Setting Up a Document Conversion Node

As of version 4.0, some documents -- including PDFs and those from Microsoft Office -- are supported in a preview view. Converting content from its native format into one that can be previewed (the original document is not altered during conversion) can consume a large amount of CPU resources. For this reason, the conversion software must be deployed on a node that is separate from where production instances of the application are deployed.

Note: For information about managing conversion attempts, where you can reconvert documents if necessary, see Managing Document Conversion.

This document describes a simple Jive SBS environment with a single conversion node. In the following, "application node" will specify the server running just the Jive SBS application and "conversion node" will specify the server running the conversion utilities.

There are two services dedicated to document conversion:

Jive Document Conversion Daemon Service (JDCD) -- Handles preview and thumbnail creation for any document, such as those from Word and Powerpoint, as well as conversion from 2007 to 2003.
Jive Open Office Service Daemon (JOOSD) -- Ensures that OpenOffice instances are running properly. OpenOffice is used on the conversion node to convert Office documents for preview.

Note: For versions 4.0.7 and later, on new application installations conversion-specific features such as the JOOSD and JDCD services are off by default.

Setting up a conversion node involves the following high-level steps:

Set up a production instance of the application.
Install and configure one or more conversion nodes.
On the application node, configure the application to communicate with the conversion node(s).

The remainder of this topic assumes that you've set up the application according to the following high-level steps:

Install the application as described in the installation documentation (Linux, Solaris ).
Restart the application to complete configuration.
```
su - jive
apprestart
```
Finish customizing the community as described in the documentation.
If you haven't already, disable the JOOSD and JDCD Services on application node (these are off by default on new installs of versions 4.0.7 and later). You can use a command such as the following:
```
On Linux

service jive-joosd stop && chkconfig jive-joosd off
Stopping jive-joosd:
OK
service jive-jdcd stop && chkconfig jive-jdcd off
Stopping jive-jdcd:
OK

On Solaris

svcadm disable jive/joosd:default
svcadm disable jive/jdcd:default
```
You can verify these services no longer start with the following command:
```
On Linux

chkconfig --list

On Solaris

svcs -a |grep jive
```

Installing and Configuring the Conversion Node

Run all of these commands as root unless otherwise noted.

Install the application as described in the installation documentation (Linux, Solaris ).
On Solaris: Tell the convertor to use OpenOffice directly to convert documents to PDF. In the admin console, at System > Management > System Properties, add the following system property, setting it to true: converters.openoffice.skipodf.
Restart the application to complete configuration.
```
su - jive
apprestart
```
Finish customizing the community as outlined in the documentation.

Because this node's only function will be operating as a document conversion service, you should consider disabling all unnecessary services.

You can list all services with the following command; use discretion with the services you disable:

chkconfig --list

Consider disabling the following:

On Linux

chkconfig acpid off
chkconfig atd off
chkconfig autofs off
chkconfig avahi-daemon off
chkconfig cpuspeed off
chkconfig cups off
chkconfig gpm off
chkconfig haldaemon off
chkconfig kudzu off
chkconfig lvm2-monitor off
chkconfig messagebus off
chkconfig netfs off
chkconfig nfslock off
chkconfig portmap off
chkconfig rpcgssd off
chkconfig rpcidmapd off
chkconfig smartd off

On Solaris

svcadm disable jive/application:default
svcadm disable jive/httpd:default
svcadm disable jive/database:default
svcadm enable jive/joosd:default (included in the next comment)
svcadm enable jive/jdcd:default (included in the next comment)

(Optional) Enable ports 8200, 8850, and 8810 - 8814 on the conversion node. If you have a firewall enabled you will need to open those ports. You might need to coordinate this with your network administrator.

