The Replicator Manual

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©1996-2012 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products

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Introduction

1. A Java utility that prepares the master files for uploading to a website by compacting the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) (removing unnecessary white space), collecting the files by age and bundling them in compressed Zip format.
2. A Java Web Start Application that each client runs any time they wish to bring their copy of the files up to date. It visits the website, collects the new files, unpacks and decompresses them. The website files may optionally be protected by a login userid/password.

Trying the Replicator

Why Use The Replicator?

• The alternatives are:
  • Browse the website online. This can be slow, and for dial up users, ties up the phone and incurs Internet connect time charges. Some users don’t have direct Internet access.
  • Download the entire site as a giant zip file for local browsing. This is extremely slow for dial up users. Even for those with high speed Internet access, it can be slow. It is inefficient since you must download a giant zip even when only a few members have changed. If you download infrequently to save transmission time, then you have to put up with an out of date copy. The people who most need local browsing (those with dial up access) are the ones least capable of downloading the giant zip. You can browse your local copy more quickly than the web copy. You will find the Google AdSense ads will drive you nuts off-line trying to fetch an ad from the unreachable Google server. I have not yet figured out how to suppress the ads automatically when you are viewing off-line. However, you can suppress them by turning off JavaScript support in your browser. You can turn off the ads while you are online this way too.
  • Distribute the website on CD and send out copies by mail. There is the work of preparing the copies and mailing them out, plus the postage. Even before the CDs arrive, they are out of date.
  • rsync is a very efficient way to mirror sets of files. Unfortunately, it requires a bureaucratic hassle to use, getting permission from the firewall people to use its special protocol and persuading your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to run the rsync server software on their machine.
• The Replicator lets each client have a local copy of the complete website, that is kept up to date with just a short transmission from time to time of just the changes since the last connection. It is a one button click to request a refresh unlike a ZIP download that requires downloading the entire website in several large pieces and running an unzip utility separately on each one. You can browse that mirror copy more quickly since pages are loaded off local hard disk and because the Goole AdSense ads are suppressed.
• The Replicator also works for people with only indirect Internet access.
• The Replicator uses only garden variety firewall-friendly HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) browser protocol and requires no software to be run on the ISP ’s server.
• If many users have Replicator copies of your website, even a malicious person with access to all your backups, onsite and offsite would have a difficult time destroying all copies of your website. They are distributed in too many places and backed up in undiscoverable ways.
• Google Desktop or the Copernic local file system indexer will let you find anything in the local mirror with indexes that are only seconds out of date.
• The client can modify the stylesheets to use more suitable fonts, sizes, colours etc. If you do this, you have to take precautions that the Replicator does not try to repair your customised stylesheets. Whenever you run the Replicator client, you should temporarily put the original style sheets back so it won’t think they are damaged and replace them.

How To Administer The Replicator

After you have done a batch of changes that you want to propagate, start a bat file called PREPARE.BAT by clicking the item in your start menu or the desktop icon.

PREPARE.BAT creates compressed summary bundle zips of files that have recently changed and uploads them to your website using a third party program such as NetLoad. Netload automatically removes deleted files from the website. If your website supports it, rsynch will do the job even more efficiently and reliably.

Normally you would upload your website both in compressed and expanded form, though the expanded form is optional.

It will display some statistics roughly like this: view

At any time a client wants to get the freshest files, they simply click Replicator Update on a web page, or click Replicator on the start menu or a desktop icon. The rest is fully automatic. When it is done, the files will be sitting on their local hard disk decompressed, identical copies to the master. The client program automatically fetches only what is needed. It does not need the help of any third party software such as a browser or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program.

Features

• The Replicator is written in pure Java. This means it will run unaltered on any platform that supports Java.
• Many clients can fetch updates at once.
• Clients can fetch updates as frequently or infrequently as they like and all still works.
• If a client is disconnected, when the connection is reestablished later, the program will recover without any manual help.
• If a client’s hard disk crashes, to get back in business, they need to install the Java JRE then click on the Replicator icon on your website to reinstall the software and update all the files from scratch.
• Clients automatically only fetch the newest ZIP files and changes they don’t already have. There is minimal downloading of deadwood (deleted or replaced elements) or elements the client already has.
• Deleted files are automatically also deleted from the client disk.
• The Replicator works such that you can safely upload new versions even while clients are busy updating.
• New versions of the client software and auxiliary files automatically install themselves.
• When zip files are pruned of deadwood, they are automatically consolidated to aim for the desired optimally efficient target size.
• The Replicator depends on the file dates to detect changes and to decide which files need to be delivered to clients. If you introduce new files will old dates, they will be automatically replicated.
• The Replicator works with a simple HTTP server. It requires no special software on the webserver. It optionally works with password protected files. I suspect it would also work fine with HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over SSL (Secure Socket Layer)) encrypted files, though I have not yet tested that.
• If you abort either the sender or the receiver at any time, it automatically gets itself back in sync the next time you run it.

