Adding the OAI-PMH Connector to your Metadata Service

Adding the OAI-PMH Connector to your Metadata Service

To share documents between two ArcIMS Metadata Services, one option is for the provider to use the OAI-PMH Connector and the harvester to use the OAI-PMH Harvester. Getting the OAI-PMH Connector up and running is a two-step process. The first step is to deploy it on your Web server. The second step is to configure the OAI Connector to access and describe your Metadata Service.
For the first step, the necessary components for ArcIMS must be installed and configured properly before the OAI-PMH Connector can be deployed: Java 2 Platform SDK, Web server, and servlet engine. To install the OAI-PMH Connector, choose this Metadata installation option when you install ArcIMS. Then, run the ArcIMS Post installation program to deploy the OAI-PMH Connector and do some basic configuration.
For the second step, you must configure the OAI-PMH Connector for your Metadata Service. You provide this information using a property file named aims_oai.properties. The locations where you must edit the aims_oai.properties file are listed below for the appropriate Web server and servlet engine combinations:

• Windows: <ArcIMS install directory>\Metadata\OAI-PMH\connector\aimsharvester\WEB-INF\config\aims_oai.properties
• UNIX: <ArcIMS install directory>\arcims\Metadata/OAI-PMH\connector/aimsharvester\WEB-INF\config\aims_oai.properties

If you are using JRun, Tomcat, or WebSphere, this file will be located where you installed the Web software in the directory shown below:

• IIS with JRun: <JRun install directory>\servers\default\
SERVER-INF\temp\aimsharvester.war-0123456789\
WEB-INF\config\aims_oai.properties.
  
  The 10-digit number is generated when the servlet is deployed. There may be several directories with this structure. You may need to look inside each directory for WEB-INF\config\aims_oai.properties.
• Apache or IIS with Tomcat: <Tomcat install directory>\
webapps\aimsharvestorr\WEB-INF\config\aims_oai.properties.
• Websphere 5.0: <WebSphere install directory>\AppServer\
installedApps\<machineName>\aimsharvester.war.ear\
aimsharvester.war\WEB-INF\config\aims_oai.properties.

Edit the aims_oai.properties file in a text editor and follow the steps below to configure the OAI-PMH Connector.

1. Set the communication protocol that the OAI-PMH Connector will use to communicate with ArcIMS. By default, the connector is set to use HTTP; however, you may prefer to use TCP/IP instead. Set the connectionType property to “http” or “tcp” as appropriate. For example:
   
   connectionType=http
2. Set the name of the Metadata Service that can be harvested using the OAI-PMH Connector; additional Metadata Services running on the same ArcIMS server can’t be harvested. For example:
   
   defaultServiceName=MyMetadataService
3. If the HTTP protocol is being used, set the URL property to the Internet address of the server that hosts the ArcIMS Metadata Service. You can optionally provide a default login for accessing the Metadata Service. If access is unrestricted, the username and password properties should not have values. If you must login to access the default service and you want to provide a default login, set the username and password properties to match a username and password combination in the Metadata Service’s access control list. For example:
   
   url=http://<hostname>
username=
password=
4. If the TCP/IP protocol is being used, set the appServerMachine property to the name of the computer where the ArcIMS Application Server is installed. The default port on which the ArcIMS Application Server runs is 5300; if necessary, modify the appServerPort property. For example:
   
   appServerMachine=hostname
appServerPort=5300
   Several additional properties need to be set to identify and describe your server when this information is requested using OAI-PMH.
5. Provide a name for your Metadata Service. For example,
   
   Identify.repositoryName = MyOrganization ArcIMS
Metadata Service
6. Modify the URL at which the OAI-PMH Connector can be accessed to reference the server that hosts your ArcIMS Metadata Service. This is the URL to which OAI-PMH requests can be sent. For example,
   
Identify.baseURL = http://
<hostname>/aimsharvester/oai2.0
7. Provide an e-mail address at which the administrator of the Metadata Service can be contacted. For example,
   
   Identify.adminEmail.0 =
metadata_administrator@<hostname>
8. Provide an identifier representing the server that hosts your ArcIMS Metadata Service; this should not be prefaced by “http://”. For example,
   
   Identify.repositoryIdentifier =
<hostname>
9. The value of the description property must be a valid XML document. Modify the default description value, changing the word “localhost” to match the value of the repositoryIdentifier property as defined above. The word localhost appears twice in two different XML elements. This is illustrated below with the repositoryIdentifier property set to “www.myHost.org”.
   
   The OAI-PMH Connector will create a log file named aims_oai_log in the logs directory at the same location as the config directory, which contains the aims_oai.properties file. Each time the Web server and servlet engine are restarted, a new log file named aims_oai_log will be created and the previous log file will be renamed aims_oai_log.1.
   
   There are several increasing levels of information that can be recorded in the log file: ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, and OFF. By default, the connector is set to log information at the INFO level, which includes information such as the status of the connector, connections made, requests sent from OAI-PMH clients, warnings generated by the connector, and errors that occur. At the ERROR level, only error messages are recorded. At the WARN level, only warnings and error messages are recorded. At the DEBUG level, all messages are recorded including the ArcXML requests sent to and received from ArcIMS.
   
   You can change the level of logging to record more or less information, as appropriate. For example, change the level to DEBUG to troubleshoot a problem if one occurs.
10. If desired, set the level of information that will be recorded in the OAI-PMH Connector’s log file. For example:
    
    Logger.level=DEBUG
11. Save and close the file.
12. Stop and restart your servlet engine and Web server.
     

You should now be able to verify that the OAI-PMH Connector has been successfully configured. In a Web browser, type the following URL:
http://<hostname>/aimsharvester/oai2.0?verb=Identify

Oracle Application Server requires an extra forward slash (/) at the end of the URL:
http://<hostname>/aimsharvester/oai2.0?verb=Identify/

If the OAI-PMH Connector has been correctly configured, it will return an XML document showing some of the information that you specified in the aims_oai.properties file.

The OAI-PMH Connector is a Web application that is meant to be accessed programmatically using the OAI-PMH protocol. It does not provide HTML pages or a user interface.

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