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    1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 4 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 4 (FC4) 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 
   10: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
   11: </p>
   12: 
   13: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
   14: <p>
   15: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier.  However, it is still a
   16: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this 
   17: process easier.  You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
   18: some routine Unix commands.Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, 
   19: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
   20: </p>
   21: 
   22: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
   23: <p>
   24: The installation process takes the following steps:
   25: </p>
   26: <ol>
   27:   <li> Obtain Fedora Core 4 installation CDs</li>
   28:   <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
   29:   <li> Install Fedora Core 4 </li>
   30:   <li> Update your system </li>
   31:   <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
   32:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
   33:   <li> Start/Restart services </li>
   34:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
   35: </ol>
   36: 
   37: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 4</h2>
   38: <p>
   39: FC4 ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site,
   40: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
   41: For the minimal install you will need only the first ISO image (e.g., FC4-i386-disc1.iso CD for x86-compatible 32-bit).
   42: </p> 
   43: 
   44: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
   45: <p>
   46: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.  
   47: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
   48: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
   49: </p>
   50: <ul>
   51:   <li>ip address </li>
   52:   <li>netmask </li>
   53:   <li>hostname </li>
   54:   <li>gateway </li>
   55:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
   56: </ul>
   57: 
   58: <h2>Minimal FC4 Install</h2>
   59: <p>
   60: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
   61: before.  Some documentation is available from 
   62: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
   63: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
   64: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.  
   65: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
   66: </p>
   67: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
   68:    <dt>Installation Type</dt>
   69:    <dd>Choose "Server" installation
   70:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
   71:    <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
   72:        however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
   73:        LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
   74:        majority of the disk space should be allocated here.  If you have 20 GB 
   75:        of space for FC4, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.  
   76:        Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
   77:        have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to 
   78:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
   79:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
   80:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
   81:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic 
   82:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
   83:        the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
   84:    <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
   85:    <dd>Select SSH (remote login), HTTP/HTTPS (web server).</dd>
   86:    <dt>SELinux Configuration</dt>
   87:    <dd>Choose an SElinux setting of 'disabled' or 'warn', unless you are 
   88:        familiar with SElinux and writing security policies 
   89:        <b>and want to help us write a security policy for LON-CAPA</b>.
   90:    <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
   91:    <dd>Choose 'Minimal' which is the last item on the list.</dd>
   92: </dl>
   93: <p>
   94: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
   95: </p>
   96: 
   97: <!---
   98: 
   99: The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.  
  100:        Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.  
  101:        Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
  102: 
  103: -->
  104: 
  105: <h2>Update your system</h2>
  106: <p>
  107: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
  108: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so 
  109: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
  110: </p>
  111: <pre>
  112: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
  113: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-extras
  114: yum update
  115: </pre>
  116: <p>
  117: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
  118: </p>
  119: <p>
  120: Retrieve the FC4_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
  121: </p>
  122: <pre>
  123: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/4/FC4_loncapa_yum.conf
  124: </pre>
  125: <p>
  126: Install the FC4_loncapa_yum.conf
  127: </p>
  128: <p>
  129: <pre>
  130: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
  131: cp FC4_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/4/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.<br />
  168: You can safely ignore the following warnings from gcc 4 when compiling pwauth:<br />
  169: <tt>
  170: pwauth.c: In function ‘lastlog’:
  171: <ul>
  172: <li>pwauth.c:541: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strncpy’</li>
  173: <li>pwauth.c:543: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
  174: </ul>
  175: pwauth.c: In function ‘main’:
  176: <ul>
  177: <li>pwauth.c:692: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
  178: </ul>
  179: </tt>
  180: 
  181: </p>
  182: 
  183: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
  184: <p>
  185: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
  186: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
  187: </p>
  188: <dl>
  189:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
  190:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
  191:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
  192:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
  193:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
  194:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
  195:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
  196:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
  197:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
  198:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
  199:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 
  200:       special characters.</i>
  201:   </dd>
  202:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
  203:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
  204:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 
  205:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
  206:   </dd>
  207:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
  208:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
  209:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 
  210:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
  211:   </dd>
  212: </dl>
  213: 
  214: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
  215: <p>
  216: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
  217: </p>
  218: <pre>
  219: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
  220: ./UPDATE
  221: </pre>
  222: <p>
  223: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 
  224: in the previous section.  
  225: </p>
  226: 
  227: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
  228: <p>
  229: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
  230: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
  231: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
  232: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
  233: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
  234: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 
  235: appropriate user name and your domain.
  236: </p>
  237: <pre>
  238: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
  239: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
  240: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
  241: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
  242: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
  243: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
  244: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
  245: </pre>
  246: 
  247: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
  248: <p>
  249: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
  250: will be appearant at this step.
  251: </p>
  252: <pre>
  253: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
  254: /etc/init.d/httpd start
  255: </pre>
  256: <p>
  257: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
  258: please make sure you followed the instructions in 
  259: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
  260: contact the LON-CAPA development team.
  261: </p>
  262: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
  263: <p>
  264: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
  265: coordinator.  Congratulations!
  266: </p>
  267: 
  268: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
  269: <p>
  270: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think 
  271: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers.
  272: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
  273: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
  274: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
  275: </p>