Configure Chat system (optional)

Places of config information

The node-based chat server has its config files here:

/opt/iliasdata/clientname/chatroom (Note: you need to replace “clientname” here with the client you used in the JSON file. In our case, it is “Ilias”)

client.cfg

• Can be configured and with this created in ILIAS->Administration->Repository and Objects->Chat Room

server.cfg

• Since ILIAS 7, there is no way to change or create this file via ILIAS->Administration->Repository and Objects->Chat Room. That means that the information has to be added to server.cfg manually

NOTE: In case you need to edit/update your chat settings in the JSON file, you can use the following commands:

nano /opt/iliasdata/scripts/clients/clientname1.json

cd /var/www/html/ilias

php setup/setup.php update /opt/iliasdata/scripts/clients/clientname1.json

Creation of client.cfg

• Login as root in ILIAS
• Go to Administration->Repository and Objects->Chatroom
• Fill out the form in General Settings:
• Click "Save"
• You now have a fresh client.cfg in the directory /opt/iliasdata/clientname/chatroom (again, instead of “clientname” here, you would have the client ID you used in the JSON file)
• If you get an error while saving, check the file permissions (write must be allowed for www-data).

Creating server.cfg

cd /opt/iliasdata/clientname/chatroom

(replace “clientname” here with the client ID you used in the JSON file)

nano server.cfg

Paste this code in:

{
    "protocol": "http",
    "port": "8080",
    "address": "127.0.0.1",
    "cert": "",
    "key": "",
    "dhparam": "",
    "log": "\/opt\/iliasdata\/log\/chat.log",
    "error_log": "\/opt\/iliasdata\/log\/chaterror.log",
    "sub_directory": "",
    "deletion_mode": "1",
    "deletion_unit": "days",
    "deletion_value": "10",
    "deletion_time": "22:30"
}

Create Startscripts

nano /etc/init.d/ilchat

Fill in the following code:

#!/bin/bash
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          ilchat3
# Author: Wolfgang Hubesch wolfgang.huebsch@gmx.de
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: ILIAS-Chatserver nodebased
### END INIT INFO
 
# Do NOT "set -e"
 
PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
DESC="ilchat"
NAME=ilchat
#DAEMON=/usr/sbin/$NAME
#DAEMON_ARGS="--options args"
 
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME
ilroot=/var/www/html/ilias
ildata=/opt/iliasdata
client=Ilias
url=127.0.0.1
chatport=8080
code="404"
USER=www-data
node_path=/usr/bin/node
 
#################################################
status=$(curl -s --head ${url}:${chatport} | head -n 1)
 
case "$1" in
    start)
 
if [[ $status == *${code}* ]];
then
 
echo "Chat-Server for client ${client} on port ${chatport} seems to be running"
else
echo "Chat-Server for client ${client} on port ${chatport} seems to be DOWN. Try to start..."
sudo -H -u $USER bash -c "${node_path} ${ilroot}/Modules/Chatroom/chat/chat.js ${ildata}/${client}/chatroom/server.cfg ${ildata}/${client}/chatroom/client.cfg" &
 
sleep 5
                status=$(curl -s --head ${url}:${chatport} | head -n 1)
                if [[ $status == *${code}* ]];
                then
                        echo "Chatserver for client ${client} on port ${chatport} is up!"
                        exit
 
                else
                        echo "Sorry, I was not able to start the Chatserver for client ${client} on port ${chatport}. Try user root instead of ${USER} (edit line 28 of this script)"
                        exit
                fi
 
 
 
 
fi
 
           ;;
 
    stop)
 
                if [[ $status == *${code}* ]];
                then
                        echo "Chatserver for client ${client} on port ${chatport} is running...try to stop..."
                        kill $(ps aux | grep chat.js | awk '{print $2}') > /dev/null 2>&1
                        exit
 
                else
                        echo "Chatserver for client ${client} on port ${chatport} is already down..."
                        exit
                fi
 
 ;;
 
    status)
 
                if [[ $status == *${code}* ]];
                then
                        echo "Chatserver is running...exit now..."
                        exit
 
                else
                        echo "Chatserver is down...exit now..."
                        exit
 
                fi
 
        ;;
 
    *)
                echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|status}"
                exit 1
esac
 
exit 0

• NOTE: Make sure you have the client name fits your installation and client in line 23 (in our case, it is Ilias)
• Exit nano with CTR+x

chmod +x /etc/init.d/ilchat

Start the server

• Check if Node is installed.
• That's enough to start the chat server. You can do this manually:

 /etc/init.d/ilchat start|stop|status

• Check if any messages in the error log would indicate an incorrect configuration:

nano /opt/iliasdata/log/chaterror.log

Crontab settings

Crontab shall check if the chat server runs every 5 minutes:

nano /etc/crontab

• Add a line like this:

#Line for Chat-Server:  checks every 5 minutes if sevice is up
*/5 * * * *    root  /etc/init.d/ilchat start >/dev/null 2>&1