Prerequisites

You must have the following software installed before you install Armstrong

1. Java 1.5+ (you need the full SE JDK not just the Run-time Environment (JRE).)
   
2. Tomcat v5.5.25 or higher.  (We know LAS/F-TDS will not run correctly in some circumstances with 5.5.15, 5.5.17 and 5.5.20.  Tomcat 6+ won't work with our installation scripts.  You'll have to fudge it if you want to use 6+.  Bottom line: get 5.5.25.)
   
3. TDS (The THREDDS Data Server) 3.16+
   
4. ant 1.6+ (if the Java code does not compile and you have the right JDK it's probably because your ant is old.)
   
5. Ferret 6.1 with the etopo05.nc data set and the Ferret environment that goes with this release.

1. mySQL 3+
2. Perl 5.8+ (with some CPAN modules. The configure process will help you install them.)

Install Java 1.5+

Read the documentation for details.

1. Go to java.sun.com to get Java 1.5.
2. Follow the instructions for the RPM or self-extracting binary installation as appropriate for your system.

Install Tomcat 5.5.25+

Here's a quick and dirty "how-to" for Tomcat (read the documentation for details).

1. Go to tomcat.apache.org get the latest 5.5.x (version 5.5.25 or above is required).
2. Follow the 5.x link on the left and download the "core" tar.gz file.
3. Explode the tomcat tar file into a directory of your choosing:
   

    tar -xzf apache-tomcat-5.5.25.tar.gz

4. I ususally make a link from the complicated name (apache-tomcat-5.5.25) to a simple name (tomcat) using a soft link. That way the "tomcat" name can always point to the latest version you have installed:
   

   ln -s apache-tomcat-5.5.25/ tomcat

5. If the default port numbers are being used by some other application, you'll need to edit the apache-tomcat-5.5.25/conf/server.xml file to change the three port numbers (the shutdown port, the HTTP Connector port, and the Connector/AJP port). You can also just comment out the AJP connector port since we don't use it in our set up.
   
   E.g.
   

   <Server port="8005" shutdown="SHUTDOWN">
   ...
    <!-- Define a non-SSL HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8080 -->     
    <Connector port="8080" maxHttpHeaderSize="8192"                
      maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="25" maxSpareThreads="75"                
      enableLookups="false" redirectPort="8443" acceptCount="100"                
      connectionTimeout="20000" disableUploadTimeout="true" />
   ...
    <!-- Define an AJP 1.3 Connector on port 8009 -->
    <!-- For the basic LAS installation this connector is not used and could be commented out. -->     
    <Connector port="8009"                
      enableLookups="false" redirectPort="8443" protocol="AJP/1.3" />

   That's it. Now remember the full path name of the directory where you installed your tomcat and the port number you selected for the HTTP Connector port. You'll need these in the LAS configure process.

Install the THREDDS Data Server

This is not hard, but there are a lot of steps you need to follow.

Because of all the details needed to integrate TDS and LAS we've created a separate page with instructions.

Install Ant 1.6+ (1.6.5 is the latest stable version as of this writing)

This is very easy. The promise of "write once install anywhere in action".

1. Check your version with ant -version
2. If it's old go to ant.apache.org.
3. Look for the download link on the welcome page.
4. Expand the tar ball somewhere.
5. Set your path so that this installation appears in the path ahead of the old version you're trying to replace.

Install Ferret 6.1

The product scripts released with LAS V7.0 Beta use Ferret 6.1 features.

1. Download the appropriate package from the Ferret  downloads page.
2. There is a detailed installation guide and help from the mailing list.
• N.B. You also need the Ferret environment that goes with this release.
  
3. You also need to install the etopo05.nc data set in your FER_DATA directory since this version of LAS depends on this file for computing masks for user defined variables. The example configuration also includes a new dataset, ocean_atlas_subset.nc, a 4-Dimensional dataset for demonstrating LAS capabilities. Both of these files are in the Ferret datasets tar file listed on the Ferret downloads pages. Download the Ferret datasets tar file and install the data to update your installation.

If you want the old user interface:

Install Perl 5.8

Most Linux distros should include a version of Perl that works.

1. Check for Perl on your system with perl -v.
2. If for some reason you don't find it, try www.perl.org and follow the download link.
3. The company ActiveState (there's a link from perl.org) offers ready to go Perl distributions for many platforms. I've used their Windows distribution and had very good luck with it. This does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation to buy stock, admission of guilt or a cry for help.
4. If the configure process wants to install a Perl module, the easiest thing to do is install it "for use by LAS" only. This does not require any special privileges.

Install mySQL 3+ (use the latest GA version -- 5.0 at this writing)

There's lots of help at mysql.com.

1. Go to http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/ and download the binaries.
2. Follow the instructions to install for your platform.