OEF Hosted Environment Requirements

Please read this entire document. You must adhere to these requirements to develop your application in the OEF Hosted Environment and submit an entry that can be viewed by judges.

Obtain an Account

If you have not done so already, ask your teacher/coach to go to http://www.thinkquest.org/pls/html/think.myteams and select "Request Hosting" from within the table for your team on the Submit Entry: My Teams page.

PL/SQL on Application Express

If you are using the OEF Hosted Environment Option 2: PL/SQL on Application Express, you must use your browser to log in to the environment and develop your application. Your coach must provide you with the OEF Hosted Environment URL, username and password that we assigned to your team.

As you develop your application, the OEF Hosted Environment automatically saves your code. However, you should keep a backup of the latest version of your code at all times using the environment's Export tool.

Java/PHP on GlassFish

If you are using the OEF Hosted Environment Option 1: Java/PHP on GlassFish, you can use an IDE to develop and deploy your application.

• If you would like to use an IDE to develop your Java/PHP application, follow the applicable instructions below:

  Programming Language	IDE	Instructions
  Java	NetBeans	Develop and Deploy a Java Application with NetBeans
  Java	Eclipse	Develop and Deploy a Java Application with Eclipse
  Java	Oracle JDeveloper	Develop and Deploy a Java Application with Oracle JDeveloper
  PHP	NetBeans	Develop and Deploy a PHP Application with Netbeans
  PHP	Eclipse	Develop and Deploy a PHP Application with Eclipse

• If you do not want to use an IDE to develop your Java/PHP application, follow the applicable instructions below:

  Programming Language	Instructions
  Java	Deploy a Java Application to the OEF Hosted Environment
  PHP	Deploy a PHP Application to the OEF Hosted Environment

Software Restrictions

You may not install third party software or additional programming language modules/libraries in the OEF Hosted Environment. For example, you may not install:

• Content management systems (e.g., Joomla, Drupal, Fedora, etc.).
• Crowd sourcing platforms (e.g., Ushahidi, Spigit, Sharepoint, etc.).
• Blogging software (e.g., Wordpress, etc.).
• Wiki software (e.g., Media Wiki and Twiki, etc.).
• Web-based communication servers (e.g., Friendika, etc.).
• Course or learning management systems (e.g., Moodle, etc.).
• Phone systems (e.g., OpenVBX, etc.).
• Tracking or analytics software (e.g., Awstats, Open Web Analytics, etc.).
• Advertisement services using tools (e.g., OpenX).
• Photo gallery software (e.g., Piwigo, Zenphoto).
• Shopping cart software (e.g., Zencart).
• Peer-to-peer services (e.g., BitTorrent, Vuze, etc.).
• Additional Apache, PHP, or Java modules and libraries.

Access Restrictions

You will not be provided with command line access on the server.

• No shell access such as telnet, ssh, or RDP.
• No console access.
• No direct database connections. To connect to the database, use phpMyAdmin. The welcome page of the hosted development environment that OEF provides you will include a link to this tool.
• No FTP or SFTP. To upload your code, use WebDAV. The welcome page of the hosted development environment that OEF provides you will include a link to this tool.
• No remote reboot. If you need to reboot your server, contact competition_support@thinkquest.org.
• No crontab access. To schedule recurring events in your application, use the scheduling features in your programming language.

Service Restrictions

• No chat services (e.g., IRC, XMPP, etc.).
• No versioning repositories (e.g., CVS, Subversion, Git, etc.).
• No POP/IMAP for Email accounts. If you want send email from your application, contact competition_support@thinkquest.org to request SMTP.
• There is no user controlled backup service. You must back up your application code locally.
• No CGI access.
• No access to raw log files.
• No hosted announcement or discussion lists.

Hosting Restrictions

• No custom DNS.
• No domain forwarding or mirroring.
• No hosting of subdomains.

Exception Requests

Coaches can request approval for an exception to the restrictions listed above by submitting an e-mail to competition_support@thinkquest.org. The email must include:

• "Exception Request" in the subject line.
• Entry title.
• Age division.
• Description and purpose of the exception request.

Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for teams that demonstrate a clear, compelling justification for the request.

URL Format for Entry Submission

The OEF Hosted Environment URL that is initially assigned to your team ends with "welcome/" (e.g., https://xyz123.thinkquest.org/welcome/). This URL allows you to:

• Access the environment's administrative functionality.
• Deploy and test your entry.

To submit a correct entry URL, you must change the assigned URL as follows:

Java Entries
Replace "welcome/" with the name of your application home page. For example:

• Assigned OEF Hosted Environment URL: https://xyz123.thinkquest.org/welcome/
• Name of your application home page: "HelloWorld"
• Entry URL: https://xyz123.thinkquest.org/HelloWorld

PHP Entries
Replace "welcome/" with "php/display/" followed by the name of the application home page. For example:

• Assigned OEF Hosted Environment URL: https://xyz123.thinkquest.org/welcome/
• Name of your application home page: "index.php"
• Entry URL: https://xyz123.thinkquest.org/php/display/index.php

PL/SQL Entries
Replace "welcome/" with "apex/f?p=" followed by the Application ID number. For example:

• Assigned OEF Hosted Environment URL: https://xyz123.thinkquest.org/welcome/
• Application ID: 101
• Entry URL: https:///xyz123.thinkquest.org/apex/f?p=101