Disable unused services on the conversion node and remove the default application. Enable conversion services on the conversion node:

su - jive -c 'apprm sbs'

service jive-application stop && chkconfig jive-application off
Stopping jive-application:

OK

service jive-httpd stop && chkconfig jive-httpd off Stopping jive-httpd:
Stopping jive-httpd:

OK

service jive-database stop && chkconfig jive-database off
Stopping jive-database:
waiting for server to shut down.... done
server stopped

You can verify these services no longer start through the following commands:

On Linux

chkconfig jive-joosd on
chkconfig jive-jdcd on

On Solaris

svcadm enable jive/joosd:default
svcadm enable jive/jdcd:default

Configure JOOSD to accept connections from a remote host and restart the service to pick up the changes. As the default jive user jive, modify /etc/jive/conf/jive-joosd.conf (you may need to create this file):
```
vi /etc/jive/conf/joosd.conf
```
Add the following line:
```
OPTIONS='--debug -a 0.0.0.0 -z 0.0.0.0'
```
Restart the service:
```
On Linux

/etc/init.d/jive-joosd restart
Stopping jive-joosd:
OK
Starting jive-joosd:
joosd started successfully.
OK

On Solaris

svcadm restart jive/joosd:default
```
Configure JDCD to accept connections from a remote host and restart the service to pick up the changes. As the default jive user jive, modify /etc/jive/conf/jive-jdcd.conf (you may need to create this file):
```
vi /etc/jive/conf/jive-jdcd.conf
```
Add the following line to the file:
```
OPTIONS=' --debug -a 0.0.0.0'
```
Restart the service:
```
On Linux

/etc/init.d/jive-jdcd restart
Stopping jive-jdcd:
OK
Starting jive-jdcd:
jdcd started successfully.
OK

On Solaris

svcadm restart jive/jdcd:default
```
On the conversion node create /tmp/jdcd and give ownership to the default jive user:
```
mkdir /tmp/jdcd
chown -R jive.jive /tmp/jdcd
```

Configuring the Application to Use a Conversion Node

On the node that hosts the application, you use the admin console to configure the application to communicate with conversion nodes you've set up.

The admin console's Document Conversion Settings page is set up so that most of the values you'll likely need are prepopulated so that you don't have to set them. Most of these needn't change.

Admin Console: System > Settings > Document Conversion

In the admin console, on the Document Conversion Settings page, be sure to read the quickstart steps at the top of the page. Settings you make on this page assume, for example, that you've already enabled the JOOSD and JDCD services on your conversion nodes.
Near the top of the page, click Enabled to enable the conversion service. (Note that changing this setting requires that you restart the application in order to have the settings take effect. This must be done for every node in your cluster.)
Click Add a Node to start configuring a conversion node.
Enter the IP address for a conversion node you set up.
Under File Transfer Settings, the protocol, domain, port, and context settings comprise the location that conversion nodes should call when converted documents are ready for return to the application. It's unlikely you'll need to make changes to this. However, changes might be needed to account for special configurations, such as a single sign-on (SSO) configuration.
Note that you probably don't need to change the settings in the bottom half of the page. The settings in the following list apply to all conversion nodes you create, and you typically need never make changes to their values. If you do change any of their values, you must ensure that the corresponding value on every conversion node matches the setting you make in the admin console on the application node.
- Open Office ports -- Port numbers to support a pool of connections to conversion nodes.
- JOOSD port -- Port number for the Jive Open Office Service Daemon on conversion nodes.
- JDCD port -- Port number for the Jive Document Conversion Daemon on conversion nodes.
By the same token, the JMS Settings port number should typically stay at its default value.
Under Disabled Extensions, in the Extensions box, enter a comma-separate list of the extensions for files for which a preview shouldn't be created. For example, if you don't want Excel files converted, you might enter:
```
xls, xlsx
```
If you have more than one conversion node, repeat steps 3 and 4 for each. All of the other settings apply across conversion nodes.

Troubleshooting Document Conversion Node Setup

Confirming That the Ports are Open

If you're seeing evidence that might indicate that ports are closed where they should be open, try using netcat (nc) to verify that the ports you need are open.

In a command prompt on the server whose port you want to verify, use the nc command to start listening on the port in question. For example, you might type the following to start listening on port 8850 on a server whose IP address is 10.61.32.156:
```
nc -l 8850
```
In another command prompt, use the telnet command to connect to the port specified in the first command. Here's an example:
```
telnet 10.61.32.156 8850
```
Verify the connection by typing in the first command prompt. What you type should appear in the second window if the port is open.

Corrupted Queuing Database

The application uses a small database to queue documents for conversion. If this database becomes corrupt, you might see a logged error with the message "Failed to create database 'derbydb'." If this occurs, try clearing the directory at /usr/local/jive/applications/<app_name>/home/jms/ and restart the application. If you have the application deployed in a cluster, you'll need to do this for each application node.