Annotation of doc/build/F9_install.frag, revision 1.5

1.1       raeburn     1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora 9 Linux System</h1>
                      2: <p>
                      3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
1.3       bisitz      4: server running Fedora 9 with a minimum of packages installed.
                      5: The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
1.1       raeburn     6: expected to have no other services running.  Your server is expected to have
                      7: a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
                      8: </p><p>
1.3       bisitz      9: More information is available at
1.1       raeburn    10: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
                     11: </p>
                     12: 
                     13: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
                     14: <p>
                     15: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier.
                     16: You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
1.3       bisitz     17: some routine Unix commands.  Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl,
1.1       raeburn    18: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
                     19: </p>
                     20: 
                     21: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
                     22: <p>
                     23: The installation process takes the following steps:
                     24: </p>
                     25: <ol>
1.3       bisitz     26:   <li><a href="#obt">Obtain Fedora 9 installation DVD or a Live Image CD or Rescue CD</a></li>
                     27:   <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
                     28:   <li><a href="#lin">Install Fedora 9</a></li>
                     29:   <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
                     30:   <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
                     31:   <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
                     32:   <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
                     33:   <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
1.1       raeburn    34: </ol>
1.3       bisitz     35: <hr />
                     36: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain Fedora 9</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn    37: <p>
                     38: Fedora 9 ISO files can be obtained from the project's main site,
                     39: <a href="http://fedoraproject.org/">http://fedoraproject.org/</a>.
                     40: You can either download an iso image(s) of the full distribution for burning to DVD,
1.3       bisitz     41: or to CDs, or you can download a single net install for burning to CD. If you use the
                     42: net install CD, after booting from the CD, and selecting "Installation,"
1.1       raeburn    43: you will need to select HTTP as the installation source, and specify the
1.3       bisitz     44: host and path to Fedora 9 files for your particular architecture, e.g.,<br />
1.1       raeburn    45: Host: http://mirrors.kernel.org/<br />
1.3       bisitz     46: Path: fedora/releases/9/Fedora/i386/os/
                     47: </p>
1.1       raeburn    48: 
1.3       bisitz     49: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn    50: <p>
1.3       bisitz     51: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
1.1       raeburn    52: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
                     53: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
                     54: 
                     55: <ul>
                     56:   <li>ip address </li>
                     57:   <li>netmask </li>
                     58:   <li>hostname </li>
                     59:   <li>gateway </li>
                     60:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
                     61: </ul>
                     62: 
1.3       bisitz     63: <h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal Fedora 9 Install</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn    64: <p>
                     65: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
1.3       bisitz     66: before.  Some documentation is available from
1.1       raeburn    67: <a href="http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/Download#Understand">
                     68: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/Download#Understand</a>.
1.3       bisitz     69: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
1.1       raeburn    70: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
                     71: </p>
                     72: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     73:    <dt>Installation Language</dt>
                     74:    <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
                     75:    <dt>Installation Type</dt>
                     76:    <dd>If this is a fresh install choose "Install Fedora". If updating from a previous LON-CAPA installation on an earlier Fedora version (e.g., FC5 or FC6) you may prefer to choose the upgrade option, although if you established a separate partition for /home it will be faster to perform an install instead of an upgrade, and use "Create Custom Layout" to set up partitions - making sure to select the "unchanged data" option for the /home partition, in order to preserve your existing LON-CAPA data. A full back-up to tape or some external system is also strongly advised when updating the Fedora distribution in use on an existing LON-CAPA server.</dd>
                     77:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
                     78:    <dd>For a fresh install may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
                     79:        however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.  If you want to customize partitioning use "Create Custom Layout".
                     80:        LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
1.3       bisitz     81:        majority of the disk space should be allocated here.  If you have 20 GB
1.4       raeburn    82:        of space for Fedora 9, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.
1.1       raeburn    83:        Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
1.3       bisitz     84:        have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to
1.1       raeburn    85:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
                     86:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
                     87:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
1.3       bisitz     88:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
1.1       raeburn    89:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
                     90:        the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
                     91:    <dt>Software</dt>
                     92:    <dd>Uncheck the "Office and Productivity" software option.  Click the "Customize Now" radio button and for a minimal install uncheck all packages except "Base" in the Base System category.</dd>
                     93: </dl>
                     94: <p>
                     95: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. The first time you log-in, the Setup Agent will be displayed.  If you have not already done so you can use this to configure your network interface.
                     96: <p>Exit the Setup Agent</p>
1.3       bisitz     97: <h3>Configure SELinux</h3>
1.1       raeburn    98: <p>
                     99: The default Fedora 9 installation includes SELinux enabled. Until such time as an SELinux security policy has been created for LON-CAPA, SELinux should be disabled.
                    100: Retrieve the loncapa_selinux_config file from the LON-CAPA install site:
                    101: </p>
                    102: <pre>
                    103: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/9/loncapa_selinux_config
                    104: </pre>
                    105: <p>
                    106: Install the selinux config file
                    107: </p>
                    108: <p>
                    109: <pre>
                    110: mv /etc/selinux/config /etc/selinux/config.backup
                    111: mv loncapa_selinux_config /etc/selinux/config
                    112: </pre>
                    113: </p>
1.3       bisitz    114: <h3>Firewall Configuration</h3>
                    115: To configure the firewall settings, use the system-config-firewall utility. Execute: <p>
                    116: <pre>lokkit</pre></p><p>
1.1       raeburn   117:   <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
1.5     ! raeburn   118:    <dd>Select Security Level: Enabled, and allow incoming: SSH (remote login), WWW (HTTP) and secure WWW (HTTPS).</dd>
1.1       raeburn   119: <br />Exit the system-config-firewall</p>
1.3       bisitz    120: 
                    121: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Update your system</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn   122: <p>
                    123: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
1.3       bisitz    124: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so
1.1       raeburn   125: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
                    126: </p>
                    127: <pre>
                    128: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
                    129: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-8-and-9
                    130: 
                    131: yum update
                    132: </pre>
                    133: <p>
                    134: <b>Reboot</b> your system before continuing with the installation.
