Annotation of doc/build/suse11.2_install.frag, revision 1.2

1.1       raeburn     1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux 11.2 System</h1>
                      2: <p>
                      3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
                      4: server running SuSE Linux 11.2 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 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: 
                     12: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
                     13: <p>
                     14: 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.
                     15: </p>
                     16: 
                     17: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
                     18: <p>
                     19: The installation process takes the following steps:
                     20: </p>
                     21: <ol>
                     22:   <li><a href="#obt">Obtain SuSE 11.2 installation media (DVD)</a></li>
                     23:   <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
                     24:   <li><a href="#lin">Install Suse 11.2</a></li>
                     25:   <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
                     26:   <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
                     27:   <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
                     28:   <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
                     29:   <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
                     30: </ol>
                     31: <hr />
                     32: 
                     33: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux 11.2</a></h2>
                     34: <p>
1.2     ! raeburn    35: A SuSE 11.2 iso for burning to DVD can be obtained from the opensuse download site: <a href="http://software.opensuse.org/">http://software.opensuse.org/</a>, or from an opensuse mirror site - <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/">http://download.opensuse.org/</a>.  You will also find links there to sites with iso files for burning a Start-CD-Image (e.g., openSUSE-11.2-NET-i586.iso for 32 bit) used in a network install, if burning a CD is more convenient for you.
1.1       raeburn    36: </p>
                     37: 
                     38: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
                     39: <p>
                     40: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
                     41: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
                     42: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
                     43: </p>
                     44: <ul>
                     45:   <li>ip address </li>
                     46:   <li>netmask </li>
                     47:   <li>hostname </li>
                     48:   <li>gateway </li>
                     49:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
                     50: </ul>
                     51: 
                     52: <h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SuSE 11.2 Install</a></h2>
                     53: <p>
                     54: Installing SuSE 11.2 is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
                     55: before.  Some documentation is available from
                     56: <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local">
                     57: http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local</a> for installations from DVD and
                     58: <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 />
                     59: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
                     60: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
                     61: </p>
                     62: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     63:    <dt>Installation Language</dt>
                     64:    <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
                     65:    <dt>Desktop Selection</dt>
                     66:    <dd>Click <i>Other</i> and choose <i>Text Mode</i></dd>
                     67:    <dt>Software Selection</dt>
                     68:    <dd>Choose Expert Mode and for Software enable Base System, Yast Installation Packages and Software Management</dd>
                     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:        permenent 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 SuSE 11.2, /home should
                     80:        receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. 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 Megs, but you should
                     84:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
                     85:        </dd>
                     86: </dl>
                     87: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
                     88: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     89:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
                     90:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
                     91:        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).
                     92:    </dd>
                     93:    <dt>Firewall</dt>
                     94:    <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow the following services: web services (http and https) and login services (SSH).</dd>
                     95:    <dt>Online Update Configuration</dt>
                     96:    <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>
                     97:    </dt>
                     98: </dl>
                     99: <p>
                    100: After finishing the online update, the system should reboot, and
                    101: proceed to have you create a user account, show you the Release Notes,
                    102: and let you configure any extra hardware, and then finish up the boot
                    103: process. At the prompt login as root.
                    104: </p>
                    105: 
                    106: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Change software sources for your system</a></h2>
                    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/11.2/repo/oss and http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.2/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 11.2 DVD, or you may prefer to continue to point at the installation DVD.
                    115: </p>
                    116: <h3>Add additional installation sources</h3>
                    117: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.2 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/11.2/</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: <p>Use zypper to add two additional repositiories provide by openSuSE - one for the R statistics package (the R-patched repo), and one for the Maxima computer algebra system (the science repo).  Use the following commands to add them.
                    133: <pre>
                    134: zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:languages:R:patched/openSUSE_11.2' R-patched
                    135: zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/science/openSuSE_11.2' science
                    136: </pre>
                    137: </p>
                    138: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
                    139: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
                    140: <p> Execute: </p>
                    141: <pre>
                    142: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
                    143: </pre><p>
                    144: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
                    145: </p>
                    146: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
                    147: <p>
                    148: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
                    149: </p>
                    150: <pre>
                    151: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/11.2/suse11.2_install.tar
                    152: </pre>
                    153: <p>
                    154: Extract the archive with the following command:
                    155: </p>
                    156: <pre>
                    157: tar xf suse11.2_install.tar
                    158: </pre>
                    159: <p>
                    160: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
                    161: execute the setup script with the following commands:
                    162: </p>
                    163: <pre>
                    164: cd installation
                    165: ./install.pl
                    166: </pre>
                    167: <p>
                    168: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
                    169: </p>
                    170: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
                    171: <p>
                    172: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
                    173: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
                    174: </p>
                    175: <dl>
                    176:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
                    177:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
                    178:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
                    179:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
                    180:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
                    181:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
                    182:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
                    183:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
                    184:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
                    185:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
                    186:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
                    187:       special characters.</i>
                    188:   </dd>
                    189:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
                    190:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
                    191:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
                    192:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
                    193:   </dd>
                    194:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
                    195:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
                    196:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
                    197:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
                    198:   </dd>
                    199: </dl>
                    200: 
                    201: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
                    202: <p>
                    203: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
                    204: </p>
                    205: <pre>
                    206: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '2.9.0')
                    207: ./UPDATE
                    208: </pre>
                    209: <p>
                    210: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
                    211: in the previous section.
                    212: </p>
                    213: 
                    214: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
                    215: <p>
                    216: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
                    217: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
                    218: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
                    219: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
                    220: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
                    221: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
                    222: appropriate user name and your domain.
                    223: </p>
                    224: <pre>
                    225: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
                    226: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
                    227: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
                    228: </pre>
                    229: 
                    230: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
                    231: <p>
                    232: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
                    233: will be apparent 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 about missing perl modules when starting apache2,
                    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 MSU LON-CAPA group.
                    244: </p>
                    245: 
                    246: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
                    247: <p>
                    248: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
                    249: coordinator.  Congratulations!
                    250: </p>
                    251: 
                    252: <hr />
                    253: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
                    254: <p>
                    255: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
                    256: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the MSU LON-CAPA group.
                    257: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
                    258: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
                    259: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
                    260: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
                    261: Please let us know if any parts of this document are unclear.
                    262: </p>

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