Repackaging & Advanced Configuration of the Insight Client Applications

The Insight client applications (Insight Client, Inscribe, and Insight Studio) can be configured to enable support for special environments and settings. Configuration options include automatic login definition, support for lab or restricted environments, how multimedia is played, support for proxy servers, and changing the default User Manager.

Packaging and Distributing the Insight Client Applications

Luna provides a simple and easy way to repackage the Insight Client Applications, allowing system administrators to distribute Insight with the settings most appropriate to their environment. The Insight Client Applications (Insight, Inscribe, and Insight Studio) can be customized to work with your User Manager and your environment. Platform-specific installers for the clients can be found on the "Clients" CD as follows:
Table 15: Locations of the Client Installers

Directory
(based on client product name)

Subdirectory
(based on platform)

Installer
(or component)

insight_client

 

 

 

MacOSX

installInsight.zip

 

Windows

installInsight.exe

Inscribe

MacOSX

installInscribe.zip

 

Windows

installInscribe.exe

insightStudio

MacOSX

installStudio.zip

 

Windows

installStudio.exe

 

 

 

 

 

 

Packaging the Insight Client Applications

For more information on customizing the Insight Application Clients configuration file, please see the other chapters within this document. Once you have the configuration you want to distribute, it's time to repackage the clients.
NOTE: The following example describes how to package the Insight Java Client, but will work with any of the other Insight application clients. Simply replace the name of the installer and configuration file with the name of the Insight Client Application and configuration file you would like to distribute.

For Windows systems

To distribute a preconfigured Insight Java client to your end users, you need to repackage installInsight.exe with your customized configuration file insight.dat (for information on customizing Insight, see Insight Client Application Configuration Files on page ). The installation files for the Windows version of the Insight Java Client are located on the Insight 6.3 Clients CD under the directory: insight_client\Windows. To build an installation package for Windows end-users:
1) If you do not already have the WinZip archive utility and WinZip Self-Extractor, download and install them. (It is recommended that you order the software instead of merely downloading trial copies. Though trial copies generate the package correctly, they produce a message indicating that unlicensed copies were used when end users unzip and install the package.)

  • For the trial copy of WinZip Archive Utility:

http://www.winzip.com/downau81.cgi?winzip81.exe

  • For the trial copy of WinZip Self-Extractor:

http://www.winzip.com/downauto.cgi?wzipse22.exe
2) Start WinZip Self Extractor, select "Self-extracting zip file for Software Installation," and press Next.
3) At the next panel, leave "Span multiple removable disks" unchecked, and press Next.
4) Press "Run WinZip".
5) After passing the first two panels of WinZip by pressing Next, select "Create a new Zip file".
6) Follow the instructions and create a Zip file (for example, insight50_and_dat.zip) containing installInsight.exe from the insight_client\Windows directory on the Insight 6.3 Clients CD, and your customized insight.dat configuration file.NOTE: Don't try and open the InstallInsight executable as a zip file and add the DAT file to it, this will corrupt the installer.
7) After the Zip file is created, close the WinZip panel.
8) Return to WinZip Self Extractor (or you can restart it, and select "Self-extracting file for software installation"), select the Zip file you just created (for example, insight_and_dat.zip), and press Next.
9) In the next panel, enter the message you would like your end user to see when the files are self-extracted, and press Next.
10) Leave "Unzip automatically" unchecked, select English as the preferred language, and press Next.
Important: Enter .\installInsight.exe under "Command to issue when unzip operation completes." Leave "Wait for" blank, and press Next.
11) Enter your message (which will be displayed when the package is unzipped and installed), and press Next.
12) Enter the information to be displayed in the "About" box (if desired), and press Next.
13) In the next panel, select your own icon (if desired), and press Next.
14) In the last panel, review all of your selections and all messages you have prepared. After verifying them, press Finish, to create the self-extracting executable file.
15) Test the self-extracting package to verify that it works correctly.
16) Place the self-extracting package in a location accessible to your end-users.
End-users will download the self extracting package, launch it, and follow the instructions to install the Insight Java Client. For users who have previous releases of the Insight Java Client installed, installing the new release of the Insight Java Client in the same location will cause their old Insight.dat file to be overwritten by the new one packaged with installInsight.exe.

