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    1: <h1>Setting up a Red Hat 7.3 LON-CAPA Server</h1>
    2: <h2>Integrated installation</h2>
    3: <p>
    4: These instructions combine the installation of RedHat 7.3 and LON-CAPA
    5: into one straightforward process. 
    6: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
    7: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
    8: </p>
    9: 
   10: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
   11: <p>
   12: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier.  However, it is still a
   13: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this 
   14: process easier.  You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
   15: some routine Unix commands.  Some familiarity with Linux is assumed.
   16: </p>
   17: 
   18: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
   19: <p>
   20: The installation process takes the following steps:
   21: </p>
   22: <ol>
   23:   <li> Obtain Red Hat 7.3 </li>
   24:   <li> Gather information for installing Red Hat </li>
   25:   <li> Install Red Hat 7.3 </li>
   26:   <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings </li>
   27:   <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
   28:   <li> Configure LON-CAPA </li>
   29:   <li> Pick a hosts.tab file </li>
   30:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
   31:   <li> Start/Restart services </li>
   32:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
   33: </ol>
   34: 
   35: <h2>Obtain the Red Hat 7.3 installation CDs</h2>
   36: <p>
   37: These are freely available on the internet.
   38: </p>
   39: 
   40: <h2>Determine Network settings for your site</h2>
   41: <p>
   42: You will need to have the following information for your site.  You must
   43: have a static IP address (do not use DHCP).
   44: </p>
   45: <ul>
   46:   <li>ip address </li>
   47:   <li>netmask </li>
   48:   <li>network </li>
   49:   <li>broadcast </li>
   50:   <li>hostname </li>
   51:   <li>gateway </li>
   52:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
   53: </ul>
   54: 
   55: <h2>Install Red Hat 7.3</h2>
   56: <p>
   57: When you install RedHat you will need to ensure the following (the list below
   58: is in the order the issues appear in the installation of Red Hat 7.3):
   59: </p>
   60: <dl>
   61:    <dt>Installation Type</dt>
   62:    <dd>You should definitely do a "Server" install.  We do not recommend
   63:        Trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.</dd>
   64:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
   65:    <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of Red Hat,
   66:        however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
   67:        LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
   68:        lion's share of the drive should be allocated here.  If you have 8 GB 
   69:        of space for Red Hat, /home should receive 4 to 6 gigs.  Be sure to 
   70:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
   71:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
   72:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
   73:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic 
   74:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
   75:        the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
   76:    <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
   77:    <dd>The installation script will create a firewall for the install,
   78: blocking all unnecessary port for LON-CAPA. <b>Note that you may need
   79: to tweak the firewall installation if you have other network services
   80: the machine needs to provide, such as Kerberos authentication.</b></dd>
   81:    <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
   82:    <dd>At a minimum, install the following packages:
   83:       <ul>
   84:         <li>NFS File Server </li>
   85:         <li>Windows File Server </li>
   86:         <li>Web Server </li>
   87:       </ul>
   88:        Other packages can be installed as you like.</dd>
   89:    <dt>X Windows Configuration</dt>
   90:    <dd>If you chose to install the X-windows packages you will need to 
   91:        configure them.  If you are unsure of the support for your video
   92:        card you may wish to skip the configuration.</dd>
   93: </dl>
   94: <p>
   95: Other notes:
   96: </p>
   97: <ul>
   98:   <li>Use md5 and shadow passwords if you are given the choice (this is
   99:       the default). </li>
  100: </ul>
  101: 
  102: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA settings</h2>
  103: <p>
  104: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
  105: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
  106: </p>
  107: <dl>
  108:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
  109:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
  110:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
  111:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
  112:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
  113:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification, you
  114:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
  115:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
  116:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
  117:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
  118:       meaningful.
  119:    <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters</i>
  120:   </dd>
  121:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
  122:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
  123:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. 
  124:    <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters</i>
  125:   </dd>
  126:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
  127:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
  128:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 
  129:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
  130:   </dd>
  131:   <dt>Root password for SQL database</dt>
  132:   <dd>In order to keep people from corrupting the MYSQL database, a root
  133:       password is needed.  You'll need to remember this.</dd>
  134: </dl>
  135: 
  136: <h2>Install LON-CAPA</h2>
  137: <p>
  138: Log in as root with the password you provided during the Red Hat 
  139: installation process.
