Starting Dexen

• Starting Dexen
• Startup scripts
• On Single Computer
• On Multiple Computers on Local Area Network (LAN)
• Stopping
• Warning: Starting server deletes archived data

Startup scripts

To run Dexen, you need to start the three basic components: server, nodes, and clients.

The dexen\scripts folder contains the Python scripts you need to run Dexen via the command prompt.

On Windows, there is also a dexen\bin folder that contains a set of .bat files for starting the Python scripts. These .bat files first set up the environment for running Python scripts prior to executing the Python scripts. For Windows users, you need to add the dexen\bin folder to the the windows PATH environment variable (see RapidEE).

In a typical scenario, you will start a server on one computer and then start nodes on multiple other computers (one node per computer). However, for testing, it is often common to start all these components on a single computer.

These components need to be started at the command prompt. (i.e. There is no graphical interface for starting these components.)

On Single Computer

• Open the bash terminal (Linux) or command prompt (Windows).
• Start a server by typing dexen-server.
• Start a node by typing dexen-node.
• Start a CLI by typing dexen-cli.

Note: In windows platform, you can alternatively double-click all the three scripts in the above-mentioned order instead of typing in the command prompt.

On Multiple Computers on Local Area Network (LAN)

when running on multiple computers, each node and client will need to connect to the server. Therefore, when starting a nodes and clients, you will need to supply a command line argument referring either to the name or IP of the server.

• Open the bash terminal (Linux) or command prompt (Windows).
• Start a server with a name (e.g. 'ABC') by typing dexen-server -n ABC. Be sure to give a unique name to avoid name clashes with other servers running on the same LAN.
• For all the computers on which you want to run a node instance, type dexen-node -n ABC. (The connection between the nodes and the server will be established.)
• Start a CLI by typing dexen-cli -n ABC. (The connection between the client and the server will be established.)

Stopping

To stop the the server or node, Ctrl-C can be used. This method will stop the node or server gracefully, cleaning up any temporary folders and files in the process.

Warning: Starting server deletes archived data

The server has an archive that contains all the archived data for all the jobs that have been run on that server. When the server is restarted, this data will automatically be deleted. If you want to save this data, be sure to rename the folder name for the archive folder.