Cambridge Datasets Application

The Cambridge Datasets Application allows external users to submit a formal request to access one or more Cambridge University datasets. The Datasets Application forwards the request to internal reviewers who then submit their comments via the application. A final reviewer approves or rejects the user’s request within the application, based on the comments of previous reviewers.

The Cambridge Datasets Application uses Drupal as an application framework and comes as a Drupal Profile, extending the Cambridge 2.0 Full Profile available from:

https://github.com/misd-service-development/drupal-cambridge-profile/releases

The Cambridge Datasets Drupal Profile contains everything required for a University of Cambridge Drupal site (such as the University's house style and Raven authentication), and includes a variety of modules commonly used (such as Workbench, Media and CKEditor).

Installing Cambridge Datasets Application

1. Create MySQL Database

Logon to MySQL as root user and create new database for Drupal:

CREATE DATABASE drupal_datasets;

Create Drupal user:

CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '[enter_drupal_password]';

Give new user access to Drupal database:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON drupal_datasets.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

2a. Download Application - Fastest

• Install Drush 7 Drupal command line tool by following instructions at:

https://docs.drush.org/en/7.x/install/

• Navigate to the parent web folder you wish to serve the application from and type:

drush dl drupal-7
sudo mv drupal-7* drupal
cd drupal/profiles/
git clone https://github.com/Cambridge-IDE/cambridge_datasets_application.git
cd ../../
sudo chown -R _www:_www drupal

Note: you should replace _www with the user/group your webserver is running under.

• Configure your webserver to point to the drupal folder created above.

2b. Download Application - Step-by-step

• Download Drupal 7 from:

https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal

• Unpack the Drupal archive and move to the appropriate location on your webserver

• Download the Cambridge Datasets Drupal profile from:

https://github.com/Cambridge-IDE/cambridge_datasets_application/archive/master.zip

• Unzip the archive, rename to cambridge_datasets_application and move to the drupal/profiles/ folder

• Navigate to the top directory containing the Drupal folder and type:

sudo chown -R _www:_www drupal

Note: you should replace _www with the user/group your webserver is running under.

3. Install Cambridge Datasets Application

Using a web browser, navigate to the Drupal folder served by your webserver. You should see the following screen:

Click Save and continue. After a while you should see the following screen:

Enter the fields exactly as they appear above; enter the password used to create the drupaluser above in the Database password field (see Create MySQL Database section, above).

Click Save and continue. After a while you should see the following screen:

It is recommended you copy the field inputs as they appear above, changing the Site e-mail address and Email address fields to reflect the email address of the site administrator. Click Save and continue to finish the setup process.

Once the install has completed, click Go to site and you should see:

4. Additional configuration

Before you can start using the application, you will need to configure your SMTP settings and enter the path of a folder that will store backups of submitted requests (the Datastore Path).

SMTP Settings

To enter your SMTP settings, click Admin -> SMTP Settings. Once you have entered your SMTP settings, check they work by clicking Admin -> Send test email.

Datastore Folder

A backup of all requests submitted will be saved into a backup folder. To set up this folder, do the following:

• Login to your webserver and create the backup folder, eg /home/user/cambridgedatasets/saveddata
• Give webserver permission to write to backup folder by going to parent directory and changing owner:

cd /home/user/cambridgedatasets
sudo chown -R _www:_www saveddata

• Go to Drupal, click on the Cambridge Datasets Module Settings button on the top menu bar and enter the path into the Datastore Path field, eg. /home/user/cambridgedatasets

Setting up cron job

A cron job must be set up to ensure mail is delivered to reviewers and applicants on a periodic basis. To set up the cron job, do the following:

• Copy the file from cambridge_datasets_application/cron/processmailqueue.sh to a separate folder outside the Drupal folder, eg /home/user/cambridgedatasets/
• Edit processmailqueue.sh to reflect the website address of your application. For example change:

http://datasets.yourdepartment.cam.ac.uk/cambridge_datasets/processmessagequeue

TO

http://datasets.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/cambridge_datasets/processmessagequeue

• Give processmailqueue.sh the necessary permissions to execute by typing:

sudo chmod +x processmailqueue.sh

• Set up a cronjob to run processmailqueue.sh by typing:

crontab -e

• Enter a crontab formatted string, for example:

# Every minute:
* * * * * /home/user/cambridgedatasets/processmailqueue.sh

OR:

# Every hour:
0 * * * * /home/user/cambridgedatasets/processmailqueue.sh

Save the crontab.

• Type mail to check that every call to processmailqueue.sh generates no errors.

• To check the cron job is working correctly with the Datasets system, go to Admin -> Add test email to queue. You should be sent a test email the next time the cron job is run.

• Once you are satisfied the cron job is running as it should, type

crontab -e

• Add the following to the top of the cron job and save the job to prevent the cron job sending an internal mail every time it's run:

MAILTO=""