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Welcome to the Getting Started Tutorial

  • Install Aspire

link if you are using Aspire for Elasticsearch

The following tutorial gets you started with Aspire in 20 minutes or less. This tutorial is for Aspire 3 (Alder). This tutorial will take you through installing Aspire
  • , an Aspire connector application, and an Aspire publisher application (that
simply
  • writes to a file instead of
to
  • a search engine for indexing).
It will give you
  • Get an idea of how

you install
  • to install Aspire applications using the System

Admin user interface

There is another quick start tutorial to learn how to build Aspire distributions from scratch using Maven prototypes and Maven component repositories. Quick Start with Distribution Archetype

Additionally, there are also

To use Aspire as a componentized pipeline processing system (without the Connector Framework), see the Aspire Framework Pages.

Note

There are other tutorials for each type of

connector

Connector application you might

wish

want to install

; those are

located under the section for

each

each Connector.

 
Tip

Make sure that the Aspire version you download matches your tutorial version. The released binaries must match the training versions.


Anchor
TutorialPrereqs
TutorialPrereqs
Prerequisites

Before

1. Before you begin, you

need to be registered

must register to use Aspire (go

to http://aspire.searchtechnologies.com/) if you haven't already done that

to How to Access Aspire for more details).

  • You will need your user
registration
  • registration name
and
  •  and password
in
  •  in order to complete this tutorial.
Note

Review the Prerequisites to Connectors and Content Processing.

2. After registering, you'll require a valid License file. See Aspire Licensing for more details.

Panel
titleOn this page

Table of Contents
maxLevel1

3. You will need to install MongoDB. See Installing and Configuring a Crawl Status Database for more details.

  • MongoDB is used to hold the crawl state for the Aspire Connector Framework.
Note

Future releases (currently expected for 3.2) will allow for other databases to be used.


Step 1: Download with Pre-Built Binaries


You must be registered to access the binaries download page. Go to How to Access Aspire , to check the Aspire Registration process.

A pre-built distribution of Aspire can be downloaded from Aspire Binaries .

This distribution contains pre-built binaries for a functioning Aspire installation which works for both Windows and Linux.

After downloading Aspire, extract the contents of the zip or tar file into a directory.


Anchor
StartMongo
StartMongo
Step 2: Start MongoDB


  1. If you haven't installed MongoDB, do it now: Installing and Configuring a Crawl Status Database
  2. Make sure your MongoDB server is running by executing:
Code Block
themeFadeToGrey
> mongo
MongoDB shell version: 3.2.4
connecting to: test
>

Error

If a "NETWORK  Failed to connect to 127.0.0.1:27017" error occurs, then it is not running.

Start it by executing:

For Windows:

Open a terminal and CD to your MongoDB installation folder and execute:

Code Block
themeFadeToGrey
C:\Program Files\MongoDB\Server\3.2\bin> mongod

For Linux:

Code Block
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$ sudo service mongod start

Anchor
editConfig
editConfig
Step 3

This tutorial assumes the user has already set up his environment, if not please refer to Environment Setup

Step 2: Download the Quick-Start Distribution

Download and unpack https://wiki.searchtechnologies.com/binaries/. Select the most recent Aspire binary (aspire-distribution-X.X.zip). For purposes of this tutorial, we'll use "aspire-quick-start" as the directory name to which you unpack Aspire.

Note: This is the best way to evaluate Aspire with or without premium connectors. The preferred method if you are actually building a distribution is to use the Distribution Archetype, which requires also downloading a Maven client.

The download will create a directory structure similar to that described in Aspire Directory Structure.

Step 3: Install MongoDB 3.X

Include PageInstall MongoDB 3.XInstall MongoDB 3.XStep 4

: Edit the Aspire config/settings.xml File


  1. Go to the directory where you unpacked Aspire (such as "aspire-quick-start")
and go
  1. .
  2. Go to the configuration directory /config. 
  3. Open the settings.xml file with a text or XML editor. 
  4. Look for the maven repository tag. 
  5. You need to replace
the user name and password that displays with the user name
  1. the YOUR-REGISTERED-USERNAME and YOUR-REGISTERED-PASSWORD in the settings.xml file with the username and password you used to register for Aspire.
Code Block
languagexml
firstline46
linenumberstrue
<repositories>
    
	<defaultVersion>3.2</defaultVersion>
    
	<repository type="distribution">
		<directory>bundles/aspire</directory>
	</repository>

	<repository type="maven">
		<remoteRepositories>
			<remoteRepository>
				<id>stPublic</id>
				<url>http<url>https://repository.searchtechnologies.com/artifactory/public/</url>
				<user>YOUR-REGISTERED-USERNAME</user>
				<password>YOUR-REGISTERED-PASSWORD</password>
			</remoteRepository>
		</remoteRepositories>
	</repository>
</repositories>
Once
Tip

If you encounter Parsing Error:  org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Content is not allowed in prolog

This error is caused by the presence of a byte-order mark (BOM) at the start of your XML file. You can see the BOM using "od -c <filename>". Remove the BOM by copying and pasting the entire file contents to a new file in a text editor (since the BOM does not copy to the clipboard).


