Run the OSP on a local intranet server
From OSPDocs
Running OSP on a local (intranet) server
There are occasions when it will be desirable or necessary to run OSP from a server on the local area network (intranet), rather than on a server out on the internet. Situations where this would be necessary might include:
- Running simulations with highly sensitive or classified content
- Running simulations when internet connectivity is unavailable or unreliable, or as a fallback in the event that the online OSP hosting service is down
- Running experimental versions of the simulation system or simulation content in an isolated test environment to permit rapid simulation modification without the need for uploading content or system software changes to the online server
Developers will be familiar with running the simulation from a locally hosted apache tomcat server, but in general instructors won’t have had this experience. The following instructions presume that the instructor’s machine has an apache tomcat server installed, and that the batch files to start and stop the server are available to the instructor.
1. Start Tomcat
- On the chosen local machine, start the apache tomcat server in the normal way - usually C:\apache\tomcat\bin\startup.bat
- Ideally there will be a desktop shortcut provided for the instructor.
2. Login as Author, Facilitator, or Participant (on this machine)
Use the following addresses (url’s or links) to access the server as the author or instructor and then start an instance of the simulation – note that if the simulation was started in advance, it is only necessary to restart tomcat for it to then be available for participants to login and begin a simulation.
- Local simulation author login (to author or modify a simulation): http://localhost:8080/usip_osp/simulation_authoring/
- Local simulation facilitator login (to start and stop simulations): http://localhost:8080/usip_osp/simulation_facilitation/playweb.jsp
- Local simulation participant login (to enter a started simulation to which you’ve been assigned): http://localhost:8080/usip_osp/simulation/index.jsp?schema=test
3. Instruct other participants to login
Now that the tomcat server is running, the simulation should also be accessible to users on any machine that can see the local machine on the local network (inside the firewall). [Note that various permissions will need to be set appropriately and this should be tested within the USIP domain as well as with other networks such as GWU.]
Presuming that the local machines are in a workgroup or a domain, and that the instructor’s machine has a name, then that name is substituted for “localhost” in each of the url’s above. For example, if the instructor’s machine is named R2D2, then the url’s would become:
- Authoring: http://r2d2:8080/usip_osp/simulation_authoring/
- Facilitation: http://r2d2:8080/usip_osp/simulation_facilitation/playweb.jsp
- Participating (including the person acting as the Control actor): http://r2d2:8080/usip_osp/simulation/index.jsp?schema=test
4. (Optional) Alternate login links
If there are problems with using the computer name in the url’s, then the actual IP address on the local network can be used in place of the computer name.
One way to determine the ip address of the instructor’s machine is to open a command prompt (aka dos window) and after the command prompt type ipconfig (and press enter) i.e. c:\> ipconfig
The resultant output will contain a lot of information, so it might be necessary to scroll the window up (backwards) to find the line that contains the IPv4 address – for this example the address line reads: IPv4 Address...........: 192.168.1.41
This address 192.168.1.41 can now be used in place of “localhost” or “R2D2” in the url’s
- Authoring: http://192.168.1.41:8080/usip_osp/simulation_authoring/
- Facilitation: http://192.168.1.41:8080/usip_osp/simulation_facilitation/playweb.jsp
- Participating (including the person acting as the Control actor): http://192.168.1.41:8080/usip_osp/simulation/index.jsp?schema=test
