12.3. (MANUAL) Installing CamCOPS on the server¶

Note

These instructions relate to manual server installation. For a simpler Docker-based system, see here.

Hardware and operating system requirements
URLs for CamCOPS source code
Installing CamCOPS
Installing other prerequisites

12.3.1. Hardware and operating system requirements ¶

The CamCOPS server is cross-platform software written in Python. It’s been tested primarily under Linux with MySQL.

12.3.2. URLs for CamCOPS source code ¶

https://github.com/ucam-department-of-psychiatry/camcops (for source)

Todo

https://pypi.io/project/XXX/ (for pip install XXX)

12.3.3. Installing CamCOPS ¶

See Linux flavours for a reminder of some common differences between Linux operating systems.

12.3.3.1. Ubuntu installation from the CamCOPS Debian package ¶

To install CamCOPS and all its dependencies, download the Debian package from https://github.com/ucam-department-of-psychiatry/camcops/releases and use gdebi:

$ sudo gdebi camcops-VERSION.deb

where VERSION is the CamCOPS version you’re installing. (If you don’t have gdebi, install it with sudo apt-get install gdebi.)

CamCOPS will now be installed in /usr/share/camcops.

You should be able to type camcops_server and see something relevant.

12.3.3.2. CentOS/RHEL installation from the CamCOPS RPM package ¶

First of all, check the prerequisites for RHEL 8.6.

sudo yum install camcops_VERSION.noarch.rpm

# Or, for more verbosity and to say yes to everything, use this command instead:
# sudo yum --assumeyes --verbose --rpmverbosity=debug install camcops_VERSION.noarch.rpm
# ... but, curiously, yum temporarily swallows the output from the post-install
#     scripts and only spits it out at the end. This makes it look like the
#     installation has got stuck (because packages like numpy are very slow
#     to install); use "watch pstree" or "top" to reassure yourself
#     that progress is indeed happening.

# If accessing the internet through a proxy, where the https_proxy environment variable is
# defined, use:
# sudo -E yum install camcops_VERSION.noarch.rpm

You should be able to type camcops_server and see something relevant.

12.3.3.3. Windows installation (or: generic OS installation)¶

Install Python (see Installing Python for Windows).
Install ImageMagick (see Installing ImageMagick for Windows).
Install RabbitMQ, or another suitable AMQP broker.

Create and activate a Python 3.6+ virtual environment:

export CAMCOPS_VENV=~/dev/camcops_venv
python3 -m venv $CAMCOPS_VENV
. $CAMCOPS_VENV/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip  # just in case you have an old version of pip

Install the CamCOPS server package into that virtual environment:
pip install camcops-server

Todo

sort out MySQL dependencies and/or provide database driver advice

Todo

implement Windows service

12.3.4. Installing other prerequisites ¶

For example, you might be running Ubuntu and want to use Apache as your front-end web server and MySQL as your database:

sudo apt-get install apache2 mysql-client mysql-server

12.4. (MANUAL) Specimen installations¶

Note

These instructions relate to manual server installation. For a simpler Docker-based system, see here.

12.4.1. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS¶

Todo

write Ubuntu specimen installation

Starting with a bare Ubuntu 18.04 LTS installation (which comes with Python 3.6), you will need:

sudo apt install gcc  # or x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc will be missing
sudo apt install python3-dev  # or <Python.h> will be missing

You may also want MySQL, e.g.

wget -c https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql-apt-config_0.8.10-1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i mysql-apt-config_0.8.10-1_all.deb  # and follow on-screen instructions
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mysql-server  # and enter a root password when prompted

12.4.2. Windows 10¶

Install Python (see Installing Python for Windows).
Install ImageMagick (see Installing ImageMagick for Windows).
Install a database package, create a database, and create an ODBC connection to that database.
- For SQL Server, see Creating an SQL Server database.

Install the CamCOPS server and a suitable database driver.

REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
REM Make and activate a Python virtual environment
REM (Note that old versions of pip may fail, so upgrade just in case.)
REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
\python36\python.exe -m venv \some_path\camcops_venv
\some_path\camcops_venv\Scripts\activate.bat
python -m pip install --upgrade pip

REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
REM Install the CamCOPS server
REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
REM pip install camcops_server
REM or install from a cloned git repository:
cd \some_path
git clone <REPOSITORY_URL>
cd camcops\server
pip install -e .

REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
REM Install suitable database drivers
REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
pip install pyodbc

REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
REM Create/edit a default config file
REM -----------------------------------------------------------------------
camcops_server demo_camcops_config > \some_path\my_camcops_config.ini

Note

If you get the error ImportError: No module named 'tkinter', then you probably said no to installing tk/tkinter when installing Python. Run the installer again and say yes (e.g. Python 3.6.7 (64-bit) Setup ‣ Modify ‣ [✓] tcl/tk and IDLE: Installs tkinter and the IDLE development environment ‣ Next ‣ Install).

Edit the configuration file. In particular, as an absolute minimum you must set:
- DB_URL
Create the database structure:
```
camcops_server upgrade_db --config \some_path\my_camcops_config.ini
```
You should specify this filename as an absolute path (Alembic does some directory changing that makes relative filenames fail!).

Todo

Current Windows problems: SQL DELETE taking forever during upgrade_db. See DELETE takes forever. Probably to do with constraints/triggers. Temporary workaround: use create_db instead. (However, the reindex command works fine.)
Create a superuser
```
camcops_server make_superuser
```

Create a dummy (“snake oil”) SSL certificate and key, with some variation on this theme:

openssl req ^
    -nodes ^
    -new ^
    -x509 ^
    -keyout dummy_ssl_private_key.key ^
    -out dummy_ssl_certificate.cert ^
    -subj "/C=UK/ST=my_state/L=my_location/O=CamCOPS testing/CN=Forename Surname"

REM Note that the country code (in this case "UK") must be 2 characters max.

Launch a test server like this (directly or via a batch file):

@echo off

set IP_ADDR=127.0.0.1
set PORT=8088
set SSL_CERTIFICATE=C:\some_path\dummy_ssl_certificate.cert
set SSL_KEY=C:\some_path\dummy_ssl_private_key.key
set CAMCOPS_CONFIG_FILE=C:\some_path\test_camcops_config.ini

REM Config location will be read directly from environment variable.
REM Could also specify it with --config.

camcops_server serve_cherrypy ^
    --host %IP_ADDR% ^
    --port %PORT% ^
    --debug_toolbar ^
    --verbose ^
    --ssl_certificate %SSL_CERTIFICATE% ^
    --ssl_private_key %SSL_KEY%

Browse to https://127.0.0.1:8088/ to test it.
Create some ID number definitions, and a group. Ensure you have a user that is uploading to that group.
Install the CamCOPS client. Configure and register it. Test settings:
- Server address: 127.0.0.1
- Server port: 8088
- Path on server: database
- Validate HTTPS certificates? No

12.3. (MANUAL) Installing CamCOPS on the server¶

12.3.1. Hardware and operating system requirements ¶

12.3.2. URLs for CamCOPS source code ¶

12.3.3. Installing CamCOPS ¶

12.3.3.1. Ubuntu installation from the CamCOPS Debian package ¶

12.3.3.2. CentOS/RHEL installation from the CamCOPS RPM package ¶

12.3.3.3. Windows installation (or: generic OS installation)¶

12.3.4. Installing other prerequisites ¶

12.4. (MANUAL) Specimen installations¶

12.4.1. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS¶

12.4.2. Windows 10¶

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