Annotation of doc/build/FC3_install.frag, revision 1.5
1.1 matthew 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 3 Linux System</h1>
2: <p>
3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
4: server running Fedora Core 3 (FC3) with a minimum of packages installed.
5: The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
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>
9: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
10: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
11: </p>
12:
1.5 ! albertel 13: </body>
! 14: </html>
1.1 matthew 15: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
16: <p>
17: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
18: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
19: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
1.2 matthew 20: some routine Unix commands.Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl,
21: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
1.1 matthew 22: </p>
23:
24: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
25: <p>
26: The installation process takes the following steps:
27: </p>
28: <ol>
29: <li> Obtain Fedora Core 3 installation CDs</li>
30: <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
31: <li> Install Fedora Core 3 </li>
32: <li> Update your system </li>
33: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
34: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
35: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
36: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
37: </ol>
38:
39: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 3</h2>
40: <p>
41: FC3 ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site,
42: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
43: You will need only the first ISO image for the minimal install.
44: </p>
45:
46: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
47: <p>
48: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
49: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
50: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
51: </p>
52: <ul>
53: <li>ip address </li>
54: <li>netmask </li>
55: <li>hostname </li>
56: <li>gateway </li>
57: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
58: </ul>
59:
60: <h2>Minimal FC3 Install</h2>
61: <p>
62: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
63: before. Some documentation is available from
64: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
65: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
1.2 matthew 66: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
67: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
1.1 matthew 68: </p>
69: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
70: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
71: <dd>Choose "Server" installation
72: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
73: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
74: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
75: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
76: majority of the disk space should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
77: of space for FC3, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.
78: Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
79: have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
80: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
81: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
82: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
83: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
84: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
85: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
86: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
87: <dd>Select SSH (remote login), HTTP/HTTPS (web server).</dd>
88: <dt>SELinux Configuration</dt>
1.2 matthew 89: <dd>Choose an SElinux setting of 'disabled' or 'warn', unless you are
90: familiar with SElinux and writing security policies
91: <b>and want to help us write a security policy for LON-CAPA</b>.
1.1 matthew 92: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
1.4 matthew 93: <dd>Choose 'Minimal' which is the last item on the list.</dd>
1.1 matthew 94: </dl>
95: <p>
96: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
97: </p>
98:
99: <!---
100:
101: The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.
102: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.
103: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
104:
105: -->
106:
107: <h2>Update your system</h2>
108: <p>
109: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
110: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so
111: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
112: </p>
113: <pre>
114: rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
115: yum update
116: </pre>
117: <p>
1.2 matthew 118: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
1.1 matthew 119: </p>
120: <p>
121: Retrieve the FC3_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
122: </p>
123: <pre>
124: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/FC3_loncapa_yum.conf
125: </pre>
126: <p>
127: Install the FC3_loncapa_yum.conf
128: </p>
129: <pre>
130: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
131: cp FC3_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
132: yum update
133: </pre>
134: </p>
135:
136:
137: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
138: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
139: <p> Execute: </p>
140: <pre>
141: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
142: </pre><p>
143: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
144: </p>
145: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
146: <p>
147: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
148: </p>
149: <pre>
150: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar
151: </pre>
152: <p>
153: Extract the archive with the following command:
154: </p>
155: <pre>
156: tar xf fedora_install.tar
157: </pre>
158: <p>
159: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
160: execute the setup script with the following commands:
161: </p>
162: <pre>
163: cd installation
164: ./install.pl
165: </pre>
166: <p>
167: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
168: </p>
169:
170: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
171: <p>
172: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
173: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
174: </p>
175: <dl>
176: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
177: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
178: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
179: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
180: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
181: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
182: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
183: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
184: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
185: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
186: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
187: special characters.</i>
188: </dd>
189: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
190: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
191: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
192: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
193: </dd>
194: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
195: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
196: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
197: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
198: </dd>
199: </dl>
200:
201: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
202: <p>
203: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
204: </p>
205: <pre>
1.2 matthew 206: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
1.1 matthew 207: ./UPDATE
208: </pre>
209: <p>
210: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
211: in the previous section.
212: </p>
213:
214: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
215: <p>
216: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
217: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
218: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
219: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
220: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
221: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
222: appropriate user name and your domain.
223: </p>
224: <pre>
225: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
226: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
227: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
228: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
229: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
230: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
231: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
232: </pre>
233:
234: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
235: <p>
236: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
237: will be appearant at this step.
238: </p>
239: <pre>
240: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
241: /etc/init.d/httpd start
242: </pre>
243: <p>
244: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
245: please make sure you followed the instructions in
246: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
247: contact the LON-CAPA development team.
248: </p>
249: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
250: <p>
251: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
252: coordinator. Congratulations!
253: </p>
254:
1.2 matthew 255: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
1.1 matthew 256: <p>
257: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
258: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers.
259: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
260: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
261: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
262: </p>
263:
264:
265:
266:
267:
268:
269:
FreeBSD-CVSweb <freebsd-cvsweb@FreeBSD.org>
![[BACK]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to FC3_install.frag CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [LON-CAPA] / doc / build