CKAN

Setting up CKAN in a Docker environment can sometimes require some additional troubleshooting, particularly when working with Solr for search functionality. In this article, we’ll walk through how to set up CKAN 2.11 in a Docker environment with a specific focus on resolving issues related to Solr schema configuration.

Prerequisites

Before we start, ensure that you have the following installed on your system:

- Docker
- Docker Compose

In this article, we will walk through a series of common Linux commands used for managing CKAN instances on an Ubuntu server with Nginx. We'll cover a variety of actions, explaining each command and its purpose. Whether you’re maintaining a CKAN instance, performing updates, or troubleshooting, this guide will help you understand the underlying operations.

The run through

Location of the base templates

cd /usr/lib/ckan/default/src/ckan/ckan/templates

Whereas as the location of the plugin that displays the new template

cd /usr/lib/ckan/default/src/ckanext-{project}/ckanext/{project}/templates

To alter the home main page, edit the 

Focusing on the ckan.ini file (/etc/ckan/default/ckan.ini).  When I run the commands to recreate the database tables for CKAN:

cd /usr/lib/ckan/default/src/ckan
ckan -c /etc/ckan/default/ckan.ini db init

The response I'm getting is:

Finding the issue with a server 500 error

The Nginx error logs are showing too much detail.

Nginx logs and test

There are no errors in the nginx log and sudo nginx -t looks fine

sudo nginx -t

Response

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Following the instructions on CKAN DataStore with a little information.

Enable the plugin

In your CKAN config file (/etc/ckan/default/ckan.ini), update the datastore plugin

ckan.plugins = datastore

If you're planning to create extensions, generating CKAN from source is the preferred option.  However, even if you have installed from package, you can make adjustments to creating extensions.

Set up your server

Begin by cleaning up your server environment.  Do this by updating Ubuntu’s package index:

Goal: Restrict content access through username and password entry on an Nginx server.

1: Apache Utilities Package

First, update your server’s package index:

sudo apt update

Check if the utilities package exists in your environment by executing the command

dpkg --get-selections | grep apache

Response:

Reviewing CKAN extensions and listing the extensions that have been created / modified in the past three years/

CKAN extensions - adding to your installation

Following the information on the CKAN site

Use the CKAN create command to create an empty extension:

Activate your CKAN virtual environment, for example:

. /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/activate

Then check your location is