Java
Installation of Test Pilot's web server component requires that the server, and the server alone, first have a Java Virtual Machine installed. Java 1.1.8 or better running is required. Java is available free from Sun at:
Java Servlet Runner
Once Sun's Java VM is installed on the Windows server, the web service software must support running Java programs under the server's control. The software for performing this task is called a Java servlet runner. This is typically implemented using a third party plug-in for the web service software. Apache and Microsoft's servers require a plug-in.
We recommend the use of New Atlanta ServletExec as Java servlet runner. It is quite easy to install and the company's technical support is first rate. A trial version downloaded from New Atlanta's web site can be simply upgraded to the full version with the purchase of a serial number.
ServletExec is available for the following Windows web servers:
- ServletExec v4.x for Microsoft IIS & Personal Web Server
- ServletExec v4.x for Netscape FastTrack & Enterprise (NSAPI) on UNIX/Linux and Windows NT/2K
- ServletExec v4.x for the Apache Server on UNIX/Linux and Windows NT/2K
While ServletExec v5 is available, it handles servlets differently than v4 and, at this time, we cannot recommend its use. We are working with New Atlanta to resolve the issue. New Atlanta continues to support ServletExec v4 which works quite well with Test Pilot.
To verify that you have installed Java and the servlet runner properly, attempt to access one of the bundled servlets that are typically included. ServletExec includes a servlet called DateServlet. Access the following URL replacing server.edu with your server's name:
You should receive a web page with the current date and time on it.
The Distribution
There are a number of files and folders included with this distribution. Here is a short description of them:
License.TXT - Our software license agreement. You must agree to the terms of the agreement or return the software unused.
servlets - This is a directory containing Java program libraries used by Test Pilot. Included are libraries for Test Pilot itself and a JDBC driver for MySQL. Updating Test Pilot as newer versions are released is as simple as replacing the single TestPilot4.jar file located in this directory.
Configuring Test Pilot
Java servlet runners have a number of options that allow you to specify configuration information.
Configuring ServletExec with parameters is accomplished as follows. If you are using another Java servlet runner, consult their manual to see how they accomplish these steps.
- Access ServletExec's administrative options with the following URL replacing server.edu with your server's name:
http://server.edu/servlet/admin/
- Click on the Configure link.
- Enter a configuration as shown below. Please note that CASE matters; upper and lower case characters should be entered exactly as shown.
| Servlet Name |
TestPilot4 |
| Servlet Class |
com.clearlearning.testpilot.v4.TestPilot4 |
- Set the servlet's parameters as listed below.
Initialization Parameters Setting Information
There are parameters to be associated with your TestPilot4 configuration. Here is a list of all supported initialization parameters:
- serial = your Test Pilot serial number; entering the correct serial number here unlocks your copy of Test Pilot and prevents it from deactivating automatically after a period of time or number of requests.
- adminid = ACCOUNT; enter an account in this space to be used when accessing Test Pilot's administrative options. On Windows servers, this must be a valid Windows login account.
- admin = PASSWORD; enter a password in this space to be used when accessing Test Pilot's administrative options. On Windows servers, this is not used.
- email = ADDRESS; enter a complete internet e-mail address for the administrator. This must be a full Internet e-mail address such as joe@abc.com.
- smtp = SERVER; Test Pilot has some built-in e-mailing facilities for e-mailing scores to participants. It need to know what Internet SMTP mail server to use when sending messages. Please note that the selected server must permit the server running Test Pilot to post e-mail messages. Some e-mail systems may not permit a web server to send SMTP mail, thus this feature may not work for all installations. With no entry, e-mailing is disabled.
- webserver = [iis]; This must be set to iis. Microsoft's Internet Information Server intercepts and handles web-based password authentication. This flag tells Test Pilot to accomodate this nonstandard security behavior. This also means that all Test Pilot authors and assessment managers must be assigned a valid NT/2K/XP user account.
- driver = [name]; This should be set to the name of the JDBC driver used to make connection between test Pilot and the relational database.
- jdbc = [URL]; This should be set to a valid JDBC URL to be used to connect to the relational database server.
- dbuser = [account]; This should be set to the id of an account permitted to access the relational database.
- dbpass = [password]; This should be set to the corresponding password of the account permitted to access the relational database server.
- siteid = [name]; This identifier is used to allow multiple Test Pilot web servers to share a common database server. Each web server using the database server should have the same siteid name. It is strongly recommended that you set a siteid.
The following arguments are optional and need not be specified if the default values are acceptable.
- upload = [on,off]; This is used to enable uploading of media files using Test Pilot. If this is disabled (the default), it will be necessary to provide alternate means (FTP, file services, etc) for authors to upload their multimedia files to the Test Pilot server.
- tz = timezone; You may override your computers default timezone by entering a valid abbreviation in this parameter. Once Test Pilot is installed, you may get a list of valid timezone abbreviations, access the following URL substituting your server name in the appropriate spot:
- cache = number; Test Pilot caches assessments in memory to speed response time. The default size is 30 assessments. If you are operating in a high volume environment you may want to increase this value. However, be sure your server has the memory to support the added consumption.
- iphide = [on,off]; This causes Test Pilot to hide the computer IP addresses of submissions in reports. This parameter is provided to optionally hide those addresses to address the security concerns of institutions wishing to keep this information private. IP addresses are shown by default.
- secure = [true.false]; When set to true, Test Pilot will only respond to secure http requests. Test Pilot responds to both secure and non-secure requests by default.
Servlet Aliases
To ensure that your server will direct URL's accessing Test Pilot documents to the Test Pilot servlet, you must create servlet aliases for the extensions used by Test Pilot. That is, if a user accesses a file ending in .tp4 or .tpx, you want the Test Pilot servlet to handle that request. To have the server do so, you need to specify that all requests for files ending in .tp4 or .tpx should be handled by Test Pilot.
Create servlet aliases with ServletExec as follows. If you are using another Java servlet runner, consult their manual to see how they accomplish these steps.
- Access ServletExec's administrative options with the following URL replacing SERVER with your server's name:
http://SERVER/servlet/admin/
- Click on the Aliases link.
- Enter an alias for files ending in .tp4 and .tpx associating them with the TestPilot4 servlet
To verify that you have it installed properly, access the following URL replacing server.edu with your server's name:
You should receive a Test Pilot login screen. You must now configure the database connection for Test Pilot.
Database Server Connection Information
