Chapter 3. Getting Started

Table of Contents
Compilation and Installation
Encryption and Security Considerations for VACM
Running Nexxus for the First Time
Nexxus Command Line Options

This chapter describes in detail the process of building and installing VACM, including various compile time options and runtime options.

Compilation and Installation

Begin by downloading the VACM source and install it on a server which you have determined will serve as your Node Controller. Your Node Controller is the server or servers which run the 'server' portions of VACM (called Nexxus). The latest official distribution is always available at the VACM project page in the file releases section.

If you wish to work from the latest development code, you may obtain it by going to the VACM project page and linking through to the CVS Repository.

Once you have extracted the files from the distribution, run the autogen.sh script to test your configuration and build the makefiles. Here is a list of arguments and switches that can be passed into the autogen script to change the build behavior:

--enable-ssl

Enables encryption between clients and Nexxus (The Node Controller Server)

--enable-pam

Enables PAM support for modules that require user authentication

--without-x

Disables the building of the GUI's

--prefix=<PREFIX_DIR>

Sets the install directory

--with-logdir=<LOG_DIR>

Sets the directory that logs will be placed in

Once the script has completed running, simply type 'make' and 'make install' as root. VACM will install itself under /usr/lib/vacm/ if no other path is specified to autogen.sh.