Installing and Configuring Archivists’ Toolkit

While working on an AT installation and following the manual as well as calling support I was unable to resolve an issue that I was encountering, so I decided to research and document the fix.

What is Archivists’ Toolkit?

The Archivists’ Toolkit™, or the AT, is the first open source archival data management system to provide broad, integrated support for the management of archives. It is intended for a wide range of archival repositories. The main goals of the AT are to support archival processing and production of access instruments, promote data standardization, promote efficiency, and lower training costs.

Installation

This is just a brief overview of the installation steps since there is already an official manual that covers most of these steps.

• You first need to create a blank database using either MYSQL or Microsoft SQL server; in our case I used MS SQL.
  
  
• Once the database has been created, you then need to install the a Archivists’ toolkit
  
  application on the client machine, after the installation you need to browse to the %install directory%\Program Files\Archivists’ Toolkit 2.0\ and launch the “Maintenance Program 2.0.exe”
  
  • This program is used to prep the Db and create all the necessary tables.

Now here is where things got out of hand for me, based on the specified documentation I needed to select my DB type, enter the connection URL, then my username and password.

Connection URL:

Jdbd:sqlserver://[ip address]:[port];databaseName=[name]

e.g: Jdbc:sqlserver://127.133.68.55:1059;databaseName=OurArchives

However that didn’t seem to work. I did further research and discovered I needed to first have the following in place ;

• SQL Server 2005 JDBC driver, and a CLASSPATH configured
  
• Create a ODBC connection to the DB Server

Steps to create a Java CLASSPATH

1-- Download sqljdbc__enu.exe driver and extra it to a temporary directory (link provided below).

2-- Run sqljdbc__enu.exe.

3-- Enter an installation directory when prompted. We recommend that you unpack this zip file in %ProgramFiles% with the default directory: "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver".

Once you have followed the above information the next step is to setup your classpath on the client machine.

• On a Windows machine right click "My Computer" --> Properties --> Advanced tab--> Environment Variables--> User variables for user name -->Click new --> Specify a "Variable name" and the "Variable value" which is path you created above in step 3.

Image of a configured classpath on my Windows 7 PC:

And finally instead of following the format;

Jdbd:sqlserver://[ip address]:[port];databaseName=[name]

I used Jdbd:sqlserver://[ip address], typed in my User and Password went on to the next screen and enter in my repository name as the DB name and all was well.

Hopefully this can help someone and save you the back and forth effort of trying to set this up.

Related Links

http://archiviststoolkit.org/support

http://archiviststoolkit.org/support/userManual1_1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e22bc83b-32ff-4474-a44a-
22b6ae2c4e17&displaylang=en
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms378428%28SQL.90%29.aspx