Configuring

Client Use

On subsequent uses, all the client has to do is click OK without filling in any fields.

If later you change you mind about where you want to keep your base and staging directories, just move them with their contents to some new location, and when you next use the Replicator configure the two new locations is before you hit OK.

SneakerNet/LAN Use

The only tricky part is figuring out the URL for where the zip files are stored. Try this technique to discover it. Put a dummy temp.html file in the LAN directory where the zip files and the zipmanifest.ser are. Now try to open it with your browser from the machine running the replicator receiver, using file open or whatever other techniques you have, e.g. drag and drop. When you finally get it viewed, you will see its URL on the top line. Use that as a model to create the URL for the LAN directory. If that URL does not work, convert any vertical bars in the URL to colons.

The URL will likely have the form file://machinename/sharename/directory Look in your Network Neighbourhood to discover the machinenames and sharenames. You can also assign the remote directory a local drive letter so that it appears as if it were on your local machine. Then the URL becomes file:/X:/somedirectory

You can also test the Replicator echoing files back to the same machine, without uploading to a website, by using replicatorreceivertest.jnlp.

Dial Up Use

Web Server Requirements

• Must serve HTTP documents.
• Must have some way to upload documents to your website, e.g. FTP, SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol), VPN (Virtual Private Network) or Rsync.
• Must have MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail) types configured correctly for various extensions: *.jar : application/java-archive, *.jardiff : application/x-java-archive-diff, *.jnlp : application/x-java-jnlp-file, *.zip : application/zip.
• Requires no Java support of any kind.
• Optionally it may protect the zip files from unauthorised access with a basic userid/password.

Master Station Requirements

• Must have Java JRE 1.7.0_02 installed which includes Java Web Start.
• Must have an Internet connection, preferably high speed.
• Must have firewall permission for HTTP downloads and FTP (or similar protocol) uploads.
• 256 MB or more of RAM (Random Access Memory) recommended.
• Normally you would be Running Windows XP or Windows 2000, but any platform that supports the JRE will suffice.

Client Station Requirements

• Must have Java JRE 1.7.0_02 installed which includes Java Web Start.
• Must have an Internet connection, preferably high speed.
• Must have firewall permission for HTTP downloads.
• 256 MB or more of RAM recommended.
• Normally you would be Running Windows XP or Windows 2000, but any platform that supports the JRE will suffice which includes Windows 98.

Deploying

Creating Replicator Distribution CD s

Include everything in the SENDER_ZIP_STAGING_DIR, namely the ZIP files, a copy of the replicatorreceiver.jar, the JNLP (Java Network Launching Protocol) files, freshness.ser, the setup.exe, the replicator.png and replicator.ico files. Here is a checklist of the files that should be on the CD. They should all be there without special effort on your part.

• *.zip e.g. z123.zip
• DESCRIPT.ION
• autorun.inf
• filemanifest.ser
• freshness.ser
• index.html
• mindprodcert2012dsa.cer
• replicator.gif
• replicator.ico
• replicator.jar
• replicator.png
• replicatorreceivercdX.jnlp A through Z
• replicatorreceiverlan.jnlp
• replicatorreceiverrelay.jnlp
• replicatorreceivertest.jnlp
• replicatorreceiverwebsite.jnlp
• replicatorsplash.gif
• setup.exe
• zipdetailedmanifest.ser
• zipmanifest.ser

Do not include the files in the program directory such as replicatorsender.exe or replicatorsender.jar. Also possibly include a copy of the off-line Java JRE also onto the root directory of the CD.

Make copies of the CD and send them out by mail. To install the software, just insert the CD in the CD ROM (Read Only Memory) drive.

You send up updates the same way. Clients will automatically copy in just the files they need even though the complete set of files are on the CD.