For MacOSX systems (10.2+)


NOTE:The procedure described below must be performed on a Mac OSX machine. Other Mac OS versions will produce corrupted installers.
*To repackage the MacOSX Insight Client installer for with a customized configuration file:*

  1. Locate installInsight.zip in the \insight_client\macOSX directory on the Insight 6.3 Clients CD. Unzip it to a temporary working directory on the Mac OSX machine.


  1. Copy the customized insight.dat configuration file to the same working directory.


  1. Make a new zip file (or other compressed package that can be processed and accepted under Mac OSX) containing both InstallInsight installer and insight.dat


Insight Client Application Configuration Files

Each of the Insight Client Applications uses a unique configuration file to store basic information. This configuration file includes information on the User Manager the client should use for authentication as well as other client based configurations.
Table 16: Client Configuration Files

Client Name

Configuration File

Insight

insight.dat

Inscribe

inscribe.dat

Insight Studio

insightStudio.dat


Each of these configuration files can be opened using a text editor of your choice.
NOTE: Double-clicking on these files in some Macintosh systems will not open these files with TextEdit or another text editor, if you have problems opening this file, (1) open TextEdit and then (2) open the file using TextEdit's Open option from the file menu.
Table 17: Default Client Installation Locations

Client Name

Platform

Installation Location

Insight

Windows

C:\program files\LunaImaging\Insight 5.x

 

OS X

/Applications/LunaImaging/Insight 5.x

Insight

Windows

C:\program files\LunaImaging\Insight

 

OS X

/Applications/.LunaImaging/Insight/Applications/LunaImaging/Insight *

Inscribe

Windows

C:\program files\LunaImaging\Inscribe 5.x

 

OS X

/Applications/LunaImaging/Inscribe 5.x

Insight Studio

Windows

C:\program files\LunaImaging\5.x\Studio

 

OS X

/Applications/LunaImaging/5.x/Studio

 

 


Use-based configurations

Below are a set of use cases and adjustments to the Insight Configuration Files.

Changing the Default User Manager Address or adding additional User Managers

As each Institution will want to configure the Insight Client Applications to use their own User Manager (and potentially a list of others as well), Luna has provided a method to configure the clients so the user can choose from one or a set of User Managers.
Each of the Insight Client Applications can be configured to provide the user with a list of one or a set of User Manager Addresses on login.
NOTE:When you run the installer for the Insight server components, a set of configuration files is automatically created and pre-configured with your connection information for your User Manager.
To customize your User Manager address in any of the Insight Client Application configuration files, follow these steps:

  1. Locate a copy of the configuration file: copies of the Insight Client Application configuration files are located in the client_config_files directory located in the Installation directory of the Insight server components.


  1. Open the configuration file you would like to customize in a text editor. A sample Insight.dat configuration file is displayed below:
  1. Insight.dat# Insight configuration file## Lines starting with # signs are comments.## UserServerAddress1 – the address of the user server.# This address provides access to all collectionsUserServerAddress1 = InsightUser.lunaimaging.com
    #DefaultUserName = user#DefaultUserPassword = user
    3)To change the User Manager Address, locate the following line:
    UserServerAddress1 =
    4)Set the value of UserServerAddress1 to the hostname of your User Manager. If you would like to specify more than one User Manager, then increment the number after UserServerAddress by one for each User Manager you would like to add. For example:
    UserServerAddress1 = http://www.myusermanager.mycollege.edu/UserServerAddress2 = insightuser.lunaimaging.com
    NOTE: Any line beginning with # is a comment, and is ignored by the system. Comments exist only to assist you in preparing the file. They provide explanations and present alternatives. Be sure that the UserServerAddress1 line is turned on (does not have a leading #).
    5)Save the file.
    6)Test your changes:
  2. Copy your new configuration file into the installation directory for a version of the client.

b)Launch the client application and try to log in.

