Management and Administration Server

There is a dedicated Management and Administration Server that allows access to its own, as well as to the configured application server's database instances.

It has a web browser surfaces to manage and develop itself, as well as new or already existing application servers. Therefor, the management server itself is an application server used to develop and manage itself. This is a bit like with compiler programing. The surfaces introduces a relatively easy way to edit the node trees stored in the Content Catabases.

• Overall application server administration
• Content management and web site design
• Hierarchical view on the content database structure
• Application code stored in the Content Database

The administration server named 'WebServer' implements a service to manage itself and all other configured application servers and sites. It is used to edit the content and code stored in the application server's content databases.

Configuration, Scripts and Application Daemon

# /maxdaemon is a symbolic link to a Maxdaemon installation.
# e.g. /maxdaemon -> /usr/src/maxdaemon/version/daemon

# Application server root directory (symbolic link to the Maxscape installation):
# e.g. /maxdaemon/server/WebServer -> /maxscape/server/WebServer/

# HTTPD main configuration file. <version> is normaly the FQDN of the host
# e.g. maxscape.com or maxscape.local.net:
/maxdaemon/server/WebServer/etc/maxdaemon-<version>.conf
/maxdaemon/server/WebServer/etc/maxdaemon-maxscape.local.net.conf

# start/stop Bash script:
/maxdaemon/sbin/maxscape

# HTTPD daemon Perl script:
/maxdaemon/sbin/maxscape-maxdaemon.pl

# Location (URL) with a web browser (adapt for another port):
https://maxscape.com:2080/User/

Start/Stop Script

The management server is launched by the Maxscape start/stop script under the Unix su user account which has root rights to bind to the http ports 80/443 and starts/stops the other configured application servers. It uses the fast CGI interface of Apache or the DCGI interface with Maxdaemon.

# Start/restart/stop with Maxdaemon.
> maxscape -s maxdaemon start
> maxscape -s maxdaemon restart
> maxscape -s maxdaemon stop

# Start/restart/stop with Apache.
> maxscape start
> maxscape stop

Administration Server Web Surface

The administration server's web surface is then available via:

https://<domain name>:<server port>/

The web surface looks simple and like stemming from the 1990's. And indeed the HTML design has hardly changed since then. You can change it, if you like. Adapt the server's CSS and the Maxscape::PageAdmin and Maxscape::Page::Table packages.

Because the content database table fields may contain data of any type, for example HTML/CSS, HTML/CSS, Javascript with and without embedded Perl code, etc., the current version of the administration server only supports to edit source code with the HTML form <textarea> tag. There are several Javascript (HTML) <textarea> editors out there, but none of them offers a generic solution. Of course, can you use tools outside the server and then cut and past or import your source code into the content database.

User Home Page

After login, you look at your personal home page. The main menu on the right site will lead you to the services available of your login account. Edit your home page to your requirements, for example, to display information and helpfull links.

Application Server Selection

To select a application server server, click on the 'Server' entry of the main menu. Then select the desired server from the selection pop-up menu and press the selection button to submit. You are connected with the content database of the selected application server.

Node Tree

To traverse a server's node tree, click the 'PageTree' button of the main menu. The 'PageTree' form displays a hierarchical view on the nodes of the page hierarchy. It behaves similar to a file browser, but works on the content database.

After clicking the 'PageTree' button from the main menu, the first level of the page tree is displayed. Simply click on the category links to get to the next level of the hierarchy.

Editing Categories, Pages and Templates

To edit a page, traverse through the node tree until you have found it. Click the radio button left to the page and then click the 'edit' button on top of the page.

Adding Categories, Pages and Templates

At any level of the page hierarchy, you can create categories, pages and templates, whereas templates are best located in the 'Templates' sub tree.

Select the related entry of the 'add' button's pull-down menu, then click the 'add' button. After this you get the appropriate form. Fill out that form and click add again.

To make the new template available, add the template to the 'Page.Type.<TemplateType>' entry of the 'TreeAdm' administration form.

Editing and Deleting Categories, Pages and Templates

To edit/delete a node, traverse through the page tree until you find the desired node. Select the radio button and click edit/delete. After this, a form will appear, that lets you edit/delete the data.

Changing Categories, Pages and Templates

To edit/change a node, traverse through the page tree until you find the desired node. Select the radio button and click edit. After this, a form will appear, that lets you edit/change the node.

Changing, Deleting Category, Page and Template Elements

To change/delete an element, click the checkbox button left to the element(s) and click change/delete.

Manage Templates

To edit a template, click the 'Template' link from the main menu and traverse through the templates tree. Click the radio button left to the template and then click the 'edit' button.

Bugs and To Do

• The input and text area form fields of several forms can't be set to an empty string. As a work around insert a space character.
• Copying a node from the node tree display would be nice. (Already implemented by the Content Manager).