Annotation of doc/build/sles12_install.frag, revision 1.1

1.1     ! raeburn     1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12</h1>
        !             2: <p>
        !             3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
        !             4: server running SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (SLES 12) 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><a href="#obt">Obtain SLES 12 installation media</a></li>
        !            27:   <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
        !            28:   <li><a href="#lin">Install SLES 12</a></li>
        !            29:   <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
        !            30:   <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
        !            31:   <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
        !            32:   <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
        !            33:   <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
        !            34: </ol>
        !            35: 
        !            36: <hr>
        !            37: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12</a></h2>
        !            38: <p>
        !            39: SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell site: <a href="http://www.novell.com/products/server/">http://www.novell.com/products/server/</a>.  Only DVD1 is required (DVD2 contains source rpms for the various packages).
        !            40: </p>
        !            41: 
        !            42: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
        !            43: <p>
        !            44: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
        !            45: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
        !            46: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
        !            47: </p>
        !            48: <ul>
        !            49:   <li>ip address </li>
        !            50:   <li>netmask </li>
        !            51:   <li>hostname </li>
        !            52:   <li>gateway </li>
        !            53:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
        !            54: </ul>
        !            55: 
        !            56: <h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SLES 12 Install</a></h2>
        !            57: <p>
        !            58: Installing SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
        !            59: before.  Some documentation is available from
        !            60: <a href="http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles12/">
        !            61: http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles12/</a>.<br><br>
        !            62: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
        !            63: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
        !            64: </p>
        !            65: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
        !            66:    <dt>Installation Language</dt>
        !            67:    <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
        !            68: 
        !            69:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
        !            70:    <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used
        !            71:        for permanent storage of course and user data),
        !            72:        a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this
        !            73:        simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
        !            74:        If you are adding an additional access server to an
        !            75:        existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no
        !            76:        permanent data are stored on an access server.
        !            77:        As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
        !            78:        the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.
        !            79:        If you have 20 GB of space for SLES12, /home should
        !            80:        receive at least 10 to 12 GB. Since MySQL uses the /var
        !            81:        filesystem to store its databases you should have as least
        !            82:        4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to
        !            83:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 MB, but you should
        !            84:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
        !            85:        </dd>
        !            86:    <dt>Software Selection</dt>
        !            87:    <dd>
        !            88:    Installation of the minimum set of packages is recommended.  This will involve unchecking all checkboxes except for the base SLES installation.</dd>
        !            89: </dl>
        !            90: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
        !            91: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
        !            92:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
        !            93:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
        !            94:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, you should include you static IP address, netmask, host name information (e.g., host name = tmp1, domain = lite.msu.edu), as well as name servers and gateway.
        !            95:    </dd>
        !            96:    <dt>Online update</dt>
        !            97:    <dd>Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"</dd>
        !            98: </dl>
        !            99: <p>
        !           100: Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.
        !           101: </p>
        !           102: 
        !           103: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Change software sources for your system</a></h2>
        !           104: <p>
        !           105: You will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br>
        !           106: Execute:
        !           107: </p>
        !           108: <pre>
        !           109: yast
        !           110: </pre>
        !           111: <p>
        !           112: Select "Change Source of Installation". The media you used to install SLES12 will be listed as an installation source. If you do not already have a SLES12 installation source at your location, you may want to consider creating one from the iso files you used to create .  Proceed as follows:</p>
        !           113: <pre>
        !           114: mkdir -p sles12/DVD1
        !           115: mount -o ro,loop SLE-12-Server-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso /mnt
        !           116: cp -rv /mnt/* sles12/DVD1
        !           117: umount /mnt
        !           118: </pre>
        !           119: <h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
        !           120: <p>
        !           121: Add the LON-CAPA SLES 12 repository as an additional installation source, so software installation in yast will have access to at least two repositories - a SuSE/Novell source (for packages included for the standard distribution) and the LON-CAPA repository (for extra packages needed to run LON-CAPA). For the LON-CAPA source you will use:
        !           122: </p>
        !           123: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
        !           124: <dd>Protocol</dd>
        !           125: <dt>HTTP</dt>
        !           126: <dd>Server Name</dd>
        !           127: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
        !           128: <dd>Directory on server</dd>
        !           129: <dt>suse/sles12/</dt>
        !           130: <dd>Authentication</dd>
        !           131: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
        !           132: </dl>
        !           133: <p>
        !           134: After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, quit yast.
