1. Preamble: referenced user accounts

In subsequent sections, we will refer to a number of different accounts, as follows:

  • Linux user accounts:

    • The user Linux account is the account that you use to log onto the Linux system as a regular user.

    • The root Linux account is an account that has system administrator privileges. On Debian you can switch to this account from your user account by issuing the su - command and entering the password for the root account when prompted. On Ubuntu you can switch to this account from your user account using the sudo su - command and entering the password for your user account when prompted.

    • The opensrf Linux account is an account that you will create as part of installing OpenSRF. You can switch to this account from the root account by issuing the su - opensrf command.

2. Download and unpack the code

Issue the following commands as the user Linux account.

  1. Acquire a stable release tarball from https://evergreen-ils.org/opensrf-downloads/ 

    wget https://evergreen-ils.org/downloads/opensrf-OSRFVERSION.tar.gz
    Note
    		 Developers can find the full source code at the OpenSRF Git repository: http://git.evergreen-ils.org/?p=OpenSRF.git

  2. Unpack the tarball, and move into that directory: 

    tar -xvf opensrf-OSRFVERSION.tar.gz
cd opensrf-OSRFVERSION/

3. Installing prerequisites

OpenSRF has a number of prerequisite packages that must be installed before you can successfully configure, compile, and install OpenSRF. On Debian and Ubuntu, the easiest way to install these prerequisites is to use the Makefile.install prerequisite installer.

Issue the following commands as the root Linux account to install prerequisites using the Makefile.install prerequisite installer, substituting your operating system identifier for <osname> below:

apt-get install make
make -f src/extras/Makefile.install <osname>

Well-tested values for <osname> include:

  • debian-bullseye for Debian 11

  • debian-buster for Debian 10

  • ubuntu-focal for Ubuntu 20.04

  • ubuntu-jammy for Ubuntu 22.04

Patches and suggestions for improvement from users of these distributions, or others, are welcome!

When the prerequisite installer reaches the Perl module stage, you may be prompted for configuration of Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) on your server. You can generally accept the defaults by pressing <return> for all of the prompts, except for the country configuration.

4. Preamble: Developer instructions

Note
 Skip this section if you are using an official release tarball downloaded from https://evergreen-ils.org/opensrf-downloads/

Developers working directly with the source code from the Git repository, rather than an official release tarball, must install some extra packages and perform one step before they can proceed with the ./configure step.

As the root Linux account, install the following packages:

  • autoconf

  • automake

  • libtool

As the user Linux account, issue the following command in the OpenSRF source directory to generate the configure script and Makefiles:

autoreconf -i

5. Configuration and compilation instructions

Use the configure command to configure OpenSRF, and the make command to build OpenSRF. The default installation prefix (PREFIX) for OpenSRF is /opensrf/.

If you are building OpenSRF for Evergreen, issue the following commands as the user Linux account to configure and build OpenSRF:

./configure --prefix=/openils --sysconfdir=/openils/conf
make

By default, OpenSRF includes C, Perl, and JavaScript support.

If you are planning on proxying WebSockets traffic (see below), you can add --with-websockets-port=443 to specify that WebSockets traffic will be going through port 443. Without that option, the default port is 7682.

6. Installation instructions

  1. Once you have configured and compiled OpenSRF, issue the following command as the root Linux account to install OpenSRF: 

    make install

7. Create and set up the opensrf Unix user environment

This user is used to start and stop all OpenSRF processes, and must own all files contained in the PREFIX directory hierarchy. Issue the following commands as the root Linux account to create the opensrf user and set up its environment, substituting <PREFIX> with the value you passed to --prefix in your configure command:

Creating the opensrf user
useradd -m -s /bin/bash opensrf
echo "export PATH=\$PATH:/<PREFIX>/bin" >> /home/opensrf/.bashrc
passwd opensrf
chown -R opensrf:opensrf /<PREFIX>

8. Define your public and private OpenSRF domains

For security purposes, OpenSRF uses Jabber domains to separate services into public and private realms. Throughout these instructions, we will use the example domains public.localhost and private.localhost.

