Installation Instructions

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Installation of PortalNet is a relatively simple process. First you need to download the Java Virtual Machine for your platform in the form of either the JDK (Java Developer Kit) or JRE (Java Runtime Environment). I recommend the JRE as it is considerably smaller. You can find both JDK and JRE at:

Sun's Java Download Main entry point for downloading Java products, primarily for Windows and Solaris
Sun's list of 3rd party Java ports For JDK or JRE for other platforms

Next you'll need the PortalNet client code:

portalnet.jar The entire PortalNet application
symbeans.jar Required Symantec package, place in same path as portalnet.jar
portalnet.bat Windows example startup file
pnetunix Unix example startup file

The portalnet.zip file is needed for initial installations, or for major upgrades. Major upgrades will always be announced with e-mail to all users accompanied with any required instructions. code.zip can generally be downloaded for an incremental upgrade that doesn't require a new card database, card rulings, etc. Again, e-mail will be sent to all users with any further needed instructions. For most other code updates, the new code will be automatically installed for you when you log into PortalNet.

Starting PortalNet

Since PortalNet is a Java application, it is started through the Java Virtual Machine startup mechanism. This is slightly different depending on whether you have installed a JDK or a JRE. The examples included here reference both JDK and JRE installations for Windows platforms.

Included in your portalnet.zip file is a sample Windows startup bat file called portalnet.bat - the text of this file is:

set path=d:\jre113\bin

d:

cd \PortalNet

jre -classpath d:\jre113\lib\rt.jar;d:\PortalNet\symbeans.jar;d:\PortalNet\portalnet.jar Loader 204.26.80.70 1961

jre -classpath d:\jre113\lib\rt.jar;d:\PortalNet\symbeans.jar;d:\PortalNet\icebrowserbean.jar;d:\PortalNet\portalnet.jar MagicNet 204.26.80.70 1961 Kent

In rhis example, the JRE was installed into d:\jre113. PortalNet was installed in d:\PortalNet. If you are using a JDK the startups is just slightly different:

set path=d:\jdk113\bin

d:

cd \PortalNet

java -classpath d:\jdk113\lib\classes.zip;d:\PortalNet\symbeans.jar;d:\PortalNet\portalnet.jar Loader 204.26.80.70 1961

java -classpath d:\jdk113\lib\classes.zip;d:\PortalNet\symbeans.jar;d:\PortalNet\icebrowserbean.jar;d:\PortalNet\portalnet.jar MagicNet 204.26.80.70 1961 Kent

In this example the JDK was installed to d:\jdk113.

The important points to remember from these Windows specific example are:

Your command shell environement must be able to locate either jre or java. These files are located in the bin subdirectory of your JDK/JRE installation directory
jre is the name of the JRE virtual machine, java is the name of the JDK virtual machine. Each of these requires the -classpath startup option to locate the remainder of the virtual machine as well as PortalNet itself. For JRE, the rest of the VM is stored at lib\rt.jar within the JRE installation directory. For JDK, it is stored at lib\classes.zip.
The PortalNet application code is contained in PortalNet\portalnet.jar. PortalNet\symbeans.jar and PortalNet\icebrowserbean.jar are support libraries used by PortalNet.
The remaining parameters for both jre and java are the name of the main class file to start and it's associated parameters. The first invocation of jre/java requires the parameters Loader 204.26.80.70 1961 - Loader is the name of the class file, 204.26.80.70 is the PortalNet server IP, and 1961 is the port. The Loader is the program that will automatically transfer any new code from within portalnet.jar from the server to your cient. The second invocation of jre/java starts the PortalNet client whose main class is named MagicNet, and it's parameters are the same as Loader with the addition of your desired user name (Kent in my examples).

Common Problems and Solutions!

The default installation of JRE/JDK on Windows platforms is in a directory called Program Files. You can certainly use this directory, but be warned that .bat files don't like directory names with spaces. So you'll need enclose the class path options inside of "" like this:

java -classpath "d:\Program Files\jdk113\lib\classes.zip;d:\PortalNet\symbeans.jar;d:\PortalNet\portalnet.jar" Loader 204.26.80.70 1961

java -classpath "d:\Program Files\jdk113\lib\classes.zip;d:\PortalNet\symbeans.jar;d:\PortalNet\icebrowserbean.jar;d:\PortalNet\portalnet.jar" MagicNet 204.26.80.70 1961 Kent

Having trouble building a deck? Try reading Building a Deck in the help file.