Installing And Managing The Rumpus Server Daemon

The Rumpus application is actually made up of 2 distinct components: the control application and the server daemon.  The control application is the graphical front end to controlling Rumpus, while the server daemon is the faceless Unix background process that actually provides FTP and Web services for incoming clients.  The Installation window allows you to install, remove and update the daemon portion of Rumpus using the control application.

Install Daemon

When the Rumpus control application is launched and finds that the Rumpus daemon is not installed, the Setup Assistant will guide you through basic installation and initial setup.  This is the recommended way to copy the Rumpus server daemon and mandatory support files to your Macintosh and prepare it as a server.  However, if for whatever reason you prefer not to use the Setup Assistant, a basic installation of the Rumpus daemon is also available.  Click the "Install Rumpus" button to copy the Rumpus daemon and support files to the required location on the system.  Note that when the Rumpus daemon is already installed, this button will be disabled.

Remove Daemon

To remove the Rumpus daemon and all support files, click the "Remove Rumpus" button.  Note that removing Rumpus will permanently delete configuration files, including your Rumpus-defined user accounts and other settings.  Before performing this operation, you may wish to back up the folder "/usr/local/Rumpus/" to make sure that you can restore these files if needed later.

Update Daemon

Updates to Rumpus are made available on the "Downloads" page of the Maxum Web site, as needed.  When you download a new version of Rumpus, the server daemon can be replaced while keeping configuration files intact, by clicking the "Update Rumpus" button.  For specific details about additional procedures that might be required, please see the "Upgrading" article that accompanies new software releases.

Get Updates

Updates to the Rumpus server daemon are occassionally needed to address bugs or shortcomings in the server itself.  You can check for and download updates by clicking the Get Updates button.  This function does not install the update on your server automatically, and only downloads the update to the Rumpus control application so that it is available for installation.  After retrieving the update, stop the server, click the "Update Daemon" button to install the new release, and then restart the server process.  Minor updates to the server engine will seemlessly read and process your existing preferences, user accounts, and other configuration files, but it is always a good idea to have a recent server backup available in case problems occur during the update.

Import Users

For those upgrading Rumpus from version 3.X, the "Import Users" button allows you to maintain existing user accounts when switching to Rumpus 4.  To import user accounts from Rumpus 3.X, click the Import Users button and select the "Rumpus User Database" file from the version 3.5 "Rumpus Prefs" folder.

Launch Rumpus Service At System Startup

On most servers, Rumpus will be set to run at all times.  When you check the "Launch At Startup" checkbox, a system startup script will be created to start the daemon whenever the Mac is turned on.  In this case, Rumpus will be run even when no user is logged in to the Mac server.  If you prefer to run FTP service selectively, disable this option and start and stop FTP service by clicking the "Start/Stop" button.

Validation

All Maxum software is available for free, time-limited demonstration purposes, and we strongly recommend that those considering the use of Rumpus download the software and try it before purchase.  When you decide to order, complete the order form on the Maxum Web site and we will send you a serial number and associated validation code.  Entering this registration information into the Validation box  and clicking "Validate" will permanently enable Rumpus, so that it will no longer expire.