User:Dave/Admin Notes

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Manuals

Listed alphabetically | Listed by function
A technical manual for the MediaWiki software. Contains information for developers and system administrators on installing, managing and developing for the MediaWiki software.

Categories

Help & Guides

Multiple Wikis, One Installation (Wiki Farms, Wiki Families)

Q: Is there any extension to handle multiple wikis on the same install?
A: Yes. Here are some relevant links to wade through:
A step-by-step guide from the author of MediaWiki Administrators’ Tutorial Guide on how to set up multiple wikis with on MediaWiki instance.
This page should lead you through the installation and configuration of a small wiki-family.
Manual:Wiki family/Drupal-style LocalSettings.php
Manual talk:Wiki family/Drupal-style LocalSettings.php
Wikifarm and the verb Wikifarming refer to the setup and operation of multiple wikis on a single server. This could be because on a single website you want to run multiple wikis (e.g. http://www.saruman.biz/linuxwiki and http://www.saruman.biz/bsdwiki). Or it could be because you're running multiple websites on a single server (each behind its own IP, or all on the same IP number using virtual hosts), and more than one of these websites needs to have its own wiki.
Scenario: You have successfully installed Mediawiki and now want to create another, separate wiki on the same server using new tables but within the same database and using the same source code.
Category for documentation about MediaWiki configuration, for wiki owners. See also: Category:Configure
This category contains pages that are part of the MediaWiki installation guide.
CommonSettings.php can be used instead of LocalSettings.php on wiki farms. Wikipedia uses a version of CommonSettings.php.
InitialiseSettings.php is a file used by some wiki farms, including Wikimedia's. It is not required; LocalSettings.php can be used instead.

Relevant Extensions

Simple Farm is a simple MediaWiki farm extension by Daniel Werner. It automatically forwards to a certain wiki (within one single MediaWiki installation) that should be accessed by either a virtual script path (using a tiny bit of mod-rewrite) or by using sub-domains. It is also possible to have members of the same farm using either of these methods, not all members have to use the same. Furthermore, 'Simple Farm' comes with a maintenance script which allows to maintain several farm members at the same time, e.g. doing database updates for all or certain farm members by executing just one command.
The WikiFarm extension is a tool for wiki-farm administrator to automate multi-wiki setup.
Farmer is a tool that allows you to manage a MediaWiki farm as well as make configuration changes to a wiki via a web interface. As of early 2011 it has some problems; see the talk page for discussions and calls for help.
WikiFactory is used primarily to provide an interface to the settings that would ordinarily be changed in LocalSettings.php. Users with the right access permissions (such as staff) can change any variables that have not marked as read-only. Possible uses for WikiFactory include enabling extensions, preventing editing in certain namespaces, adding custom namespaces, allowing uploads of certain filetypes, etc. All configuration changes are logged. WikiFactory can also be used to close, disable, or redirect a wiki. On a wikifarm, a metrics module can be used to display information about certain wikis or to take actions such as mass deleting a group of wikis.
CentralAuth extension allows global/shared accounts between projects. This extension adds six new special pages — Special:AutoLogin (unlisted special page), Special:CentralAuth, Special:GlobalGroupMembership, Special:GlobalGroupPermissions, Special:GlobalUsers and Special:MergeAccount.
NOTE: CentralAuth was designed specifically for Wikimedia projects which already had millions of accounts that needed to be merged into a global table. If you are starting a new wiki farm from scratch and have no need to merge existing accounts into a global table, it is much easier to set up global accounts using $wgSharedDB. ([1], [2]) However, this provides no solution to the single-sign-on feature (sign-in on one wiki, like wikipedia.org, automatically makes the user signed-in to e.g. a shared repository under a different, shared domain, like commons.wikimedia.org).
The Extension:Configure extension is intented to allow bureaucrats to customize the wiki settings whitout needing to edit the LocalSettings.php file. This extension uses an extended class of SiteConfiguration, for "normal" installation. For some wiki farms, it will allow administrators to administer multiple wikis with only one copy of the software.[1]
This extension allows loading of global css and js from a central wiki (good for use on wiki farms). Both overall CSS/JS can be added (via MediaWiki:Global.css and MediaWiki:Global.js on the central wiki), as well as user CSS/JS.

