Getting an ipath server running on Linux

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1.0. Introduction

This simple installation guide is written as help for a system administrator to set up an iPath server on a Linux machine. The instructions are not detailed and an ordinary user can not be expected to set this up the software on his/her own.

2.0. Overview

Listed below are the basic steps that are needed to get an iPath server running on a server machine. Some of the steps will be very briefly described and some of them will be discussed in more detail. The reason that we do not go into too much detail in some of the steps is due to the fact that there are alternative ways to perform these steps depending on the type of software used and a system administrator should be able to adapt these steps based on the available software.

Needed steps: • Install Linux

• Install Apache, SQL database, PHP5

• Install iPath (Install mail support locally for iPath)

3.0. Installing Linux

The first thing that needs to be done is off course to install an operating system on the server, and the most compatible operating system is Linux. This can be done in many ways and there are a lot of different Linux distributions out there that can be used. We recommend that you use Debian, if you don’t already have a Linux operating system installed. This is simply, because that’s the distribution we have been using when setting up the server and we know that the needed packages exist for it. To get the latest version of Debian, visit www.debian.org.

4.0. Installing software that iPath requires

To be able to use iPath, additional software needs to be installed. The software needed is an Apache web server, an SQL database, and the PHP5 framework. Note that iPath won’t work with PHP4 due to the fact that some newer functions etc are used that don’t exist in PHP4.

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4.1. First scenario: Installing package with Apache, Mysql and

PHP5

If it’s the case that you don’t have apache, an SQL database and PHP5 installed or if you are not using them, this is the simplest way of getting everything installed. If you have any of these installed and still want to use this package you need to deactivate the previously installed software or else it won’t work. The way this is done depends on your Linux distribution, but in Debian it can easily be done in the menu. Just press:

“Desktop” ”Administration” ”Services” and uncheck the box in front of the programs you want to disable.

To install the package just visit: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html and follow the instructions given.

4.2. Second Scenario: Install Apache, SQL database and PHP5

separately

If you don’t want to use the above package you either have to have the above mentioned software or to install them. How to do this won’t be explained here.

If you have installed Debian you can use the package manager (Synaptics) to install the needed software. Just search for the software needed and install them. If you are using another Linux version or don’t want to use the package manager you can check out this page for some help: http://www.lamphowto.com/lamp.htm.

5.0. Installing iPath

Note: To be able to use iPath efficiently you will need a static ip or a static hostname that can be used when connecting to the server.

When the software mentioned above (Apache, SQL database, PHP5) are all installed, you are ready to begin installing iPath. The first thing you need to do is to download the iPath package from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipath. The main thing you need to download to get the basic iPath server running is “iPath Server”, the other stuff is just extra modules that you can download to have some extra functionality.

To get started, just extract the downloaded package file (probably something like iPathserver.tar.gz) using the ordinary “tar” command (will probably look something like this: tar xvfz iPathserver.tar.gz). Unpacking can be done to any folder. When this is done just go in to the folder where you unpacked the software and open INSTALL.txt to get the detailed installation instructions for iPath.

Note: The SMTP server address is set in the file “default.inc.php” which exists in the folder “sites” in iPath directory.

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6.0. Configuring the mail import function in iPath

Before starting to configure the mail import function, make sure iPath is installed correctly and that an administrator account has been set up (how this is done is written in the installation file, INSTALL.txt). To be able to fully use iPath’s functionality correctly you will need to have access to an email account used only by the server. There are two options that can be used here.

6.1. Using an ISP Provided email Account

First you can use an email account supplied by - for example - an ISP. The only demands are that it has some sort of outgoing email server and some incoming email server that can be used. For example, let’s say that we have an account supplied by an internet service provider with the following information:

Email account: John@isp.com Outgoing mail (SMTP): smtp.isp.com Incoming mail (POP3): mail.isp.com.

With the example email account above the set up would be something like this in iPath: 1. Login to iPath as administrator

2. Click on “Administration” at the menu to the left 3. Click on “Configure” under the heading email import. 4. Fill in the from address: john@isp.com

5. Fill in the mailbox: {mail.isp.com:110/pop3}INBOX 6. Fill in user name and password for the mail account

Notice that what is supposed to exist in the mailbox field depends on what kind of mail service that is provided (pop3, imap etc) see the note under the field for how to write in other cases.

6.2. Install mail support locally for iPath

The second method is recommended if you don’t have an email account available or if you want to use the iPath server in combination with clients that are using the “FreeMed Telemedics” software package over a bad connection. In this solution you will have to install and run a local SMTP and POP3 server. The reason for using this when using the “FreeMed Telemedics” version over a bad connection is that when using the functionality of resume sending mails instead of restart sending them you will need to configure the timeout value for the receiving SMTP server so that it doesn’t close the connection (i.e. the local SMTP server).

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an SMTP server. Both of them are well known and work well for the intended purpose. There might be some configurations that need to be changed in these software but it should work directly, without any changes. To change the configurations for “POSTFIX” edit “main.cf” and to change the settings for “QPOPPER” edit “qpopper.conf. The email address for the POP3 server will be the users at the system and look like this: user@[ip address].

When these software are installed, working, and you have tested to send and receive email through them its time to configure iPath.

Let’s say that we have a Linux user with a username “john”. His email might look something like this:

Email: john@[192.168.0.12]

Outgoing mail (SMTP): 127.0.0.1 (localhost) Incoming mail (POP3): 127.0.0.1 (localhost)

With the example email above the set up would be something like this in iPath: 1. Login to iPath as administrator

2. Click on “Administration” at the menu to the left 3. Click on “Configure” under the heading email import. 4. Fill in the from address: john@[192.168.0.12]

5. Fill in the mailbox: {127.0.0.1:110/pop3}INBOX

6. User name and password for the mail account is not needed because it is local access.

7.0. Links

Here are a few useful links to consider: Debian: http://www.debian.org

Apache, Mysql, PHP5 package: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-linux.html iPath: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipath

Qpopper: http://www.eudora.com/products/unsupported/qpopper/index.html Postfix: http://www.postfix.org/