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>
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>
93: </dt>
94: </dl>
95:
96: <p>
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.
101: </p>
102:
103:
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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