Deliver help content from an intranet server
Depending on your security requirements and organizational needs and if your product supports user assistance web delivery, you can provide help content to users from an intranet server. This arrangement frees up disk space on users' computers because one copy of the help content is stored on a server. Users can have the latest help content from IBM with a single update to the intranet server.
Providing help content on an intranet server requires deploying the enterprise help.war application on an application server. You must have an application server for this purpose.
Steps for setting up an intranet server for help content:
- Set up the application server.
- Add the help.war application to the server.
- Download help content.
- Tell users how to access the intranet help.
Each enterprise solution is different. This example shows how to set up the open-source Apache Tomact Application server and deploy the help.war application. The basic procedure applies to all application servers; the specifics for your server might vary. Review the deployment instructions for your application server.
This example uses Apache Tomcat 6.0. You can download the server application from http://tomcat.apache.org .
NOTE: Apache Tomcat 6.0 requires the latest version of the JRE v5.0 or later. This task uses version 5.0.
To set up the Apache Tomcat Application server for providing help content:
- Download and install according to the included instructions in the JRE: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html .
NOTE: You can also use the full JDK rather than just the JRE.
- Set an environment variable named JRE_HOME to the pathname of the directory into which you installed the JRE. For example, set one of these environment variables: c:\jre5.0 or /usr/local/java/jre5.0.
NOTE: If you are using the full JDK rather than just the JRE, set your JAVA_HOME environment variable to the path name of the directory into which you installed the JDK. For example, use one of these environment variables: setc:\j2sdk5.0 or /usr/local/java/j2sdk5.0.
- Unpack the Apache Tomcat binary distribution files into a location where the distribution is located in its own directory. The directory is typically named apache-tomcat-version. For this example, the name $CATALINA_HOME refers to the full path name of the release directory.
- Place the help.war in the webapps folder: $CATALINA_HOME\webapps. The help.war is the Help System packaged as a WAR (Web Application aRchive). The file is available on the Enterprise CD.
- Start Apache Tomcat by entering the Windows command: $CATALINA_HOME\bin\startup.bat. Apache Tomcat is running when the information message shows "Server Startup in x ms". Verify Apache Tomcat is running by opening this address: http://localhost:8080/. The default web applications that Apache Tomcat includes are listed.
- After you open the startup page, you can access the help system by adding help/index.jsp to the end of your URL: http://localhost:8080/help/index.jsp. NOTE: The Help System does not contain help content. You must update the help with your product help.
- To obtain updated product help, navigate to the update window and follow the provided installation and update instructions: http://localhost:8080/help/updater/updatewar.jsp.
- To enable your users to access the help content from your application server, provide the users with the server, the port, and the path to the help system.
- When the help is available, users can set the help pointer. For Eclipse-based products, start the product and click Window > Preferences. For products that are not Eclipse-based, open the help application of the product and click File > Preferences.
- Click Help and then expand the menu options under Help. Click Content. Select Include help content from a remote infocenter, and then click Add.
- Enter the server name, host, path, and port and then click OK.