When you run setup from CD, it will install the client Java Web Start application software and unpack the distributed data files in the zips. The JRE is there just in case the client did not have a recent Java already installed, (which includes the Java Web Start runtime). All the client need to is insert the CD to invoke the autorun feature to install the program and datafiles. If that does not work, the client can jump start the process by going to a DOS (Disk Operating System) box and typing

If your CDROM drive letter is not R: you can adjust it to be. Right Click My Computer ⇒ Manage ⇒ Device Manager Storage ⇒ Disk Management alternatively Settings ⇒ Control Panel ⇒ Administrative Tools ⇒ Computer Management ⇒ Storage ⇒ Disk Management

The client can then continue via website updates or LAN updates or further CD updates.

You can also create CDs at remote stations by using the replicatorreceiverrelay.jnlp to download the zips from the website. Burn a CD consisting of the all the files in the relay receiver’s zip staging directory.

Files

Detailed Instructions

This Applet is not yet finished. However, it will give you a rough idea.

If, ReplicatorUse, the above Replicator use Java Applet (that can also be run as an application) does not work…

1. If Copy/Paste (Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V) do not work, you can turn them back on by modifying your java.policy file. This is not for the novice or faint of heart. instructions Your alternative is to download this program and run it without a browser.
2. Often problems can be fixed simply by clicking the reload button on your browser.
3. Make sure you have both JavaScript and Java enabled in your browser.
4. This Java Applet (that can also be run as an application) needs 32-bit (not 64-bit) Java 1.6 or later. For best results use the latest 1.7.0_02. If you have both 32 and 64-bit JVMs installed, in the Java Control Panel, configure your 32-bit java.exe as the user JVM and your 64-bit java.exe as the system JVM. You also need a recent browser.
5. It works under any operating system that supports Java e.g. W2K/XP/W2003/Vista/W7-32/W7-64/Linux/OSX
6. You should see the Applet hybrid above looking much like this screenshot. If you don’t, the following hints should help you get it working:
7. Especially if this Applet hybrid has worked before, try clearing the browser cache and rebooting.
8. To ensure your Java is up to date, check with Wassup. First, download it and run it as an application independent of your browser, then run it online as an Applet to add the complication of your browser.
9. If the above Applet hybrid does not work, check the Java console for error messages.
10. If the above Applet hybrid does not work, you might have better luck with the downloadable version available below.
11. If you are using Mac OS X and would like an improved Look and Feel, download the QuaQua look & feel from randelshofer.ch/quaqua. UnZip the contained quaqua.jar and install it in ~/Library/Java/Extensions or one of the other ext dirs.
12. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, 8 or 9, try another browser. Seriously. Microsoft has taken great pains, over and over, to screw up Java and every other multi-platform standardisation.
13. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, 8 or 9, you must click to allow blocked content permission for Active X to run. This also gives permission to Java to run. Click the Information bar, and then click Allow blocked content. Unfortunately, this also allows dangerous ActiveX code to run. However, you must do this in order to get access to perfectly-safe Java Applets running in a sandbox. This is part of Microsoft’s war on Java. Don’t put up with it! Use a different browser.
14. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, makes sure the Java Plug-In SSV helper add-in is installed and enabled. If it is not, try reinstalling the Java JRE.
15. If you have Windows 7 64-bit and Internet Explorer 64-bit, in theory you can use 64-bit Java, but I never been able to get it to work.
16. Try upgrading to a more recent version of your browser, or try a different browser e.g. Firefox, SeaMoney, Safari or Avant.
17. If you still can’t get the program working click HELP for more detail.
18. If you can’t get the above Applet hybrid working after trying the advice above and from the HELP button below, have bugs to report or ideas to improve the program or its documentation, please send me an email at.

   Get New Java  Get New Browser  

Crash Recovery

If for some reason you had to restore old zips from backup, all should recover just fine, even though the second time through, you may generate slightly different new zip files. This is because the client software works by tracking the last file date it has received, no the last zip file number. The clients won’t notice anything unusual.

Similarly if the client has to restore old files to his staging directory and base directory, it will automatically catch up on the next visit to the server. He does not have to erase and start over, though that may be necessary if his files are badly corrupted.

You can view the replicatorreceiver.log file to see a detailed picture of what your session did. This may be helpful in diagnosing any failures.

You may notice the Replicator often skips over downloading some zip files in the sequence. It does this whenever there are even more up-to-date versions of those files in subsequent zips or when you already have the latest versions of the files they contain. This happens especially when the Replicator repacks old zips to remove deadwood (old versions or deleted versions of files), assigning them to new zip numbers.

