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File: [LON-CAPA] / doc / build / fedora_install.frag
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Wed Mar 17 18:49:45 2004 UTC (20 years, 2 months ago) by matthew
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Minor phrasing change.

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 Red Hat, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. 82: Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should 83: have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to 84: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should 85: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd> 86: <dt>Network Configuration</dt> 87: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic 88: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect 89: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd> 90: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt> 91: <dd>The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www. 92: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080. 93: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd> 94: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt> 95: <dd> 96: <b>Do not</b> install a web server. It is intentially omitted from 97: this list. Installing packages not listed below is not recommended. 98: If you install packages not listed below you should expect difficulties 99: when installing the LON-CAPA dependencies. 100: <ul> 101: <li>Editors</li> 102: <li>Text Based Internet</li> 103: <li>Authoring and Publishing</li> 104: <li>Development Tools 105: <li>Administration Tools 106: <li>Printing Support 107: </ul> 108: </dd> 109: </dl> 110: <p> 111: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. 112: </p> 113: 114: <h2>Retrieving the LON-CAPA Installation Archive</h2> 115: <p> 116: Execute the following command: 117: </p> 118: <pre> 119: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar 120: </pre> 121: <p> 122: This will retrieve from the LON-CAPA website all the packages needed to get 123: LON-CAPA running on your system, except for the LON-CAPA source itself. 124: </p> 125: <p> 126: Extract the archive with the following command: 127: </p> 128: <pre> 129: tar xf fedora_install.tar 130: </pre> 131: <p> 132: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. 133: </p> 134: 135: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2> 136: <p> 137: This section walks you through installing the packages which LON-CAPA requires. 138: There are a lot of dependencies. They have been grouped in a 139: somewhat logical fashion to make them easier to deal with. When installing 140: the rpms you should watch for errors. 141: </p><p> 142: The quick instructions are: 143: </p> 144: <pre> 145: cd installation 146: cd mysql 147: rpm -Uvh *rpm 148: cd ../apache 149: rpm -Uvh *rpm 150: cd ../mod_perl 151: rpm -Uvh *rpm 152: cd ../perl_dependencies 153: rpm -Uvh *rpm 154: cd ../GD 155: rpm -Uvh *rpm 156: cd ../gnuplot 157: rpm --install --oldpackage readline-2.2.1-6.i386.rpm 158: rpm --install --oldpackage --excludedocs libpng-1.0.12-2.i386.rpm 159: rpm -Uvh gnuplot-3.7.1-5.i386.rpm libgd-1.3-4.i386.rpm ncurses4-5.0-5.i386.rpm 160: cd ../misc 161: rpm -Uvh *rpm 162: cd .. 163: </pre> 164: <p> 165: <b>Notes:</b> 166: <ul> 167: <li>MySQL is used to store caches of data, not original copies. 168: Administering LON-CAPA machines does not yet mean becoming a 169: database administrator.</li> 170: <li>Apache 1.3 and mod_perl 1.x are required by LON-CAPA. These are 171: provided in the installation package. 172: <li>A specific version of Gnuplot is required by LON-CAPA. Do not 173: install a version different from the one included in the LON-CAPA 174: installation package.</li> 175: </ul> 176: </p> 177: 178: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2> 179: <p> 180: We have prepared a script which takes care of most of the configuration that 181: must be done to get the newly installed packages working with LON-CAPA. 182: This script will retrieve the latest LON-CAPA release from 183: <a href="http://install.loncapa.org">http://install.loncapa.org</a>. 184: You will be prompted for a root password for your MySQL server. You 185: will need to remember this password in case you should ever need to make 186: changes the the server. 187: </p><p> 188: Execute the script as follows: 189: </p> 190: <pre> 191: cd setup; 192: ./install.pl 193: </pre> 194: 195: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h2> 196: <p> 197: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order 198: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions. 199: </p> 200: <dl> 201: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt> 202: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In 203: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create 204: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect 205: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 206: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you 207: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd> 208: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt> 209: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain. 210: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but 211: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 212: special characters.</i> 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>Host administrator email</dt> 220: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages 221: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 222: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>. 223: </dd> 224: </dl> 225: 226: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA</h2> 227: <p> 228: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands: 229: </p> 230: <pre> 231: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.1') 232: ./UPDATE 233: </pre> 234: <p> 235: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 236: in the previous section. 237: </p> 238: 239: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2> 240: <p> 241: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of 242: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and 243: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script 244: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will 245: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username" 246: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 247: appropriate user name and your domain. 248: </p> 249: <pre> 250: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build 251: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN 252: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE) 253: </pre> 254: 255: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2> 256: <p> 257: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations 258: will be appearant at this step. 259: </p> 260: <pre> 261: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start 262: /etc/init.d/httpd start 263: </pre> 264: 265: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2> 266: <p> 267: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain 268: coordinator. Congratulations! 269: </p>