Annotation of doc/build/sles12_install.frag, revision 1.3
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>
1.2 raeburn 15: Installing Linux is straightforward.
1.1 raeburn 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>
1.2 raeburn 39: SLES12 ISO files can be obtained from the SuSE site: <a href="https://www.suse.com/download/sles/">https://www.suse.com/download/sles/</a>. Download the SLE-12-SP5-Full-x86_64-GM-Media1.iso.
1.1 raeburn 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>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, 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.
89: </dd>
1.2 raeburn 90: <dt>Available Extensions and Modules</dt>
91: <dd>Register the system with suse.com, and then check boxes for the following<ul>
92: <li>SuSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit</li>
93: <li>SUSE Package Hub</li>
94: </ul>
95: </dd>
96: <dt>System Role</dt>
97: <dd>Select: Default System</dd>
98: <dt>Software Selection</dt>
99: <dd>Customize by clicking "Software" on the Installation Settings screen
100: Uncheck the boxes for "GNOME Desktop Environment" and X Window System.<br />
101: Check the boxes for the following:<ul>
102: <li>Help and Support Documentation</li>
103: <li>Base System</li>
104: <li>AppArmor</li>
105: <li>Minimal System (Appliances)
106: <li>YaST2 configuration packages</li>
107: </ul>
108: </dd>
109: <dt>Security</dt>
110: <dd>The following should be set on the Installation Settings screen:
111: <ul>
112: <li>Firewall will be enabled>/li>
113: <li>SSH service will be enabled</li>
114: </ul>
115: If you will need command line access other than via the console, click the link to toggle the setting for the SSH port so it will be open.
116: </dd>
1.1 raeburn 117: </dl>
118: <p>
1.2 raeburn 119: Finish installing your server, reboot and log in as root.
1.1 raeburn 120: </p>
121:
1.2 raeburn 122: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Add software sources for your system</a></h2>
1.1 raeburn 123: <p>
1.2 raeburn 124: Use zypper to add package repositories for LON-CAPA and the statistics package: R.<br />
1.1 raeburn 125: Execute:
126: </p>
127: <pre>
1.2 raeburn 128: zypper addrepo http://install.loncapa.org/suse/sles12/ 'LON-CAPA'
1.3 ! raeburn 129: zypper addrepo 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/R:/released/SLE_12/' 'R-released SLE_12'
1.2 raeburn 130: zypper refresh
1.1 raeburn 131: </pre>
132: <p>
1.2 raeburn 133: Verify the required repositories are enabled:
134: </p>
1.1 raeburn 135: <pre>
1.2 raeburn 136: zypper lr -E
1.1 raeburn 137: </pre>
138: <p>
1.2 raeburn 139: The list of enabled repos should be as follows:
1.1 raeburn 140: </p>
1.2 raeburn 141: <table style="border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;">
142: <tr><th>Alias</th><th>Name</th></tr>
143: <tr><td>LON-CAPA</td><td>LON-CAPA</td></tr>
144: <tr><td>R-released SLE_12</td><td>R-released SLE_12</td></tr>
145: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-Product-SLES12-SP5-Pool</td><td>SLES12-SP5-Pool</td></tr>
146: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-Product-SLES12-SP5-Updates</td><td>SLES12-SP5-Updates</td></tr>
147: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Software_Development_Kit_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-SDK12-SP5-Pool</td><td>SLE-SDK12-SP5-Pool</td></tr>
148: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Software_Development_Kit_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-SDK12-SP5-Updates</td><td>SLE-SDK12-SP5-Updates</td></tr>
149: <tr><td>SUSE_Package_Hub_12_SP5_x86_64:SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Pool</td><td>SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Pool</td></tr>
150: <tr><td>SUSE_Package_Hub_12_SP5_x86_64:SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Standard-Pool</td><td>SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Standard-Pool</td></tr>
151: </table>
1.1 raeburn 152: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
153: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
154: <p> Execute: </p>
155: <pre>
1.2 raeburn 156: zypper in LONCAPA-prerequisites
1.1 raeburn 157: </pre><p>
158: This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
159: </p>
160: <h3>Configure Firewall Settings</h3>
161: <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.
162: </p>
163: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
164: <p>
165: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
166: </p>
167: <pre>
168: wget http://install.loncapa.org/linux/install.tar
169: </pre>
170: <p>
171: Extract the archive with the following command:
172: </p>
173: <pre>
174: tar xf install.tar
175: </pre>
176: <p>
177: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
178: execute the setup script with the following commands:
179: </p>
180: <pre>
181: cd installation
182: ./install.pl
183: </pre>
184: <p>
185: The script is used to prepare a Linux system to run LON-CAPA, and can also be
186: 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.
187: </p>
188: <p>
189: 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.
190: Once a choice has been entered for all nine possible actions, required changes will be made.
191: </p>
192: <p>The possible actions are:
193: <ul>
194: <li>Create the www user/group</li>
195: <li>Install the package LON-CAPA uses to authenticate users.</li>
196: <li>Set-up the MySQL database</li>
197: <li>Set-up MySQL permissions</li>
198: <li>Configure Apache web server</li>
199: <li>Configure start-up of services</li>
200: <li>Check firewall settings</li>
201: <li>Stop services not used by LON-CAPA,<br>
202: e.g., services for a print server: cups daemon</li>
203: <li>Download LON-CAPA source code in readiness for installation</li>
204: </ul>
205: </p>
206:
207: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
208: <p>
209: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
210: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
211: </p>
212: <dl>
213: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
214: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
215: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
216: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
217: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
218: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
219: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
220: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
221: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
222: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
223: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
224: special characters.</i>
225: </dd>
226: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
227: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
228: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
229: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
230: </dd>
231: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
232: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
233: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
234: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
235: </dd>
236: </dl>
237:
238: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
239: <p>
240: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
241: </p>
242: <pre>
243: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.10.0')
244: ./UPDATE
245: </pre>
246: <p>
247: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
248: in the previous section.
249: </p>
250:
251: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
252: <p>
253: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
254: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
255: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
256: invoked below requires that you enter the user's password.
257: Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later.
258: Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.
259: </p>
260: <pre>
261: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build
262: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
263: </pre>
264:
265: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
266: <p>
267: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
268: will be apparent at this step.
269: </p>
270: <pre>
271: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
272: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
273: </pre>
274: <p>
275: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
276: please make sure you followed the instructions in
277: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
278: contact the LON-CAPA group.
279: </p>
280:
281: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
282: <p>
283: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
284: coordinator. Congratulations!
285: </p>
286:
287: <hr>
288: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
289: <p>
290: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
291: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA group.
292: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br>
293: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br>
294: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
295: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
296: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
297: </p>
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