doc/build/FC6_install.frag - view

File: [LON-CAPA] / doc / build / FC6_install.frag
Revision 1.2: download - view: text, annotated - select for diffs
Wed Dec 10 19:57:29 2008 UTC (15 years, 4 months ago) by raeburn
Branches: MAIN
CVS tags: version_2_9_X, version_2_9_99_0, version_2_9_1, version_2_9_0, version_2_8_X, version_2_8_99_1, version_2_8_99_0, version_2_8_2, version_2_8_1, version_2_8_0, version_2_7_99_1, version_2_7_99_0, version_2_12_X, version_2_11_X, version_2_11_4_uiuc, version_2_11_4_msu, version_2_11_4, version_2_11_3_uiuc, version_2_11_3_msu, version_2_11_3, version_2_11_2_uiuc, version_2_11_2_msu, version_2_11_2_educog, version_2_11_2, version_2_11_1, version_2_11_0_RC3, version_2_11_0_RC2, version_2_11_0_RC1, version_2_11_0, version_2_10_X, version_2_10_1, version_2_10_0_RC2, version_2_10_0_RC1, version_2_10_0, loncapaMITrelate_1, language_hyphenation_merge, language_hyphenation, bz6209-base, bz6209, HEAD, GCI_3, GCI_2, GCI_1, BZ4492-merge, BZ4492-feature_horizontal_radioresponse, BZ4492-feature_Support_horizontal_radioresponse, BZ4492-Support_horizontal_radioresponse

- MSU LON-CAPA support team replaced by MSU LON-CAPA group.

