Getting started with ArchivesSpace
System requirements
- Java 8 or 11 only (OpenJDK should be fine)
- At least 1024 MB RAM allocated to the application; at least 2 GB for optimal performance.
- Solr (for ArchivesSpace versions after 3.1)
- NodeJS
ArchivesSpace has been tested on Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
While ArchivesSpace does include an embedded database, MySQL is required for production use.
(While not officially supported by ArchivesSpace, some community members use MariaDB so there is some community support for version 10.4.10 only.)
The embedded database is for testing purposes only. You should use MySQL or MariaDB for any data intended for production, including data in a test instance that you intend to move over to a production instance.
Getting started
The quickest way to get ArchivesSpace up and running is to download
the latest distribution .zip
file from the following URL:
https://github.com/archivesspace/archivesspace/releases
You will need to have Java 1.8 or 1.11 installed on your machine. You can check your Java version by running the command:
If you are running an earlier version of java upgrade to 1.8 or 1.11 (not the newest version of Java). If you are running a newer version of Java you should revert back to 1.8 or 1.11 or force your machine to use 1.8 or 1.11 for ArchivesSpace.
When you extract the .zip
file, it will create a directory called
archivesspace
. Next, follow the instructions for setting up:
- MySQL
- The minimum supported version is v18.20.2. We recommend installing the latest LTS version of Node.js. See the Node.js download page for instructions.
- for version 3.2 and above, Solr is also required
From any ArchivesSpace version > 3.1.0 external Solr is required. Earlier versions provided an embedded Solr v4 instance, which is now unsupported due to its age.
Do not proceed until MySQL and Solr are running.
To run the system, just execute the appropriate startup script for your platform. On Linux and OSX:
and for Windows:
This will start ArchivesSpace running in foreground mode (so it will
shut down when you close your terminal window). Log output will be
written to the file logs/archivesspace.out
(by default).
Note: If you’re running Windows and you get an error message like
unable to resolve type 'size_t'
or no such file to load -- bundler
,
make sure that there are no spaces in any part of the path name in which the
ArchivesSpace directory is located.
Start ArchivesSpace
The first time it starts, the system will take a minute or so to start up. Once it is ready, confirm that ArchivesSpace is running correctly by accessing the following URLs in your browser:
- http://localhost:8089/ — the backend
- http://localhost:8080/ — the staff interface
- http://localhost:8081/ — the public interface
- http://localhost:8082/ — the OAI-PMH server
- http://localhost:8090/ — the Solr admin console
To start using the Staff interface application, log in using the adminstrator account:
- Username:
admin
- Password:
admin
Then, you can create a new repository by selecting “System” -> “Manage repositories” at the top right hand side of the screen. From the “System” menu, you can perform a variety of administrative tasks, such as creating and modifying user accounts. Be sure to change the “admin” user’s password at this time.