On a single-server system, the easiest way to define public and private domains is to define separate hostnames by adding entries to the /etc/hosts file. Here are entries that you could add to a stock /etc/hosts file for our example domains:

Example added entries for /etc/hosts
127.0.1.2       public.localhost        public
127.0.1.3       private.localhost       private

9. Adjust the system dynamic library path

Add <PREFIX>/lib/ to the system’s dynamic library path, and then run ldconfig as the root Linux account.

On Debian and Ubuntu systems, run the following commands as the root Linux account:

Adjusting the system dynamic library path
echo <PREFIX>/lib > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/opensrf.conf
ldconfig

On most other systems, you can add these entries to /etc/ld.so.conf, or create a file within the /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ directory, and then run ldconfig as the root Linux account.

10. Configure the ejabberd server

Tip

It is recommended to disable the apparmor profile for ejabberd on Ubuntu before continuing. If you are installing on any version of Ubuntu, run the following commands as the root Linux account:

ln -s /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.ejabberdctl /etc/apparmor.d/disable/
apparmor_parser -R /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.ejabberdctl

OpenSRF requires an XMPP (Jabber) server. For performance reasons, ejabberd is the Jabber server of choice for the OpenSRF project. In most cases, you only have to make a few changes to the default configuration file to make ejabberd work for OpenSRF.

  1. Stop ejabberd before making any changes to its configuration by issuing the following command as the root Linux account:

    Stopping ejabberd
    systemctl stop ejabberd.service

  2. Edit the ejabberd config file.

    (Debian Buster / Ubuntu Focal) Ejabberd 18.x

    Open /etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.yml and make the following changes:

    1. Define your public and private domains in the hosts directive. For example: 

      hosts:
  - "localhost"
  - "private.localhost"
  - "public.localhost"

    2. Change starttls_required to false

    3. Change auth_password_format to plain

    4. Change shaper: normal and fast values to 500000

    5. Increase the max_user_sessions: all: value to 10000

    6. Comment out the mod_offline directive 

      ##mod_offline:
    ##access_max_user_messages: max_user_offline_messages

    7. Uncomment or add the mod_legacy_auth directive under the modules: section 

      mod_legacy_auth: {}
    (Debian Bullseye / Ubuntu Jammy) Ejabberd 21.x

    Open /etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.yml and make the following changes:

    1. Define your public and private domains in the hosts directive. For example: 

      hosts:
  - localhost
  - private.localhost
  - public.localhost

    2. Change starttls_required to false

    3. Change auth_password_format to plain

    4. Change all shaper: normal and fast values to 500000

    5. Increase the shaper_rules: max_user_sessions: value to 10000

    6. Comment out the shaper_rules: max_user_offline_messages: values 

      ##max_user_offline_messages:
  ##5000: admin
  ##100: all

    7. Comment out the mod_offline directive 

      ##mod_offline:
    ##access_max_user_messages: max_user_offline_messages

    8. Add the mod_legacy_auth directive under the modules: section 

      mod_legacy_auth: {}

  3. Restart the ejabberd server to make the changes take effect:

    Starting ejabberd
    systemctl start ejabberd.service

11. Create the OpenSRF Jabber users

On each domain, you need two Jabber users to manage the OpenSRF communications:

  • a router user, to whom all requests to connect to an OpenSRF service will be routed; this Jabber user must be named router

  • an opensrf user, which clients use to connect to OpenSRF services; this user can be named anything you like

Create the Jabber users by issuing the following commands as the root Linux account. Substitute <password> for your chosen passwords for each user respectively:

Creating the OpenSRF Jabber users
ejabberdctl register router private.localhost <password>
ejabberdctl register opensrf private.localhost <password>
ejabberdctl register router public.localhost <password>
ejabberdctl register opensrf public.localhost <password>

12. Update the OpenSRF configuration files

12.1. About the OpenSRF configuration files

There are several configuration files that you must update to make OpenSRF work. SYSCONFDIR is /opensrf/etc by default, or the value that you passed to --sysconfdir during the configuration phase.

