Deploy MapGuide Web Application to Web Servers on Windows

this document is written with 64-bit windows 7 machine as the testing platform, the process may be slightly different under windows xp. Web applications are refered in mapguide project as web extensions, but they are really the same thing.

Under windows, you have the options to deploy mapguide web application to either Apache, or Tomcat, or IIS

Basic knowledge of 32bit vs 64bit machine: 32bit applications work on 64bit machine, not the other way. 32bit application does not get along with 64bit application if they have to work together. So when downloading Apache or other applications, bear in mind they have to be compatible with either hardware or software. Confused? then ignore what I say :)

Apache2

Note If you are using Apache as the web server, it is assumed that you should know how to configure apache with an web application, otherwise, please read ​Apache Documentation first.

1. Download and Install Apache2.2.16 for Windows from ​Here. Unzip the downloaded file to anywhere, in this document, we unzip it to c:\Apache2

Apache is also available under svn/mgdev/Oem/LinuxApt, which can be copy and pasted to anywhere, but do this only if you know what you are doing. apache.org does not submit any build for 64-bit machines, try ​this site to obtain a binary 64-bit build.

2. Download PHP 5.3.2 or latest version, if your Apache is 64-bit, PHP must be 64-bit too. Follow ​this instruction to install and configure Apache to work with PHP

3. in php.ini, find the following line and edit their values

   extension_dir = "ext"
   extension = php_MapGuideApi.dll
   extension = php_MapGuideApiEnvConfig.dll
   

4. add the following lines to httpd.conf, suppose PHP is installed under c:\php, and MapGuide libraries are copied to c:\php\ext

   LoadFile "c:/php/ext/ACE.dll"
   LoadFile "c:/php/ext/GEOS.dll"
   LoadFile "c:/php/ext/MgFoundation.dll
   LoadFile "c:/php/ext/MgGeometry.dll"
   LoadFile "c:/php/ext/MgHttpHandler.dll"
   LoadFile "c:/php/ext/xerces-c_2_7.dll"
   
   LoadModule mod_mgmapagent modules/mod_mgmapagent.so
   
   Alias /mapguide "c:/mapguideopensource-2.2/Web/www"
   <Directory "c:/mapguideopensource-2.2/Web/www">
     AllowOverride All
     Options All
     Order allow,deny
     Allow from all
     AddHandler php5-script .php
     AddHandler mgmapagent_handler fcgi
     RewriteEngine on
     RewriteRule .* - [E=REMOTE_USER:%{HTTP:Authorization},L]
   </Directory>
   

Note 1: mod_mgmapagent is the module name for mapguide agent, which is hardcoded in source code, so it can't be anything else

4. start apache http server

   cd <apache bin folder>
   httpd.exe --help
   httpd.exe -k install 
   httpd.exe -k start
   

5. Troubleshooting

• visit ​this site for common apache errors
• HTTP 403: you don't permission to /mapguide/mapadmin/login.php or anything site under /mapguide/<blabla> : this error means your access setting in apache config file is wrong.
• Login to mapguide admin site error: Fatal error: Call to undefined function MgInitializeWebTier() in C:\mapguideopensource-2.2-beta1\Web\www\mapadmin\login.php on line 70, this might be caused by the interference of existing php.ini. under windows command line, type regedit to bring up the registry window, find PHP entry and find out where the php installation is, copy php.ini to Web/Php/ and edit the value of property extension_dir accordingly
• browser opens to the source code of php file instead of a web page: this error means Apache is not configured correctly to use PHP.
• 64-bit PHP 5.3.2 may have an issue with php5apache2_2.dll, if so, configure PHP to run with Apache as a CGI binary following the link in step 2
• if no map is showing, but menu bar and title are displayed, it might be that apache didn't pick up the environmental variable MENTOR_DICTIONARY_PATH, check if this variable is set first, then add the following directive to httpd.conf

  PassEnv MENTOR_DICTIONARY_PATH
  

6. Web Tier Test

A web tier test suite is available under mapagent. To start, open a browser to http://localhost:8008/mapguide/mapagent/index.html, click Resource->EnumerateResources, enter a type name, (for example, MapDefinition), a login window should pop up, enter Administrator/admin, click Ok, the page should display the information for the specified resource type.