6. After you've entered your

user name

username and password,

save

Save and close the file. Make sure you save it so it remains

a

an .xml file

 

!

You may also need to edit the settings if you are running MongoDB on a separate machine.

    • If this is the case, Modify
Also uncomment
    • the following section and point to the server where you installed MongoDB. In this case, MongoDB is running in the host called mongodb-host:

Excerpt Include
MongoDB Settings
MongoDB Settings


Anchor
StartupAspire
StartupAspire
Step 4: Start

Code Block
languagexml
firstline78
  <!-- noSql database provider for the 3.2 connector framework -->
  <noSQLConnectionProvider sslEnabled="false" sslInvalidHostNameAllowed="false">
    <implementation>com.searchtechnologies.aspire:aspire-mongodb-provider</implementation>
    <servers>localhost:27017</servers>
  </noSQLConnecitonProvider>

 

 

Step 5: Start Up

Aspire


First, make sure you have access to the internet so that Aspire can download components . Next, still in the Aspire directory you created, change to the /bin directory and type "startup" to launch Aspire.from our Maven repository.

To start Aspire, follow these steps:

  1. Open a terminal and cd to the bin/ directory inside the downloaded Aspire Distribution.
  2. Execute the startup script
  • Windows
Code Block
themeFadeToGrey
> aspire.bat


Linux

Code Block
themeFadeToGrey
$ aspire.sh


OS X (this command must be executed from Aspire home directory)

Code Block
themeFadeToGrey
$ bin/aspire.sh

Error

If you are unable to start Aspire and an error occurs, try accessing a URL via the browser and logging in with your registered username/password. For example:


Excerpt Include
Aspire Quick Start with Distribution Archetype
Aspire Quick Start with Distribution Archetype
nopaneltrue


Anchor
browseCSM
browseCSM
Step 5: Launch the Aspire Content Source Manager


Note that "startup" is a batch script (on Windows) or a shell script (on Unix) that can be modified as necessary if you need more memory or need to set other system properties.

Aspire may take a few seconds to load all of the necessary components. You will see feedback to the command prompt during the startup.

Note

If you are downloading Aspire Community, ignore the error message about being unable to download the com.searchtechnologies.aspire:aspire-dcm-enterprise component. The aspire-dcm-enterprise component is available only with Enterprise systems (and is used for Distributed Processing).

Step 6: Launch Aspire and open the Content Source Management Page

Launch Aspire (if it's not already running). See:

  1. Browse to: http://localhost:50505 if you are running Aspire locally or change the host to the server hosting Aspire.

For details on using the Aspire Content Source Management page, please refer to

Aspire

Admin UI Audit Logs.


Anchor
addSource

 

addSource
Step

7

6: Add a New Content Source

 

 


Step

7a

6aAdd a New FileSystem Content Source

Add Source Menu

To specify exactly what File System folder to crawl, we will need to create a new "Content Source".

To create a new content source:

  1. From the Aspire 3 Home Content Source Manager Home page, click on "Add Source" button.
  2. Click on "File System Connector".

 

Step 7b
  1. .
Info
If you want to disable the content source just clear the the Enable checkbox. This is useful if the folder will be under maintenance and no crawls are wanted during that period of time.

Step 6b: Specify Basic Information

General ConfigurationImage Modified

In the "General" tab in the Content Source Configuration window, specify basic information for the content source:

  1. Enter a content source name in the "Name" field. 
    • This is any useful name which you decide is a good name for the source. It will be displayed in the content source page, in error messages, etc.
  2. Click on the Scheduled
 pulldown
  1.  pull-down list and select one of the following: Manually, PeriodicallyDaily,
 
  1. Weekly or Advanced.
    • Aspire can automatically schedule content sources to be crawled on a set schedule, such as once a day, several times a week, or periodically (every N minutes or hours).For the purposes of this tutorial, you may want to select Manually and then set up a regular crawling schedule later.
  2. Click on the Action
 pulldown
  1.  pull-down list to select one of the following: Start, StopPause, or Resume.
    • This is the action that will be performed for that specific schedule.
  2. Click on the Crawl
 pulldown
  1.  pull-down list and select one of the following: Incremental, FullReal Time, or Cache Groups.
    • This will be the type of crawl to execute for that specific schedule.

