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File: [LON-CAPA] / doc / install / fedora / LON-CAPA_fedora_install.html
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Thu Dec 4 21:58:35 2003 UTC (20 years, 6 months ago) by matthew
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Added LON-CAPA_fedora_install.html and install.pl.

1: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 2: "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> 3: <html> 4: 5: <head> 6: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 7: "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> 8: <title>Installing LON-CAPA on a Fedora Linux System</title> 9: </head> 10: 11: <body> 12:  13: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a Fedora Linux System</h1> 14: <p> 15: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA 16: server running Fedora Linux. The computer will be configured solely as 17: a LON-CAPA server and will be expected to have no other services running 18: on it. 19: </p><p> 20: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/"> 21: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>. 22: </p> 23: 24: <h2>Before you begin</h2> 25: <p> 26: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a 27: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this 28: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute 29: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed. 30: Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, perl, and MySQL are not 31: required to install and run LON-CAPA. 32: </p> 33: 34: <h2>Installation Overview</h2> 35: <p> 36: The installation process takes the following steps: 37: </p> 38: <ol> 39: <li> Obtain Fedora Linux </li> 40: <li> Determine Network Settings</li> 41: <li> Install Fedora </li> 42: <li> Install LON-CAPA Dependencies </li> 43: <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings </li> 44: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li> 45: <li> Configure LON-CAPA </li> 46: <li> Pick a hosts.tab file </li> 47: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li> 48: <li> Start/Restart services </li> 49: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li> 50: </ol> 51: 52: <h2>Obtain Fedora Linux</h2> 53: <p> 54: Fedora linux ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site, 55: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>. 56: </p> 57: 58: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2> 59: <p> 60: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation. 61: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA. 62: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported. 63: </p> 64: <ul> 65: <li>ip address </li> 66: <li>netmask </li> 67: <li>hostname </li> 68: <li>gateway </li> 69: <li>domain name server(s) </li> 70: </ul> 71: 72: <h2>Gather needed information</h2> 73: 74: 75: 76: <h2>Install Fedora</h2> 77: <p> 78: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products 79: before. Some documentation is available from 80: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/"> 81: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>. 82: There are a few sections that require comment. 83: </p> 84: <dl style="list-style:square outside none"> 85: <dt>Installation Type</dt> 86: <dd>You should do a "Server" install. We do not recommend 87: trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.</dd> 88: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt> 89: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer, 90: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them. 91: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the 92: lion's share of the drive should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB 93: of space for Fedora, /home should receive 16 gigs. Be sure to 94: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should 95: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd> 96: <dt>Network Configuration</dt> 97: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic 98: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect 99: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd> 100: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt> 101: <dd>The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www. 102: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080. 103: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd> 104: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt> 105: <dd> 106: <b>Do not</b> install a web server. It is intentially omitted from 107: this list. Installing packages not listed below is not recommended. 108: If you install packages not listed below you should expect difficulties 109: when installing the LON-CAPA dependencies. 110: <ul> 111: <li>Editors</li> 112: <li>Text Based Internet</li> 113: <li>Authoring and Publishing</li> 114: <li>Development Tools 115: <li>Administration Tools 116: <li>Printing Support 117: </ul> 118: </dd> 119: </dl> 120: <p> 121: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. 122: </p> 123: 124: <h2>Retrieving the LON-CAPA Installation Archive</h2> 125: <p> 126: Execute the following command: 127: </p> 128: <pre> 129: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar 130: </pre> 131: <p> 132: This will retrieve from the LON-CAPA website all the packages needed to get 133: LON-CAPA running on your system, except for the LON-CAPA source itself. 134: </p> 135: <p> 136: Extract the archive with the following command: 137: </p> 138: <pre> 139: tar xf fedora_install.tar 140: </pre> 141: <p> 142: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. 143: </p> 144: 145: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2> 146: <p> 147: This section walks you through installing the packages which LON-CAPA requires. 148: There are a lot of dependencies to deal with. They have been grouped in a 149: somewhat logical fashion to make them easier to deal with. When installing 150: the rpms you should watch for errors. 151: </p><p> 152: The quick instructions are: 153: </p> 154: <pre> 155: cd installation 156: cd mysql 157: rpm -Uvh *rpm 158: cd ../apache 159: rpm -Uvh *rpm 160: cd ../mod_perl 161: rpm -Uvh *rpm 162: cd ../perl_dependencies 163: rpm -Uvh *rpm 164: cd ../GD 165: rpm -Uvh *rpm 166: cd ../gnuplot 167: rpm --install --oldpackage readline-2.2.1-6.i386.rpm 168: rpm --install --oldpackage --excludedocs libpng-1.0.12-2.i386.rpm 169: rpm -Uvh gnuplot-3.7.1-5.i386.rpm libgd-1.3-4.i386.rpm ncurses4-5.0-5.i386.rpm 170: cd ../misc 171: rpm -Uvh *rpm 172: cd .. 173: </pre> 174: <p> 175: <b>Notes:</b> 176: <ul> 177: <li>MySQL is used to store caches of data, not original copies. 178: Administering LON-CAPA machines does not yet mean becoming a 179: database administrator.</li> 180: <li>Apache 1.3 and mod_perl 1.x are required by LON-CAPA. These are 181: provided in the installation package. 182: <li>A specific version of Gnuplot is required by LON-CAPA. Do not 183: install a version different from the one included in the LON-CAPA 184: installation package.</li> 185: </ul> 186: </p> 187: 188: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2> 189: <p> 190: We have prepared a script which takes care of most of the configuration that 191: must be done to get the newly installed packages working with LON-CAPA. 192: This script will retrieve the latest LON-CAPA release from 193: <a href="http://install.loncapa.org">http://install.loncapa.org</a>. 194: You will be prompted for a root password for your MySQL server. You 195: will need to remember this password in case you should ever need to make 196: changes the the server. 197: </p><p> 198: Execute the script as follows: 199: </p> 200: <pre> 201: cd setup; 202: ./install.pl 203: </pre> 204: 205: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h2> 206: <p> 207: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order 208: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions. 209: </p> 210: <dl> 211: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt> 212: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In 213: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create 214: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect 215: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 216: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you 217: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd> 218: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt> 219: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain. 220: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but 221: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 222: special characters.</i> 223: </dd> 224: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt> 225: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names 226: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 227: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i> 228: </dd> 229: <dt>Host administrator email</dt> 230: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages 231: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 232: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>. 233: </dd> 234: </dl> 235: 236: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA</h2> 237: <p> 238: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands: 239: </p> 240: <pre> 241: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.1') 242: ./UPDATE 243: </pre> 244: <p> 245: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 246: in the previous section. 247: </p> 248: 249: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2> 250: <p> 251: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of 252: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and 253: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script 254: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will 255: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username" 256: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 257: appropriate user name and your domain. 258: </p> 259: <pre> 260: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build 261: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN 262: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE) 263: </pre> 264: 265: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2> 266: <p> 267: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations 268: will be appearant at this step. 269: </p> 270: <pre> 271: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start 272: /etc/init.d/httpd start 273: </pre> 274: 275: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2> 276: <p> 277: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain 278: coordinator. Congratulations! 279: </p> 280: 281: </body> 282: </html>