Configuring the Insight Client to Automatically Login

The purpose of automatically logging on to Insight is to allow users access to an Insight collection without needing to know a username or password. Automatic log-on enables the user(s) to select a collection by bypassing the log-on screen.
NOTE: This means that anyone who has access to a system that has automatic log-on initiated is granted access to a collection, regardless if they know the appropriate username/password or not.
NOTE: Due to the security risks, this feature is only available to the Java Client, and is not available to Insight Studio or Inscribe.
You must install a functioning version of Insight Java Client in order to set the automatic log-on. To set automatic log-on for your Insight collection, follow these instructions:

  1. Locate the file named Insight.dat. This file is located where you installed Insight.


  1. Open the Insight.dat file using Notepad or any other text editor of your choice.


  1. Before you make any changes, you may want to create a copy or backup of your Insight.dat file for future reference.


  1. Locate the following lines:

#DefaultUserName = #DefaultPassword =

  1. Remove the # signs from the front of the DefaultUserName and DefaultUserPassword. Be sure you do not remove any other # signs other than the ones instructed.


  1. Once you have removed the # signs from the DefaultUserName and DefaultUserPassword, set the values to match the username and password you would like to use for automatically login.

DefaultUserName = my_usernameDefaultPassword = my_password

  1. Save the changes you made to the Insight.dat file.


Now, you should be able to automatically log on to your Insight collection when it is launched. If you would like to disable automatic log-on, simply restore the # signs in front of DefaultUserName and DefaultUserPassword.
NOTE: If for some reason Insight cannot login using the default username and password, the login screen will be presented to the user.

Support for a Lab Environment (Locked-Down Machines)

Besides the client applications themselves, the clients use a set of files at runtime. These include temporary caches, user preferences, and re-useable information such as localization files.

Temporary Files

The Insight clients maintain a cache of the images requested by the clients to optimize requests for the same image more than once – quite similar to the image and field caches for web-browsers. These caches are encrypted and are maintained at run-time and then discarded when the application is shut down. Insight Studio and Inscribe also use temporary space for creating the derivatives and wavelet files before they are uploaded to the server.
By default, the Clients use the OS's temporary directory for storing these files. Though these locations can be customized, common locations are as follows:
Table 18: Common Temporary Locations Per Platform

Platform

Location

Windows 2000 / XP

C:\documents and settings\username\Local Settings\Temp

OS X

/tmp/

NOTE: These locations can be easily overridden. Please check with your system administrator for the default location on your system.

 


Forcing Insight to use a Specific Location for Temporary Files

If you would like to force the Insight Client Applications to use a specific location for temporary files, you can set a property in any of the configuration files:

Property

Value

TmpDir

The location where temporary files should be placed on your machine


Once you have made this change, restart the client application to test the configuration (for more detailed steps on editing the configuration file, follow the steps above for changing the UserManagerAddress).

User Preferences & Reusable Information

User Preferences and other Reusable Information such as locale "language" files and collection backgrounds are stored by default in the User's home directory (within a LunaImaging Directory).
Table 19: Operation System User Preference Directory

Platform

Location

Windows 2000 / XP

C:\documents and settings\username

OS X

/Users/username

NOTE: These locations can be easily overridden, please check with your system administrator for the default location on your system

 


Forcing Insight to use a Specific Location for Reusable Files

If you would like to force the Insight Client Applications to use a specific location for reusable files, you can set a property in any of the configuration files:

Property

Value

HomeDir

The location where reusable files should be placed on your machine


Once you have made this change, restart the client to test the configuration (for more detailed steps on editing the configuration file, follow the steps above for changing the UserManagerAddress).

Playing Multimedia within the Image Workspace Instead of an External Player

If you would like to play Audio, Video, and QTVR media in the image workspace instead of in an external player, you can set a property within the Insight Java Client and Inscribe's configuration files.
NOTE: Playing multimedia within the Image Workspace REQUIRES Apple's QuickTime and QuickTime for Java to be installed.
NOTE: For more information on configuring QuickTime or QuickTime for Java, please see http://www.lunaimaging.com/support/getquicktimeforjava.html.

Property

Value

 

UseExternalMultiMediaViewer

0 – play media in the Image Workspace
1 – play media in an external QuickTime Player

 

NOTE: The default is to play media in the External Player.

 


Support Firewalls and Advanced Networking Environments

The Insight Client Applications utilize a series of ports for communicating with the User, Collection, Personal Insight, and Media Managers. Depending on your networking environment, you may have to configure your firewall or proxy server to allow bi-directional connections for all of the ports that your Insight server components run on.