1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 6 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 6 (FC6) 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. 16: You will be required to log in to the machine and execute 17: some routine Unix commands. Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, 18: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA. 19: </p> 20: 21: <h2>Installation Overview</h2> 22: <p> 23: The installation process takes the following steps: 24: </p> 25: <ol> 26: <li> Obtain Fedora Core 6 installation CDs</li> 27: <li> Determine Network Settings</li> 28: <li> Install Fedora Core 6 </li> 29: <li> Update your system </li> 30: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li> 31: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li> 32: <li> Start/Restart services </li> 33: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li> 34: </ol> 35: 36: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 6</h2> 37: <p> 38: FC6 ISO files can be obtained from the project's main site, 39: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>. 40: For the minimal install you will need only the first ISO image 41: (e.g., FC6-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: 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 FC6 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>If this is a fresh install choose "Install Fedora Core". If updating from a previous LON-CAPA installation on an earlier Fedora version (e.g., FC4 or FC5) you may prefer to choose the upgrade option, although if you established a separate partition for /home it will be faster to perform an install instead of an upgrade, and use "Create Custom Layout" to set up partitions - making sure to select the "unchanged data" option for the /home partition, in order to preserve your existing LON-CAPA data. A full back-up to tape or some external system is also strongly advised when updating the Fedora distribution in use on an existing LON-CAPA server. 70: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt> 71: <dd>For a fresh install may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer, 72: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them. If you want to customize partitioning use "Create Custom Layout". 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 FC6, /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>Software</dt> 85: <dd>Uncheck the "Office and Productivity" software option. Click the "Customize Now" radio button and for a minimal install uncheck all packages except "Base" in the Base System category. If you leave other packages checked in any of the other categories, you'll need additional ISO CDs.</dd> 86: </dl> 87: <p> 88: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. The first time you log-in, the Setup Agent will be displayed. This should be used to configure the Firewall. 89: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt> 90: <dd>Select Security Level: Enabled, and allow incoming: SSH (remote login), WWW (HTTP) and secure WWW (HTTPS).</dd> 91: </p> 92: <p>Exit the Setup Agent, and proceed to change the SELinux setting. The default FC6 installation includes SELinux enabled. Until such time as an SELinux security policy has been created for LON-CAPA, SELinux should be disabled. 93: Retrieve the loncapa_selinux_config file from the LON-CAPA install site: 94: </p> 95: <pre> 96: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/6/loncapa_selinux_config 97: </pre> 98: <p> 99: Install the selinux config file 100: </p> 101: <p> 102: <pre> 103: mv /etc/selinux/config /etc/selinux/config.backup 104: mv loncapa_selinux_config /etc/selinux/config 105: </pre> 106: </p> 107:  114: 115: <h2>Update your system</h2> 116: <p> 117: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum. 118: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so 119: you need to import the keys before invoking yum. 120: </p> 121: <pre> 122: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY 123: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora 124: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-extras 125: yum update 126: </pre> 127: <p> 128: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation. 129: </p> 130: <p> 131: Retrieve the FC6_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site: 132: </p> 133: <pre> 134: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/6/FC6_loncapa_yum.conf 135: </pre> 136: <p> 137: Install the FC6_loncapa_yum.conf 138: </p> 139: <p> 140: <pre> 141: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup 142: cp FC6_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf 143: yum update 144: </pre> 145: </p> 146: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2> 147: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3> 148: <p> Execute: </p> 149: <pre> 150: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites 151: </pre><p> 152: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies. 153: </p> 154: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3> 155: <p> 156: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command: 157: </p> 158: <pre> 159: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/6/FC6_install.tar 160: </pre> 161: <p> 162: Extract the archive with the following command: 163: </p> 164: <pre> 165: tar xf FC6_install.tar 166: </pre> 167: <p> 168: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and 169: execute the setup script with the following commands: 170: </p> 171: <pre> 172: cd installation 173: ./install.pl 174: </pre> 175: <p> 176: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.<br /> 177: You can safely ignore the following warnings from gcc 4 when compiling pwauth:<br /> 178: <tt> 179: pwauth.c: In function ‘lastlog’: 180: <ul> 181: <li>pwauth.c:541: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strncpy’</li> 182: <li>pwauth.c:543: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li> 183: </ul> 184: pwauth.c: In function ‘main’: 185: <ul> 186: <li>pwauth.c:692: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li> 187: </ul> 188: </tt> 189: 190: </p> 191: 192: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3> 193: <p> 194: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order 195: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions. 196: </p> 197: <dl> 198: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt> 199: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In 200: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create 201: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect 202: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 203: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you 204: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd> 205: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt> 206: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain. 207: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but 208: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 209: special characters.</i><br />Domain names which include a departmental 210: abbreviation are not recommended as although LON-CAPA may start in 211: a single department, other departments frequently join subsequently. 212: For a domain name: 'msu' is a superior choice to 'msuphys' for example. 213: </dd> 214: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt> 215: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names 216: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 217: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i> 218: </dd> 219: <dt>Domain's Primary Library Server ID</dt> 220: <dd>If you are setting up a domain with a single library server, then the domain's primary library server ID will be the LON-CAPA host id of that server (e.g., msul1). Once your domain grows and you need to add more servers, one of the library servers in the domain should be assigned as the domain's primary library server. This will be where domain-wide settings will be stored.<dd> 221: <dt>Host administrator email</dt> 222: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages 223: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 224: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>. 225: </dd> 226: <dt>Support email address</dt> 227: <dd>If you enter an e-mail address here, then users of the system 228: will be able to click an "Ask Helpdesk" link in the system to 229: display a web form which they will complete to request support from 230: your institution's helpdesk. On form submission the contents 231: will be sent to the e-mail address you specify. 232: </dd> 233: </dl> 234: 235: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3> 236: <p> 237: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands: 238: </p> 239: <pre> 240: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3') 241: ./UPDATE 242: </pre> 243: <p> 244: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 245: in the previous section. 246: </p> 247: 248: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2> 249: <p> 250: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of 251: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and 252: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script 253: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will 254: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username" 255: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 256: appropriate user name and your domain. 257: </p> 258: <pre> 259: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build 260: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN 261: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE) 262: </pre> 263: 264: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2> 265: <p> 266: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations 267: will be apparent at this step. 268: </p> 269: <pre> 270: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start 271: /etc/init.d/httpd start 272: </pre> 273: <p> 274: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules, 275: please make sure you followed the instructions in 276: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please 277: contact the MSU LON-CAPA group. 278: </p> 279: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2> 280: <p> 281: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain 282: coordinator. Congratulations! 283: </p> 284: 285: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2> 286: <p> 287: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think 288: there's something wrong, please send a <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help">help request</a> to the MSU LON-CAPA group. If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or errors during the 289: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible. 290: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know. 291: </p>