Shared Interwiki Databases

This extension allows the InterWiki list in the database to be maintained from a list of entries in a file instead of running an update script or using a special page. This has the advantage of allowing a number of wikis installed on the same server to share the same interwiki list simplifying maintenance.
This is an extension to add a Special:Interwiki page to MediaWiki, to view and edit the interwiki table, and a log of any actions made with it. It was made by Stephanie Amanda Stevens a.k.a Phroziac, because she was annoyed at forgetting the interwiki prefixes. It's made for MediaWiki 1.6 onwards. Since Interwiki version 2.0, it works with the $wgInterwikiCache, and the CSS uses ResourceLoader. This version is only compatible with MW 1.19+.

Using files from a database that you can access : ForeignDBRepo

(Shared uploads.)
Using files from a database that you can access : ForeignDBRepo
The ForeignDBRepo class is very useful for creating wiki families. In a wiki family, each wiki will have its own database or table prefix. Using this class, you can make a family member aware of the tables of another family member. Access through ForeignDBRepo is faster than through ForeignAPIRepo. This code should be deployed to localsettings.php.

Testing ForeignDBRepo to PortlandWiki on 23:05, 17 September 2011 (PDT)

Grapsus grapsus Galapagos Islands.jpg

Testing ForeignAPIRepo (like used with InstantCommons) to PortlandWiki on 20:22, 18 September 2011 (PDT)

It works!!! Only one big problem -- this trick blows up the server. See Image Transclusion Issues for more details.
  • For the workaround, SEE:
RESOLVED $wgUseSharedUploads causes trouble (Full snippet.)
RESOLVED $wgUseSharedUploads causes trouble (The most relevant snippet of the thread.)

Multi-Synchronous Collaborative Semantic Wikis

In this paper, we present a new model of semantic wiki called Multi-Synchronous Semantic Wiki (MS2W). This model extends semantic wikis with multi-synchronous support that allows to create a P2P network of semantic wikis. Semantic wiki pages can be replicated on several semantic servers.

MediaWiki in the Enterprise

See: User:Dave/Wikis In The Enterprise#MediaWiki in the Enterprise

Multihomed, Multidomain Collaboration

FROM SITE: A platform to enable real-time environmental experiments through wireless sensor networks and a common, modern, generic cyber-infrastructure. This infrastructure will be used to enable interdisciplinary environmental research, allowing scientists to work efficiently and collaboratively to find the key mechanisms in the triggering of natural hazards and to efficiently distribute the information to increase public awareness.
DAVE'S NOTES: This site is a good model for explaining how multiple and dispersed nodes (people / domains / data points) can collaborate effectively.
EXAMPLE: Wannengrat Deployment/Fieldsite

Semantic MediaWiki

Data Import / Export / Exchange

WikiDB
WikiDB/Tutorial
An extension to Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) and the Halo Extension.
Developed as a part of Project Halo to embrace data provided by external applications and to re-use the data in a wiki.
The Data Import Extension enables users to integrate external data into the Wiki in two different ways.
  1. First the Web Service component allows to retrieve data from external RESTful and basic SOAP web services from within the Wiki.
  2. Second the Term Import Framework component allows to import data into the Wiki as new articles.
At the moment it supports web services, CSV files and POP3 (emails) as sources for import.
All features come with easy to use graphical user interfaces.
Features
  1. Using data and features from web services - features to attach to an external RESTful or basic SOAP web service, to specify the update and cache cleanup policies and to generate semantic annotations from read or imported data
  2. Importing new Wiki articles - Companies that want to introduce a semantic wiki as new knowledge managements system often have their own vocabulary of specific terms that they want to be reflected in the Wiki. The Term Import component allows importing such existing terms into the wiki.
Example
To get the first 200 letters from a random article in the MAIN NAMESPACE
<IncArticle>{{{content}}}</IncArticle>
To get the first 300 letters from a random article:
<IncArticle count="300">{{{content}}}</IncArticle>
To define your own format for the generated article, you can use your own style.
<IncArticle count="300">
== {{{titleblank}}} ==
{{{content}}}
</IncArticle>
StarterWiki provides a set of maintenance scripts and functions to allow for creation of wiki databases based off a starter wiki.