Moving Directories

Reinstall

Uninstall

1. Uninstall the Replicator via the Control Panel with: click Start ⇒ Control Panel ⇒ Programs ⇒ Uninstall a Program
2. Type javaws.exe -viewer.
3. If you see the Replicator in the viewer, right click it and click delete.
4. Delete any desktop Replicator icon.
5. Delete any Replicator menu item.
6. In Windows, start regedit.exe at the command prompt.
7. In Windows, delete the registry tree HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JavaSoft\Prefs\com\mindprod\replicator and HKEY_USERS\usernamexxx\Software\JavaSoft\Prefs\com\mindprod\replicator if it exists.
8. In Linux, user preferences are usually stored in the file system in the /etc/.java directory in xml files. It will have a goofy name something like this:

   /home/username/.java/.userPrefs/com/mindprod/replicator/_!':!bw "t!#4!b@"p!'4!~!"w!()!bw"k!#4!cg"l!(!!b!"p!'}@"0!'8!cg==

   The contents of the file will look something like this:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
   <!DOCTYPE map SYSTEM "http://java.sun.com/dtd/preferences.dtd">
   <map MAP_XML_VERSION="1.0">
     <entry key="LAN_ZIP_URL" value="http://mindprod.com/replicator"/>
     <entry key="PASSWORD" value=""/>
     <entry key="PREFS_EXIST" value="true"/>
     <entry key="RECEIVER_BASE_DIR" value="/home/Mindprod"/>
     <entry key="RECEIVER_ZIP_STAGING_DIR" value="/home/MPstaging"/>
     <entry key="USERID" value=""/>
   </map>

   Delete this file to get rid of the old settings.

Cost

What Is Included

• Master station software to prepare the website for upload.
• Client station software to download any changes.
• Complete, commented source code in Java.
• The right to use this software on as many clients as you wish.
• Right to modify the software.
• Support to get the program configured, installed and functioning properly.
• All bugs fixed.

What Is Not Included

• Web hosting. All software and files live on your own servers.
• FTP upload software such as NetLoad.
• Thawte Digital Certificate in case a self-signed one is not acceptable to some clients. They cost  $200.00 USD a year. One would handle all clients.
• Exclusive right to use the software.
• Right to resell the software to other parties.
• Right to give the software away to other parties.
• Remotely trouble shooting Java Web Start installations on client machines. This is best done by someone local. Once JWS generally is working then it becomes my problem to solve.

Trouble Shooting

Beware. The Google web accelerator proxy drastically slows down Java Web start unless you configure jawaws.exe to use a direct network connection.

Java Web Start sometimes leaves obsolete icons on your desktop. To get rid of them, right click the desktop and click refresh. You can then fill in the holes with right click arrange icons ⇒ by name.

All files and directories the Replicator touches must not have leading or trailing spaces in their names. It is ok to have embedded spaces, even double spaces in names. If they have lead or trail spaces, the Replicator will abort telling you which file has to be renamed. It will pick up where it left off after you fix the problem and restart it.

Most problems getting started deploying for serving surround not configuring the replicator.properties file correctly. Check the system out by using the replicatorreceivertest.jnlp to download the zips and unpack them to a unique directory, and make sure the files you wanted included are included and no more. You can adjust the replicator.properties to correct any errors, and the Replicator will automatically adjust without having to start from scratch.

To start the server side over from scratch, run startover.bat. If that does not work, delete the *.ser files in the E:/com/mindprod/replicator directory and all the files in the SENDER_ZIP_STAGING_DIR.

To start the client side over from scratch, delete all the files in the staging directory.

Most problems seem to occur during the upload of the zip files, which is not under the direct control of the Replicator. Check that the files in the SENDER_ZIP_STAGING_DIR match the website in size and date. If you see mismatches, you can try deleting the offending files from the website manually, then retry the prepare. If you use Netload, doing local refresh and site refresh will often help get it back in sync. Try deleting any *.nlx files in the SENDER_ZIP_STAGING_DIR and any netload.chk files in the WEBSITE_ZIP_URL directory on the website.

If problems seem to be related to JET and its DLL (Dynamic Link Library) s, you can revert to the HotSpot version which is slightly slower. You just configure SET USE_JET=false in the PREPARE.BAT file.

