Note: This version of the VDT (1.4.0) is no longer supported. Feel free to look through the documentation and install it, but we cannot guarantee support for it. The current stable release is 2.0.0.

Installation Considerations

Will you do the install as root or a regular user?

Thanks to Pacman the VDT can be installed either as root or a normal user. If you install as root, the VDT's programs can be made available to all the users on your system. Additionally, the VDT will be able to configure and start some of the grid services you might be installing. You can install the VDT as a regular user if you want to try it out or use it to submit jobs to remote grid sites. Some services cannot be run unless you are root. We document everything that you will need to do to do to get services running after installing the VDT as a non-root user (See Post-install Configuration).

Will you need to create a globus user for Globus web services?

Globus prefers to run as the globus user, so everything will work most smoothly if the globus user exists before you start the installation, and this user has a home directory. In a future version of the VDT, we hope to allow the daemon user to run as an alternative.

Do you mind if some VDT services run as the generic daemon user?

By default Condor and MonaLisa will run as user daemon. However, some people prefer to run each under its own uid in order to better compartmentalize their system. If you create a monalisa and/or condor user before proceeding with installation the VDT will configure the daemons appropriately.

Do you want to do an interactive or hands-off installation?

Normally the VDT asks several questions to help with the install process. If you want to automate VDT installs it may be helpful to pre-answer these questions.

Where would you like to install CA files?

Please refer to this documentation page for more information.

Do you already have a Condor install you want to use?

By default the full VDT will install Condor and configure your environment to use it's install. Since lots of VDT users already have a Condor pool we give you the option of using that install instead. Check out the documentation if want to use this option.

Are you planning to installing the VDT on NFS?

There are known problems with running a Globus gatekeeper out of NFS. Read more about them before you set up such a system.

Now that you've figured these out, you are ready to proceed with the install