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Installing a data ...

Installing a Data Provider and Defining Metadata

Basically, you should follow the user guides of the package you have chosen, but here is some advise if you are still just assessing the steps ahead.

PHP Provider packaged by GBIF

This is an integrated package that installs in just minutes. You unpack it with WinZip or gunzip, and then run the install script. A few questions about parameters are asked. You can generally leave them in their default choices. Choosing a port number right is important.

The install script does not write anything outside the install directory. Therefore there is no automatic uninstall. You simply delete the directory on the disk with all the files.

After the install script has run you start the metadata configuration. You first define the metadata for the provider installation. Do not overlook this step, because many things you enter here will be very visible in GBIF Data Portal and affect the operations. In particular pay attention to the following:

• Code: You should find your institution's code from a coden provider such as Index Herbariorum. If none exist in any of the coden providers, contact one of them to set up a new code.

• RelatedInformation:This is a well-formed URL pointing to a website.

• Contact: If phone number and email are blank, registration later on will fail.

Python Provider and the GBIF Data Repository Tool

There is a new "wizard" tool for Windows that installs all the components of this package automatically.  These include the MySQL engine, the Zope application server, and the various Zope and Python components

You can use this package without the GBIF Communications Portal Toolkit (PTK), but you get the benefit of automatic installation of most of the Zope components and a customised look and feel if you first install the PTK and then the Repository.

This tool allows for very detailed metadata configuration and control over data quality. Metadata is inherited in a hierarchical manner from the provider installation to the collections and resources and further to the folders that hold the data. Missing values in the data get their defaults from this hierarchy.