Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE 9.2 Linux Professional System

This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA server running SuSE Linux Professional 9.2 (SLP 9.2) with a minimum of packages installed. The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be expected to have no other services running. Your server is expected to have a reasonably fast connection to the internet.

More information is available at http://install.lon-capa.org/.

Before you begin

Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a non-trivial undertaking and experience with SuSE Linux will make this process 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.

Installation Overview

The installation process takes the following steps:

  1. Obtain SLP 9.2 installation media (DVD, CDs or mini-installation CD)
  2. Determine Network Settings
  3. Install SLP 9.2
  4. Update your system
  5. Install LON-CAPA
  6. Create a Domain Coordinator
  7. Start/Restart services
  8. Log in to LON-CAPA

Obtain SuSE Linux Professional 9.2

SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell SuSE site: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ or one of its mirrors.

Determine Network Settings

You will need to know the following network settings for your installation. Note:You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA. DHCP is not supported.

Minimal SLP 9.2 Install

Installing SuSE Linux Professional is quite easy if you've installed Linux products before. Some documentation is available from http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse92/.

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.

Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory. There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.

Partitioning your Drive
For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used for permanent storage of course and user data), a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this simplifies future upgrades of the operating system. If you are adding an additional access server to an existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no permenent data are stored on an access server. As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, the majority of the disk space should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB of space for SLP9.2, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should have as least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
Package Group Selection
Click on the "Software" link or use the "Change" select box in the installation Setting screen, and choose Minimal Install.

Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:

Firewall
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.

Network Configuration
LON-CAPA will not work with a machine set up to use a dynamic 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).
Online update
Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"

Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.

Change software sources for your system

You will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.
Execute:

yast

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 theSuSE mirror page.

Add an additional installation source

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:

Protocol
HTTP
Server Name
install.loncapa.org
Directory on server
suse/9.2/
Authentication
Anonymous
After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, choose "Edit", then "Refresh" the quit yast.

Update pwdutils package

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.

Installing LON-CAPA

Install prerequisites

Execute:

yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites

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.

Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program

Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:

32 bit architecture
wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.2/i386/suse_install.tar

64 bit architecture
wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.2/x86_64/suse_install.tar

Extract the archive with the following command:

tar xf suse_install.tar

This creates a directory named installation. Change to it and execute the setup script with the following commands:

cd installation
./install.pl

This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.

Determine LON-CAPA Settings

LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.

Host Type (library or access)
The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In general you should have a library server for your instructors to create their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you should make your machine a 'library' server.
LON-CAPA domain
Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain. Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but meaningful. Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.
LON-CAPA host id
Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names such as "msul1" for the first library server. Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.
Host administrator email
The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in serious trouble. On a laptop, make this root@localhost.

Configuring LON-CAPA

To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:

cd /root/loncapa-N.N     (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
./UPDATE

You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined in the previous section.

Creating a Domain Coordinator

You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.

cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
(WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
mkdir ~USERNAME
mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
chmod a+x ~USERNAME

Start/Restart Services

The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations will be appearant at this step.

/etc/init.d/loncontrol start
/etc/init.d/apache start

If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules, please make sure you followed the instructions in Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies. If you still have errors, please contact the LON-CAPA support team.

Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine

Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain coordinator. Congratulations!

If things aren't working right

If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA support team. You can submit a help request using our web form:
http://support.loncapa.org/help/
If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible. If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.