may I provide some feedback regarding your documentation in terms of OMERO.web installation.
I was trying a fresh OMERO 5.3.3 (ICE 3.6, CentOS7) install including OMERO.web on a DEV system in order to rehearse our OMERO 5.2.5 PROD system upgrade.
Good news: I succeeded
Bad news: it was a little bit laborious and painful process for OMERO.web
Why: it took me relatively long to find the right bits and pieces
OMERO installation (OMERO.server-5.3.3-ice36-b63) worked out smoothly according to "https://docs.openmicroscopy.org/omero/5.3.3/sysadmins/unix/server-centos7-ice36.html".
However, subsequent OMERO.web installation unfortunately was not that easy. In this context I have to admit that I am not a Python (web-)developer. Maybe, it would 've been easier in that case, I cannot judge ...
- when starting with the above mentioned OMERO.server CentOS7 ICE 3.6 installation, you will be guided towards the "OMERO.web walkthrough installation CentOS 7 and IcePy 3.6" [1]
- there is a 2nd more generic OMERO.web installation described at [2] referenced as "OMERO.web WSGI deployment".
- both instructions are different, they both did not work for me and in the end it was kind of a combination of them
- I struggled around with the VirtualEnv setup for OMERO.web. Should it be initialized as "root" as described in [1], or better as the OMERO user as described in [2]?
- the Centos7 specific instruction at [1] downloads the OMERO.py ZIP package which is not really necessary for OMERO.server+OMERO.web combination? (or is it?) It's now successfully running without in my case, but still puzzled about it ...
- should the VirtualEnv environment be initialized with or without site-packages as differently described at [1] compared to [2]?
- the NGINX templates generated / described in [1] vs. [2] differ (none of them did work for me)
- previously, there also was a note on how to generate an SSL config for NGINX. I could not find it for the 5.3.3 instructions anymore (or did I overlook it somehow?) Of course I could duplicate an existing one from our PROD server.
In the end I talked to one of our Python software developers in-house to get a quick and very high-level intro/overview into Python VirtualEnv and then "compiled" my own way through using bits and pieces I read before. In the end it now seems to be really straightforward and easy (hopefully, I've now done everything right, but at least our power user confirmed successful installation from a functional perspective
)Again, please do not misunderstand me:
I do not want to blame anyone and I think you're doing an excellent job!. OMERO is a clear success story for our user and the whole institute.
So, just my personal feedback based on this experience: I think regarding the installation instructions for OMERO.web there is some "room for improvement" if I am allowed to say this (in particular for people less experienced with Python VirtualEnv and web deployment).
Thanks a lot, best regards,
-Rainer
[1] https://docs.openmicroscopy.org/omero/5.3.3/sysadmins/unix/install-web/walkthrough/omeroweb-install-centos7-ice3.6.html
[2] https://docs.openmicroscopy.org/omero/5.3.3/sysadmins/unix/install-web/web-deployment.html
