1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE 9.2 Linux Professional System</h1>
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>
27: <li> Obtain SLP 9.2 installation media (DVD, CDs or mini-installation CD)</li>
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 />
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.
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>
99: <dd>Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"</dd>
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:
119: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
120: <dd>Protocol</dd>
121: <dt>HTTP</dt>
122: <dd>Server Name</dd>
123: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
124: <dd>Directory on server (for 32 bit)</dd>
125: <dt>suse/i386/9.2</dt>
126: <dd>Directory on server (for 64 bit)</dd>
127: <dt>suse/x86_64/9.2</dt>
128: <dd>Authentication</dd>
129: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
130: </dl>
131: After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, choose "Edit", then "Refresh" the quit yast.
132: </p>
133: <h2>Update pwdutils package</h2>
134: <p>
135: 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>
136: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
137: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
138: <p> Execute: </p>
139: <pre>
140: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
141: </pre><p>
142: 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.
143: </p>
144: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
145: <p>
146: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
147: </p>
148: <i>32 bit architecture</i>
149: <pre>
150: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.2/i386/suse_install.tar
151: </pre>
152: <br />
153: <i>64 bit architecture</i>
154: <pre>
155: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.2/x86_64/suse_install.tar
156: </pre>
157: <p>
158: Extract the archive with the following command:
159: </p>
160: <pre>
161: tar xf suse_install.tar
162: </pre>
163: <p>
164: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
165: execute the setup script with the following commands:
166: </p>
167: <pre>
168: cd installation
169: ./install.pl
170: </pre>
171: <p>
172: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
173: </p>
174: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
175: <p>
176: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
177: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
178: </p>
179: <dl>
180: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
181: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
182: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
183: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
184: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
185: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
186: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
187: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
188: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
189: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
190: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
191: special characters.</i>
192: </dd>
193: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
194: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
195: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
196: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
197: </dd>
198: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
199: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
200: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
201: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
202: </dd>
203: </dl>
204:
205: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
206: <p>
207: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
208: </p>
209: <pre>
210: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
211: ./UPDATE
212: </pre>
213: <p>
214: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
215: in the previous section.
216: </p>
217: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
218: <p>
219: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
220: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
221: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
222: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
223: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
224: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
225: appropriate user name and your domain.
226: </p>
227: <pre>
228: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
229: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
230: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
231: mkdir ~USERNAME
232: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
233: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
234: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
235: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
236: </pre>
237: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
238: <p>
239: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
240: will be appearant at this step.
241: </p>
242: <pre>
243: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
244: /etc/init.d/apache start
245: </pre>
246: <p>
247: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
248: please make sure you followed the instructions in
249: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
250: contact the LON-CAPA support team.
251: </p>
252: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
253: <p>
254: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
255: coordinator. Congratulations!
256: </p>
257: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
258: <p>
259: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
260: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA support team.
261: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
262: <a href="http://support.loncapa.org/help/">http://support.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
263: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
264: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
265: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
266: </p>
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