A CKAN instance is configured with the .ini file in the root ckan directory. The most important parameter to set is the sqlalchemy.url giving the database connection. But there are also several additional options to change the way the CKAN site operates.
On a production machine the file will be probably be named after the site name. e.g. ca.ckan.net.ini On a development machine it is probably development.ini
On a new installation of ckan, you have to create a new config file from the template, something like this:
paster --plugin ckan make-config ckan ca.ckan.net.ini
This creates ca.ckan.net.ini based on the template for this file in ckan/config/deployment.ini_tmpl
There are several general Pylons options, and all the CKAN-specific ones are in the [app:main] section.
Once the config file is changed, Apache needs to be restarted to read in the new changes.
Example:
sqlalchemy.url = postgres://tester:pass@localhost/ckantest3
This defines the database that CKAN is to use. The format is:
sqlalchemy.url = postgres://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST/DBNAME
Example:
package_form = ca
Default:
package_form = standard
This sets the name of the form to use when editing a package. This can be a form defined in the core CKAN code or in another setuputils-managed python module. The only requirement is that the setup.py has an entrypoint for the form defined in the ckan.forms section. See Package Forms
Example:
rdf_packages = http://semantic.ckan.net/package/
Configure this if you have an RDF store of the same packages as are in your CKAN instance. It will provide three sorts of links from each package page to the equivalent RDF URL given in rdf_packages:
Example:
enable_caching = 1
The presence of this option turns on the caching of package details for when a search is done over the API and all_fields is switched on. To disable this, remove the option completely.
Example:
licenses_group_url = http://licenses.opendefinition.org/2.0/ckan_canada
This specifies a CKAN license service. It determines which licenses are offered when you create or edit a package.
The URL in the option should point to a store of license information (in JSON format) that has been deployed by the CKAN License package and served over HTTP. If you don’t specify this then it displays the full list from the CKAN License module.
Example:
lang=de
Use this to specify the default language of the text displayed in the CKAN web UI. The default is English (en).
Example:
extra_template_paths=/home/okfn/brazil_ckan_config/templates
To customise the display of CKAN you can supply replacements for the Genshi template files. Use this option to specify where CKAN should look for them, before reverting to the ‘ckan/templates’ folder. You can supply more than one folder, separating the paths with a comma (,).
The example value for the extra_template_paths option could, for example, be used to override CKAN templates with these ones:
- /home/okfn/brazil_ckan_config/templates/layout.html
- /home/okfn/brazil_ckan_config/templates/package/edit.html
More details about this feature are found at: http://wiki.okfn.org/ckan/doc/theme
Example:
extra_public_paths = /home/okfn/brazil_ckan_config/public
To customise the display of CKAN you can supply replacements for staticly served files such as HTML, CSS, script and PNG files. Use this option to specify where CKAN should look for them, before reverting to the ‘ckan/public’ folder. You can supply more than one folder, separating the paths with a comma (,).
The example value for the extra_public_paths option could, for example, be used to provide an image and stylesheet:
- /home/okfn/brazil_ckan_config/public/images/brazil.png
- /home/okfn/brazil_ckan_config/public/css/extra.css
More details about this feature are found at: http://wiki.okfn.org/ckan/doc/theme
Example:
package_new_return_url = http://datadotgc.ca/new_dataset_complete?name=<NAME>
package_edit_return_url = http://datadotgc.ca/dataset/<NAME>
To allow the Edit Package and New Package forms to be integrated into a third party interface, setting these options allows you to set a the return address. So when the user has completed the form and presses ‘commit’, the user is redirected to the URL specified.
The ‘<NAME>’ string is replaced with the name of the package edited. Full details of this process are given in Form integration.
Example:
carrot_messaging_library=pyamqplib
This is the messaging library backend to use. Options:
* pyamqplib - AMQP (e.g. for RabbitMQ)
* pika - alternative AMQP
* stomp - python-stomp
* queue - native Python Queue (default) - NB this doesn't work inter-process
See carrot documentation for details.
Example:
amqp_hostname=localhost
amqp_port=5672
amqp_user_id=guest
amqp_password=guest
These are the setup parameters for AMQP messaging. These only apply if the messageing library has been set to use AMQP (see carrot_messaging_library). The values given in the example are the default values.
Example:
ckan.build_search_index_synchronously=
This controls the operation of the CKAN Postgres full text search indexing. If you don’t define this option then indexing is on. You will want to turn this off if you want to use a different search engine for CKAN (e.g. SOLR). In this case you need to define the option equal to blank (as in the given example).
Example:
search_backend = solr
Default:
sql
This controls the type of search backend. Currently valid values are sql (meaning Postgres full text search) and solr. If you specify sql then ensure indexing is on (build_search_index_synchronously is not defined). If you specify solr then ensure you specify a solr_url.
Example:
solr_url = http://solr.okfn.org/solr/test.ckan.net
This configures SOLR search, (if selected with ‘search_backend’_). Running solr will require a schema.xml file, such as the one in the ckan-solr-index repository.
Optionally, solr_user and solr_password can also be passed along to specify HTTP Basic authentication details for all solr requests.
Example:
ckan.site_title=Open Data Scotland
Default:
CKAN
This sets the name of the site.
Example:
ckan.site_logo=http://myregistry/logo.png
Default:
CKAN Text Logo, /images/ckan_logo_fullname_long.png
This sets the logo used in the title bar.
Example:
ckan.site_url=http://scotdata.ckan.net
Default:
http://www.ckan.net
The primary URL used by this site.