Annotation of doc/build/suse9.2_install.frag, revision 1.2

1.2     ! raeburn     1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE 9.2 Linux Professional System</h1>
1.1       raeburn     2: <p>
                      3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
                      4: server running SuSE Linux Professional 9.2 (SLP 9.2) 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.  However, it is still a
                     16: non-trivial undertaking and experience with SuSE Linux will make this 
                     17: process easier.  You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
                     18: some routine Unix commands.  Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, 
                     19: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
                     20: </p>
                     21: 
                     22: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
                     23: <p>
                     24: The installation process takes the following steps:
                     25: </p>
                     26: <ol>
1.2     ! raeburn    27:   <li> Obtain SLP 9.2 installation media (DVD, CDs or mini-installation CD)</li>
1.1       raeburn    28:   <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
                     29:   <li> Install SLP 9.2</li>
                     30:   <li> Update your system </li>
                     31:   <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
                     32:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
                     33:   <li> Start/Restart services </li>
                     34:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
                     35: </ol>
                     36: 
                     37: <h2>Obtain SuSE Linux Professional 9.2</h2>
                     38: <p>
                     39: SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell SuSE site: <a href="ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/">ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/</a> or one of its <a href="http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html">mirrors</a>.  
                     40: </p> 
                     41: 
                     42: <h2>Determine Network Settings</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>Minimal SLP 9.2 Install</h2>
                     57: <p>
                     58: Installing SuSE Linux Professional is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
                     59: before.  Some documentation is available from 
                     60: <a href="ttp://www.novell.com/documentation/suse92/">
                     61: http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse92/</a>.<br /><br />
1.2     ! raeburn    62: If booting from a mini installation CD, use F3 to select FTP or HTTP, and provide the IP address of a SuSE 9.2 mirror and a path to the 9.2 directory (e.g., 204.152.191.7  and suse/i386/9.2/), and enter the network information in the boot configuration (e.g., hostip=IPADDRESS netmask=NETMASK gateway=GATEWAY), replacing IPADDRESS, NETMASK and GATEWAY with appropriate values for your server.<br /><br />     
        !            63: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
1.1       raeburn    64: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
                     65: </p>
                     66: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     67:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
                     68:    <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used 
                     69:        for permanent storage of course and user data), 
                     70:        a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this    
                     71:        simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
                     72:        If you are adding an additional access server to an 
                     73:        existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no 
                     74:        permenent data are stored on an access server.
                     75:        As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
                     76:        the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.    
                     77:        If you have 20 GB of space for SLP9.2, /home should
                     78:        receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var 
                     79:        filesystem to store its databases you should have as least 
                     80:        4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to 
                     81:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
                     82:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
                     83:        </dd>
                     84:    <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
                     85:    <dd>Click on the "Software" link or use the "Change" select box in 
                     86:    the installation Setting screen, and choose Minimal Install.</dd>
                     87: </dl>
                     88: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
                     89: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
                     90:    <dt>Firewall</dt>
                     91:    <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow the the following services: web services (http and https) and login services (secure shell). Use the "Expert" option to open the following ports for TCP services: 8080 5663.</dd>
                     92:  </p>
                     93:  <p>       
                     94:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
                     95:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
                     96:        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).
                     97:    </dd>
                     98:    <dt>Online update</dt>
1.2     ! raeburn    99:    <dd>Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"</dd>
1.1       raeburn   100:    </dt>
                    101: </dl>
                    102: <p>
                    103: Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.
                    104: </p>
                    105: 
                    106: <h2>Change software sources for your system</h2>
                    107: <p>
                    108: You will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
                    109: Execute:
                    110: </p>
                    111: <pre>
                    112: yast
                    113: </pre>
                    114: <p>
                    115: Select "Change Source of Installation" and change to point at a SuSE mirror close to your location. You can find a list of mirrors at the<a href="http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html">SuSE mirror page</a>.
                    116: </p>
                    117: <h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
                    118: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 9.2 repository as an additional installation source, so software installation in yast will have access to two repositories - a SuSE mirror (for packages included for the standard distribution) and the LON-CAPA repository (for extra packages needed to run LON-CAPA). For the LON-CAPA source you will use:
1.2     ! raeburn   119: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
1.1       raeburn   120: <dd>Protocol</dd>
                    121: <dt>HTTP</dt>
                    122: <dd>Server Name</dd>
                    123: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
                    124: <dd>Directory on server</dd>
                    125: <dt>suse/9.2</dt>
                    126: <dd>Authentication</dd>
                    127: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
1.2     ! raeburn   128: </dl>
1.1       raeburn   129: After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, choose "Edit", then "Refresh" the quit yast.    
                    130: </p>
                    131: <h2>Update pwdutils package</h2>
                    132: <p>
                    133: Start yast, and choose the "Install and Remove software" option, and use "Search" to find pwdutils. Indicate that you wish to update to version 3.0.2.</p>    
                    134: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
                    135: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
                    136: <p> Execute: </p>
                    137: <pre>
                    138: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
                    139: </pre><p>
                    140: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies. When prompted to choose an apache package, select apache, NOT apache2, then click Solve.  
                    141: </p>
                    142: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
                    143: <p>
                    144: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
                    145: </p>
                    146: <pre>
                    147: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.2/suse_install.tar
                    148: </pre>
                    149: <p>
                    150: Extract the archive with the following command:
                    151: </p>
                    152: <pre>
                    153: tar xf suse_install.tar
                    154: </pre>
                    155: <p>
                    156: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
                    157: execute the setup script with the following commands:
                    158: </p>
                    159: <pre>
                    160: cd installation
                    161: ./install.pl
                    162: </pre>
                    163: <p>
                    164: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
                    165: </p>
                    166: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
                    167: <p>
                    168: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
                    169: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
                    170: </p>
                    171: <dl>
                    172:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
                    173:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
                    174:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
                    175:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
                    176:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
                    177:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
                    178:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
                    179:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
                    180:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
                    181:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
                    182:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 
                    183:       special characters.</i>
                    184:   </dd>
                    185:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
                    186:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
                    187:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 
                    188:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
                    189:   </dd>
                    190:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
                    191:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
                    192:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 
                    193:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
                    194:   </dd>
                    195: </dl>
                    196: 
                    197: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
                    198: <p>
                    199: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
                    200: </p>
                    201: <pre>
                    202: cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
                    203: ./UPDATE
                    204: </pre>
                    205: <p>
                    206: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 
                    207: in the previous section.  
                    208: </p>
                    209: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
                    210: <p>
                    211: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
                    212: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
                    213: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
                    214: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
                    215: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
                    216: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 
                    217: appropriate user name and your domain.
                    218: </p>
                    219: <pre>
                    220: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
                    221: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
                    222: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
                    223: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
                    224: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
                    225: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
                    226: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
                    227: </pre>
                    228: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
                    229: <p>
                    230: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
                    231: will be appearant at this step.
                    232: </p>
                    233: <pre>
                    234: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
                    235: /etc/init.d/apache start
                    236: </pre>
                    237: <p>
                    238: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
                    239: please make sure you followed the instructions in 
                    240: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
1.2     ! raeburn   241: contact the LON-CAPA support team.
1.1       raeburn   242: </p>
                    243: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
                    244: <p>
                    245: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
                    246: coordinator.  Congratulations!
                    247: </p>
                    248: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
                    249: <p>
                    250: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
                    251: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA support team.
                    252: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
                    253: <a href="http://support.loncapa.org/help/">http://support.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
                    254: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
                    255: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
                    256: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
                    257: </p>

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