Learning Objects Search LX - Install Guide


Release 2.8.24
March 28, 2008

Requirements


NOTES:

Important Notice

Due to an issue in Blackboard, you may experience a "PermGen space" error when installing or activating Campus Pack. The PermGen space is a special area of the Java memory map, called the permanent generation heap, used to hold class files and related data. Repeatedly installing building blocks tends to leak memory in this heap. When the heap becomes full, building blocks may fail. Sometimes they fail when they are activated (made available); other times they fail during use. Typically, restarting Blackboard (or just Tomcat) will resolve the error, as all old classfiles will be eliminated. Deployments that perform nightly Blackboard restarts rarely see this problem; on the other hand, deployments that have not restarted in some time are quite likely to see it.

As of Blackboard 7.2, 256 MB is allocated to the permanent generation heap. This is sufficient for many building block installations. Earlier versions of Blackboard allocated only 64 MB which is not sufficient to support installing many building blocks. On such systems it may be necessary to increase the PermGen space to prevent the out-of-memory error from occurring. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. Edit the file blackboard/config/bb-config.properties. Note that this file may use UNIX line feeds which are hard to edit under Windows; it will appear as one long line with square characters instead of new lines. Please do your best to edit it anyway.
  2. Search for the bbconfig.jvm.options.extra.tomcat setting (you can typically just run a Find for "extra").
  3. Add the following value after the = character:
    -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -XX:PermSize=64m
    This will increase the heap size from 64 MB to 256 MB.
  4. Run the blackboard/tools/admin/PushConfigUpdates script and wait for it to complete. If you have a load-balanced system with shared configuration then you will need to bounce Tomcat on your other appservers; otherwise repeat this process on each appserver.

Note that you should only perform this process if you are familiar with, and comfortable running, the PushConfigUpdates script. For further information or assistance, please contact support@learningobjects.com.

Installation


IMPORTANT: If you have a previous release of Search LX on your server, please review the update section at the end of this document.
  1. Download the loi-searchlx-2.8.x.x.war file from the download site and save it to your desktop.
  2. Navigate to the System Admin tab in Blackboard.
  3. Click on Manage Building Blocks.
  4. Click on Install Building Block.
  5. Click on the Browse button.
  6. Navigate to your desktop, and find and select the saved loi-searchlx-2.8.x.x.war file.
  7. Click the Submit button on the web page. The file will then upload.
  8. Click on the OK button on the receipt page to return to the Manage Building Blocks page.
  9. Change the status of Search LX to Available. In Blackboard versions prior to 7.2, availability is set only for the entire institution. In Blackboard 7.2, the availability must be set for both the system and courses/orgs. Note: If the Search Building Block is not enabled here for all courses and organizations, then Search must be enabled individually in each course by the instructor.
  10. Click on the OK button on the Make Building Block Available page.
  11. The extension is now installed.
Registration


After installation, the extension must be registered with Learning Objects if you have not already registered or if you do not already have a license key for the application. To register, perform the following steps:
  1. Login to the Blackboard server as an administrator.
  2. Click on the System Admin tab.
  3. Click on Manage Search LX link under Tools.
  4. Click on the Register your extension link.
  5. Complete the form on the Register Search LX page and accept the license. If you do not have a promotional code, leave that field blank.
  6. Click submit on the form.
  7. Click OK on the receipt page.

    Within 24 hours, a registration key will be emailed to the address entered in the form.

  8. Return to the Search LX License page.
  9. Click on the Install your key link.
  10. Copy the key from your email into the text box.
  11. Accept the license.
  12. Click submit on the form.
  13. The extension is now registered.
Configuration

  1. As a Blackboard administrator, go to System Admin > Manage Search LX
  2. Click on Change Indexing Options
  3. Change the Scheduling options to index at one of the predefined times or choose manual
  4. Only change the performance options if advised to by Learning Objects
  5. The Shared Index File Location can be changed to a network share, if desired
  6. The Local Index File Location must be on the same machines as the application server

  7. NOTE: The first run of the indexer will put significant load on the application server. Users on the server during this initial run may experience decreased responsiveness. Also note that indexing requires a significant amount file space.
Top Frame Search Configuration (Optional)

