Annotation of doc/build/suse10.3_install.frag, revision 1.3

1.1       raeburn     1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux 10.3 System</h1>
                      2: <p>
                      3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
                      4: server running SuSE Linux 10.3 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 a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
                      7: </p><p>
                      8: More information is available at 
                      9: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
                     10: </p>
                     11: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
                     12: <p>
                     13: 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.
                     14: </p>
                     15: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
                     16: <p>
                     17: The installation process takes the following steps:
                     18: </p>
                     19: <ol>
                     20:   <li> Obtain SuSE 10.3 installation media (DVD, or CD)</li>
                     21:   <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
                     22:   <li> Install Suse 10.3</li>
                     23:   <li> Update your system</li>
                     24:   <li> Install LON-CAPA</li>
                     25:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator</li>
                     26:   <li> Start/Restart services</li>
                     27:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA</li>
                     28: </ol>
                     29: <h2>Obtain SuSE Linux 10.3</h2>
                     30: <p>
                     31: A SuSE 10.3 iso for burning to DVD can be obtained from the opensuse download site: <a href="http://software.opensuse.org/">http://http://software.opensuse.org/</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 a Start-CD-Image (a mini.iso) used in a network install, if burning a CD is more convenient for you.
                     32: </p> 
                     33: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
                     34: <p>
                     35: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
                     36: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
                     37: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
                     38: </p>
                     39: <ul>
                     40:   <li>ip address </li>
                     41:   <li>netmask </li>
                     42:   <li>hostname </li>
                     43:   <li>gateway </li>
                     44:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
                     45: </ul>
                     46: <h2>Minimal SuSE 10.3 Install</h2>
                     47: <p>
                     48: Installing SuSE 10.3 is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
                     49: before.  Some documentation is available from 
                     50: <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local">
                     51: http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local</a> for installations from DVD and
                     52: <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet">http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet</a> for installations via the network, booting from the mini.iso CD.<br /><br />
                     53: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
                     54: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
                     55: </p>
                     56: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
1.2       www        57:    <dt>Installation Language</dt>
                     58:    <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
1.1       raeburn    59:    <dt>Desktop Selection</dt>
                     60:    <dd>Click <i>Other</i> and choose <i>Text Mode</i></dd>
                     61:    <dt>Software Selection</dt>
                     62:    <dd>Choose Expert Mode and for Software enable Base System, Yast Installation Packages and Software Management</dd>
                     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 10.3, /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>Network Configuration</dt>
                     84:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
                     85:        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).
                     86:    </dd>
                     87:    <dt>Firewall</dt>
                     88:    <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow 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>
                     89:    <dt>Online Update Configuration</dt>
                     90:    <dd>It is recommended that you register your server with Novell for future updates during the installation process, and then run the online update.</dd>
                     91:    </dt>
                     92: </dl>
                     93: <p>
                     94: After finishing the online update, the system should reboot, and
                     95: proceed to have you create a user account, show you the Release Notes,
                     96: and let you configure any extra hardware, and then finish up the boot
                     97: process. At the prompt login as root.
                     98: </p>
                     99: <h2>Change software sources for your system</h2>
                    100: <p>If you do not already have a SuSE 10.3 installation source at your location, you may want to consider creating one from the iso file for the DVD. Proceed as follows (e.g., for 32 bit):</p>
                    101: <pre>
                    102: mkdir -p suse103/DVD
                    103: mount -o ro,loop SUSE-Linux-10.3-GM-i386-DVD.iso /mnt
                    104: cp -rv /mnt/* suse103/DVD
                    105: umount /mnt
                    106: </pre>
                    107: Next you will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
                    108: Execute:
                    109: </p>
                    110: <pre>
                    111: yast
                    112: </pre>
                    113: <p>
                    114: Select "Installation Source" and change to point at OSS and non-OSS repositories: (http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/10.3/repo/oss and http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/10.3/repo/non-oss) or alternatively at iternet installation repositories 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 10.3 DVD, or you may prefer to continue to point at the installation DVD.
                    115: </p>
                    116: <h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
                    117: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 10.3 repository as an additional installation source. Once this is done, software installation in yast should then have access to a minimum of three repositories - a YUM source for SuSE updates (established when you run online update from yast), an installation source (for OSS 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:
                    118: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                    119: <dd>Media Type</dd>
                    120: <dt>HTTP</dt>
                    121: <dd>Protocol</dd>
                    122: <dt>HTTP</dt>
                    123: <dd>Server Name</dd>
                    124: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
                    125: <dd>Directory on server</dd>
                    126: <dt>suse/10.3/</dt>
                    127: <dd>Authentication</dd>
                    128: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
                    129: </dl>
                    130: 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.    
                    131: </p>
                    132: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
                    133: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
                    134: <p> Execute: </p>
                    135: <pre>
                    136: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
                    137: </pre><p>
                    138: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
                    139: </p>
                    140: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
                    141: <p>
                    142: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
                    143: </p>
                    144: <pre>
                    145: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/10.3/suse10.3_install.tar
                    146: </pre>
                    147: <p>
                    148: Extract the archive with the following command:
                    149: </p>
                    150: <pre>
                    151: tar xf suse10.3_install.tar
                    152: </pre>
                    153: <p>
                    154: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
                    155: execute the setup script with the following commands:
                    156: </p>
                    157: <pre>
                    158: cd installation
                    159: ./install.pl
                    160: </pre>
                    161: <p>
                    162: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
                    163: </p>
                    164: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
                    165: <p>
                    166: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
                    167: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
                    168: </p>
                    169: <dl>
                    170:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
                    171:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
                    172:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
                    173:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
                    174:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
                    175:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
                    176:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
                    177:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
                    178:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
                    179:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
                    180:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 
                    181:       special characters.</i>
                    182:   </dd>
                    183:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
                    184:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
                    185:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 
                    186:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
                    187:   </dd>
                    188:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
                    189:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
                    190:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 
                    191:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
                    192:   </dd>
                    193: </dl>
                    194: 
                    195: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
                    196: <p>
                    197: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
                    198: </p>
                    199: <pre>
                    200: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '2.2.2')
                    201: ./UPDATE
                    202: </pre>
                    203: <p>
                    204: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 
                    205: in the previous section.  
                    206: </p>
                    207: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
                    208: <p>
                    209: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
                    210: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
                    211: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
                    212: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
                    213: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
                    214: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 
                    215: appropriate user name and your domain.
                    216: </p>
                    217: <pre>
                    218: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
                    219: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
                    220: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
                    221: </pre>
                    222: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
                    223: <p>
                    224: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
                    225: will be apparent at this step.
                    226: </p>
                    227: <pre>
                    228: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
                    229: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
                    230: </pre>
                    231: <p>
                    232: If you receive warnings about missing perl modules when starting apache2,
                    233: please make sure you followed the instructions in 
                    234: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
1.3     ! raeburn   235: contact the MSU LON-CAPA group.
1.1       raeburn   236: </p>
                    237: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
                    238: <p>
                    239: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
                    240: coordinator.  Congratulations!
                    241: </p>
                    242: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
                    243: <p>
                    244: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
1.3     ! raeburn   245: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the MSU LON-CAPA group.
1.1       raeburn   246: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
1.3     ! raeburn   247: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
1.1       raeburn   248: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
                    249: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible. 
                    250: Please let us know if any parts of this document are unclear.
                    251: </p>

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