  • SYSCONFDIR/opensrf.xml - this file lists the services that this OpenSRF installation supports; if you create a new OpenSRF service, you need to add it to this file.

    • The <hosts> element at the bottom of the file lists the services that should be started for each hostname. You can force the system to use localhost, so in most cases you will leave this section as-is.

  • SYSCONFDIR/opensrf_core.xml - this file lists the Jabber connection information that will be used for the system, as well as determining logging verbosity and defining which services will be exposed on the HTTP gateway.

  • ~/.srfsh.xml - this file gives a Linux account the ability to use the srfsh interpreter to communicate with OpenSRF services.

12.2. Updating the OpenSRF configuration files

  1. As the opensrf Linux account, copy the example configuration files to create your locally customizable OpenSRF configuration files:

    Copying the example OpenSRF configuration files
    cd SYSCONFDIR
cp opensrf_core.xml.example opensrf_core.xml
cp opensrf.xml.example opensrf.xml

  2. Edit the SYSCONFDIR/opensrf_core.xml file to update the four username / password pairs to match the Jabber user accounts you just created:

    1. <config><opensrf> = use the private Jabber opensrf user

    2. <config><gateway> = use the public Jabber opensrf user

    3. <config><routers><router> = use the public Jabber router user

    4. <config><routers><router> = use the private Jabber router user

  3. Create a .srfsh.xml file in the home directory of each user that you want to use srfsh to communicate with OpenSRF services. For example, to enable the opensrf Linux account to use srfsh:

    1. cp SYSCONFDIR/srfsh.xml.example ~/.srfsh.xml

    2. Open ~/.srfsh.xml in your text editor of choice and update the password to match the password you set for the Jabber opensrf user at the private.localhost domain.

13. Starting and stopping OpenSRF services

To start all OpenSRF services with a hostname of localhost, issue the following command as the opensrf Linux account:

osrf_control --localhost --start-all

To stop all OpenSRF services with a hostname of localhost, issue the following command as the opensrf Linux account:

osrf_control --localhost --stop-all

14. Testing the default OpenSRF services

By default, OpenSRF ships with an opensrf.math service that performs basic calculations involving two integers. Once you have started the OpenSRF services, test the services as follows:

  1. Start the srfsh interactive OpenSRF shell by issuing the following command as the opensrf Linux account:

    Starting the srfsh interactive OpenSRF shell
    srfsh

  2. Issue the following request to test the opensrf.math service: 

    srfsh# request opensrf.math add 2,2

    You should receive the value 4.

15. Websockets installation instructions

  1. Install websocketd (latest stable release from http://websocketd.com/)

    (Debian, Ubuntu)
    cd /tmp
wget 'https://github.com/joewalnes/websocketd/releases/download/v0.3.0/websocketd-0.3.0-linux_amd64.zip'
unzip websocketd-0.3.0-linux_amd64.zip
sudo cp websocketd /usr/local/bin/

  2. Run websocketd

    Choose option a or b, below.

    Note

    websocketd does not offer a configurable inactivity timeout, meaning websocket client connections will persist until each client disconnects or the service is restarted. However, a timeout can be achieved with the use of a proxy (option a below). A proxy also allows websocketd to be exposed to web clients on port 443 instead of its internal port, which may simplify firewall configuration.

    1. Run websocketd as opensrf

      Note

      This choice requires one of the proxy configurations mentioned below.
      (Debian, Ubuntu)
      /usr/local/bin/websocketd --port 7682 /openils/bin/osrf-websocket-stdio &

# Other useful command line parameters include:
# --loglevel debug|trace|access|info|error|fatal
# --maxforks <n>
# --sameorigin=true
# --origin=host[:port][,host[:port]...]

