ClassQue Master Server
This diescribes how to set up and use the ClassQue master server.
The master server is a server program that can be used to control
or gain access to ibformation from a number of courses that use ClassQue.
Currently, only one feather of the master server is supported, the
resuming of previous classes. This allows a user of the simulator
to access state logs that are kept on the server. The master server
should be set up on the same host as the ClassQue server.
Setting up the Master Server
The master server should be running all of the time, but it is a good
idea to restart it periodically. Here is a Linux script that can be used
to start the server. It looks to see if the server is already running, and
if it is, it kills the old one before start a new one. Only one
instance can be running at a time.
#!/bin/sh
cd /home/classque/master-server
DATE=`/bin/date +"%Y_%m_%d_%H_%M_%S"`
FN=logs/mylog_$DATE
info=`ps -ef | grep java | grep classquemasterserver.jar`
id=`echo $info | awk '{print $2 }'`
if test "$id"
then
echo "Killing process $id" >> $FN 2>&1
kill $id
sleep 5
fi
umask 077
java -jar classquemasterserver.jar cqmsconfig.txt >> $FN 2>&1 &
Replace the cd line with the direcory that contains the master
server. The file cqmsconfig.txt contains configuration information
for the server. The format is described below.
The above script can be start from as a cron job. For example,
if the script is named run-master-server,
the cron entry:
0 2 * * * /home/classque/master-server/run-master-server
runs the script at 2 am each day.
The configuration File
The configuration file consists of lines, each containing a key word and a
parameter.
The first two lines describe the port number used by the server and
the master server password. These are followed by any number of
sets of lines describing the courses using ClassQue. A course
description begins with a line containing the keyword course
and is followed by lines containing the keywords directory,
config, and logdir.
- The course parameters describes the name of the course.
- The directory parameter is the base directory of the
course information relative to the directory from which
the program was started. It is used as the starting directory
in finding the configuration and log files for the course.
- The config parameter is the name of the ClassQue
server configuration file, relative to the directory given above.
- The logdir parameter is a directory that will contain
log files generated by the server. These files generally have
a name containing server_state_log. Several of these
entries can be used to allow the searching of multiple directories.
Below is a sample configuration file containing information about 2 courses:
port 12345
password abcdefg
course CS 1001
directory ../cs1001-spring2011
config run/cqserverconfig.txt
logdir logs
logdir logs/processed
course CS 2001
directory ../cs2001-spring2011
config run/cqserverconfig.txt
logdir logs
logdir logs/processed
Resuming a session from the simulator
From the Teacher Stats window, choose Windows -> Playback -> Resume from server.
This will pull up a window with fields to enter the server name, the port
number and a password. If you use the master server password stored in
the master server configuration file described above, you have access to all
ClassQue courses. If you enter a teacher password, you get access to those
courses using that teacher password.
Three menu item appear at the top of the window.
- Get Course List retrieves a list of courses that the password
gives access to. For each course you can get a list of the
log files available (Get List) or resume using the latest
available log file (Resume Latest).
- Get Full List retireve the list of all log files that the
password gives access to.
- Reset Server causes the ClassQue master server to reread the
log files in case a change was made since the server was started.
Once a list of log files is displayed, push the correponding Resume
button, This pulls up a window giving information about the log file.
Push the Start Resume to start processing the file. A progress bar
shows the progress. In most cases the entire log file will be processed
in well under a minute.
When the resume has completed, the Teacher Stats window should
correpsond to the one displatyed at the end of the class. No students
will be signed in. You can use the student list
Windows -> Student List and add a student to show
that students's window.
