Setup and installation of the PeerEval system

Setup and installation of the PeerEval system should be straightforward to someone who is familiar with the Microsoft technologies involved. This includes IIS, MS SQL Server, and Windows Server administration.

1.1. Web Server Setup (IIS)

A virtual directory needs to be created to point to the Web folder, where the web pages reside. This virtual directory needs to be configured to host an ASP.NET 2.0 application. The anonymous web user (IUSR_COMPUTERNAME) needs to be given read access to the web folder. The ASP.NET user (ASPNET) needs read access to Web, Web/bin, and it needs read/write/modify access to the web/log folder. Note that logging functionality is not fully supported by log4net under the ASP.NET 2.0 model, but does not affect performance of the system in any way.

1.2. Database Setup

To set up the database, a new database needs to first be created in the Microsoft database manager. Then the file data/db.sql may be run to create the tables. Note that the two views at the bottom of the script must be created separately. Also, “mixed mode” authentication should be used for database access. DO NOT use the ‘sa’ user to as the Peer Eval system’s database access. This is an extreme security risk in any application. Instead, create a new database user specifically for the Peer Eval system, and take note of the user name and password to use in the connection string. The new database user needs read/write/create/update access to the database.

1.3. Settings Files

Each library has a corresponding setting file, with the same name as the library, i.e. PeerEval.Web.dll has a settings file named PeerEval.Web.xml. The settings file must also reside in the same directory as the library (typically web/bin). Note that these files must be valid XML.

1.3.1 PeerEval.Util.xml

This file defines the database connection string, and the data provider class name.

1.3.2 PeerEval.Business.xml

This file defines the IAuthManager class name.

1.3.3 PeerEval.Web.xml

This file defines whether debug mode is turned on. If it is, error messages will include a full exception stack trace, viewable to the end user.