        !           135: </p>
        !           136: 
        !           137: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
        !           138: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
        !           139: <p> Execute: </p>
        !           140: <pre>
        !           141: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
        !           142: </pre><p>
        !           143: This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
        !           144: </p>
        !           145: <h3>Configure Firewall Settings</h3>
        !           146: <p>After installing the prerequisites you should start yast, and select Security and Users -> Firewall. At step 2 include the following services: HTTP, HTTP with SSL, and Secure Shell.
        !           147: </p>
        !           148: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
        !           149: <p>
        !           150: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
        !           151: </p>
        !           152: <pre>
        !           153: wget http://install.loncapa.org/linux/install.tar
        !           154: </pre>
        !           155: <p>
        !           156: Extract the archive with the following command:
        !           157: </p>
        !           158: <pre>
        !           159: tar xf install.tar
        !           160: </pre>
        !           161: <p>
        !           162: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
        !           163: execute the setup script with the following commands:
        !           164: </p>
        !           165: <pre>
        !           166: cd installation
        !           167: ./install.pl
        !           168: </pre>
        !           169: <p>
        !           170: The script is used to prepare a Linux system to run LON-CAPA, and can also be
        !           171: used to check the configuration of a system on which LON-CAPA has already been installed.  Typically, though, you will run this script only once, when you first install LON-CAPA.
        !           172: </p>
        !           173: <p>
        !           174: The script will analyze your system to determine which actions are recommended.  The script will then prompt you to choose the actions you would like taken.
        !           175: Once a choice has been entered for all nine possible actions, required changes will be made.
        !           176: </p>
        !           177: <p>The possible actions are:
        !           178: <ul>
        !           179: <li>Create the www user/group</li>
        !           180: <li>Install the package LON-CAPA uses to authenticate users.</li>
        !           181: <li>Set-up the MySQL database</li>
        !           182: <li>Set-up MySQL permissions</li>
        !           183: <li>Configure Apache web server</li>
        !           184: <li>Configure start-up of services</li>
        !           185: <li>Check firewall settings</li>
        !           186: <li>Stop services not used by LON-CAPA,<br>
        !           187:     e.g., services for a print server: cups daemon</li>
        !           188: <li>Download LON-CAPA source code in readiness for installation</li>
        !           189: </ul>
        !           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>
        !           210:   </dd>
        !           211:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
        !           212:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
        !           213:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
        !           214:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
        !           215:   </dd>
        !           216:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
        !           217:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
        !           218:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
        !           219:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
        !           220:   </dd>
        !           221: </dl>
        !           222: 
        !           223: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
        !           224: <p>
        !           225: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
        !           226: </p>
        !           227: <pre>
        !           228: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z     (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.10.0')
        !           229: ./UPDATE
        !           230: </pre>
        !           231: <p>
        !           232: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
        !           233: in the previous section.
        !           234: </p>
        !           235: 
        !           236: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
        !           237: <p>
        !           238: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
        !           239: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
        !           240: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
        !           241: invoked below requires that you enter the user's password.
        !           242: Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later.
        !           243: Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.
        !           244: </p>
        !           245: <pre>
        !           246: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build
        !           247: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
        !           248: </pre>
        !           249: 
        !           250: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
        !           251: <p>
        !           252: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
        !           253: will be apparent at this step.
        !           254: </p>
        !           255: <pre>
        !           256: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
        !           257: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
        !           258: </pre>
        !           259: <p>
        !           260: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
        !           261: please make sure you followed the instructions in
        !           262: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
        !           263: contact the LON-CAPA group.
        !           264: </p>
        !           265: 
        !           266: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
        !           267: <p>
        !           268: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
        !           269: coordinator.  Congratulations!
        !           270: </p>
        !           271: 
        !           272: <hr>
        !           273: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
        !           274: <p>
        !           275: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
        !           276: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA group.
        !           277: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br>
        !           278: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br>
        !           279: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
        !           280: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
        !           281: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
        !           282: </p>

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