AMirD Demonstration
AMirD comes with a demonstration setup that allows you
to verify that it is working properly and to show how
it works. The demo1 directory contains all files
needed to run the demonstration.
What it Does
The demonstration allows you to set up a server (the
exporter) and a client (the importer) such that all
files on the exporter's file system will be mirrored
on the importer's file system. To better illustrate
what is happening, the files being transferred are
images (jpeg files), and a browser is run at the client
and server to show the current state of the files.
When started, the server will show a web page with a
matrix of balls. Every 20 seconds a random ball will
be modified to a random color:
Server Initialized |
One Ball Changed |
|
|
These changes will be reflected in the client's file
system and shown on the client's web browser:
Client Gets Change |
|
Due to latencies in transmission and display, the client
display will always lag the server's.
Running the Web Browser
Note that it is not necessary to run a web browser to
run this demonstration. The browser only provides a
visual aid to see that files are changing. A
directory listing of the client's and server's files
will provide essentially the same information but with
less visual impact.
This demonstration uses the Opera web browser, which
is run automatically at startup. If you would like to
use a different browser, modify the
amird-2.0.7/demo1/server/run_server and
amird-2.0.7/demo1/client/run_client scripts to do so.
This browser was chosen because it automatically
re-loads images referenced by the html code. If you
use a different browser it may be necessary to set
options or re-start it to refresh the screen properly.
Set Up and Execution
The client and server must be run in different
windows. They may be run on the same machine or
different machines.
-
ANTI_HOME
The ANTI_HOME environment variable must be set up
prior to starting the server or client. Details on
setting this up are in the
installation
instructions.
-
Starting the Server
To run the server, change directory to
amird-2.0.7/demo1/server, and execute the following command:
% ./run_server
The server will start the web browser to show the
files that it is exporting. It will also start the
Antigone scope, which allows a more detailed
monitoring and control of Antigone. The graphical
user interface looks like this:
It is not necessary to run the scope for the sake of
this demonstration, and the window may be ignored or
shut down.
-
Starting the Client
In a different window, possibly on a different machine
where AMirD has been installed, start the client by
changing directory to amird-2.0.7/demo1/client and
executing the following command:
% ./run_client
The client will start another browser window
reflecting the state of its file system. It will also
start another Antigone Scope.
Troubleshooting
-
No Web Browser or Scope
If neither the web browser nor scope appear, it may be
because the DISPLAY environment variable is not
set up. Try running xclock (a standard X-Window program)
to verify that you have access to the windowing system.
-
No Web Browser
Try running the web browser from the command line.
Errors it reports should indicate the nature of the
problem. Again, it is not necessary to run a browser
for this demonstration, you can instead use a
directory listing program such as ls to
observe the files changing.
-
No Scope
Make sure that the ANTI_HOME environment variable is set
up. If it is, then there is probably a problem with the
tcl/Tk installation on your machine.
-
Client Does not Get Files
Try running one of the Antigone programs such as
simple or a2pipe to verify basic
Antigone functionality. By default, this
demonstration uses multicast uses symmetric multicast
for communications between the client and server.
Make sure that your system is configured to support
symmetric multicast.