DynamicPageList (DPL)

DynamicPageList (DPL) is a MediaWiki extension which allows wiki users to create a list of pages that are listed in a set of categories. "DPL is a Swiss Army knife for your wiki." See Help:DPL for general information.
Explains fundamental concepts of DPL.
Allows mass deletion of articles using mediawikiwiki:Extension:DynamicPageList.

Tabular Data

Dave's Notes: This extension will probably be too buggy to use, but look for something similar.
ALSO CHECK OUT: DataTables (A jQuery library that looks like it can be used as a stand-alone or in conjunction with Extension:TableEdit. Looks very useful!)

Data Visualization

SwarmExport allows for export of a wiki's history in a format that can be used by code_swarm to make a visualization of the wiki's timeline.
VISUAL EXAMPLE code_swarm - An experiment in organic software visualization.
FlowchartWiki - Wiki-based Process Modelling and Documentation (The external wiki for the FlowchartWiki extension developer.)
Storyboard is an extension developed for the Wikimedia Foundations fundraising efforts. It allows users to submit stories and can display these in an ajaxscroll board that can be embedded in wiki articles. The stories can be managed via a story review interface and be viewed and edited individually on a special story page.

Data Extraction

This is really cool: Extension:SparqlExtension#Charts
More here: User:Alfredas/Charts
(Compare with Extension:LinkedWiki.)

Interact With External Data

There are several approaches to further use the data on the pages in a more automated way. These extensions should be listed here.
This extension allows an AJAX-based synchronization of revisions and files between global wiki site and its local mirror.
  1. manage structured data (databases, files, ...)
  2. run (on-the-fly) analysis tools
This is about importing the text of wiki pages using an xml format.
Note: This is about importing binary files like images from the command line.
Keep your MediaWiki install automatically synced with the Wikimedia wikis by way of a script.

MediaWiki Widgets

Hosts a public collection of MediaWiki Widgets.
Pages in category "Widget".
Widgets extension allows adding widgets to wiki by just creating pages in Widget namespace.

Google Widgets

This widget allows you to add Google Spreadsheet Forms to your wiki page.
This widget allows you to add Google Documents to your wiki page.
This widget allows you to add Google Spreadsheets to your wiki page.
This widget allows you to add Google Presentations to your wiki page.

Editing

AddPageService is a web service that enables external programs to add or edit pages on the wiki just as a regular user.
"The system used by Wikipedia."
Dave's Note: Check to see if this extension (Extension:VariablesExtension) is used in Portland's WikiWednesday meetup page on Wikipedia.

Forms

(Mediawiki Forms Example)

MediaWiki Extensions: Other

This extension allows page authors to protect pages from non-authors on a page-by-page basis. Authors with the 'authorprotect' permission will gain a protect tab on pages they author that gives them access to this interface.
This extension will restrict edit access to user pages to the owner of the page (user) and users assigned to groups that have been given user page edit access through $wgGroupPermissions. This effectively provides users with a group of protected pages since this protection also extends to any subpages of the user page (i.e., User:Hoggwild/sandbox1). The User pages can be read by any user assigned to a group with view rights to user pages, but can only be edited by authorized users.
InlineEditor is an editing interface that allows users to edit and preview elements in the page by clicking them.

RSS / Feed Extensions

Installed Extensions

Fund Raising

Domain Ideas

  • semanticwikiweb.com

Consulting / Consultants

Consultants
Job Boards
Contains a list of MediaWiki job boards and consulting sites.

Further Reading

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Configure/README
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