- When downloading from the Internet you are given two options. The first is to save the install file to a temporary installation directory (e.g. c:/temp), select 'Save this file to disk' - proceed to step 2. Or, you can select 'Open this file from its current location' and Windows will save and start the installer for you - proceed to step 3.
- In the installation directory, execute crinst.exe. This will launch the Setup dialog.
- Setup will allow you to review the Licensing Agreement. If you agree to the terms proceed to step 4.
- Setup will ask you for product registration information. Please enter your name, the name of your organization/company, and the license key. If you have a key then enter it at this point. If you are evaluating ConferenceRoom, leave the license key field as it appears ("TRIAL"). A dialog will then appear asking you to confirm that the information provided is correct.
- Setup will then prompt you for the name of the directory in which you would like ConferenceRoom to be installed. The default location for the ConferenceRoom files is in c:\Program Files\WebMaster\. If you enter the name of a directory that does not exist, Setup will ask permission to create this directory before installing it.
- The setup dialog informs you that it has all the information it requires to start copying files. When you click the "NEXT" button, setup begins copying the ConferenceRoom files to your system. ConferenceRoom contains many files and this procedure can take a few minutes to complete.
- ConferenceRoom Properties will be displayed so you can enter server configuration information. The fields of this utility are explained in the "Web Configuration Panel" section. At this point in the installation, very little information is required in order to get your server up and running.
You may want to review and understand the settings of the Web server port in the "Web" tab of the console. See note below for cautions.
Warning: ConferenceRoom automatically enables its web interface on port 8000. If you have another server running on this port you will have to select another port for it to run on, or you should disable the web server from the Web Properties in the Web Configuration Panel or change the port number in the Web Configuration Panel Properties to an unused port (e.g. 8080).
Note: When you add a Server name (not hostname), please ensure that there are no spaces in it and that it includes at least one period ".".
ConferenceRoom is now installed on your system. From your Java-enabled web browser, access the appropriate URL to reach your server. This URL will normally be in the form: http://MyFullHostname:8000. If you changed the port number then include the number you provided where the example has 8000. You can also usually get to your system by going to http://localhost:8000
You can use your IP address in place of MyFullHostname. If you do not know your systems TCP/IP hostname (including domain) or IP address, your Internet Service Provider should be able to provide you with this information.
Once you're connected and in a chat session you can become an online operator; called 'oper' for short. To do this use the online command /oper with your user name and password like: /oper <name> <password>
Note: The On-line Manual for ConferenceRoom can be found on the Internet at http://manual.conferenceroom.com/, or on your local machine by clicking on the icon in the Webmaster group of your Start Menu.
Service Information
ConferenceRoom can run as a service. You can control this by going to the Service Control Panel, or by selecting the advanced settings tab in the configuration utility. Running as a service allows ConferencRoom to start when the system boots up, a user does not need to log in to have a service run.
Automatic Start: Sets ConferenceRoom to start automatically when the computer is started.
On Windows NT/2000
Uninstall the service:
wcm -u
Install the service:
wcm -i [-l <loginname>] [-p password]
Install the service with autostart:
wcm -a [-l <loginname>] [-p password]
Install the service but disabled:
wcm -d [-l <loginname>] [-p password]
CRStatus supports the following flags:
To run ConferenceRoom automatically, any of these two will work:
crstatus -cr
crstatus -start
Note: After installation, you can control the service manager, and edit the settings from the ConferenceRoom Configuration Utility
De-installation Procedure
In order to de-install ConferenceRoom, use the Windows Control Panel's "Add/Remove Programs" applet. Select the ConferenceRoom entry in the list, then click "Add/Remove". You can also remove the program with the Uninstaller located in the WebMaster folder.
The de-installation procedure is as follows:
- Automatic: Automatically removes the software and related data files.
- Custom: Gives you a list of files to enable you to specify the ones you want to remove.
- Cancel: Exits the de-installation directory.
Once the mode has been selected, ConferenceRoom and all related data files are removed from your system by the utility.
ConferenceRoom is presently available for several UNIX platforms. UNIX releases of ConferenceRoom are packaged as compressed tar files. They include an installer but do not facilitate automatic upgrades.
Some of the UNIX releases are packed in .gz format, while some are in .Z format. Generally for platforms that always provide GNU gzip, we provide the release in .tar.gz format.
- Unfortunately, many browsers rename files with long filenames. Please note the full name of the file you are downloading (especially the extension, either .tar.gz or .tar.Z) and restore it to its original name after completion.
If the original file ended in .gz, the file is a gzipped tar file. It can be unpacked several ways. If the file's name is file.tar.gz, and you have GNU tar, you should be able to type tar xvfz file.tar.gz and unpack it. If you have GNU gzip, you should be able to type gunzip -c file.tar.gz | tar xvf -. Alternately, you can unzip it with gunzip file.tar.gz and then unpack it with tar xvf file.tar.
If the original file ended in .Z, the file is a compressed tar archive. You must make sure the downloaded file ends in .Z as well. If the file's name was file.tar.Z, you should be able to type uncompress file.tar (notice the .Z is missing) to uncompress it. Then type tar xvf file.tar to unpack it.
This should create a new directory containing the ConferenceRoom distribution. Inside this directory will be a README file. Also included is a file called RELEASE with information about this release of ConferenceRoom, and a file called PLATFORM with any special problems or issues with your version of UNIX.
