Is external OpenFire 3.5.2 DB necessary?

I want to take OpenFire v3.5.2 on a Linux test drive and the how-to’s say to install java and mysql. I installed java 6, but would prefer to use an internal, embedded database.

Is the how-to misleading by implying that mysql installation is mandatory? Can I simply install OpenFire and in the Web interface specify an internal, embedded database?

I installed OpenFire, then disinstalled it using Ubuntu 8.04 synaptic package manager because I was watching the installation in a small console window and saw the following:

setting up openfire (3.5.2)
adduser: Warning: The home directory ‘/var/lib/openfire’ does not belong to the user you are currently creating.
Starting openfire: openfire

and nothing further happened. The downloaded OpenFire package was in my home/desktop and I double-clicked on it causing the synaptic package manager to load and take care of things.

Will I have to install OpenFire by using a console window and sudo? Which commands?

Do I have to move the ‘openfire_3.5.2_all.deb’ to somewhere else before beginning the installation?

What did I do wrong?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I want to take OpenFire v3.5.2 on a Linux test drive and the how-to’s say to install java and mysql.
Yes, you can use embedded database, but that not recommend. When using MySQL or some other “real” database it is much easier to do a database backup. When using embedded-db you would need to shutdown Openfire to be sure everything is flushed to database. When using MySQL you can simply use mysqlhotcopy and do it while Openfire is running. Also you have the option to connect to the database directly and manipulate entries manually, you will rarely use this, but it may help in some situations. Last but not least you will probably have a better performance when dealing with large amounts of users.

using Ubuntu 8.04 synaptic package manager
Sorry, I’m not familiar with Ubuntu’s packet manager, so I can’t help you with that problem.

The number of users will not be high enough to worry about a backup, learning how to install and use mysql would maybe take more time. A service interruption for an incremental backup would not be long. A broadcast message that the server will be down during lunch for a minute or two would suffice. The server load level will be minimal.

Since the lack of a non-mandatory mysql installation is not causing the problem, it must be something very basic to Linux that I am doing wrong. Since the package manager is only a GUI to apt-get, it is possible that I need to do the installation in a console as sudo. I am a Linux newbie, so still learning.

Hi Coolcat,

this is wrong:

Yes, you can use embedded database, but that not recommend. When using MySQL or some other “real” database it is much easier to do a database backup. When using embedded-db you would need to shutdown Openfire to be sure everything is flushed to database.

A simple file copy while Openfire is running is fine to create a useful backup of the database. It’s only useless if a database checkpoint occurs but this is not often the case.

LG

You should install as sudo. You should also use mysql, or some such database. The embedded database is fine for a sandbox system but production servers are better served by external databases. The ease of backing up MySQL via cron automates the task. The ability to easily manually edit contents of the database to remove of fix data (chat logs). Performance as database content increases. MySQL is generally easily installed on most linux distros and can be easily managed via any number of administration applications:

I wouldn’t touch the internal database again, I’ve found MySQL to be much more reliable and have higher performance.

Backup method? mysqldump… done, and you can do it while it runs.

Todd,

thanks for your hints about graphical interfaces to MySQL. With reference to chat logs, I assume that SysAdmin of OpenFire can decide whether or not to log chats. While maybe necessary for corporations, organizations may not need nor desire chat logging.

I would also assume that if one starts out with an embedded database, when one changes to MySQL there is a problem to transfer data between the two.

It is becoming apparent to me using the internal database that adding users, for example, Juliet, that the SysAdmin simply adds Juliet and not Juliet@my.domain e.g. the user Juliet becomes for external user Juliet@my.domain, but not for the SysAdmin creating users.

Local users in the same LAN segment would add only Juliet to the contact list, but user in the Internet cloud would add Juliet@my.domain to their contact list. Correct?

regards

Thanks for your reply and advise. Why would one choose **mysqldump **instead of **mysqlhotcopy ? **

Advantages and disadvantages, limitations ?

regards

When adding users in your client, always use the full JabberID: juliet@my.domain.com

How Openfire handles local users internaly has nothing to do with that.

Why would one choose **mysqldump **instead of mysqlhotcopy?

mysqlhotcopy is faster. It does just flush, lock and then copy the files. mysqldump is slow, because it creates a file with SQL-commands which can recreate all your tables and data. However, mysqldump should work with all tables types, where mysqlhotcopy does only support MyISAM.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysqldump.html

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysqlhotcopy.html

thanks for your reply.

If entering Juliet@my.domain.com is correct for the client, I assume that this is **not **correct to enter in the SysAdmin interface, e.g. entering Juliet@my.domain.com in OpenFire would cause negative and undesired effects. The SysAdmin would enter only Juliet and nothing more. Correct?

RE back-up, I will inform myself about dump and hotcopy, but the other direction is RESTORE. When restore becomes necessary, how do dump and hotcopy compare with advantages, disadvantages, and limitations ?

Regards

Heard of people having issues with hotcopy, I’ve just always used dump, it works, it’s simple, and you just cat it back in.

I guess for reference a thread: http://www.listsearch.com/MySQL/Thread/index.lasso?54213#291696