Technical topics

Interact offers 8 hours of technical support. How will my programme survive after that?

The 8 hour offer refers to direct IT technical assistance, or ‘hands on’ problem solving (e.g. the installation of Jems).

On top of that, Interact provides long-term support for Jems - we will be there for the whole programming period to clarify any questions regarding the use of Jems or technical feedback. The communication channel for such interactions is already live: https://jems.interact.eu/

Which operating system is recommended to be used when installing Jems? We know now that CentOS 8 EOL is December 2021 and not 2029 as was originally thought. Is there an alternative operating system we should consider?

Our current recommendation is to use any Linux platform (Kernel 4.x or higher).

Please find some more details here: System requirements

Is it possible to install parts of the system across more than one server? 

You may have a separated instance for the following components:

• Jems core application

• Database

• Minio

• Elasticsearch

In this case, you may need to specify additional startup parameters for the Jems core application

Please find some more details here: Installation instructions

Are plugins/add-ons supported by Jems?

Yes, Jems supports different plugins for following purposes:

• pre-check before submission of an application or a report

• data export

• risk based sampling

How do I get read-only access to the Jems code repository (Gitlab)?

Firstly, your programme needs to have signed the license agreement.

Secondly, please create a request via the Jems Helpdesk: https://jems-eu.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1

Where can I find a demo / test environment / instances of Jems?

Please refer to https://jems.interact.eu/index.html#demo to access demo instances of Jems. The first instance contains stable features, the second instance contains the latest up to date features. You can also create users in these two instances.

Where can I find the latest release of Jems?

Latest versions of Jems can be found on the Jems portal.
https://jems.interact.eu/index.html#download

In order to get access to the Jems portal, your programme needs to have signed the license agreement.

What is the default port number for the Jems service?

The default port number is 8080.

You can change it by applying the startup parameter --server.port=8080

Please find some more details here: Installation instructions

The eMS only supported incremental release updates. What kind of release management is applied for the Jems? 

Jems has simple incremental updates. It’s possible to update directly to latest version without intermediary updates - Please read the release notes of all versions.

I cannot save anything in Jems, what is the issue?

Please ensure that the Database account which you are using for the connection has a full permission for the database - Also for MinIO.

What is the expected load or maximum of concurrent users of the system that is used in the planning and development?

There is no maximum defined for the system. We expect that the software scales in a reasonable way. Nevertheless, there will be testing including load performance in the near future that validates the scalability and other quality assurance topics.

How are database versioning and data migration handled?

Each update comes with a script that will perform all update procedures, including database migration/versioning.

Is a database agnostic approach planned (multiple database support)? If yes, which databases are supported? If not, why not; and consequently, what database was selected and what was the criteria for this selection?

We selected MariaDB from the beginning, and programmes need to use it as well, otherwise we cannot guarantee functionality. There are certain functionalities that Jems use and are only available in MariaDB.

What Java version is supported in Jems?

We run the application in "OpenJDK Runtime Environment 11". Nevertheless, it is developed in Kotlin on top of the Spring Boot framework.

Are there any plans to support some of the functions for a mobile platform – monitoring, dashboard etc.?

This is unlikely. Nevertheless, we provide a good system API for any programme who wants to implement that (and possibly distribute for free to other programmes).

I cannot access the MinIO portal, what could be the problem?

1. If you are using docker or running MiniIO as a standalone instance, make sure that you use the ports and execute the command with the parameters as shown below.
   ports: - '9000:9000' - '9001:9001'
   command: server /data --console-address ":9001"
   

     jems-minio:
       image: minio/minio:RELEASE.2021-08-05T22-01-19Z
       container_name: jems-minio
       #    volumes:
       #      - ems-minio-data:/var/lib/minio
       ports:
         - '9000:9000'
         - '9001:9001'
       environment:
         MINIO_ROOT_USER: jemsminio
         MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD: Minio@2020
       command: server /data --console-address ":9001"
       healthcheck:
         test: [ "CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:9000/minio/health/live" ]
         interval: 30s
         timeout: 20s
         retries: 3
   

2. Make sure that you have enabled access to port number 9001.
   

   Instructions below are related to CentOs 
   
   Enable access
   sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http
   sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port 9001/tcp
   sudo firewall-cmd --reload
   
   Don`t forget to close firewall after you finished your doings in Minio
   
   Disable access
   
   sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --remove-port=9001/tcp
   sudo firewall-cmd --reload