Jive Forums Documentation -- Installation Guide

Installation Guide

Jive Forums is a powerful online discussion tool for websites. This document will guide you through installing the application. For a full list of features and more information, please visit the Jive Software website: http://www.jivesoftware.com

In order to install Jive Forums, you'll need to a server environment that meets the following requirements:

A servlet engine with JSP 1.1 and Servlet 2.2 support.
JDK 1.2 or later.
A database supported by Jive with a robust JDBC 2.0 compliant driver. Supported databases and recommended JDBC drivers are detailed in the database documentation below.

Installation Overview

To complete the installation of Jive Forums, you'll need to perform each of the following steps:

App Server - setup your application server by installing the application files and JDBC driver.
Database - prepare your database for Jive.
Setup and Admin Tools - use the web-based setup tool to establish a database connection and to setup the administrator account. You'll then use the admin tool to create and manage forums.

! If you're upgrading from a previous release of Jive Forums, please see the upgrade instructions.

1. Application Server Setup

Jive Forums should be installed as a web application in a Servlet 2.2 or later application server. Please consult your server documentation if you are not familiar with setting up web applications.

First, create a new web application. You may wish to call it jive, as we will below.

Next, copy the contents of the application folder of this distribution into the web application directory you just created. The directory structure should now look something like the following (many directories omitted for brevity):

jive
   /admin
   /WEB-INF
         /classes
         /lib
         /jiveHome

Next, you must specify where you want the jiveHome directory to exist. There are two ways to accomplish this:

Edit the jive_init.properties that can be found in your WEB-INF/classes directory with the text editor of your choice. Follow the instructions in that file to set the path to your jiveHome directory (installed at WEB-INF/jiveHome).

Edit your web.xml file, and set jiveHome as a context parameter. If you copied the web.xml file from the Jive distribution, you should see the relevant areas that you need to edit already in the file. If you created your own web.xml file, then you need to include the following:

    <context-param>
        <param-name>jiveHome</param-nam>
        <param-value>PATH_TO_JIVE_HOME</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>JiveServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>com.jivesoftware.forum.util.JiveServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup/>
    </servlet>

The Jive Forums web application should now be properly configured. Restart your application server as necessary and then proceed to the next installation step.

2. Setting Up the Database

Jive Forums uses a database to store forum content. To setup your database you must load the appropriate database schema. You can find schemas in the "database" directory of this distribution. View the database setup documentation to learn how to install the schemas and JDBC drivers.

Complete the database steps outlined in the database setup documentation before proceeding further.

3. Setup and Admin Tools

After completing the above steps, you should be ready to run the setup tool. Point your web browser to the location on your webserver where you installed the admin skin. For example: http://www.[yourserver].com/jive/admin/setup

The setup tool will guide you through the final steps of getting Jive up and running. Once setup is complete, you will be redirected to the admin tool, which can be found at something similar to http://www.[yourserver].com/jive/admin. Use the admin tool to create and manage forums, users, and groups.

Using Jive

Once you have completed the installation and setup of Jive, the admin tool will let you create and administer forums, users, and groups. End-users can browse the forums you've setup by visiting a URL similar to: http://www.[yourserver].com/jive

Support

Please visit the Jive Software website to post bug reports and ask questions in the forums. If you have purchased a version of Jive Forums that includes a support plan, use the contact info that was provided when you made the purchase.

Source Code

The Jive Forums source code is available via CVS. Find more information in the developer area of Jive Software website: http://www.jivesoftware.com/developer.

The extensive Javadoc documentation included with this distribution can be used as a class reference.