Working with Other Documentation Servers

When a user clicks on a link in a book, the AnswerBook2 server can follow that link to another AnswerBook2 server. If the book exists on the current documentation server, the link goes there. If, however, the book being linked to is not located on the current server, the AnswerBook2 server "falls through" to any alternate documentation servers defined for it to access. You can use this capability to distribute documents across various servers or to create a backup of the documents.

Identifying Alternate Documentation Servers

To see what alternate servers are defined, select View List of Alternate Servers from the Admin GUI. This displays a list of servers currently identified as "fall-through" servers. If a user clicks on a link in a book and that book is not located on the current server, the AnswerBook2 product examines the servers in this list to find the target for the link. The AnswerBook2 server comes with a pre-defined alternate server of http://docs.sun.com, which is Sun's master documentation server and contains released Sun documentation.

For each alternate server defined for the current server, this page shows the name of the server, its port number, and a link to the list of collections installed on that server. When you click on show list of collections, you are prompted for administrative ID and password for the alternate server (if administrative access control is defined for the alternate server). In other words, you can add an alternate server without having administrative access to it, but you can only view the list of collections on the alternate server if you have administrative access to it.

There is no command line option to perform this function.

Adding Alternate Documentation Servers

To enable your current server to access books located on another server (for the purpose of following links between books), select Add Alternate Server from the Admin GUI.

1. Enter the alternate server's name in the AnswerBook2 Server Name field.

2. Enter the alternate server's AnswerBook2 port number in the Server Port Number field. If you are unsure of the port number, try 8888 (the AnswerBook2 default port number).

3. Click on Add Server.

You can also use the following command to perform this function:

% /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o add_server -M add_server_name -P add_server_port 
[-m server_name] [-p server_port]

Removing Additional Documentation Servers

To remove a server from your server's list of alternate servers, select Delete Alternate Server from the Admin GUI.

1. Select the server from the Server List.

2. Click on Delete Server.

This removes the server from the list of alternate servers for the local documentation server. This does not stop the removed server from functioning as a documentation server.

You can also use the following command to perform this function:

% /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o del_server -M del_server_name -P del_server_port 
[-m server_name] [-p server_port]

Modifying Alternate Server Order

When you add an alternate server to the list of servers your server can use, the alternate server is added to the bottom of the server order. This order determines the sequence in which your server accesses alternate servers to follow document links. If a user requests a given document from the library and that document is not available from the default server, the server goes through the alternate server list in the defined sequence to find the document.

To change the order of the servers available to your system, select Modify Server Order from the Admin GUI.

1. Select a server from the List of Servers.

2. Click on Move Up in List or Move Down in List.

There is no command line option to perform this function.