- cd into the ConferenceRoom directory that was just created. Then type ./install. Simply answer the questions, and ConferenceRoom will be installed and configured enough to get it running.
Unix Upgrade Installation
When you wish to upgrade to a newer version of ConferenceRoom, we strongly advise you to use a procedure that protects your previous version of ConferenceRoom. The files that you typically need to copy from your current version of ConferenceRoom into your new one (because they contain your configuration information) are ConfRoom.conf, startcr, db/ChanServ.DB, db/NickServ.DB, and db/webpass.sav.
Don't worry if you don't have any of the last three files.
We recommend you first unpack the new version of ConferenceRoom. It will put itself in a new directory. Then copy over the files listed above (and any others you may have customized). You will then have to edit 'startcr' to reflect the new path in two places. You can then stop the currently running copies of ConfRoom, WMws, and CRServices and start the new version of 'startcr'.
You can then test the new version of ConferenceRoom. If you notice any problems, you should be able to shut down the new version and restart the old version.
Note: You must not attempt to edit the ConfRoom.conf file while ConferenceRoom is running. It will not work. You also must not kill ConferenceRoom immediately after making configuration changes. You must wait at least two minutes for the changes to be saved. We recommend you use the /DIE command, which is always safe.
Unix Auto Restart
If you'd like to make sure the various servers remain running even after a reboot or crash, add 'startcr' to your crontab. How this is done varies from machine to machine, but a typical way to do this would be as follows:
Create a file called cron containing the line 6,21,36,52 * * * * /full/path/to/startcr
Then type crontab cron.
Note: this will wipe out any other cron jobs you (the user you are running as) had scheduled. You may want to check with crontab -l first to make sure you don't have any.
We do not recommend running 'startcr' more often than every five minutes. Also, if you're not using CRServices or not using WMws, you should remove them from the 'startcr' script. Removing the ws will stop the web server from attempting to start and removing the sv will stop services from attempting to start.
Shutting Down
At present, there is really no easy way to shut down ConferenceRoom on a UNIX platform. We strongly recommend shutting down ConferenceRoom itself cleanly by use of the /DIE command.
CRServices will shut itself down when ConferenceRoom dies, so there is no need to do anything special to shut it down. If you just want to stop services, we recommend issuing a /SQUIT command.
You can use kill to shutdown the various servers; however, this is not recommended. Killing ConferenceRoom can result in configuration changes, server bot locked topics, and server bot locked modes not being saved. Killing services can result in recent changes to registered nicknames and channels not being saved.
If you do decide to use kill, you can find out the PIDs of the various services by looking at their .pid files in the programs directory. Please beware that those .pid files might be old, and it's always possible another process was created with that same PID. So please be careful not to kill the wrong process. Be doubly careful if issuing a kill command as root.
One typo can bring down your system such that it cannot be recovered remotely.
We plan to add a convenient command line program to make it easy to shut down specific servers in the near future.
PLEASE NOTE: For Linux operating systems, you should make sure your inode-max and file-max are raised. Example: echo "8192" > /proc/sys/kernel/inode-max and echo "2048" > /proc/sys/kernel/file-max. That needs to be done as root and should be included in the startup commands.
Though it's never used more than about 240, it's still a good idea to increase the safety margin if the load is planning on going up.
Installation Sample
ConferenceRoom 1.8 UNIX installer
If you haven't read the release notes, please quit now and do so
This program will overwrite your conf file.
Caution: Do not, under any circumstances, install ConferenceRoom in a
directory that is accessible by a web server. Do not install it into a
virtual host directory or document directory of ANY KIND. If you have
done so, please quit NOW and unpack the distribution in a safe, private
directory.
Please enter your key or TRIAL if you do not have one
For example: TRIAL
> TRIAL
Please enter a valid fully qualified DNS name for this server
For example: irc.mycompany.com
> sample.webmaster.com
Please enter the name you want your server to use
For example: my.server.name
> chat.conferenceroom.com
Please enter a brief description of your server
For example: MyCompany, Inc's Chat Server
> WebMaster Inc Chat Server
Please enter a contact email address for your server
For example: support@mycompany.com
> support@webmaster.com
Please select the ports you wish your chat server to
listen on. Do not include the web server port in this list
The first port listed is the primary port
For example: 7000,6666-6669
> 7000,6666-6669
Please enter a nickname for the local channel management agent
For example: ChanBot
> Host
Please select the port you would like the web server to
listen on. You may use '0' if you don't wish to run our
internal web server. Do not use '80' unless no other web
server will run on this machine.
For example: 8000
> 8000
Please select the nickname of the first operator
For example: admin
> MyName
Please select the password of the first operator
For example: MyPass
> MyPassword
Do not forget this nickname and password or you will have
difficulty configuring your server
Do you wish to run CRServices? You should enable services unless
you have a personal key or are linking to a network that already
provides services
For example: yes
> yes
Services will run
ConferenceRoom offers you the option to automatically send newsflashes
informing people of important events. Would you like to enable this feature?
>yes
Would you like to send newsflashes only for major events?
Answer 'no' to send newsflashes for all headline stories.
>yes
Newsflashes will only be sent for top stories of major importance
You can change this later with the
'as news priority ' command.
You may launch CR1.8 by running 'startcr'
You may also wish to put this in a crontab file to ensure
CR auto-restarts in the event of a crash, reboot, or shutdown.