3.4 Gathering Network Information for Your Vibe Site

When you perform a Basic installation, the Novell Vibe installation program needs hostname and HTTP port information about the server where you are installing Vibe.

3.4.1 Host Identification

When you install Vibe, the Vibe installation program needs to know the name of the server where you are installing the Vibe software. The default is localhost. Do not use the default.

For internal use, you can use the DNS hostname of the Vibe server. However, if you want your Vibe site to be accessible from the Internet, you must specify the fully qualified domain name for the Vibe server in order to allow external access.

BASIC VIBE INSTALLATION SUMMARY SHEET

Under Network Information, specify the hostname or fully qualified domain name to use for the Vibe server.

3.4.2 Port Numbers

When you install Vibe, Tomcat is installed along with the Vibe software. Vibe uses Tomcat as a standalone Web server for delivering data to Vibe users in their Web browsers. For more information about Tomcat, see the Apache Tomcat Web site.

IMPORTANT:If the server where you want to install Vibe already has a Web server running on it, shut it down while you install and test Vibe. The instructions for a Basic Vibe installation assume that no other Web server is running on the Vibe server. If you want to maintain another Web server on the Vibe server, you are responsible for resolving any port conflicts that might arise.

On the command line, use the netstat command to see what ports are currently in use on the server where you plan to install Vibe:

Linux:

netstat -tan

Windows:

netstat -a -n -p tcp

Make sure that the port numbers that you specify during Vibe installation do not conflict with ports that are already in use on the server.

HTTP/HTTPS Ports

By default, standard Web servers such as Apache and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) use port 80 for non-secure HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) connections and port 443 for secure HTTPS connections. HTTPS connections use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) for added security. As a result, Web browsers default to port 80 when no port is specified in a non-secure HTTP URL and to port 443 when no port is specified in a secure HTTPS URL.

Tomcat defaults to port 8080 for non-secure HTTP connections and to port 8443 for secure HTTPS connections, so that it does not conflict with the standard Web server port numbers. If you configure Vibe with the Tomcat default port numbers, users must include the appropriate port number when providing the Vibe site URL. Typically, users prefer not to do this.

Unfortunately, the situation is not as simple as just configuring Vibe to use the default port numbers of 80 and 443. On Linux, non-root processes are not allowed access to port numbers lower than 1024 and you are counseled against running Vibe as root in Section 3.9.2, Linux User ID for Vibe. Also on Linux and Windows, the default Tomcat installation expects ports 8080 and 8443.

For a Basic installation, you can use the default port numbers as presented by the Vibe Installation program:

  • HTTP port: 80
  • Secure HTTP port: 443
  • Listen port: 8080
  • Secure listen port: 8443

BASIC VIBE INSTALLATION SUMMARY SHEET

Under Network Information, the default port numbers have been provided for you. You only need to specify different port numbers if you anticipate port conflicts with other software on the Vibe server. Resolving port conflicts is beyond the scope of this Vibe documentation.

After you install Vibe on Linux, you need to complete the steps in Setting Up Port Forwarding so that users are not required to include the port number in the Vibe URL.

If you want to use secure HTTPS connections for your Vibe site, you must obtain signed certificate files as described in Preparing for Secure HTTP Connections in Site Security in the Novell Vibe OnPrem 3 Administration Guide either before or after you install Vibe.

Shutdown Port

By default, Vibe uses 8005 as its shutdown port. For an explanation of the shutdown port, see Tomcat - Shutdown Port.

BASIC VIBE INSTALLATION SUMMARY SHEET

Under Network Information, specify the port you want Vibe to use as its shutdown port if the default of 8005 is already in use on the Vibe server.

AJP Port

By default, Vibe uses 8009 as its AJP port. For an explanation of the Apache JServ Protocol port, see The AJP Connector.

IMPORTANT:If you are installing Vibe on Novell Open Enterprise Server 2, port 8009 is already in use, so you need to select a different port, such as 8010.

BASIC VIBE INSTALLATION SUMMARY SHEET

Under Network Information, specify the port you want Vibe to use as its AJP port if the default of 8009 is already in use on the Vibe server.