What kind of IT skills required...?
Hello Sorry, it will definitely be a bunch of silly questions, but I really don't know... What kind of IT skills are required for someone to run Koha on a private server (for a small network of about 6 libraries, each with a very limited collection) and do the maintenance etc? I have been asked to help a little library who would like to have her own server and centralize for the few other libraries of its network. I know Koha very well, I am quite good with computers and training people and all library things. I create websites, I know PhP and MySql (but not really the other languages). But I have never installed or used a server, I have no idea what that involves. Is it like setting a new computer and let's go? Will the server be delivered with Windows or Linux or I don't know what other OS? I will have to organise daily back-ups, is that something easy? I will have to link the server with a website or something like that (I told you I don't know anything), is that really tricky? Do I have to know Perl or can I just install whatever package ares required and that would do it? Are there other important things that I need to know before I may plan to do it...? Ultimately, can I ask someone else to set up the server and I only step in when it's all ready to go? I mean, is that really something that we can ask an IT company to do for us? Many thanks for your help! Sonia. -- View this message in context: http://koha.1045719.n5.nabble.com/What-kind-of-IT-skills-required-tp4840358p... Sent from the Koha - Discuss mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
Hi Perhaps the best option is to use on of the wonderful liblive cd that auto- install koha very well, if you know perl better, but you can go on anyway Regarding the bac-up it will depend pn you, but with mysql is quite ease and fast Kindest regatds Enviado desde mi iPad, disculpen los errores tipográficos y ortográficos El 26/09/2011, a las 08:26, Smurk <sossolapro@hotmail.com> escribió:
Hello
Sorry, it will definitely be a bunch of silly questions, but I really don't know... What kind of IT skills are required for someone to run Koha on a private server (for a small network of about 6 libraries, each with a very limited collection) and do the maintenance etc? I have been asked to help a little library who would like to have her own server and centralize for the few other libraries of its network. I know Koha very well, I am quite good with computers and training people and all library things. I create websites, I know PhP and MySql (but not really the other languages). But I have never installed or used a server, I have no idea what that involves. Is it like setting a new computer and let's go? Will the server be delivered with Windows or Linux or I don't know what other OS? I will have to organise daily back-ups, is that something easy? I will have to link the server with a website or something like that (I told you I don't know anything), is that really tricky? Do I have to know Perl or can I just install whatever package ares required and that would do it? Are there other important things that I need to know before I may plan to do it...?
Ultimately, can I ask someone else to set up the server and I only step in when it's all ready to go? I mean, is that really something that we can ask an IT company to do for us?
Many thanks for your help!
Sonia.
-- View this message in context: http://koha.1045719.n5.nabble.com/What-kind-of-IT-skills-required-tp4840358p... Sent from the Koha - Discuss mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
Sonia, To host your own server, you'll need some level of comfort with Linux command line operations. I recommend a Debian Squeeze server. You can either purchase a new physical machine, or create a virtual server on an existing machine or in the cloud. You can quickly fire up a server in the cloud using services like Amazon Web Computing, Rackspace or Linode. This saves you from having to install an operating system on a piece of physical or virtual hardware. Once you've got the server up and running, you'll need to install Koha. You can do so from the packages, from the git repository or from the downloadable tarballs. Personally, I recommend the git installation, but my understanding is that the packages are a little more user-friendly at the installation phase. Are you going to be developing on Koha at all? If so, then a git installation is definitely the way to go, so you can track your local changes, and format them in a way to submit back to Koha! In addition to installing Koha itself, you'll need to install it's dependencies. That includes MySQL (with which you said you were familiar), Zebra and Apache (Perl is almost always installed by default). The installation instructions for Koha will walk you through those steps. Further, if you want your Koha install to be able to send email notices, you'll want to install and configure an MTA (Message Transfer Agent). I recommend Postfix, but exim4 also works. The default SendMail also works, but I've found it a bit less flexible and thus a little more frustrating. You'll also need to be comfortable with the crontab, so you can set up nightly jobs like fines, overdue notices, and backups. This is one part syntax (knowing how to put an entry on crontab) and one part text editor familiarity (vi or nano, typically). If all this seems a bit overwhelming, you're not alone. If you need assistance, I'm sure there are Koha support companies in your geographic region who would be happy to assist you with installation, and may even provide hosting options. Check http://koha-community.org/support/paid-support/ for a listing of known support companies from all over the world. I hope this is some help to you. Cheers, -Ian On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 3:00 AM, Hugo Agud <hagud@orex.es> wrote:
Hi
Perhaps the best option is to use on of the wonderful liblive cd that auto- install koha very well, if you know perl better, but you can go on anyway
Regarding the bac-up it will depend pn you, but with mysql is quite ease and fast
Kindest regatds
Enviado desde mi iPad, disculpen los errores tipográficos y ortográficos
El 26/09/2011, a las 08:26, Smurk <sossolapro@hotmail.com> escribió:
Hello
Sorry, it will definitely be a bunch of silly questions, but I really don't know... What kind of IT skills are required for someone to run Koha on a private server (for a small network of about 6 libraries, each with a very limited collection) and do the maintenance etc? I have been asked to help a little library who would like to have her own server and centralize for the few other libraries of its network. I know Koha very well, I am quite good with computers and training people and all library things. I create websites, I know PhP and MySql (but not really the other languages). But I have never installed or used a server, I have no idea what that involves. Is it like setting a new computer and let's go? Will the server be delivered with Windows or Linux or I don't know what other OS? I will have to organise daily back-ups, is that something easy? I will have to link the server with a website or something like that (I told you I don't know anything), is that really tricky? Do I have to know Perl or can I just install whatever package ares required and that would do it? Are there other important things that I need to know before I may plan to do it...?
