Annotation of doc/build/suse10.2_install.frag, revision 1.2

1.1       albertel    1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux 10.2 System</h1>
                      2: <p>
                      3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
                      4: server running SuSE Linux 10.2 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. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute some routine Unix commands.  Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
                     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 SuSE 10.2 installation media (DVD, or CDs)</li>
                     24:   <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
                     25:   <li> Install Suse 10.2</li>
                     26:   <li> Update your system </li>
                     27:   <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
                     28:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
                     29:   <li> Start/Restart services </li>
                     30:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
                     31: </ol>
                     32: 
                     33: <h2>Obtain SuSE Linux 10.2</h2>
                     34: <p>
                     35: A SuSE 10.2 iso for burning to DVD can be obtained from the Novell download site: <a href="http://download.novell.com/index.jsp">http://download.novell.com/index.jsp</a>, or from an opensuse mirror site - <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version">http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version</a>.  You will also find links there to sites with iso files for burning to CD, if burning CDs is more convenient for you. 
                     36: </p> 
                     37: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
                     38: <p>
                     39: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.  
                     40: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
                     41: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
                     42: </p>
                     43: <ul>
                     44:   <li>ip address </li>
                     45:   <li>netmask </li>
                     46:   <li>hostname </li>
                     47:   <li>gateway </li>
                     48:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
                     49: </ul>
                     50: 
                     51: <h2>Minimal SuSE 10.2  Install</h2>
                     52: <p>
                     53: Installing SuSE 10.2 is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
                     54: before.  Some documentation is available from 
                     55: <a href="http://www.novell.com/documentation/opensuse102/">
                     56: http://www.novell.com/documentation/opensuse102/</a>.<br /><br />
                     57: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
                     58: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
                     59: </p>
                     60: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     61:    <dt>Desktop Selection</dt>
                     62:    <dd>Click <i>Select</i> and choose <i>Text Mode</i> 
                     63:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
                     64:    <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used 
                     65:        for permanent storage of course and user data), 
                     66:        a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this    
                     67:        simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
                     68:        If you are adding an additional access server to an 
                     69:        existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no 
                     70:        permenent data are stored on an access server.
                     71:        As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
                     72:        the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.    
                     73:        If you have 20 GB of space for SuSE 10.2, /home should
                     74:        receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var 
                     75:        filesystem to store its databases you should have as least 
                     76:        4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to 
                     77:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
                     78:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
                     79:        </dd>
                     80: </dl>
                     81: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
                     82: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     83:    <dt>Firewall</dt>
                     84:    <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow the the following services: web services (http and https) and login services (SSH). Use the "Advanced..." option to open the following ports for TCP services: 8080 5663.</dd>
                     85:  </p>
                     86:  <p>       
                     87:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
                     88:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
                     89:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, you should include host name information (e.g., host name = tmp1, domain = lite.msu.edu), as well as name server. Other settings (ip address, gateway, netmask will have been set when you included them in the boot configuration).
                     90:    </dd>
                     91:    <dt>Registration</dt>
1.2     ! albertel   92:    <dd>It is recommended that you register your server with Novell, for future updates during the installation process, and to run the online update.</dd>
1.1       albertel   93:    </dt>
                     94: </dl>
1.2     ! albertel   95: 
1.1       albertel   96: <p>
1.2     ! albertel   97: After finishing the online update, the system should reboot, and
        !            98: proceed to have you create a user account, show you the Release Notes,
        !            99: and let you configure any extra hardware, and then finish up the boot
        !           100: process. At the prompt login as root.