To use the Replicator off net, you need to use the replicatorreceiverviarelay.jnlp to collect the zip files off the website and store them in a staging directory. You then have to copy those files to some place where they are accessible via a lan, perhaps using a CD as an intermediary. You then fire up replicatorreceivervialan.jnlp from the same directory as the zips. If this directory is the same as the one you configured in replicator.properties SUGGESTED_LAN_ZIP_URL, it should work fine. However, if it is different, you will have to manually edit the codebase parameter in the replicatorreceivervialan.jnlp file to make it match.

The other way to use the Replicator off-net is to use replicatorreceiverviarelay.jnlp to download the zips from the website and burn everything in the staging directory onto the root of a CD. From there you can install the CD just by inserting it into a drive. You can use the CD to initially install the files, and subsequent CDs to keep the files up to date. You can also use the web to keep the files up to date after an initial CD install. When you use replicatorreceivercd X.jnlp it will copy the files off CD it has not already got.

If you make a great many changes to your website, it is best to first upload those individual changes before running the replicator, rather than getting the upload phase of the replicator to upload those files and its own in the same batch. Large upload batches sometimes fail, and need to be run several times. Netload need to be have its cached directory manually cleared after each failure.

Netload Tips

At some point I will have to write a replacement for Netload that is more robust and requires no tweaking.

Optional Features

• A built-in FTP upload program so that there is no dependency on an external third party one like Netload or FTP Voyager.
• Encrypting the expanded files on the website and in the zip files to keep it confidential.
• Keeping the files confidentially encrypted even after delivery.
• If a client inadvertently deletes files, they are automatically restored on the next update. Sweep to discover accidentally lost or deleted files and individually recover them from the website. This requires maintaining the website in both compressed and expanded form.
• Digitally signing the zip files to detect corruption or tampering. The client jar file is digitally signed now.
• A generic hook to run a some user code on each file just before it is distributed, e.g. to ensure macros or includes are freshly expanded.
• Use of flash drives to keep the files in a permanently encrypted state, opened only for viewing.

The Competition

rsync

The catches are:

• rsync requires you to run the rsync program on the webserver that contains the master copy. It can be difficult to persuade your ISP to let you do this. This is why I personally don’t use rsync to keep my website in sync with my local hard disk master copy.
• rsync uses its own specialised raw socket protocol. You may have to make arrangements with the firewall people to tunnel through at each site it is used.
• rsync is a native mode program. You need a different version for different platforms. It may not be available for all your client’s platforms.
• rsync is designed for Unix. It is a bit of a kludge to get it working on Windows.
• rsync is somewhat more complex to administer than the Replicator.

Futures

• Encryption
• flash drives to distribute private decryption keys, allowing different people access to different files.
• built-in FTP upload instead of relying on Netload.

Summary

Package	Version	Released	Licence	Language	Notes
Replicator	11.0	2011-12-22	free	Java	❘ precis ❘ manual ❘ screenshot ❘ browse source repository for the current version of Replicator. Efficiently replicates a set of files to your clients and keeps them up-to-date. 3.1MB zip for Replicator Java source, compiled class files, jar and documentation to run on your own machine as a Java Web Start application. First install the most recent Java. To install, extract the zip download with WinZip, (or similar unzip utility) into any directory you please, often J:\ — ticking off the use folder names option. To check out the corresponding source from the Subversion repository, use the TortoiseSVN repo-browser to access replicator source in repository with [Tortoise] Subversion client on wush.net/svn/mindprod/com/mindprod/replicator/. To run the JWS application, modify the jnlp file to look in the right place for its files, then type: javaws J:\com\mindprod\replicator\replicator.jnlp adjusting as necessary to account for where the jar file is. download ASP PAD XML program description for the current version of Replicator. Replicator is free. $489.00 US donated so far. If the CMP utilities solved your problem, please donate a buck or two, or donate to one of the charities featured in the footer public service ads throughout the website and get a tax receipt. Full source included. You may even include the source code, modified or unmodified in free/commercial open source/proprietary programs that you write and distribute. Non-military use only.

	You can get the freshest copy of this page from:	or possibly from your local J: drive (Java virtual drive/mindprod.com website mirror)
	http://mindprod.com/webstart/replicator.manual.html	J:\mindprod\webstart\replicator.manual.html
	Please email your feedback for publication, letters to the editor, errors, omissions, typos, formatting errors, ambiguities, unclear wording, broken/redirected link reports, suggestions to improve this page or comments to Roedy Green : If you want your message kept confidential, not considered for posting, please explicitly specify that.
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