Ultimately, can I ask someone else to set up the server and I only step in when it's all ready to go? I mean, is that really something that we can ask an IT company to do for us?
Many thanks for your help!
Sonia.
-- View this message in context: http://koha.1045719.n5.nabble.com/What-kind-of-IT-skills-required-tp4840358p... Sent from the Koha - Discuss mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
-- Ian Walls Lead Development Specialist ByWater Solutions Phone # (888) 900-8944 http://bywatersolutions.com ian.walls@bywatersolutions.com Twitter: @sekjal
2011/9/27 Ian Walls <ian.walls@bywatersolutions.com>:
Sonia,
To host your own server, you'll need some level of comfort with Linux command line operations. I recommend a Debian Squeeze server. You can either purchase a new physical machine, or create a virtual server on an existing machine or in the cloud. You can quickly fire up a server in the cloud using services like Amazon Web Computing, Rackspace or Linode. This saves you from having to install an operating system on a piece of physical or virtual hardware.
Once you've got the server up and running, you'll need to install Koha. You can do so from the packages, from the git repository or from the downloadable tarballs. Personally, I recommend the git installation, but my understanding is that the packages are a little more user-friendly at the installation phase. Are you going to be developing on Koha at all? If so, then a git installation is definitely the way to go, so you can track your local changes, and format them in a way to submit back to Koha!
In addition to installing Koha itself, you'll need to install it's dependencies. That includes MySQL (with which you said you were familiar), Zebra and Apache (Perl is almost always installed by default). The installation instructions for Koha will walk you through those steps. Further, if you want your Koha install to be able to send email notices, you'll want to install and configure an MTA (Message Transfer Agent). I recommend Postfix, but exim4 also works. The default SendMail also works, but I've found it a bit less flexible and thus a little more frustrating.
You'll also need to be comfortable with the crontab, so you can set up nightly jobs like fines, overdue notices, and backups. This is one part syntax (knowing how to put an entry on crontab) and one part text editor familiarity (vi or nano, typically).
That's the major bonus with using the debian packages, they pull in all the dependencies for you, and set up the cron jobs for you also. I strongly recommend anyone running a production install of Koha uses the packages. Running out of version control is fine while you are developing, but the stability of the packages and ease of deployment and upgrade make them the natural choice for a production environment. Chris
Dear all I am sorry I forgot to thank you all for your help with my (very general) questions about Koha. All your explanations have been very useful already, and I keep on refering to your emails in our initial thinking about the server etc. Many many thanks! Sonia.
From: chris@bigballofwax.co.nz Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:17:13 +1300 To: ian.walls@bywatersolutions.com CC: koha@lists.katipo.co.nz Subject: Re: [Koha] What kind of IT skills required...?
2011/9/27 Ian Walls <ian.walls@bywatersolutions.com>:
Sonia,
To host your own server, you'll need some level of comfort with Linux command line operations. I recommend a Debian Squeeze server. You can either purchase a new physical machine, or create a virtual server on an existing machine or in the cloud. You can quickly fire up a server in the cloud using services like Amazon Web Computing, Rackspace or Linode. This saves you from having to install an operating system on a piece of physical or virtual hardware.
Once you've got the server up and running, you'll need to install Koha. You can do so from the packages, from the git repository or from the downloadable tarballs. Personally, I recommend the git installation, but my understanding is that the packages are a little more user-friendly at the installation phase. Are you going to be developing on Koha at all? If so, then a git installation is definitely the way to go, so you can track your local changes, and format them in a way to submit back to Koha!
In addition to installing Koha itself, you'll need to install it's dependencies. That includes MySQL (with which you said you were familiar), Zebra and Apache (Perl is almost always installed by default). The installation instructions for Koha will walk you through those steps. Further, if you want your Koha install to be able to send email notices, you'll want to install and configure an MTA (Message Transfer Agent). I recommend Postfix, but exim4 also works. The default SendMail also works, but I've found it a bit less flexible and thus a little more frustrating.
You'll also need to be comfortable with the crontab, so you can set up nightly jobs like fines, overdue notices, and backups. This is one part syntax (knowing how to put an entry on crontab) and one part text editor familiarity (vi or nano, typically).
That's the major bonus with using the debian packages, they pull in all the dependencies for you, and set up the cron jobs for you also.
I strongly recommend anyone running a production install of Koha uses the packages. Running out of version control is fine while you are developing, but the stability of the packages and ease of deployment and upgrade make them the natural choice for a production environment.
Chris _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list http://koha-community.org Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
participants (5)
-
Chris Cormack -
Hugo Agud -
Ian Walls -
Smurk -
Sonia P.