Annotation of doc/build/FC3_install.frag, revision 1.3

1.1       matthew     1: <html>
                      2: <head><title>LON-CAPA FC3 Installation</title></head>
                      3: <body>
                      4: 
                      5: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 3 Linux System</h1>
                      6: <p>
                      7: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
                      8: server running Fedora Core 3 (FC3) with a minimum of packages installed.  
                      9: The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be 
                     10: expected to have no other services running.  Your server is expected to have
                     11: a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
                     12: </p><p>
                     13: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
                     14: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
                     15: </p>
                     16: 
                     17: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
                     18: <p>
                     19: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier.  However, it is still a
                     20: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this 
                     21: process easier.  You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
1.2       matthew    22: some routine Unix commands.Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, 
                     23: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
1.1       matthew    24: </p>
                     25: 
                     26: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
                     27: <p>
                     28: The installation process takes the following steps:
                     29: </p>
                     30: <ol>
                     31:   <li> Obtain Fedora Core 3 installation CDs</li>
                     32:   <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
                     33:   <li> Install Fedora Core 3 </li>
                     34:   <li> Update your system </li>
                     35:   <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
                     36:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
                     37:   <li> Start/Restart services </li>
                     38:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
                     39: </ol>
                     40: 
                     41: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 3</h2>
                     42: <p>
                     43: FC3 ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site,
                     44: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
                     45: You will need only the first ISO image for the minimal install.
                     46: </p> 
                     47: 
                     48: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
                     49: <p>
                     50: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.  
                     51: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
                     52: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
                     53: </p>
                     54: <ul>
                     55:   <li>ip address </li>
                     56:   <li>netmask </li>
                     57:   <li>hostname </li>
                     58:   <li>gateway </li>
                     59:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
                     60: </ul>
                     61: 
                     62: <h2>Minimal FC3 Install</h2>
                     63: <p>
                     64: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
                     65: before.  Some documentation is available from 
                     66: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
                     67: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
1.2       matthew    68: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.  
                     69: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
1.1       matthew    70: </p>
                     71: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     72:    <dt>Installation Type</dt>
                     73:    <dd>Choose "Server" installation
                     74:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
                     75:    <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
                     76:        however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
                     77:        LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
                     78:        majority of the disk space should be allocated here.  If you have 20 GB 
                     79:        of space for FC3, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.  
                     80:        Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
                     81:        have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to 
                     82:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
                     83:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
                     84:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
                     85:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic 
                     86:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
                     87:        the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
                     88:    <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
                     89:    <dd>Select SSH (remote login), HTTP/HTTPS (web server).</dd>
                     90:    <dt>SELinux Configuration</dt>
1.2       matthew    91:    <dd>Choose an SElinux setting of 'disabled' or 'warn', unless you are 
                     92:        familiar with SElinux and writing security policies 
                     93:        <b>and want to help us write a security policy for LON-CAPA</b>.
1.1       matthew    94:    <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
1.3     ! matthew    95:    <dd>Choose 'minimal install' which is close to the last item on the list.</dd>
1.1       matthew    96: </dl>
                     97: <p>
                     98: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
                     99: </p>
                    100: 
                    101: <!---
                    102: 
                    103: The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.  
                    104:        Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.  
                    105:        Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
                    106: 
                    107: -->
                    108: 
                    109: <h2>Update your system</h2>
                    110: <p>
                    111: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
                    112: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so 
                    113: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
                    114: </p>
                    115: <pre>
                    116: rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
                    117: yum update
                    118: </pre>
                    119: <p>
1.2       matthew   120: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
1.1       matthew   121: </p>
                    122: <p>
                    123: Retrieve the FC3_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
                    124: </p>
                    125: <pre>
                    126: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/FC3_loncapa_yum.conf
                    127: </pre>
                    128: <p>
                    129: Install the FC3_loncapa_yum.conf
                    130: </p>
                    131: <pre>
                    132: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
                    133: cp FC3_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
                    134: yum update
                    135: </pre>
                    136: </p>
                    137: 
                    138: 
                    139: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
                    140: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
                    141: <p> Execute: </p>
                    142: <pre>
                    143: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
                    144: </pre><p>
                    145: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
                    146: </p>
                    147: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
                    148: <p>
                    149: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
                    150: </p>
                    151: <pre>
                    152: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar
                    153: </pre>
                    154: <p>
                    155: Extract the archive with the following command:
                    156: </p>
                    157: <pre>
                    158: tar xf fedora_install.tar
                    159: </pre>
                    160: <p>
                    161: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
                    162: execute the setup script with the following commands:
                    163: </p>
                    164: <pre>
                    165: cd installation
                    166: ./install.pl
                    167: </pre>
                    168: <p>
                    169: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
                    170: </p>
                    171: 
                    172: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
                    173: <p>
                    174: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
                    175: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
                    176: </p>
                    177: <dl>
                    178:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
                    179:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
                    180:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
                    181:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
                    182:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
                    183:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
                    184:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
                    185:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
                    186:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
                    187:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
                    188:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 
                    189:       special characters.</i>
                    190:   </dd>
                    191:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
                    192:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
                    193:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 
                    194:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
                    195:   </dd>
                    196:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
                    197:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
                    198:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 
                    199:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
                    200:   </dd>
                    201: </dl>
                    202: 
                    203: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
                    204: <p>
                    205: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
                    206: </p>
                    207: <pre>
1.2       matthew   208: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
1.1       matthew   209: ./UPDATE
                    210: </pre>
                    211: <p>
                    212: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 
                    213: in the previous section.  
                    214: </p>
                    215: 
                    216: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
                    217: <p>
                    218: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
                    219: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
                    220: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
                    221: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
                    222: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
                    223: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 
                    224: appropriate user name and your domain.
                    225: </p>
                    226: <pre>
                    227: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
                    228: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
                    229: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
                    230: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
                    231: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
                    232: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
                    233: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
                    234: </pre>
                    235: 
                    236: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
                    237: <p>
                    238: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
                    239: will be appearant at this step.
                    240: </p>
                    241: <pre>
                    242: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
                    243: /etc/init.d/httpd start
                    244: </pre>
                    245: <p>
                    246: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
                    247: please make sure you followed the instructions in 
                    248: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
                    249: contact the LON-CAPA development team.
                    250: </p>
                    251: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
                    252: <p>
                    253: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
                    254: coordinator.  Congratulations!
                    255: </p>
                    256: 
1.2       matthew   257: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
1.1       matthew   258: <p>
                    259: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think 
                    260: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers.
                    261: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
                    262: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
                    263: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
                    264: </p>
                    265: 
                    266: </body>
                    267: 
                    268: 
                    269: 
                    270:    
                    271: 
                    272: 

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