See DLXS, Getting Started for installation of DLXS, including sample data.

Image Class offers two options for metadata indexing and searching.

Option 1, MySQL, is the preferred choice because MySQL is free, and because loading data is straight forward.
Option 2, XPAT, was previously the only choice. There is a license fee associated with XPat, and preparing the data as SGML is complex.

It is recomended that existing image collections be migrated from XPAT to MySQL. New collections should use MySQL from the start.

Perhaps the best way to familiarize yourself with collection deployment in Image Class is to step through the tutorial-like documentation that is used in the workshop.
Start here and follow the links to the Image Class section of the most recently taught workshop.

Worth Noting

• MySQL, by default, indexes words 4 characters or longer. Shorter words are therefore not searchable. This can be changed if desired. It requires having the following configuration directive in the [mysqld] section of the MySQL configuration file (usually /etc/my.cnf):
  
  ft_min_word_len=2
  
  Once this is done, existing fulltext indexes will need to be rebuilt. The following command does the job nicely in MySQL.
  
  REPAIR TABLE tbl_name QUICK
  
• There are other situations where you might need to repair tables or rebuild indexes. Migration of tables from one version of MySQL to another can be such a case. Signs of trouble may be subtle. Boolean searching has been known to fail quietly. In addition to the REPAIR command above, you can try...
  
  REPAIR TABLE tbl_name USE_FRM
  
  Thanks to Aaron Brenner for the tip and this link http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/Fulltext_Fine-tuning.html.

Easily Overlooked

• The amount of time it takes for thumbnail images to display in the browser can be reduced dramatically by creating a symlink for each collection like this....
  cd $DLXSROOT/web/c/coll
ln -s $DLXSROOT/img/c/coll/index thumb
  
  The only drawback to this approach is that it bypasses the cgi and authentication for thumbnails by essentially putting them under the web document root. If thumbnail security is important, don't create the symlink.

A Common Problem

• If you get a division by zero error from the Image Class CGI when trying to view a full size image, double check the installation of mrsid_retrieve. Most likeley, it is not installed properly.

In the past, documentation specific to Image Services at the University of Michigan was included here as well. It is now available elsewhere.