  140: </p><p>
  141: Stop the http daemon while we're installing LON-CAPA. (If you're on a
  142: fresh install, it is probably not running.)
  143: <pre>
  144: /etc/init.d/httpd stop
  145: </pre>
  146: </p><p>
  147: Retrieve the LON-CAPA installation package
  148: <pre>
  149: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/rh73install/loncapa-rh73install.tar
  150: tar xf loncapa-rh73install.tar
  151: cd install
  152: ./install.pl
  153: </pre>
  154: </p>
  155: 
  156: <h2>Configure LON-CAPA</h2>
  157: <p>
  158: Execute the following commands
  159: </p>
  160: <pre>
  161: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '0.6')
  162: ./UPDATE
  163: </pre>
  164: <p>
  165: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you requested
  166: above.
  167: </p>
  168: 
  169: <h2>Update your system</h2>
  170: <p>
  171: It is very important that you update your LON-CAPA system to use the
  172: latest RedHat packages.  LON-CAPA uses CHECKRPMS to notify users their system
  173: needs updating.  
  174: <pre>
  175: /usr/local/loncapa/bin/CHECKRPMS
  176: </pre>
  177: CHECKRPMS will give you the option of downloading the updates you need.
  178: Say yes.  Then issue the following commands:
  179: <pre>
  180: cd /tmp/loncapa_rpm_updates
  181: rpm -Uvh *
  182: </pre>
  183: </p><p>
  184: You will need to reboot your system to begin running the new Linux Kernel
  185: put out by RedHat.  You can wait until the end of the LON-CAPA installation
  186: process to reboot.
  187: </p><p>
  188: Congratulate yourself - your system is up to date.  Please do your best to
  189: keep it that way!  When LON-CAPA is installed it sets itself up to run 
  190: CHECKRPMS script every night and email you the results.  
  191: <b>Please do not ignore these emails.</b>  
  192: You will need to update the RPMs yourself when it notifies you.  
  193: Keeping your system up-to-date goes a long way towards ensuring the 
  194: integrity of your student records.
  195: </p>
  196: 
  197: <h2>Picking a hosts.tab file</h2>
  198: <p>
  199: The "hosts.tab" file controls which LON-CAPA servers your server attempts 
  200: to access and which servers it will respond to.  If this is your first 
  201: install of LON-CAPA on your network, we suggest choosing a 'standalone' 
  202: "hosts.tab".  On a laptop, you must choose 'standalone'.
  203: Please contact the support staff at www.loncapa.org for
  204: information about adding more hosts to your "hosts.tab" file.
  205: </p>
  206: <p>
  207: <b>Note:</b> for <b>non</b>-standalone configurations, you do need to add 
  208: yourself  to the <tt>/home/httpd/lonTabs/hosts.tab</tt> to initially test your 
  209: configuration. Eventually, you will be added to the general cluster tables by
  210: LON-CAPA staff, so this is temporary. A <tt>hosts.tab</tt> entry has the 
  211: format
  212: </p>
  213: <pre>
  214: lonHostID:domain:hosttype:dns-name:ipaddress
  215: </pre>
  216: <p>
  217: for example
  218: </p>
  219: <pre>
  220: 103l5:library:s17.lite.msu.edu:35.8.63.27
  221: </pre>
  222: <p>
  223: Please edit this file with a UNIX editor, not a PC or Mac one, so that the 
  224: linebreaks are correct.
  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 about a minute to start.
  250: </p>
  251: <pre>
  252: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
  253: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
  254: </pre>
  255: 
  256: <h2>Make Sure that Services Autostart on Boot</h2>
  257: <p>On Redhat 7.3 it is not guaranteed that Apache and MySQL automatically 
  258: restart on boot.  You should run /usr/sbin/ntsysv and set the following 
  259: daemons to be started at boot:
  260: </p>
  261: <pre>
  262: httpd
  263: mysqld
  264: </pre>
  265: <p>
  266: It is not necessary to reboot after doing this as they should already be 
  267: running by this point in the installation.  
  268: </p>
  269: <pre>
  270: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
  271: /etc/init.d/mysqld restart
  272: </pre>
  273: 
  274: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
  275: <p>
  276: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
  277: coordinator.  Congratulations!
  278: </p>
  279: