator. This will allow your repository users to send email to the right person.
  • Archive Name - The full name of your archive. By default, this will be used on many of the pages, and in the title bar of the browser.
  • Write these core settings - If you don't say 'yes', then you entered all that data for nothing.
• Configure database - EPrints makes extensive use of a MySQL database. Enter 'yes' to configure this.
  • Database Name - The internal name of your database. It makes sense to use the Archive ID for this, but you don't have to. You don't need to create this database, epadmin will do it for you.
  • MySQL Host - The address of the server that the database is running on. If the database is on the same machine as the EPrints installation, enter 'localhost'.
  • MySQL Port - You probably don't need to enter a value. If you have problems connecting to the database, talk to your systems team.
  • MySQL Socket - As with MySQL Port, it's unlikely that you need to enter anything.
  • Database User - The username with which to log into the MySQL Database. You don't need to create this user, epadmin will do it for you. If you enter a MySQL username that already exists, it will be overwritten by epstats.
  • Database Password - The password for the Database User.
  • Write these database settings - You should write them, or you'll lose them.
  • Create database <Database Name> - Say yes, and epadmin can create the database and populate it with all the right tables. If you've already created a database and a user for this archive, say no.
  • MySQL Root Password - To create the database and the user, epadmin needs the MySQL Root Password. This is not saved anywhere. It is used to log into mysql, create the database and create the user with the right access rights. The password is then forgotten.
  • Create database tables - say yes to have epadmin create all the database tables.
• Create an initial user - It's a good idea to create a user account for yourself at this point.
  • Enter a username - The username you will use to log into EPrints in your browser.
  • Select a user type (user|editor|admin) - There are three levels of user in EPrints. You probably want to be an administrator, so enter 'admin'.
  • Enter Password - A password for this user. Remember to choose a password that will be hard for someone else to guess.
  • Email - Enter your email address so that administrators can get in contact with you.
  • Do you want to build the static web pages - There are a number of pages in EPrints which change very rarely. These are the static pages. The Home page and the About page are examples of static pages. Stylesheets are also static. These pages need to be built, so say 'yes'.
  • Do you want to import the LOC subjects - If you will be using the Library Of Congress subject hierarchy, say 'yes'. Otherwise you will need to create your own subject hierarchy.
• Do you want to update the apache config files? (you still need to add the 'Include' line) - Your archive has a number of files which it uses to configure the web server. These should be updated, so say 'yes'.
• Before exiting, epadmin will display information about configuring the webserver.

example configuration

The script will run through a number of configuration options, an example of which is listed below. Please change the settings to suit your site configuration.

Create an EPrint Repository
Please select an ID for the repository, which will be used to create a directory
and identify the repository. Lower case letters and numbers, may not start with
a number. examples: "lemurprints" or "test3"
Archive ID? uclapr
We need to create /var/lib/eprints3/archives/uclapr, doing it now...
Getting uid and gid information for apache
UID: 48
GID: 48
Configure vital settings? [yes] ? yes
Hostname? eprints.adastral.ucl.ac.uk
Webserver Port [80] ? 80
Alias (enter # when done) [#] ? #
Administrator Email? *******@adastral.ucl.ac.uk
Archive Name [Test Repository] ? UCL Adastral Park Repository
Write these core settings? [yes] ? yes
Configuring Database for: uclapr
Database Name [uclapr] ? *********
MySQL Host [localhost] ? localhost
MySQL Port (# for no setting) [#] ? 
MySQL Socket (# for no setting) [#] ? 
Database User [******] ? 
Database Password? 
Write these database settings? [yes] ? yes
Create database "uclapr" [yes] ? yes
MySQL Root Password? 
Create database tables? [yes] ? yes
Create an initial user? [yes] ? yes
Enter a username [admin] ? admin
Select a user type (user|editor|admin) [admin] ? admin
Enter Password? *****************
Email? *******@adastral.ucl.ac.uk
Do you want to build the static web pages? [yes] ? yes
Do you want to import the LOC subjects? [yes] ? no (I have a custom subject file)
Do you want to update the apache config files? (you still need to add the 'Include' line) [yes] ? yes 

Open a browser, and enter the hostname in the address bar. You should see your new archive, ready to be branded.

If you want to add some more users, use the command epadmin add_user <repository id>

Maintenance (required)

EPrints front end web pages and abstracts *are not* automatically updated when you make changes to the repository. To apply your changes and update the web pages:

Generate Views

 eprints@host$ bin/generate_views yourarchivename

Generate Statics

 eprints@host$ bin/generate_static yourarchivename

Generate Abstracts

 eprints@host$ bin/generate_abstracts yourarchivename