Open Data Platform Installer (ODPI) makes it easy to rapidly deploy a number of open data applications, including OGDI DataLab. OGDI stands for Open Government Data Initiative, a project to create a starter kit for a cloud-based open data catalogue. Since 2010 it has been steadily gaining popularity in countries across the world, with most deployments taking place in Canada and France.
This walk-through provides steps & screenshots to get going with OGDI on Azure in a matter of minutes. You can also skip to Part 2 for the wizard walk-through.
Part 1: Preparing Windows Azure
To run the open data catalogue you'll need a cloud-based hosting service: Windows Azure. Azure provides the compute infrastructure for the project: cloud service (compute cycles needed to run the code for OGDI, consting of a Data Service & Data Browser), and cloud storage (Azure Table storage, which provides fast, cost effective, scale-out capable storage for OGDI data).
If you don't already have a Windows Azure account, you will need to sign up at WindowsAzure.com (90 day trial available), and create a Subscription (one account can have multiple subscription to multiple services). Once you have your Subscription, you can manage it from https://manage.windowsazure.com For the purposes of this walk-through I'll use screenshots from the preview Azure portal (management portal).
1. From Management Portal - click "Cloud Services". If you haven't created a cloud service before, you should have nothing here. Click "Create a Cloud Service".
2. Select Quick Create & pick a URL for your catalogue (odpitest1.cloudapp.net in this case). Enter just the hosted service DNS prefix (odpitest1 in this case). The resulting URL will always be [something].cloudapp.net -- however, you can change your DNS / domain CNAME settings to point to this service, so that you end up with a pretty: www.MyCatalogue.gov or something of that nature.
Also take note of the Region / Affinity group. Ensure that ALL of your cloud services / cloud storage / etc. are in the same Region. This ensures that data and services are aggregated in the same datacenter/s and don't have to travel across the world to complete a data request. Also pick the region closest to you. In my case I use EAST US, as I'm based in Ontario, Canada, and our imaginary "test" constituents would probably be in the same geographic area.
3. You should see your newly minted service in the portal shortly:
4. Click on "Storage", then click on "Create a Storage Account"
5. For the purposes of the demo, we'll create 2 different storage accounts. One as temporary storage, where the installer will move the OGDI package + your config information when it goes through the install, and One used for actually storing the configuration & data. Each storage account has its own name & key (credentials). Therefore, you can create more storage accounts for multiple containers of the data if you're supporting a multi-agency open data catalogue. Each agency can then load the data into their own container.
Here I'm creating storage for the data (odpitest1storage). Once again ensure the Region / Vicinity are the same for all storage & all cloud services set up in Step 2.
6. Repeat the step to create the temporary storage account. In my case named odpitempstorage. After that, you should have 2 storage accounts under "Storage" in your portal. Now let's grab the keys for both accounts -- we'll need these for the ODPI wizard later, so that the installer can connect and do its thing. Click "Manage Keys":
7. When you click "Manage Keys", you'll get the Storage Accounts Name & keys. Capture the name & the Primary key (outlined below). I usually paste it into something like Notepad:
8. Now we need to grab subscription information for the Cloud Service you created earlier. It's needed for the installer as well (just like the storage name/keys). Click on "Account" at the top:
9. Once you're in your Account Portal, click on Subscriptions. You should see the subscription you originally signed up for, copy the Subscription ID from the bottom right:
10. The only other things remaining is to grab the reCapcha key information, which is needed for the capcha service to prevent spam when catalogue users enter comments / questions.
Go to: recaptcha.net where you should see a screen like this. Once you sign up you need to click "Get reCapcha" on the left:
11. Under Create a reCapcha key, enter the fully qualified URL for your catalogue (from Step 2). It's odpitest1.cloudapp.net in this walk-through. Click "Create Key".
12. Copy & paste the Private & Public keys. That's what you'll need for the wizard in the Open Data Installer.
Now that you have created Azure cloud service & storage accounts and copied all the configuration information, it's time to run the Open Data Platform Installer.
To complete OGDI installation - off to Open Data Platform Installer: Installing OGDI DataLab v4 (Part 2).