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1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a Fedora Linux System</h1> 2: <p> 3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA 4: server running Fedora Linux. The computer will be configured solely as 5: a LON-CAPA server and will be expected to have no other services running 6: on it. 7: </p><p> 8: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/"> 9: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>. 10: </p> 11: 12: <h2>Before you begin</h2> 13: <p> 14: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a 15: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this 16: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute 17: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed. 18: Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, perl, and MySQL are not 19: 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 Linux </li> 28: <li> Determine Network Settings</li> 29: <li> Install Fedora </li> 30: <li> Install LON-CAPA Dependencies </li> 31: <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings </li> 32: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li> 33: <li> Configure LON-CAPA </li> 34: <li> Pick a hosts.tab file </li> 35: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li> 36: <li> Start/Restart services </li> 37: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li> 38: </ol> 39: 40: <h2>Obtain Fedora Linux</h2> 41: <p> 42: Fedora linux ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site, 43: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>. 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>Gather needed information</h2> 61: 62: 63: 64: <h2>Install Fedora</h2> 65: <p> 66: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products 67: before. Some documentation is available from 68: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/"> 69: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>. 70: There are a few sections that require comment. 71: </p> 72: <dl style="list-style:square outside none"> 73: <dt>Installation Type</dt> 74: <dd>You should do a "Server" install. We do not recommend 75: trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.</dd> 76: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt> 77: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer, 78: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them. 79: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the 80: lion's share of the drive should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB 81: of space for Fedora, /home should receive 16 gigs. 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>The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www. 90: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080. 91: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd> 92: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt> 93: <dd> 94: <b>Do not</b> install a web server. It is intentially omitted from 95: this list. Installing packages not listed below is not recommended. 96: If you install packages not listed below you should expect difficulties 97: when installing the LON-CAPA dependencies. 98: <ul> 99: <li>Editors</li> 100: <li>Text Based Internet</li> 101: <li>Authoring and Publishing</li> 102: <li>Development Tools 103: <li>Administration Tools 104: <li>Printing Support 105: </ul> 106: </dd> 107: </dl> 108: <p> 109: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. 110: </p> 111: 112: <h2>Retrieving the LON-CAPA Installation Archive</h2> 113: <p> 114: Execute the following command: 115: </p> 116: <pre> 117: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar 118: </pre> 119: <p> 120: This will retrieve from the LON-CAPA website all the packages needed to get 121: LON-CAPA running on your system, except for the LON-CAPA source itself. 122: </p> 123: <p> 124: Extract the archive with the following command: 125: </p> 126: <pre> 127: tar xf fedora_install.tar 128: </pre> 129: <p> 130: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. 131: </p> 132: 133: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2> 134: <p> 135: This section walks you through installing the packages which LON-CAPA requires. 136: There are a lot of dependencies to deal with. They have been grouped in a 137: somewhat logical fashion to make them easier to deal with. When installing 138: the rpms you should watch for errors. 139: </p><p> 140: The quick instructions are: 141: </p> 142: <pre> 143: cd installation 144: cd mysql 145: rpm -Uvh *rpm 146: cd ../apache 147: rpm -Uvh *rpm 148: cd ../mod_perl 149: rpm -Uvh *rpm 150: cd ../perl_dependencies 151: rpm -Uvh *rpm 152: cd ../GD 153: rpm -Uvh *rpm 154: cd ../gnuplot 155: rpm --install --oldpackage readline-2.2.1-6.i386.rpm 156: rpm --install --oldpackage --excludedocs libpng-1.0.12-2.i386.rpm 157: rpm -Uvh gnuplot-3.7.1-5.i386.rpm libgd-1.3-4.i386.rpm ncurses4-5.0-5.i386.rpm 158: cd ../misc 159: rpm -Uvh *rpm 160: cd .. 161: </pre> 162: <p> 163: <b>Notes:</b> 164: <ul> 165: <li>MySQL is used to store caches of data, not original copies. 166: Administering LON-CAPA machines does not yet mean becoming a 167: database administrator.</li> 168: <li>Apache 1.3 and mod_perl 1.x are required by LON-CAPA. These are 169: provided in the installation package. 170: <li>A specific version of Gnuplot is required by LON-CAPA. Do not 171: install a version different from the one included in the LON-CAPA 172: installation package.</li> 173: </ul> 174: </p> 175: 176: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2> 177: <p> 178: We have prepared a script which takes care of most of the configuration that 179: must be done to get the newly installed packages working with LON-CAPA. 180: This script will retrieve the latest LON-CAPA release from 181: <a href="http://install.loncapa.org">http://install.loncapa.org</a>. 182: You will be prompted for a root password for your MySQL server. You 183: will need to remember this password in case you should ever need to make 184: changes the the server. 185: </p><p> 186: Execute the script as follows: 187: </p> 188: <pre> 189: cd setup; 190: ./install.pl 191: </pre> 192: 193: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h2> 194: <p> 195: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order 196: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions. 197: </p> 198: <dl> 199: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt> 200: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In 201: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create 202: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect 203: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 204: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you 205: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd> 206: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt> 207: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain. 208: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but 209: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 210: special characters.</i> 211: </dd> 212: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt> 213: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names 214: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 215: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i> 216: </dd> 217: <dt>Host administrator email</dt> 218: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages 219: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 220: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>. 221: </dd> 222: </dl> 223: 224: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA</h2> 225: <p> 226: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands: 227: </p> 228: <pre> 229: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.1') 230: ./UPDATE 231: </pre> 232: <p> 233: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 234: in the previous section. 235: </p> 236: 237: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2> 238: <p> 239: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of 240: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and 241: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script 242: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will 243: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username" 244: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 245: appropriate user name and your domain. 246: </p> 247: <pre> 248: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build 249: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN 250: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE) 251: </pre> 252: 253: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2> 254: <p> 255: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations 256: will be appearant at this step. 257: </p> 258: <pre> 259: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start 260: /etc/init.d/httpd start 261: </pre> 262: 263: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2> 264: <p> 265: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain 266: coordinator. Congratulations! 267: </p>