  1. As a Blackboard administrator, go to System Admin > Manage Search LX
  2. Click on Configure Top Frame Search Bar
  3. Follow the instruction there
Portal Module Configuration (Optional)

  1. As a Blackboard administrator, go to System Admin > Manage Search LX
  2. Click on Configure Search Portal Module
  3. Follow the instruction there
Uninstall


IMPORTANT: Due to an issue with the uninstall process in Blackboard, additional steps must be taken to fully remove a building block.
  1. Login to the Blackboard server as an administrator.
  2. Click on the System Admin tab.
  3. Click on Manage Building Blocks.
  4. Change the status of Search LX to Inactive.
  5. Click on the OK button on the receipt page to return to the Manage Building Blocks page.
  6. Return to the Manage Building Blocks page.
  7. Click on the remove button for Search LX.
Update / Upgrade

If a previous release of Search LX is installed, it must be uninstalled by following the uninstall instructions (above), and then installing the newer release.

If upgrading from a 2.7.x version of Search LX, it is important to note that all course tool links to the search tool will be lost during the upgrade process. No data will be lost, but you will need to recreate the tool links to the search tool after the upgrade.
If upgrading from a 2.8.x version of Search LX, you must execute the "archive tool links" admin task PRIOR to uninstalling in order to ensure that tool links will not be lost. To do this, perform the following steps:
  1. Navigate to the Admin Panel and select the Manage Search LX link.
  2. Select the "Administration Tasks" link.
  3. Select the "Execute" button for the "Archive tool links" task.
  4. When the archive task is complete, the state will be listed as "ok." Once the task is complete, uninstall the Search LX Building Block and install the new version.
  5. Install the new version of Search LX and make it available.
  6. After installation is complete, navigate back to the "Administration Tasks" page.
  7. Select the "Execute" button for the "Restore tool links" task.
  8. When the archive task is complete, the state will be listed as "ok" and all tool links to the search tool will be restored.

If you have a load-balanced configuration, special care must be taken when upgrading to be sure that all of the application servers properly reload the new version. The best way to ensure this is to restart each application server after upgrading each of the Campus Pack applications. If you are unable to restart your application servers, please wait 2 to 5 minutes after removing the old versions before attempting to install the new ones.

You can check to be sure that each of the application servers upgraded correctly by viewing the Search LX logs.

  1. Login to the Blackboard server as an administrator.
  2. Click on the System Admin tab.
  3. Click on Manage Search LX.
  4. Click Download Logs.
  5. When prompted, save the log archive to a temporary location.
  6. Open the ZIP file and view each of the included Search LX log files. There should be one for each application server.
  7. Look in each log for a message showing that the old version stopped, and a following message showing that the new version started.
    Example:
    2006-04-25 14:50:42|INFO: Search LX v2.6.0.4488 stopped [com.learningobjects.util.ExtensionUtil.destroy]
    2006-04-25 14:58:41|INFO: Logging at level INFO [com.learningobjects.util.ExtensionUtil.initLogging]
    2006-04-25 14:58:41|INFO: Search LX vx.x.x.x started on Blackboard v6.3.1.374 [com.learningobjects.util.ExtensionUtil.init]
        
  8. If any application server is missing these messages, restart Tomcat on that server to force it to reload the application. After it finishes restarting, check the log for that host again to ensure that the correct version is running.
Upgrading Blackboard

Usually, nothing special needs to be done with Search LX when upgrading to a new version of the Blackboard Academic Suite software.

One special consideration needs to be made when upgrading from a Blackboard 6.x version to 7.x on a load-balanced Windows installation. Search LX may fail to function correctly if the paths to the shared index files location or temporary index files location are incorrect. Because Blackboard 7.0 Windows load balancing switches from mapped-drive file sharing to the UNC path system, you will need to edit the Search LX configuration to correct the paths before using Search LX.

  1. Log into Blackboard as a system administrator
  2. Go to the System Admin tab
  3. Choose the Manage Search LX link
  4. Choose the Search Options link
  5. Ensure that the Shared Index Files Location and Temporary Index Files Location refer to valid paths
  6. Click Submit