7. Further Adventure

follow the similare concept to configure Apache to work with java/jsp viewer

Tomcat

(Deploying MapGuide to Tomcat is only supported via Apache HTTP Server for now.)

1. Download and install Tomcat
2. Download Apache Tomcat connector (mod_jk)
3. Configure Apache following the instruction ​Here

IIS 7.x

1. Install IIS 7.x to Windows 7 or Windows 2008 Server

By default, IIS 7 is not turned on under either Windows 7 or Windows 2008 Server.

To turn on this feature under windows 7, go to Control Panel->Programs->Turn Windows Features On or Off, in the poped up Windows Features, expand Internet Information Services, check WWW Services, click OK to install the selected features.

Under Windows 2008 Server, go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Server Manager, in the left panel, select Role, in the right panel, click Add Roles->Server Roles->Web Server(IIS), click OK to add the selected Role, then in the left panel, select Feature, in the right panel, click Add Features, a window with available windows features should open. Find Web Server (IIS) Tools and check it, click OK to install this feature.

2. Create registry key IniFilePath.

suppose PHP is installed under c:\php and with all mapguide related extensions copied to folder ext like what you've done with runing Apache as Web Server. If you've already configured Apache to run mapguide successfully, nothing needs to be done with your PHP installation.

Suppose you know how to create windows registry key manually, create a registry key to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->SOFTWARE->PHP->IniFilePath with string value c:\php\, this registry entry is to tell IIS where to find php.ini.

3. Configure IIS 7. Open IIS Manager by going to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->IIS Manager.

• Create Application Pool. Suppose you know how to open the GUI to add application pool, here we only list the values of the fields in GUI

  Name: MapGuideAppPool  
  .NET Framework Version: (what ever version available in the drop down list)
  Pipeline Mode: Integrated
  Start Application Pool Immediately: true
  

• IIS configuration has several levels, the topmost levle is Server(or Host), then Sites, Virtual Directory. The configuration of lower level can inherate from its parent layer. For this reason, we only configure Server level. In the left panel, select what every your machine name is, there should be a list of configuration categories in the right panel. The important categories are Handler Mapping, ISAPI and CGI Restrictions

• Handler Mapping->Add Module Mappings, add the following module mappings
  1. FastCGIModule

     requiest path: *.php
     module: FastCGIModule
     executable: C:\php\php.exe
     Name: PHP <version>
     

  2. ISAPIModule

     request path: *.php
     module: IsapiModule
     executable: c:\php\php5isapi.dll
     name: PHP ISAPI Handler
     

• ISAPI and CGI Restrictions. Add the following restrictions:
  1. Map Agent ISAPI Handler

     ISAPI or CGI Path: c:\mapguide-2.2-beta1\Web\www\mapagent\isapi_MapAgent.dll
     Description: MapGuide MapAgent ISAPI Handler
     Allow Extension Path To Execute: True
     

  2. PHP ISAPI Handler

     ISAPI or CGI Path: c:\php\php5isapi.dll
     Description: PHP ISAPI Handler
     Allow Extension Path To Execute: True
     

• Add Applications to Default Web Site. Right-click Default Web Site->Add Application

  Alias: mapguide
  Application Pool: MapGuideAppPool
  Physical Path: c:\mapguide-2.2-beta1\Web\www
  

Note: Some binary PHP installer may not have php5isapi.dll, you can always find a compatible one for your PHP from the internet. Here​Here is a place to get this file for PHP 5.3.x-x64

JBoss

In theory, a web application should be able to be deployed to any web server with some instrumentation. We never tried to deploy MapGuide Web App to JBoss, so this might be a future work if there is request for it.

IIS