Annotation of doc/build/FC3_install.frag, revision 1.6
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>
1.6 ! albertel 129: <p>
1.1 matthew 130: <pre>
131: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
132: cp FC3_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
133: yum update
134: </pre>
135: </p>
136:
137:
138: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
139: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
140: <p> Execute: </p>
141: <pre>
142: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
143: </pre><p>
144: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
145: </p>
146: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
147: <p>
148: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
149: </p>
150: <pre>
151: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar
152: </pre>
153: <p>
154: Extract the archive with the following command:
155: </p>
156: <pre>
157: tar xf fedora_install.tar
158: </pre>
159: <p>
160: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
161: execute the setup script with the following commands:
162: </p>
163: <pre>
164: cd installation
165: ./install.pl
166: </pre>
167: <p>
168: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
169: </p>
170:
171: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
172: <p>
173: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
174: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
175: </p>
176: <dl>
177: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
178: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
179: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
180: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
181: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
182: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
183: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
184: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
185: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
186: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
187: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
188: special characters.</i>
189: </dd>
190: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
191: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
192: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
193: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
194: </dd>
195: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
196: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
197: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
198: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
199: </dd>
200: </dl>
201:
202: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
203: <p>
204: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
205: </p>
206: <pre>
1.2 matthew 207: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
1.1 matthew 208: ./UPDATE
209: </pre>
210: <p>
211: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
212: in the previous section.
213: </p>
214:
215: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
216: <p>
217: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
218: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
219: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
220: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
221: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
222: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
223: appropriate user name and your domain.
224: </p>
225: <pre>
226: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
227: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
228: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
229: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
230: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
231: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
232: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
233: </pre>
234:
235: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
236: <p>
237: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
238: will be appearant at this step.
239: </p>
240: <pre>
241: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
242: /etc/init.d/httpd start
243: </pre>
244: <p>
245: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
246: please make sure you followed the instructions in
247: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
248: contact the LON-CAPA development team.
249: </p>
250: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
251: <p>
252: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
253: coordinator. Congratulations!
254: </p>
255:
1.2 matthew 256: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
1.1 matthew 257: <p>
258: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
259: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers.
260: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
261: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
262: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
263: </p>
264:
265:
266:
267:
268:
269:
270:
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