WebMO 20 on WSL

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smithpm
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2020 8:56 pm
Full Name: Pete Smith
Organization: Westminster College
Subdiscipline: Inorganic Chemsitry

WebMO 20 on WSL

Post by smithpm »

I am trying to upgrade from WebMO 17 on a Windows server to WebMO 20 using Ubuntu and the WSL (using the same machine). I followed the directions for installing WebMO on Ubuntu on WSL with no issues. I got all the way through creating a WebMO user and installing mopac7.

However, WebMO 17 is still installed on my machine. When I click on the WebMO Login icon on my desktop is goes to the old WebMO 17 installation. When I use Firefox to navigate to <IP address>/webmo, I just get Index of /webmo with the list of everything in that directory.

Do I need to uninstall the Windows server version of WebMO 17? If so, how should I do that?

How do I get a web browser to find WebMO 20 that I installed using Ubuntu?

Thank you so much.

Take Care,
Pete

polik
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri May 29, 2020 6:20 pm
Full Name: Will Polik
Organization: WebMO LLC

Re: WebMO 20 on WSL

Post by polik »

Installing WebMO on Windows can be done as
1. Windows + Perl & Apache (for WebMO 20 and earlier), or
2. Windows Subsystem for Linux (for webMO 20 and later).

Approach 1 installs Perl and Apache within Windows, both of which are required for WebMO. Then it installs webMO. This approach is being deprecated because i) it requires maintaining a second codebase, ii) there are some compatibility issues with the Perl and Apache for Windows, and iii) WebMO Enterprise features are not available within non-unix environments like Windows, and iv) most importantly, there are many more computational chemistry engines for unix than for windows!

Approach 2 activates Linux within Windows, and then installs WebMO within Linux. This approach will be used in the future because it is more robust.

Each approach installs WebMO in a different location. Approach 1 installs WebMO in:
* C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.X\cgi-bin\webmo
* C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.X\htdocs\webmo
* C:\Program Files\WebMO
Approach 2 installs WebMO in the Linux file system that is contained within the WSL.

In your instance, you have two independent installations of WebMO. If you only want WebMO 20, you can uninstall WebMO 17 by deleting the WebMO 17 directories (and uninstalling Perl and Apache, if you wish).

When you install WebMO 20 in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), the last line of the installation gives you the IP address of that installation. Navigate to:
<IP Address>/webmo
If this does not work, try navigating to http://localhost/webmo. Note that if you restart your computer after installing WebMO on WSL you may need to run the command:
sudo /sbin/service apache2 start
within your Linux distribution in order to start the webserver and access WebMO.

smithpm
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2020 8:56 pm
Full Name: Pete Smith
Organization: Westminster College
Subdiscipline: Inorganic Chemsitry

Re: WebMO 20 on WSL

Post by smithpm »

I am now able to access WebMO 20 on my server machine. I can successfully run jobs on that machine.

Can you help me figure out how to set it up so that other machines can access WebMO? I am not able to use my personal computer (connected to the same network as the server) to access WebMO.

I can provide any other details that may be necessary.

Thanks,
Pete

polik
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri May 29, 2020 6:20 pm
Full Name: Will Polik
Organization: WebMO LLC

Re: WebMO 20 on WSL

Post by polik »

If you can run WebMO on the local computer but not access it from another computer, then it is almost certainly a firewall issue.

Verify whether or not you can access the homepage of your local computer from another machine. Of course, you will need to use the ip address of the machine uin the url, not "localhost". If you cannot, you will need to adjust the firewall settings of your local computer. There are likely two levels of firewall settings, one within Windows itself and another within the Linux machine running within Windows.

Once you can access the home or test page) of your webserver from another machine, then it should be straightforward to add "/webmo" (or whatever you use on the local machine) to the URL and access WebMO from that same machine.

November_SSN
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2021 5:57 pm
Full Name: Paul McPherson
Organization: Saratov State Technical University

Re: WebMO 20 on WSL

Post by November_SSN »

Yes, firewall issues are common, especially when you're working in a public institution... I had to go ask the head of the university's IT department to get things done and have WebMO whitelisted on the department's computers...

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