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    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: 
   13: </body>
   14: </html>
   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
   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.
   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>.
   66: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.  
   67: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
   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>
   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>.
   92:    <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
   93:    <dd>Choose 'Minimal' which is the last item on the list.</dd>
   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>
  118: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
  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: <p>
  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>
  207: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
  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: 
  256: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
  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>
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