WebMO Frequently Asked Questions

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July 3, 2009

WebMO Frequently Asked Questions

Into what directories on my server should I install WebMO?

There are two possible WebMO installation paradigms, the server level installation and the user level installation. If you are a server administrator and you wish to make WebMO accessable to every user on the server, WebMO should be installed at the server level. However, if you are simply hold an account on the server, without root access, then WebMO can be installed on a user level. The following directories are examples for each paradigm, and may have to be modified for your particular Unix variant.

User installation (recommended)
CGI Directory: /home/smith/public_html/cgi-bin/webmo
HTML Directory: /home/smith/public_html/webmo
User Directory: /home/smith/webmo

Server installation (NOT recommended)
CGI Directory: /home/httpd/cgi-bin/webmo
HTML Directory: /home/httpd/cgi-html/webmo
User Directory: /home/webmo

How do I configure Apache to allow CGI content to run from a user's public_html directory?

If you you follow the above recommendations, it is necessary to configure Apache to allow CGI content to run from a user's public_html directory. Instructions for how to configure Apache can be found on our support forum.

Why doesn't the job I just submited show up in the Job Manager?

Most likely, your browser is pulling the document out of its cache instead of reloading the document, and it keeps displaying the old version of the document. To avoid this, set your browser to verify documents every time upon loading as follows:

Netscape Communicator: Click on Edit, then on Preferences..., and then on the + icon next to "Advanced." Then click on Cache from the expanded tree. Under "Document in cache is compared to document on network," select "Every Time." Then click on OK to exit the screen.

Internet Explorer: Click on View, then on Options..., then on the Advanced tab, and then on the Settings... button under "Temporary Internet files." Under "Check for newer versions of stored pages," select "Every visit to the page." Then click on OK to exit the settings dialog box, and finally on OK to exit the options dialog box

How can I customize the look of WebMO?

The WebMO System Manager allows many facets of WebMO's look and feel to be easily changed. The System Manager is accessed from the WebMO administration page by clicking on "System Manager". For example, the background graphic, table background color, and login message can all be changed in this location.

In addition, various system-wide settings, such as the scratch directory, path to ps command, and path to tar command can also be changed in the System Manager.

How can I customize the basis sets for a particular computational engine?

Under the WebMO HTML directory open the engine.html file. Somewhere in the file, there is a section resembling the following snippet:

<TR>
    <TD><I>Basis Set</I></TD>
        <TD>
        <SELECT NAME="basisSet" ONCHANGE="OnChangeBasis(document.form)">
            <OPTION VALUE="STO-3G">Minimal: STO-3G
            <OPTION VALUE="3-21G" SELECTED>Basic: 3-21G
            <OPTION VALUE="6-31G(d)">Routine: 6-31G(d)
            <OPTION VALUE="6-311+G(d,p)">Accurate: 6-311+G(d,p)
            <OPTION>Other
        </SELECT>
    </TD>
<TR>

Simply add additional <OPTION> statements to the <SELECT> block following the format used in the file.

How do I move WebMO from one server/directory to another?

There are three directory structures that must be archived and transferred to the new location: the WebMO cgi-bin directory, the WebMO HTML directory, and the WebMO user directory. The locations of these directories can be found in the <webmo>/cgi-bin/interfaces/globals.int file, under the entries cgiBase, htmlBase, and userBase, respectively.

Create a tar file of each of the three directories using a sequence of command resembling the following:

% cd /home/smith/public_html/cgi-bin
% tar cvf webmocgi.tar webmo
% cd /home/smith/public_html
% tar cvf webmohtml.tar webmo
% cd /home/smith
% tar cvf webmouser.tar webmo

Transfer these three tar files to the new server, and extract them into the desired location using a sequence of command resembling the following:

% mv /download_dir/webmocgi.tar /home/httpd/cgi-bin/
% cd /home/httpd/cgi-bin
% tar xvf webmocgi.tar
% mv /download_dir/webmohtml.tar /home/httpd/html/
% cd /home/httpd/html
% tar xvf webmohtml.tar
% mv /download_dir/webmouser.tar /home/
% cd /home/
% tar xvf webmouser.tar

Once the files are extracted to their new location, the WebMO configuration files must be updated to reflect these changes. Edit the <webmo>/cgi-bin/interfaces/globals.int using your favorite text editor. If you have moved WebMO to a different server, update the host entry to reflect the hostname of the new server. Update the cgiBase, htmlBase, and userBase entries to reflect the new location of these directories. Update the url_cgiBase, and url_htmlBase to reflect the new URL to the WebMO cgi-bin and HTML directories. Test WebMO to make sure it functions correctly.

How do I combine WebMO jobs from multiple implementations into a single implementation?

This procedure assumes that you want to migrate a set of jobs from one WebMO implementation to another. Login to source WebMO server and procede to the Job Manager. Download all jobs that you wish to transfer by clicking the checkbox next to each job (or click Select All) and click the download button. Once you have downloaded all desired jobs, logout.

Login to the target WebMO server procede to the Job Manager. Click the Import Job button. Next to the "Local WebMO Archive" button, click the browse button and navigate to the downloaded WebMO archive. Click the Import button. The WebMO jobs should now appear in the job manager.