--- doc/Attic/shortest_path_redhat7.2.txt 2002/04/22 00:07:19 1.3 +++ doc/Attic/shortest_path_redhat7.2.txt 2002/07/18 21:30:21 1.4 @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ -$Id: shortest_path_redhat7.2.txt,v 1.3 2002/04/22 00:07:19 harris41 Exp $ +$Id: shortest_path_redhat7.2.txt,v 1.4 2002/07/18 21:30:21 harris41 Exp $ -INSTALLING LON-CAPA ON A REDHAT 7.2 SYSTEM +INSTALLING LON-CAPA ON A REDHAT 7.2/7.3 SYSTEM Scott Harrison @@ -14,15 +14,14 @@ Scott Harrison Quick Instructions ------------------ -PLEASE contact sharrison@mail.lon-capa.org if these instructions +PLEASE contact sharrison@users.sourceforge.net if these instructions do not work. PLEASE subscribe yourself to the ANNOUNCE MAILING LIST! Go to http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-announce -1. Download http://install.lon-capa.org/versions/current/loncapa.tar.gz - (from a linux terminal, type - wget http://install.lon-capa.org/versions/current/loncapa.tar.gz) -2. tar xzvf loncapa.tar.gz +1. Download the current version of LON-CAPA from + http://install.lon-capa.org/downloads/ +2. tar xzvf loncapa-N.N.tar.gz (where N.N is the current version number) 3. cd loncapa 4. Read the README file (this file). 5. EXECUTE: ./UPDATE @@ -47,8 +46,8 @@ Your interest, questions and suggestions invited for the specific development of the GPL code. We do our best to help get you started with a 100% operational -system. Please e-mail harris41@msu.edu or helen@lon-capa.org -for help with software installation. +system. Please e-mail sharrison@users.sourceforge.net or +helen@lon-capa.org for help with software installation. Hardware Recommendation ----------------------- @@ -69,14 +68,14 @@ before a homework submission deadline. peaks of activity, it is strongly advised that LON-CAPA machines fit the above recommendation. -If thousands of students start accessing the box as a web server... -well you may want to consider more options. The design of the LON-CAPA +If thousands of students start accessing the box as a web server, +then you may want to consider more options. The design of the LON-CAPA system is to naturally and transparently load-balance on multiple computer clusters. So, a simple solution for running an entire college campus is to just have an adequate plurality of LON-CAPA servers rather than a single, particularly monstrous server. -We like to think of high web server usage as "a good problem" though.. :) +We like to think of high web server usage as "a good problem" though.... :) More Information on Hardware and System Administration ------------------------------------------------------ @@ -103,36 +102,51 @@ installs. Given the current level of ne and frequency of new software versions, we suggest that you stick with RedHat to reduce high-frequency system administration overhead. -Strategy --------- +Critical system software: a "strategic" outlook +--------------------------------------------- + +In this section, issues related to LON-CAPA server software +are discussed. (The section after this section describes how to test +and fix problems associated with the issues described below.) + +In general, you should expect that LON-CAPA "completely overtakes" +a Linux server system. Using the same LON-CAPA server computer to disseminate +other unrelated services to your institution is not recommended. *** PERL *** -It is important to check and see if your system has all -needed perl modules in /usr/lib/perl5/. +A LON-CAPA system needs to have all the +necessary perl modules inside /usr/lib/perl5/. -*** RPMS *** -It is important to: -* keep your RPMs up to date -* try to have a reasonably minimal set +*** RPMs *** +RPMs are the software packages on a RedHat linux system (the standard, +supported operating system for LON-CAPA). For security reasons, you need +to keep your RPMs up to date. For security and performance reasons, a +knowledgeable system administrator at your institution should try to have +a reasonably minimal set; e.g. a LON-CAPA server probably does not need the +"pine" RPM (an e-mail client). *** MYSQL *** -It should be kept operational at all times. -In case of failure, there is a resynchronizing -strategy so that the data on the filesystem -continually refreshes the data within the -MYSQL database. +The MySQL database facilitates fast transactions by passing information on +the LON-CAPA server to the world-wide web. Important point: in order to +prevent problems associated with 1) corrupted database files, +2) database crashes, 3) changing versions of MySQL, and 4) information export +and import, the information in the MySQL database IS NOT AUTHORITATIVE. +In other words, if the MySQL database gets wiped out, YOU HAVE NOT LOST +CRITICAL DATA. The authoritative data exists on the filesystem and +the MySQL database is dynamically repopulated and refreshed by +/home/httpd/perl/searchcat.pl. *** APACHE *** -LON-CAPA expects that conf/loncapa.conf will be the -last Apache configuration file to be processed before -launching the httpd server. This may interfere -with other ways in which you utilize your web server. -For instance, LON-CAPA requires that httpd -run as user=www and group=www. +LON-CAPA expects that conf/loncapa_apache.conf will be the last Apache +configuration file to be processed before launching the httpd server. This +may interfere with other ways in which you utilize your web server. For +instance, LON-CAPA requires that httpd run as user=www and group=www. Testing ------- +The ./TEST command automates five different kinds of tests. + 1. Perl 2. MySQL