We have just imported an existing DSpace Instance into Ohio State’s infrastructure, and one of the tricky steps was to reconfigure the DSpace Handle Server / Handle Daemon that ships with DSpace.
Step 1 – /dspace/bin/dspace make-handle-config
You have to follow the wizard /dspace/bin/dspace make-handle-config, and fill in details about your setup.
The full syntax of the command is /dspace/bin/dspace make-handle-config /path/to/handle/configs, so you’ll want to do something like: /dspace/bin/dspace make-handle-config /dspace/handle-server
Questions asked are who is the technical contact, and what IP address to use. For the most part, sticking with the pre-filled defaults is your path to success. At the end of this process, it generates a sitebndle.zip that you need to email to your technical contact at CNRI.
Step 2 – Fill in correct values for /dspace/handle-server/config.dct
Even though the wizard created some keys and configurations, you’ll need to finish the process, and add some more information.
Within the file, replace: “300:0.NA/YOUR_NAMING_AUTHORITY” with “300:0.NA/2374.DALN”, or whatever your assigned handle prefix is. (Our handle prefix is: 2374.DALN).
Additionally, you’ll need to add the storage_type and storage_class for the Handle Server to speak with DSpace.
So, after “server_config”, add this:
“server_config” = {
“storage_type” = “CUSTOM”
“storage_class” = “org.dspace.handle.HandlePlugin”
“server_admins” = (
The full GitHub Gist for these changes can be seen at: https://gist.github.com/peterdietz/6455450
Step 3 – Email the sitebndl.zip to CNRI
The previous steps created /dspace/handle-server/sitebndl.zip, email that file to your contact at CNRI.
Step 4 – Open Firewall Rules
We needed to allow the world to be able to access ports 2641 TCP, 2641 UDP, and 8000 TCP.
Step 5 – Start/Test the handle server
For starters, have your DSpace user run: /dspace/bin/start-handle-server, and check your logs that everything is working. Check that handles are resolving. I added a line to /etc/rc.local to run /dspace/bin/start-handle-server, which happens on system boot.
