How to Install and Run GemFire

 

Prerequisites :

1. Download : http://www.springsource.com/products/gemfire-evaluation-download
2. Download : JDK from Oracle site
 

To Install the JDK Software and Set JAVA_HOME on a UNIX System

1. Install the JDK software.
   
   1. Go to http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.
      
      
   2. Select the appropriate JDK version and click Download.
      The JDK software is installed on your computer, for example, at /usr/jdk/jdk1.6.0_02. You can change this location.
      
2. Set JAVA_HOME.
   
   
   • Korn and bash shells:
     

     export JAVA_HOME=jdk-install-dir

     export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

   • 
     Bourne shell:
     

     JAVA_HOME=jdk-install-dir

     export JAVA_HOME

     PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

     export PATH

   • 
     C shell:
     

     setenv JAVA_HOME jdk-install-dir

     setenv PATH $JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

     export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

   
   
3. 
   Change the permissions to enable you to run the GlassFish ESB Installer.
   

   chmod 755 JavaCAPS.bin

To Install the JDK Software and Set JAVA_HOME on a Windows System

1. 
   Install the JDK software.
   
   
   
   1. 
      Go to http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.
      
      
   2. 
      Select the appropriate JDK software and click Download.
      The JDK software is installed on your computer, for example, at C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_02. You can move the JDK software to another location if desired.
      
2. 
   Set JAVA_HOME:
   
   
   
   1. 
      Right click My Computer and select Properties.
      
      
   2. 
      On the Advanced tab, select Environment Variables, and then edit JAVA_HOME to point to where the JDK software is located, for example, C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_02.

Install Gemfire :

Locate the GemFire package folder in terminal / command prompt  then execute the below command to install GemFire on your machine.

%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe -jar GemFire65_Installer.jar

This installs the Gemfire
 

Running GemFire Application :

1.  Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to your Java runtime installation. There should be a bin directory under JAVA_HOME.
2.  Set the GEMFIRE environment variable to point to your GemFire installation.
3.  Update your PATH environment variable to include the bin directories under JAVA_HOME and GEMFIRE.
For example, for Unix Bourne and Korn shells (sh, ksh, bash):
> PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin:$GEMFIRE/bin;export PATHand Windows
> set PATH=%PATH%;%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%GEMFIRE%\bin
4.  Update your CLASSPATH environment variable to include the GemFire classes:
Unix Bourne and Korn shells (sh, ksh, bash):
> CLASSPATH=$GEMFIRE/lib/gemfire.jar:$GEMFIRE/lib/antlr.jar:$GEMFIRE/lib/gfSecurityImpl.jar:$CLASSPATH;export CLASSPATH
Windows:
> set CLASSPATH=%GEMFIRE%\lib\gemfire.jar;%GEMFIRE%\lib\antlr.jar;%GEMFIRE%\lib\gfSecurityImpl.jar;%CLASSPATH%
5.  Set a GF_JAVA environment variable to point to the java executable file under your JAVA_HOME.
Unix Bourne and Korn shells (sh, ksh, bash):
> GF_JAVA=$JAVA_HOME/bin/java;export GF_JAVA
Windows:
> set GF_JAVA=%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe
 

Running in Pure Java Mode :

GemFire Enterprise is designed to run as documented on platforms running Solaris, Linux, and Microsoft Windows.
GemFire Enterprise runs with some functional differences in pure Java mode without GemFire native code.
In pure Java mode Gem Fire's Java code does not call any of its own native methods. Distributed system members still have access to Gem Fire's caching and distribution capabilities.
To run in pure Java mode, your application must have the proper CLASSPATH settings and must not have access to the GemFire native library.
Pure Java mode is enabled automatically when Gem Fire's Java code cannot load the GemFire native library. Pure Java mode can be forced on platforms that support native code by renaming the native library in the product tree, or by setting the GemFire.pure Java Mode system property to true on members running user applications.
The Programming APIs
The Java APIs, supplied in product Dir/lib/GemFire.jar, allow you to configure your distributed system and cache, manage and query cached data, and run administrative tasks.

 

Packages

com.gemstone.gemfire :
Statistics,Logging,DataSerialization,and System Failure.The classes, interfaces, and               exceptions used for logging and sta­tistics and for  data serialization and system failure  management. This includes the LogWriter and Statistics classes that allow application-specific logging and statistics gathering. This also includes DataSerializable and SystemFailure.
com.gemstone.gemfire.admin :
Administration API Tools for administering and monitoring GemFire distributed systems.
com.gemstone.gemfire.cache:
Caching An implementation of distributed object caching that is capable of leveraging GemFire’s distribution capabilities. This package includes Cache, Region, and Region.Entry interfaces.
com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.client:
Client Used to configure client applications for communication with cache servers.
com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.query:
Querying and Indexing An implementation of OQL querying for local cache data and continuous querying on a server by a client. Supplemented by querying shortcut methods in cache.Region.
com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.server:
Server Used to run GemFire servers and to replace the default GemFire server load probe software with custom software written by you.
com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.util:
Customized Caching Classes Utilities for use with the caching classes. These utilities include an object sizer that returns the size of the object passed in, con­venience stub implementation classes for GemFire application plug-ins  and customized application plug-ins that implement the client side in client/server caching.
com.gemstone.gemfire.distributed:
Distributed System Membership Common tools for  GemFire distributed systems including the Distributed Member and Locator classes.
com.gemstone.gemfire.security:
Security and Authorization Tools for authenticating and authorizing system and data access.

What is GemFire?

Generally the GemFire is a Command-line utility that allows you to start, stop, and otherwise manage GemFire locators from an operating system command prompt. The utility also provides license information and log management and merging. explained by Google web dictionary
GemFire Enterprise is in-memory distributed data management platform that pools memory (and CPU, network and optionally local disk) across multiple processes to manage application objects and behavior. Using dynamic replication and data partitioning techniques, GemFire Enterprise offers continuous availability, high performance and linear scalability for data intensive applications without compromising on data consistency, even under failure conditions. In addition to being a distributed data container, it is an active data management system that uses an optimized low latency distribution layer for reliable asynchronous event notifications and guaranteed message delivery. explained by gemstone.


Contributed by VMware.
Why companies are moving to GemFire ?
All companies are struggling with the growth of information overload often referred to as “Big Data,” some IT developers and database deploys are approaching the challenge with a cloud-based service designed to make accessing mass amounts of data faster. In short  they are started to move to GemFire.
GemFire is a distributed in-memory data grid database software product that enables data distribution, data replication and partitioning (sharding- DB term), cashing data management at the exact moment the information is needed.
While the ability to move data from server to server and replicate it to more than one location has proven invaluable over the last few years, today's critical challenge is how can companies manage this data properly.

• Maintain simultaneous data connections over long distances.
• Protect their data from disasters.
• Maintain data reliability and availability, even when server hardware periodically fails.

The software is able to achieve these goals by creating an object-oriented "data fabric" across a server cluster. It accesses copies of data that are stored in various locations as needed. To ensure compatibility with the latest cloud configurations, the management platform can spread the data across many virtual machines and GemFire servers to manage application objects.