soda4LCA release 2.0.0 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


Table of Contents

1. What is soda4LCA?
2. Do I have to purchase a license?
3. Does soda4LCA include any LCI/LCIA data?
4. What data formats are supported?
5. What do I need to run a soda4LCA database node?
6. I want to join multiple nodes to a network. Do I need to setup a registry?

1. What is soda4LCA?

soda4LCA is a web-based database application designed to store and retrieve Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) datasets formatted in the ILCD format. It also exposed a RESTful service interface to communicate directly with other LCA software tools and/or databases. Multiple soda4LCA nodes can be joined to a network, where a search operation will query all nodes in the network.

2. Do I have to purchase a license?

No. soda4LCA is provided in source and binary form under the GNU General Public License (GPL) that gives you legal permission to run, copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

3. Does soda4LCA include any LCI/LCIA data?

No. soda4LCA is merely a sofware application. One source where you may obtain ILCD datasets free of charge is the European Commission's Platform on LCA at http://lca.jrc.it/.

4. What data formats are supported?

Currently, the European Commission's International Reference Life Cycle Data Format (ILCD Format) version 1.1 is supported.

5. What do I need to run a soda4LCA database node?

You need a computer running an operating system that supports both Java and MySQL. Usually that will be Linux, Mac OS X or Windows. Java (version 1.6 or newer), a MySQL database (version 5.0 or newer) and Tomcat (version 6.0 or newer) need to be installed on that machine.

6. I want to join multiple nodes to a network. Do I need to setup a registry?

To join multiple soda4LCA nodes to a network, a registry is not necessarily needed. For every node that is supposed to be searching other nodes, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the administration interface.

  2. From the "Network" menu, select "Add Node".

  3. Enter the service URL of the node you want to add to the list of network nodes.

  4. Repeat step 2 and 3 for every node that you want to be queried.