Terminology
You should have already set up a ClassQue Server for each course. The ClassQue Server runs during the class period and handles communication between students and teachers.
The Classque Master Server is meant to run all of the time and gives users access to the log files created for all of the ClassQue courses. It must be run on the same host as the ClassQue Server.
You will need a copy of the classquemasterserver.jar file. This documentation assumes that you have already set up the ClassQue server as described in ClassQue Server Configuration.
The Classque Master Server is optional. It is requried for creating and sending reports and for resuming a class using the ClassQue simulator.
General Configuration Information
The Classque Master Server is a network server that listens on a particular port. You should choose a port number that is unused on the host machine. This port number should be different from any of the port numbers used to set up the ClassQue Server.
The Classque Master Server contains information about each course that has been set up on a given host. Access to the Classque Master Server requires a password. To access a course throught the Classque Master Server, a use must provide eithe the teacher password for that course or the master server password which grants access to all courses.
The configuration information is supplied to the classquemasterserver program in a configuration file. The program takes one command-line paramter, the name of the configuration file. If the command line paraemter is ‑version, the program will just display version information and exit.
The configuration file contains one option per line, each with a token indicating the option and a possible parameter. The following table lists the the available options.
The first three configuration entries should specify the port number, the master server password, and the name of the mail host so thatthe master server can send mail. This will be followed by any number of course configurations, each of which starts with a course key word. Additional entries for a course will specify the course name (used when reports are generated), the base directory of that course cofiguration (as used by the Classque Server), the name of the course configuration file used by the Classque Server, and the directories containg the logs created by the Classque Server.
| Option | File Token | Parameter | Description |
| Port | port | integer | An integer giving the port number that programs will use to communicate with the ClassQue Master Server. |
| Password | password | string | The password that will grant full access to all courses. |
| Mail Host | mailhost | string | The name of the mail host for forwarding email. |
| Standard Configuration | standard | none | If this is set, any course without a directory set uses the standard configuration. In the standard configuration, the base directory is ../courses/coursename, the configuration file is cqmasterserverconfig.txt and the log directories are logs and logs/processed. |
| Course | course | string | This starts the description of a particular course. The parameter is the name of the course as displayed in reports. Configuration entries after this one refer to this course until another Course configuration entry is processed. |
| Base Directory | directory | string | The base directory for this course used by the Classque Server. |
| Configuration File | config | string | The name of the configuration file for this course used by the ClassQue Server. |
| Log Directory | logdir | string | The name of a directory containing log files for this course. There may be several of these entries for each course. |
Starting the Classque Master Server
The server is meant to run all of the time. It reads information about each course when it starts up. Since this information changes daily, it is recommended that the server be restarted each night.Below is a script that can be used to start the master server on a Linux system. If first kills the running server if it exists. The script assumes that the script is in a file in the /home/classque/master-server directory which contains the classquemasterserver.jar file and the configuration file cqmsconfig.txt.
#!/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 &
You can run this script from a cron each night, say at 2 AM.
Below is a sample cqmsconfig.txt file corresponding to the examples given in ClassQue Server Configuration.
port 12991 password abc123xyz mailhost mailhost.cs.utsa.edu course CS 3733 Operating Systems directory ../cs3733-spring2011 config run/cqserverconfig.txt logdir logs logdir logs/processed course CS 1713 directory ../cs1713-spring2011 config run/cqserverconfig.txt logdir logs logdir logs/processed
Sending email
The settings above assume that you have access to a mail host that can send mail without requiring authenticaion. Ask your system administrator for the name of your mail host and whether it requires authentication (an account and password) to send email. If your system does not have its own mail host or if it requires authentication, the master server can send email through the gmail mail host. To do this, you need to configure the master server with a gmail account name and password. It is recommended that you create a gmail account specifically for this purpose, as the password for this account will be stored in the master server configuration file.To send email through a gmail account include two extra lines in the master server configuration file after the port and password lines. For example if the account name is mygmail@gmail.com with password abc123, add the following two lines:
gmailusername mygmail@gmail.com gmailpassword abc123
When you send mail using the Report Generator or the Report Creator you choose the sender of the email. This is what the recipient sees in the From field of the email. When you send mail through gmail, it replaces that From address with the address of the sending account unless that sending account has been set up to allow this as an alternate From address. You can do this as follows:
- Sign into the gmail account that you set up for sending ClassQue reports.
- Click on the gear in the upper left corner and select Mail settings.
- Choose the Accounts and Import tab.
- Go to the Send mail as section and click Send mail from another address.
- Follow the instructions given.
- The new email address does not need to be the default.
Return to the ClassQue setup page
