doc/build/FC3_install.frag - view

File: [LON-CAPA] / doc / build / FC3_install.frag
Revision 1.1: download - view: text, annotated - select for diffs
Mon Nov 22 21:05:47 2004 UTC (19 years, 5 months ago) by matthew
Branches: MAIN
CVS tags: version_1_2_99_1, version_1_2_99_0, HEAD

Added FC3_install.frag with instructions for installation of LON-CAPA
on a Fedore Core 3 server.

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 22: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed. 23: Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, perl, and MySQL are not 24: required to install and run LON-CAPA. 25: </p> 26: 27: <h2>Installation Overview</h2> 28: <p> 29: The installation process takes the following steps: 30: </p> 31: <ol> 32: <li> Obtain Fedora Core 3 installation CDs</li> 33: <li> Determine Network Settings</li> 34: <li> Install Fedora Core 3 </li> 35: <li> Update your system </li> 36: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li> 37: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li> 38: <li> Start/Restart services </li> 39: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li> 40: </ol> 41: 42: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 3</h2> 43: <p> 44: FC3 ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site, 45: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>. 46: You will need only the first ISO image for the minimal install. 47: </p> 48: 49: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2> 50: <p> 51: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation. 52: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA. 53: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported. 54: </p> 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: 63: <h2>Minimal FC3 Install</h2> 64: <p> 65: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products 66: before. Some documentation is available from 67: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/"> 68: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>. 69: There are a few sections that require comment. 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> 91: <dd>Unless you are familiar with SElinux and writing security policies, for 92: now we suggest you choose an SElinux setting of 'disabled' or 'warn'. 93: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt> 94: <dd>Choose 'minimal install' which is on the bottom of the list.</dd> 95: </dl> 96: <p> 97: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. 98: </p> 99: 100:  107: 108: <h2>Update your system</h2> 109: <p> 110: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum. 111: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so 112: you need to import the keys before invoking yum. 113: </p> 114: <pre> 115: rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora 116: yum update 117: </pre> 118: <p> 119: You will need to reboot your system after yum finishes. Reboot your system 120: before continuing with the installation. 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> 208: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.2') 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: 257: <h2>If Things aren't working right</h2> 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: