Annotation of doc/install/redhat7.3/new_install_rh73.html, revision 1.1

1.1     ! matthew     1: <html><head><title>Setting up a Red Hat7.3 LON-CAPA Server</title></head><body>
        !             2: <!-- $Id$ -->
        !             3: <h1>Setting up a Red Hat7.3 LON-CAPA Server</h1>
        !             4: 
        !             5: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
        !             6: <p>
        !             7: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier.  However, it is still a
        !             8: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this 
        !             9: process easier.  You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
        !            10: some routine Unix commands.  Some familiarity with Linux is assumed.
        !            11: </p>
        !            12: 
        !            13: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
        !            14: <p>
        !            15: The installation process takes the following steps:
        !            16: <ol>
        !            17:   <li> Obtain Red Hat 7.3
        !            18:   <li> Gather information for installing Red Hat
        !            19:   <li> Install Red Hat 7.3
        !            20:   <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings
        !            21:   <li> Install LON-CAPA
        !            22:   <li> Configure LON-CAPA
        !            23:   <li> Pick a hosts.tab file
        !            24:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator
        !            25:   <li> Start/Restart services
        !            26:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA
        !            27: </ol>
        !            28: </p>
        !            29: 
        !            30: <h2>Obtain the Red Hat 7.3 installation CDs</h2>
        !            31: <p>
        !            32: If you like, you may contact the LON-CAPA development staff and we can
        !            33: mail the CDs to you.  Another option is to download the cd images and 
        !            34: burn them yourself.
        !            35: </p>
        !            36: 
        !            37: <h2>Gather information for the Red Hat Installation</h2>
        !            38: <p>
        !            39: You will need to gather some network information for your server.  You will 
        !            40: also need to determine some of the LON-CAPA configuration information before 
        !            41: you begin.
        !            42: </p>
        !            43: <h3>Network settings for your site</h3>
        !            44: <p>
        !            45: <ul>
        !            46:   <li>ip address
        !            47:   <li>netmask
        !            48:   <li>network
        !            49:   <li>broadcast
        !            50:   <li>hostname
        !            51:   <li>gateway
        !            52:   <li>domain name server(s)
        !            53: </ul>
        !            54: </p>
        !            55: 
        !            56: <h2>Install Red Hat 7.3</h2>
        !            57: <p>
        !            58: When you install RedHat you will need to ensure the following (the list below
        !            59: is in the order the issues appear in the installation of Red Hat 7.3):
        !            60: <dl>
        !            61:    <dt>Installation Type
        !            62:    <dd>You should definitely do a "Server" install.  We do not recommend
        !            63:        Trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.
        !            64:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive
        !            65:    <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of Red Hat,
        !            66:        however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
        !            67:        LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
        !            68:        lion's share of the drive should be allocated here.  If you have 8 GB 
        !            69:        of space for Red Hat, /home should receive 4 to 6 gigs.  Be sure to 
        !            70:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
        !            71:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
        !            72:    <dt>Network Configuration
        !            73:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic 
        !            74:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
        !            75:        the DHCP option and enter in your network information.
        !            76:    <dt>Firewall Configuration
        !            77:    <dd>The installation script will remove and disable your firewall.
        !            78:    <dt>Package Group Selection
        !            79:    <dd>At a minimum, install the following packages:
        !            80:       <ul>
        !            81:         <li>NFS File Server
        !            82:         <li>Windows File Server
        !            83:         <li>Web Server
        !            84:       </ul>
        !            85:        Other packages can be installed as you like.
        !            86:    <dt>X Windows Configuration
        !            87:    <dd>If you chose to install the X-windows packages you will need to 
        !            88:        configure them.  If you are unsure of the support for your video
        !            89:        card you may wish to skip the configuration.
        !            90: </dl>
        !            91: Other notes:
        !            92: <ul>
        !            93:   <li>Use md5 and shadow passwords if you are given the choice (this is
        !            94:       the default).
        !            95: </ul>
        !            96: </p>
        !            97: 
        !            98: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA settings</h2>
        !            99: <p>
        !           100: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
        !           101: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
        !           102: <dl>
        !           103:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)
        !           104:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
        !           105:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
        !           106:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
        !           107:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
        !           108:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification, you
        !           109:       should make your machine a 'library' server.
        !           110:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain
        !           111:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
        !           112:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
        !           113:       meaningful.
        !           114:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id
        !           115:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
        !           116:       such as "msul1" for the first library server.
        !           117:   <dt>Host administrator email
        !           118:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
        !           119:       are sent every time the system starts up.
        !           120:   <dt>Root password for SQL database
        !           121:   <dd>In order to keep people from corrupting the MYSQL database, a root
        !           122:       password is needed.  You'll need to remember this.
        !           123: </dl>
        !           124: </p>
        !           125: 
        !           126: <h2>Install LON-CAPA</h2>
        !           127: <p>
        !           128: Log in as root with the password you provided during the Red Hat 
        !           129: installation process.
        !           130: <pre>
        !           131: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/rh73install/loncapa-rh73install.tar
        !           132: tar xf loncapa-rh73install.tar
        !           133: cd install
        !           134: ./install.pl
        !           135: </pre>
        !           136: </p>
        !           137: 
        !           138: <h2>Configure LON-CAPA</h2>
        !           139: <p>
        !           140: Execute the following commands
        !           141: <pre>
        !           142: cd /root/loncapa/
        !           143: ./UPDATE
        !           144: </pre>
        !           145: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you requested
        !           146: above.  Additionally, you will need to enter the following information 
        !           147: (options 5 and 6 in the menu):
        !           148: <dl>
        !           149:    <dt>Cache Expiration Time
        !           150:    <dd>86400
        !           151:    <dt>Server Load
        !           152:    <dd>2.0
        !           153: </dl>
        !           154: </p>
        !           155: 
        !           156: <h2>Picking a hosts.tab file</h2>
        !           157: The "hosts.tab" file controls which LON-CAPA servers your server attempts 
        !           158: to access and which servers it will respond to.  If this is your first 
        !           159: install of LON-CAPA on your network, we suggest choosing a 'standalone' 
        !           160: "hosts.tab".  Please contact the support staff at www.loncapa.org for
        !           161: information about adding more hosts to your "hosts.tab" file.
        !           162: 
        !           163: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
        !           164: <p>
        !           165: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
        !           166: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
        !           167: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
        !           168: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
        !           169: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the passwd username
        !           170: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 
        !           171: appropriate user name and your domain.
        !           172: <pre>
        !           173: cd /root/loncapa/loncom/build
        !           174: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
        !           175: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
        !           176: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
        !           177: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
        !           178: </pre>
        !           179: </p>
        !           180: 
        !           181: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
        !           182: <p>
        !           183: The services take about 10 minutes to start.
        !           184: <pre>
        !           185: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
        !           186: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
        !           187: </pre>
        !           188: </p>
        !           189: 
        !           190: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
        !           191: <p>
        !           192: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
        !           193: coordinator.  Congratulations!
        !           194: </p>
        !           195: 
        !           196: 
        !           197: 

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