--- doc/Attic/shortest_path_redhat7.2.txt 2002/03/15 16:09:12 1.1 +++ 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 1.1 2002/03/15 16:09:12 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 harris41@msu.edu 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 @@ -41,84 +40,113 @@ LON-CAPA is a GPL-based project which or significant sense still is, located at Michigan State University. The installation, software versioning, and specification is currently maintained by the freeware community which includes -the document author and more importantly you! +the author of this document and more importantly you! Your interest, questions and suggestions are enthusiastically 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. -System Requirements -------------------- +Hardware Recommendation +----------------------- -It should be an intermediate-to-high-level -performance workstation computer. A ballpark suggestion -is that it is PentiumII or greater, has 20 gigabytes of -harddisk space, 256M RAM, and 400MHz CPU processing speed... -Dr. Kortemeyer at Michigan State University can give a more -thorough response if needed (he has experience with setting -up high-performance web server clusters). - -A specifically high-level suggestion is a multi CPU machine -(with a CPU speed of 1 gigahertz), a gigabyte of memory and -at least 40 to 80 gigabytes of hard disk space. - -You can use a lesser machine for toying around with LON-CAPA (It will -install an run for a single user on most anymachine) but if you wish -to support students and you wish to support deadline crunches my -suggestion is to go with the above. +For full-time, classroom usage, an adequate LON-CAPA server +should be/have: -LON-CAPA will work on any Intel-based RedHat compatible -hardware. And, unlike other software systems, it works +* a multiprocessor machine, +* a CPU speed of 1 gigahertz, +* a gigabyte of memory, +* and at least 40 to 80 gigabytes of hard disk space. + +A lesser machine can be used for toying around with LON-CAPA +(LON-CAPA will run for a single user on most any machine). + +LON-CAPA servers experience significant peaks of activity +before a homework submission deadline. To support these critical +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, +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.... :) + +More Information on Hardware and System Administration +------------------------------------------------------ + +I find that LON-CAPA works nicely (for development purposes) +on a Pentium II, 20 gigabytes of hard-disk space, 256M RAM, +and 400MHz. The consensus is though, that this may only +be adequate for a class of a dozen students. + +If you are making a serious investment, we suggest you +join our mailing list by visiting +http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-users. +By posting to this mailing list, you can learn about what +solutions have worked for others. + +LON-CAPA works on any Intel-based RedHat-compatible +hardware. Unlike other software systems, it works comparatively well on dusty old crippled machines without -much RAM or processing. I am just projecting the characteristics -that make LON-CAPA nice to use without any unreasonable slowness, -and in terms of hard disk space, how to make it at least 5 years -down the road, if not more. - -If thousands of students start accessing the box as a web server... -well you may want to consider more options (LON-CAPA supports -load-balancing on multiple computers for instance). We like -to think of high web server usage as "a good problem" though.. :) +much RAM or processing. We support Linux OS. LON-CAPA has been shown to work on Debian, Mandrake, and RedHat. Instructions are based on RedHat-centric installs. Given the current level of new LON-CAPA feature requests and frequency of new software versions, we suggest that you stick -with RedHat to reduce high frequency system administration overhead. +with RedHat to reduce high-frequency system administration overhead. + +Critical system software: a "strategic" outlook +--------------------------------------------- -Strategy --------- +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