As a server, it would be normal practice to bring Alfresco up and, thereafter, leave it running, other than for essential maintenance.
Of course, this means that, when Alfresco does need to be restarted, everyone has forgotten how to do it!
Which is where this page comes in…
On Windows
Do Start|Programs|Alfresco Labs|Start Alfresco Server. This opens a command window and, by default, Alfresco displays a console log, showing what the scripts are doing. It can take several minutes or even 1/2 an hour to bring everything up, depending on your host's performance. The process is complete when you see the message…
INFO: Server startup in nnnnnnn ms
nnnnnn is the time that it took to bring the server on line and values of 400000 + are not uncommon.
Once the Alfresco Server is up and running, do Start|Programs|Alfresco Labs|Start Virtual Server, to boot the CIFS host.
There's more here: Alfresco Labs.
Permissions
Note that, on Windows, Alfresco must be installed by a member of the administrators group.
You shouldn't need to close down Alfresco very often in a production environment but it always helps to know the “proper” way to do these things.
Closing Down
Note that the default in Windows is for the command window to remain open while the server is running and closing the command window will initiate a server shutdown. However, there is also the option of ensuring a clean shutdown by invoking Start|Programs|Alfresco Labs|Stop Virtual Server, followed by Start|Programs|Alfresco Labs|Stop Alfresco Server.
On Linux
Start with the Alfresco Wiki Installation page.
In essence, all that's required is to cd into the Alfresco directory and do…
./alf_start.sh
It takes about three minutes for everything to come up and stabilise on a P6 class box.
Closing down the server is equally simple…
./alf_stop.sh
