Installing and Administering an AnswerBook2 Server

AnswerBook2 Administration Overview

The AnswerBook2 product is Sun's online documentation system. It is a client-server based system in which the client is any HTML 3.2-compliant web browser and the server is an httpd-based web server. You can install AnswerBook2 document collections on a centralized documentation server or on a local server.

AnswerBook2 Administration Features

The AnswerBook2 product includes the following administration features:

Uses a client-server architecture that allows the documents to be stored in a single location (server) and accessed from the user's desktop (client)
Provides a command-line interface (CLI) and a browser-based interface (GUI) for performing server administration functions
Allows you to run an AnswerBook2 server directly from the Solaris 7 Documentation CD
Can run as a CGI process on various web servers
Lets you control whether errors are displayed visually to the users with a red "BUG," by turning on or off the AnswerBook2 debugging function
Includes log files for server access and errors

AnswerBook2 Pieces and Parts

The AnswerBook2 product consists of the following elements:

A documentation server -- Performs query functions and "serves" documents to the client browser. Includes templates that provide a common "look and feel" for document viewing and printing; and provides both web-browser and command-line administration interfaces that perform database, password authentication, and other administrative functions. For information on installing a documentation server, see "Installing the Server Software". For information about administering a documentation server, see Chapter 3, Administering an AnswerBook2 Server.
Document collections -- Can be new (SGML) documents or old (Display PostScript^TM) documents. For information about installing document collections onto your server, see "Installing Document Collections onto the Server".
A client web browser -- To view the documentation, users can use any HTML 3.2-compliant browser. For information about viewing documentation, see Viewing Online Documentation Using the AnswerBook2 System. To enable users to access your documentation server, either you need to register the server with Federated Naming Service (FNS) or the users need to know your server's URL. For information about registering your server with FNS, see "Registering Your Documentation Server".

What to Install

The following table indicates what you need to do or install to provide specific AnswerBook2 functionality.

Table 1-1 When and What to Install


If you want to do this....	Then do this...
View online documentation from a client browser (any platform, any operating environment).	Start an HTML 3.2-compliant web browser and enter the documentation server's URL (for example, `http://imaserver:8888/`).
Enable your system (machine) to deliver (serve) documentation.	Install the documentation server software from the Solaris 7 Documentation CD. See Chapter 2, Installing Documentation Server Software.
Add documentation from the Solaris 7 Documentation CD or other sources to your documentation server.	The document collection packages included on the Solaris 7 Documentation CD include post-install procedures that add them to the documentation server's database. If you install document collection packages from some other CD or have them pre-installed on the documentation server, use the "add collection" functions to add the document collections to the server's database. For information about installing the document collections, see "Installing Document Collections onto the Server".