1.1       albertel  101: </p>
                    102: 
1.2     ! albertel  103: 
1.1       albertel  104: <h2>Change software sources for your system</h2>
                    105: <p>If you do not already have a SuSE 10.2 installation source at your location, you may want to consider creating one from the 5 iso files for CDs 1 - 5. Proceed as follows (e.g., for 32 bit):</p>
                    106: <pre>
                    107: mkdir -p suse102/CD1
                    108: mount -o ro,loop SUSE-Linux-10.2-GM-i386-CD1.iso /mnt
                    109: cp -rv /mnt/* suse102/CD1
                    110: umount /mnt
                    111: </pre>  
                    112: <p>
                    113: Repeat those steps with CD2, CD3, CD4 and CD5.</p>
                    114: <p>
                    115: Next you will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
                    116: Execute:
                    117: </p>
                    118: <pre>
                    119: yast
                    120: </pre>
                    121: <p>
                    122: Select "Installation Source" and change to either point at an internet installation repository close to your location (see <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version">http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version</a>), or a local institutional source you have built from the SuSE 10.2 CDs, or if using a DVD you may prefer to continue to point at the installation DVD.
                    123: </p>
                    124: <h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
                    125: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 10.2 repository as an additional installation source. once this is done, software installation in yast should then have access to three repositories - a YUM source for SuSE updates (established when you run online update from yast), an installation source (for packages included in the standard distribution) and the LON-CAPA repository (for extra packages needed to run LON-CAPA). For the LON-CAPA source you will use:
                    126: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                    127: <dd>Media Type</dd>
                    128: <dt>HTTP</dt>
                    129: <dd>Protocol</dd>
                    130: <dt>HTTP</dt>
                    131: <dd>Server Name</dd>
                    132: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
                    133: <dd>Directory on server</dd>
                    134: <dt>suse/10.2/</dt>
                    135: <dd>Authentication</dd>
                    136: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
                    137: </dl>
                    138: After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, you will need to import a public LON-CAPA key, before the catalog is read, and the repository is available to you. Quit yast.    
                    139: </p>
                    140: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
                    141: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
                    142: <p> Execute: </p>
                    143: <pre>
                    144: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
                    145: </pre><p>
                    146: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
                    147: </p>
                    148: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
                    149: <p>
                    150: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
                    151: </p>
                    152: <pre>
                    153: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/10.2/suse10.2_install.tar
                    154: </pre>
                    155: <p>
                    156: Extract the archive with the following command:
                    157: </p>
                    158: <pre>
                    159: tar xf suse10.2_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: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
                    171: </p>
                    172: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
                    173: <p>
                    174: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
                    175: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
                    176: </p>
                    177: <dl>
                    178:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
                    179:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
                    180:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
                    181:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
                    182:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
                    183:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
                    184:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
                    185:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
                    186:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
                    187:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
                    188:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 
                    189:       special characters.</i>
                    190:   </dd>
                    191:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
                    192:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
                    193:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 
                    194:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
                    195:   </dd>
                    196:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
                    197:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
                    198:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 
                    199:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
                    200:   </dd>
                    201: </dl>
                    202: 
                    203: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
                    204: <p>
                    205: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
                    206: </p>
                    207: <pre>
                    208: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '2.2.2')
                    209: ./UPDATE
                    210: </pre>
                    211: <p>
                    212: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 
                    213: in the previous section.  
                    214: </p>
                    215: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
                    216: <p>
                    217: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
                    218: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
                    219: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
                    220: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
                    221: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
                    222: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 
                    223: appropriate user name and your domain.
                    224: </p>
                    225: <pre>
                    226: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
                    227: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
                    228: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
                    229: </pre>
                    230: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
                    231: <p>
                    232: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
                    233: will be appearant at this step.
                    234: </p>
                    235: <pre>
                    236: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
                    237: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
                    238: </pre>
                    239: <p>
                    240: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
                    241: please make sure you followed the instructions in 
                    242: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
                    243: contact the LON-CAPA support team.
                    244: </p>
                    245: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
                    246: <p>
                    247: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
                    248: coordinator.  Congratulations!
                    249: </p>
                    250: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
                    251: <p>
                    252: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
                    253: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA support team.
                    254: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
                    255: <a href="http://support.loncapa.org/help/">http://support.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
                    256: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
                    257: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
                    258: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
                    259: </p>

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