moka5

Webserver Hosting Guide for LivePCs

Fun facts about hosting your own LivePCs

The most important thing when storing a LivePC on a web server is that you never change the files in the LivePC package after uploading them! Any Moka5 Engine client which subscribes to a LivePC expects the files in the package to remain constant. If you need to tweak the LivePC, you must use the Moka5 Engine to make the changes and then upload them into a new directory on the web server. The Moka5 Engine is smart enough to upload only the changes you've made, so you don't have to worry about uploading a large LivePC multiple times as you modify it. After the initial upload, subsequent uploads should be relatively small (also known as a shallow package).

Optimizing your Apache web server to deliver LivePCs

Some web servers are limited and cannot serve files that are larger than 2 GB in size. Since LivePCs can have disks which are larger than 2 GB, the Moka5 Engine will split large files into pieces that are less than 2 GB in size. This allows large LivePCs to be served from any web server.

Performance of the Moka5 Engine is greatly improved if your web server has HTTP persistent connections enabled. To enable persistent connections on an Apache web server, ensure that the 'KeepAlive' option in httpd.conf is set to 'on'.

In order to identify that the files being served are LivePCs, we recommend adding a Content-Type: application/vnd.Moka5.cdsk header when serving LivePC disks. Adding the following Apache configuration option to your httpd.conf file (most likely installed in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf) will do the trick: 

AddType application/vnd.Moka5.cdsk .cdsk

IIS configuration for hosting LivePC Packages and MIME configuration

This will provide steps to add the virtual directory and MIME Configuration required to host your own LivePC Packages.

In this example:

  • Web Site instance is called "Moka5LivePC"
  • Virtual Directory Alias is called "livepc"
  • Folder location of the LivePC packages is "C:\livepcpackages"
  1. Open IIS Manager (run inetmgr) and select "Web Sites", followed by the Web Site instance "Moka5LivePC".
  2. Right click, New, Virtual Directory, and enter "livepc" as the Alias and enter the path of the LivePC packages "C:\livepcpackages". The default "Read" permissions is fine and click through to finish.
  3. Right click the virtual directory "livepc" and go to properties.

    4. VirtualProperties

  4. Click the HTTP Headers tab and choose Mime types.

    5. http_header

  5. Click new and add extension * and Mime Type application/octet-stream

    6. mime_extension

  6. Place your LivePC packages in "c:\livepcpackages".
Don't forget to add or update the library link with the updated URL.

Reference:  Microsoft IIS MIME