For the openMRS radiology module, so far I have installed Vagrant and a virtual machine and am currently in the process of fixing errors that have arisen, as well as dealing with authorization issues. Here are the steps I have done so far:
- Download Vagrant – Vagrant Download Here
- Download the software for your computer version, run the .msi file, and follow the default options unless you want to change something.
- What is it? – A quote from the developers of Vagrant, here is their mission statement so to speak: “If you are a developer, Vagrant will isolate dependencies and their configuration within a single disposable, consistent environment, without sacrificing any of the tools you are used to working with (editors, browsers, debuggers, etc.).”
- Do I need it? Yes, the radiology module is currently setup to utilize Vagrant, and even though it takes a few minutes to install, it will automate the VM setup and meld it with openmrs for you.
- Download Virtual Box – Download Here
- Download the version you need, preferably the most recent Stable version.
- Run through the setup, and choose what settings you feel comfortable with. However, keep in mind that it can only use what memory you let it use, so if you will not be using any other heavy hitting programs simultaneously, give Virtual Box a good chunk of your RAM (preferably 6gb or more) so that it can run efficiently.
- You do not have to create any vm machine instances, just install the program right now. Vagrant will create a vm for you automatically.
- Clone the directory: https://github.com/teleivo/puppet-openmrs-radiologydcm4chee.git
- You will need a git account if you do not have one, but if you are a programmer you should consider using a git account as it not only works as a version control software, but also as a portfolio of sorts.
- Make sure you remember where you cloned this folder. You will need to refer back to this source folder so keep it somewhere easily accessible.
- What is this? – This will help you by running a server which will contain both openMRS and dcm4chee (An open source medical application/utility).
- Let Vagrant do your work! – Just use any console to navigate inside the git folder you just cloned, and type “vagrant up” and hit enter.
- Now you wait, a while. Walk away and get some coffee while vagrant sets up your vm and server fuctions. It takes about 30 minutes on a standard internet connection, and it will bring up a new line in the command prompt when it is finished.
- Taken from the programmer’s page who setup this project here: “This will download a virtualbox VM with Ubuntu 14.04 64bit, install all necessary puppet modules via r10k and run the manifest/site.pp which:”
- Access openMRS – you can now open a localhost window in your internet browser (firefox not confirmed to work yet).
- To do this, just type “localhost:8080/openmrs/” into the url.
- This is an exact word for word step guide on what settings to choose which is also obtained from teleivo’s gitHUb page:
- In the wizard select/enter the following:
- Which type of installation do you want? => Advanced
- Step 1 of 5, Do you currently have an OpenMRS database installed that you would like to connect to? => No
- If no, what would you like to name this database? Database name => openmrs
- A user that has “CREATE DATABASE” privileges must be specified here…
- Username => openmrs
- Password => openmrs
- Step 2 of 5, Do you currently have a database user other than root that has read/write access to the openmrs database? => Yes
- If yes, specify the login user name and password for that database user
- Username => openmrs
- Password => openmrs
- If yes, specify the login user name and password for that database user
- Complete the remaining steps of the wizard
- At this point, you should have a working environment, but I ran into a few issues.
- First, even though I created a user account, I am unable to login when booting up the server instance. I have tried every account I have setup as well as default accounts or leaving the fields empty. I know someone else had this issue, so once I figure out what it is I will edit this post with the solution.
- For a while, when I was running the program, every other program running in the background of my pc was terminated abruptly. I did not lose anything, but I could not have any other windows open. This might be my specific pc, but be careful to save any work you have before running this.
- When running the ‘vagrant up’ command, it failed twice on me before running properly. Could be a connection issue, but try running it a few more times before searching for fixes.
And hopefully that is all you should need. There is a Slack group for people working on this project, so if you need help you can ask there or directly on the openmrs talk page. Feel free to fiddle around with the features as you are on a local host you will not ruin any data.
What I learned:
- That an installation and setup process can be made to be automated
- What dcm4chee is and how it is relevant to this module
- How openmrs functions/runs
- When something says it is needed, it is NEEDED (should be obvious).
How would I proceed differently:
- I would make sure I had all requirements before starting
- I would make sure I had the correct version of Virtual Box
- I would be more attentive to other people’s errors in case I encountered them as well
Applications:
- This whole process will come in handy when creating programs in the future. This process makes installing things much easier, especially if I had to install this on multiple computers throughout a hospital.
- I will be able to apply some of this knowledge on any local server project I work on.
Credits to:
- teleivo on gitHub
- Vagrant software by HashiCorp
- Virtual Machine
- dcm4chee
From the blog shatos by shatos and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.