                    135: </p>
                    136: <p>
                    137: Retrieve the F9_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
                    138: </p>
                    139: <pre>
                    140: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/9/F9_loncapa_yum.conf
                    141: </pre>
                    142: <p>
                    143: Install the F9_loncapa_yum.conf
                    144: </p>
                    145: <p>
                    146: <pre>
                    147: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
                    148: cp F9_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
                    149: </pre>
                    150: </p>
1.3       bisitz    151: 
                    152: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn   153: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
                    154: <p>Import the LON-CAPA encryption key</p>
                    155: <pre>
                    156: rpm --import http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-loncapa
                    157: </pre>
                    158: <p> Execute: </p>
                    159: <pre>
                    160: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
                    161: </pre><p>
                    162: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
                    163: </p>
                    164: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
                    165: <p>
                    166: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
                    167: </p>
                    168: <pre>
                    169: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/9/F9_install.tar
                    170: </pre>
                    171: <p>
                    172: Extract the archive with the following command:
                    173: </p>
                    174: <pre>
                    175: tar xf F9_install.tar
                    176: </pre>
                    177: <p>
                    178: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
                    179: execute the setup script with the following commands:
                    180: </p>
                    181: <pre>
                    182: cd installation
                    183: ./install.pl
                    184: </pre>
                    185: <p>
                    186: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.<br />
                    187: You can safely ignore the following warnings from gcc 4 when compiling pwauth:<br />
                    188: <tt>
                    189: pwauth.c: In function ‘lastlog’:
                    190: <ul>
                    191: <li>pwauth.c:541: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strncpy’</li>
                    192: <li>pwauth.c:543: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
                    193: </ul>
                    194: pwauth.c: In function ‘main’:
                    195: <ul>
                    196: <li>pwauth.c:692: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
                    197: </ul>
                    198: </tt>
                    199: 
                    200: </p>
                    201: 
                    202: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
                    203: <p>
                    204: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
                    205: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
                    206: </p>
                    207: <dl>
                    208:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
                    209:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
                    210:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
                    211:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
1.3       bisitz    212:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
1.1       raeburn   213:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
                    214:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
                    215:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
                    216:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
                    217:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
1.3       bisitz    218:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: no spaces, underscores or
1.1       raeburn   219:       special characters (besides - and .).</i><br />
1.3       bisitz    220:       Domain names which include a departmental
1.1       raeburn   221:       abbreviation are not recommended as although LON-CAPA may start in
                    222:       a single department, other departments frequently join subsequently.
                    223:       For a domain name: 'msu' is a superior choice to 'msuphys' for example.
                    224:   </dd>
                    225:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
                    226:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
1.3       bisitz    227:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
1.1       raeburn   228:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
                    229:   </dd>
                    230:   <dt>Domain's Primary Library Server ID</dt>
                    231:    <dd>If you are setting up a domain with a single library server, then the domain's primary library server ID will be the LON-CAPA host id of that server (e.g., msul1). Once your domain grows and you need to add more servers, one of the library servers in the domain should be assigned as the domain's primary library server.  This will be where domain-wide settings will be stored.<dd>
                    232:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
                    233:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
1.3       bisitz    234:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
1.1       raeburn   235:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
                    236:   </dd>
                    237:   <dt>Support email address</dt>
1.3       bisitz    238:   <dd>If you enter an e-mail address here, then users of the system
                    239:       will be able to click an "Ask Helpdesk" link in the system to
1.1       raeburn   240:       display a web form which they will complete to request support from
1.3       bisitz    241:       your institution's helpdesk. On form submission the contents
                    242:       will be sent to the e-mail address you specify.
1.1       raeburn   243:   </dd>
                    244: </dl>
                    245: 
                    246: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
                    247: <p>
                    248: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
                    249: </p>
                    250: <pre>
                    251: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z     (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.7.1')
                    252: ./UPDATE
                    253: </pre>
                    254: <p>
1.3       bisitz    255: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
                    256: in the previous section.
1.1       raeburn   257: </p>
                    258: 
1.3       bisitz    259: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn   260: <p>
                    261: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
                    262: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
                    263: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
                    264: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
                    265: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
1.3       bisitz    266: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
1.1       raeburn   267: appropriate user name and your domain.
                    268: </p>
                    269: <pre>
                    270: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
                    271: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
                    272: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
                    273: </pre>
                    274: 
1.3       bisitz    275: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn   276: <p>
                    277: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
                    278: will be apparent at this step.
                    279: </p>
                    280: <pre>
                    281: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
                    282: /etc/init.d/httpd start
                    283: </pre>
                    284: <p>
                    285: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
1.3       bisitz    286: please make sure you followed the instructions in
1.1       raeburn   287: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
1.2       raeburn   288: contact the MSU LON-CAPA group.
1.1       raeburn   289: </p>
1.3       bisitz    290: 
                    291: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
1.1       raeburn   292: <p>
                    293: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
                    294: coordinator.  Congratulations!
                    295: </p>
                    296: 
1.3       bisitz    297: <hr />
1.1       raeburn   298: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
                    299: <p>
1.3       bisitz    300: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
1.2       raeburn   301: there's something wrong, please send a <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help">help request</a> to the MSU LON-CAPA group.  If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or errors during the
1.1       raeburn   302: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
                    303: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
                    304: </p>

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