After selecting a Scheduled, specify the details, if applicable:

    • Manually: No additional options.
    • Periodically: Specify the "Run every:" options by entering the number of "hours" and "minutes."
    • Daily: Specify the "Start time:" by clicking on the hours and minutes drop-down lists and selecting options.
    • Weekly: Specify the "Start time:" by clicking on the hours and minutes drop-down lists and selecting options, then clicking on the day checkboxes to specify days of the week to run the crawl.
    • Advanced: Enter a custom CRON Expression (e.g. 0 0 0 ? * *)

Info
Step 7c
You can add more schedules by clicking in the Add New option. Note that you can separately schedule full crawls, incremental crawls, and user-group cache (used for group expansion with document-level security) downloads.
Note
Real Time and Cache Groups crawl will be available depending of the connector.

Step 6c: Specify the Connector Information

Connector ConfigImage Modified

In the "Connector" tab, specify the connection information to crawl the File System folder.

  1. Enter the folder path you want to crawl.
    • For Windows: Use the following format D:\folder\folder1\ 
    • For Linux: Use the following format /home/user/folder/folder1/
  2. Check on the other options as needed:
    1. Index Containers?: Index containers as items. If unchecked, only files will be indexed.
    2. Scan Recursively?: Scan through subfolder's child nodes.
    3. Scan Excluded Item: It will scan sub items of container that have been excluded
    4. Include/Exclude patterns: Enter regex patterns to include or exclude files/folders based on URL matches.
 

Step

7d

6d: Specify Workflow Information

WorkflowImage Modified

In the "Workflow" tab, specify the workflow steps for the jobs that come out of the crawl. Drag and drop rules to determine which steps should an item follow after being crawled. This These rules could be where to publish the document or transformations needed on the data before sending it to a search engine.

See Workflow for more information.

  1. For the purpose of this tutorial, drag and drop the Publish To File rule found under the 
Publishers tab
  1. Publishers tab to the onPublish Workflow tree.
    1. Specify a Name and Description for the Publisher.
    2. Click Add.

After completing this these steps, click on the Save then  and Done and  and you'll be sent back to the Home Page page. 


Anchor

Info
You can add more schedules by clicking in the Add New option, and rearrange the order of the schedules.
Info
If you want to disable the content source just unselect the the "Enable" checkbox. This is useful if the folder will be under maintenance and no crawls are wanted during that period of time.
Note
Real Time and Cache Groups crawl will be available depending of the connector.

initiateCrawl
initiateCrawl
Step 7: Initiate the full crawl

 

Step 8: Initiate the Full Crawl


Content Source

Now that the content source is set up, you will see a box (called a 'card') on the crawl can be initiatedmain page which shows your new content source. You can use the buttons in this box to initiate a crawl.

  1. Click on the Full crawl button  (left most black circle) to initiate the crawl.

During the Crawl

Statistics

During the crawl, you can do the following:
  • Click on the "Refresh" button on the Content Sources page to view the latest status of the crawl.
    The status will show RUNNING while the crawl is going, and CRAWLED when it is finished.

  • Click on "Complete" to view the number of documents crawled so far, the number of documents submitted, and the number of documents with errors.

If Important:  If there are errors, you will get a clickable "Error" flag that will take you to a detailed error message page.

Checking the Output

Because you are publishing the results to a file, you can see the published jobs in the file you specified when installing the "Publish To File" component. Typically this will be in the "logs" directory, in the "publishToFile.jobs" file (which can be usually be found under the "Publish_To_File" sub-directory).


Step 8: Shut Down Aspire


Congratulations! You

 

 

 

Step 9: Congratulate yourself! (and shutdown)

Congratulations!!

ShutdownImage Removed

You have completed the 20-minute quick start. We hope it was a fun experience. 

ShutdownImage Added

  1. To
shutdown
  1. shut down Aspire, go to the Debug Console page (http://localhost:50505/aspire)
and click on the "Shutdown" button (that's
  1. .
  2. Click Shutdown (the red button to the right of the server name). 

Or,

you could

go to the Aspire console window (where you started Aspire with "bin\startup") and

type "shutdown" and then press the

  1. Type shutdown.
  2. Press Return or Enter
key. Either way will shut down Aspire.

Cheers!

The Aspire Development Team