# See https://github.com/joewalnes/websocketd/blob/master/help.go

    2. Run websocketd without a proxy

      (Debian, Ubuntu)
      sudo -b /usr/local/bin/websocketd --port 7682 --ssl --sslcert=/etc/apache2/ssl/server.crt \
     --sslkey=/etc/apache2/ssl/server.key /openils/bin/osrf-websocket-stdio

15.1. Optional Systemd Setup

Websocketd is a standalone program with no daemon mode, but can be implemented as a systemd service.

Copy <PREFIX>/examples/websocket-osrf.service.example into file /lib/systemd/system/websocketd-osrf.service

Then add & start the service.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable websocketd-osrf
sudo systemctl start websocketd-osrf

16. Optional: Using a web proxy (Apache 2.4 and above)

When the OpenSRF HTTP Translator runs behind a proxy, Apache must be configured to read the IP address of the originating client instead of the proxy IP address.

  1. Enable mod_remoteip 

    sudo a2enmod remoteip

  2. Enable remote IP settings by uncommenting and modifying as needed the Apache configuration variables starting with RemoteIP* in the sample Apache configuration file opensrf.conf.

  3. Configure Apache to listen on port 7080 for HTTP and port 7443 for HTTPS and ensure that it is not listening on ports 80 and 443, then restart Apache.

  4. If you didn’t run configure with the --with-websockets-port=443 option, edit <PREFIX>/javascript/opensrf_ws.js and <PREFIX>/javascript/opensrf_ws_shared.js and change 

    var WEBSOCKET_PORT_SSL = 7682;

    to

    var WEBSOCKET_PORT_SSL = 443;

17. Optional: Using NGINX as a proxy

NGINX can be used to proxy HTTP, HTTPS, and WebSockets traffic. Among other reasons, this can be useful for Evergreen setups that want to have both HTTPS and secure WebSockets traffic both go through port 443 while using two Apache instances (one for the WebSockets gateway and one for the more memory-intensive TPAC pages).

The following instructions are a guide for setting this up on Debian and Ubuntu systems, but expect general familiarity with various system administration and network tasks. The steps should be run as the root Linux account, and assume that you already followed the instructions for installing WebSockets support.

  1. Install NGINX if not already present: 

    apt-get install nginx

  2. Copy the example NGINX configuration file into place and remove default. 

    cd /path/to/opensrf-OSRFVERSION
cp examples/nginx/osrf-ws-http-proxy /etc/nginx/sites-available/
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/osrf-ws-http-proxy /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/osrf-ws-http-proxy
rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

  3. Edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/osrf-ws-http-proxy to set the location of the SSL certificate and private key.

  4. Generate a dhparam file in the directory specified in the nginx config. 

    # Default config stores dhparam.pem in the Apache2 ssl directory.
openssl dhparam -out /etc/apache2/ssl/dhparam.pem 2048

  5. Start NGINX 

    /etc/init.d/nginx start

18. Optional: Using HAProxy as a proxy

HAProxy can also be used to proxy HTTP, HTTPS, and WebSockets traffic as an alternative to NGINX.

The following instructions are a guide for setting this up on Debian and Ubuntu systems, but expect general familiarity with various system administration and network tasks. The steps should be run as the root Linux account, and assume that you already followed the instructions for installing WebSockets support.

  1. Install HAProxy if not already present: 

    apt-get install haproxy

  2. Append the example HAProxy to haproxy.cfg. 

    cd /path/to/opensrf-OSRFVERSION
cat examples/haproxy/osrf-ws-http-proxy >> /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg

  3. Edit /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg to set the location of the PEM file containing the SSL certificate and private key.

  4. Start HAProxy. 

    /etc/init.d/haproxy start

19. Getting help

Need help installing or using OpenSRF? Join the mailing lists at http://evergreen-ils.org/communicate/mailing-lists/ or contact us on the Freenode IRC network on the #evergreen channel.