Insight Component

Port

User Manager

2840

Collection Manager or Personal Insight

3070-4080

Media Manager / BrowserInsight

80, 8080, 8081

NOTE: Depending on your configuration, not all of these ports may be in use. Please check with your Insight administrator (or check the server component configuration files for a more specific list of ports).

 


Using Insight with a Proxy Server

Because the Insight Applications use a series of ports for accessing the server components and media files, a proxy server configuration will most likely have two components: an HTTP based proxy for media and a SOCKS based proxy for the Insight server components.

HTTP based Proxy for Media Content

The Insight Client applications support the use of an HTTP based proxy to connect to the Media Manager or a web server serving Insight's content.
To configure the Insight Client applications to use your HTTP Proxy Server, open the Insight Configuration file and add the following properties:

Property Name

Value

http.proxyHost

The hostname of the HTTP Proxy Server

http.proxyPort

The port address of the HTTP Proxy Server (note both the port and hostname need to be set for this to work)

http.nonProxyHosts

A list of hosts separated by "

" (vertical bar) that should not be used for HTTP Proxy connectionsfor example (myserver1.com

myserver2.org)

NOTE: You only have to configure those clients outside the proxy server that access Insight Servers inside the proxy server .

 


Once you have made this change, restart the client to test the configuration (for more detailed steps on editing the configuration file, follow the steps above for changing the UserManagerAddress).

SOCKS based Proxy for Non-HTTP Based Ports (User & Collection Managers)

For non-HTTP based communications such as the client's communication with the collection or User Managers, you will either need to open the ports on your firewall or set up a SOCKS based proxy server.
To configure the Insight Client applications to use your SOCKS Proxy Server, open the Insight Configuration file and add the following properties:

Property Name

Value

socksProxyHost

The hostname of the SOCKS Proxy Server

socksProxyPort

The port address of the SOCKS Proxy Server (note both the port and hostname need to be set for this to work)

NOTE: You only have to configure those clients outside the proxy server that access Insight Servers inside the proxy server.

 


Once you have made this change, restart the client to test the configuration. (for more detailed steps on editing the configuration file, follow the steps above for changing the UserManagerAddress)
NOTE: If you are configuring both a SOCKS Proxy and HTTP Proxy, it's important to understand the tunneling order. The clients are configured to use the SOCKS proxy server as the default connection method and connect to the HTTP proxy through the SOCKS proxy, i.e.:
CLIENT -> SOCKS PROXY -> HTTP PROXY -> Insight Media Manager

Wireless Compatibility Mode

Luna has documented specific issues where the Insight Client Applications' experience may degrade when run under explicit wireless conditions. This is currently known to occur using Intel's CENTRINO wireless chipset, though check with Luna for an up-to-date list of affected chips. For computers using this wireless chipset to use Insight, it may be necessary to configure the client to run in "Wireless Compatibility Mode". To do this, simply enable this parameter with a value of 1.

Property Name

Value

WirelessCompatabilityMode

0 – OFF1 – ON


Specifying a Collection Data Directory

The Collection Data Directory is used by Insight and Personal Insight for processing derivative files, storing thumbnail images (for display in the linking tool), and other collection data.
NOTE:The collection data directory can grow quite large as you build more collections.

Property Name

Value

CollectionDataDirectory

The physical path to the directory where media processing should be performed and files should be stored.


Common Properties for the Insight Client Applications

Table 20: Consolidated Properties by Client Application

Property

Insight

Inscribe

Insight Studio

Filename

insight.dat

inscribe.dat

insightStudio.dat

UserManagerAddress1UserManagerAddress2

YES

YES

YES

DefaultUserName

YES

NO

NO

DefaultPassword

YES

NO

NO

TmpDir

YES

YES

YES

HomeDir

YES

YES

YES

http.proxyHost

YES

YES

YES

http.proxyPort

YES

YES

YES

http.nonProxyHosts

YES

YES

YES

socksProxyHost

YES

YES

YES

socksProxyPort

YES

YES

YES

UseExternalMultiMediaViewer

YES

YES

NO

CollectionDataDirectory

YES

NO

YES

WirelessCompatabilityMode

YES

YES

YES