www.washington.edu: Publishing on the UW Web Site

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The following provides information for Web developers at the University of Washington developing on the www.washington.edu server.

On This Page
Create and Publish Content on www.washington.edu
The Development Environment
Installing files from development (wwwudev) to production (www) or "Public" Directories
Resources & Tools

Create and Publish Content on www.washington.edu

www.washington.edu is the Web server used by many UW admnistrative units. It differs from other central UW servers in having development and production modes and a more secure, stable architecture. Content is "pushed" from the development environment into the production environment, providing a secure place to develop and review your content before it is available to the public.

Request an account and directory on www.washington.edu

The Development Environment

The Web development environment on www.washington.edu consists of two areas - a development area and a production area. You will access your development area using the account you requested above, on bank.u.washington.edu or red.cac.washington.edu (if you work for UW Information Technology).

Create a File

Typically, all of the work you do is done in the development area, and you "install" or "push" your files from the development side to the production side.

StepsActions
You will be assigned a development directory under this hierarchy: /usr/local/wwwudev/world/
The directories are access restricted--only a limited set of users have permission to view the Web content produced in the development environment.
Access this directory from your computer account on one of the computers with access to the server directories (bank.u.washington.edu, or for UW Information Technology, red.cac.washington.edu)
Login to your account, and at the prompt, use the unix command "cd" and the full path to your directory, for example,
cd /usr/local/wwwudev/world/admin/parking/
See "Resources and Tools" below for unix guides and information.
Write or put all of your html files in the development directory or subdirectories of that directory.
You can work directly in a secure terminal window, and use a text editor such as pico or vi to create your html file. You can also develop your Web pages with Web tools--Dreamweaver, HTML Kit, etc.
Only work in the development directory and use the wwwuinst installation tools to migrate files from development into production.
The wwwuinst tool automates the installation process by making an exact copy of the development files and directory structure in the production area.

Viewing Your Files in a Browser

After creating your Web content, you should view the files in the Web browser to check formatting, style, and overall appearance.

The files you create are visible on a Web browser with a development url and authentication under the url:

http://wwwudev.cac.washington.edu/groupname For example, if you were assigned the directory /usr/local/wwwudev/world/admin/parking, your development url would be: http://wwwudev.cac.washington.edu/admin/parking/

Once the pages are complete and ready for viewing, you will have a production url under: http://www.washington.edu/groupname

Installing Files from Development (wwwudev) to Production (www) or "Public" Directories

Overview

Files are edited on the development server wwwudev - you should not directly edit any files in the production directories (www).
After editing, you install your files into production with the wwwuinst command outlined below.
You must be on a list of allowed users to use wwwuinst commands. When your account is created, and you are given permission to "push", your account name will be added to this list. You will only be able to install the files in your own directories.
For further information about account permissions, send mail to www-mgmt@cac.washington.edu

Installing your documents

The wwwuinst command copies your files from the development area (wwwudev) into the production area (www).

You must log on to red.cac.washington.edu or bank.u.washington.edu using a secure terminal to follow the commands below:

Installing your documents overnight: The simplest way to install your documents is to give the wwwuinst command followed by the location of your group's directory. A list of all files which are to be installed, updated, or removed will be displayed. The actual installation occurs during the night. Be sure to clean out your directory and remove unwanted files before you install.; Syntax:
wwwuinst directorylocation/groupname

or
wwwuinst directorylocation/groupname/path/filename
Examples:
wwwuinst world/recreation
wwwuinst world/recreation/index.html
Installing your documents immediately (pushing): If you wish to force changes to appear immediately, use the -push option in the command. WARNING: If you have more than one person working on your documents, coordinate when pushes are done to avoid pushing unfinished documents into production. It is a good practice to designate one person as the "pusher."; Syntax:
wwwuinst -push directorylocation/groupname or
wwwuinst -push directorylocation/groupname/path/filename

Examples:
wwwuinst -push world/recreation
wwwuinst -push world/recreation/index.html
Showing what files will be installed: You can use the -show option to see what files would be installed, without actually installing them.; Syntax:
wwwuinst -show directorylocation/groupname

Example:
wwwuinst -show world/recreation

More Information

More information is available about the wwwinst tools on the Webinfo pages.

Get Help

www.washington.edu Developer Information--A technical resource for beginning to advanced developers
Email www-mgmt@uw.edu for help with technical questions

Need Help?

Resources

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