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6: <title>Setting up a Red Hat7.3 LON-CAPA Server</title>
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8: <body>
9: <!-- $Id: new_install_rh73.html,v 1.11 2002/12/19 17:41:08 matthew Exp $ -->
10: <h1>Setting up a Red Hat 7.3 LON-CAPA Server</h1>
11: <h2>Integrated installation</h2>
12: <p>
13: These instructions combine the installation of RedHat 7.3 and LON-CAPA
14: into one straightforward process.
15: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
16: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
17: </p>
18:
19: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
20: <p>
21: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
22: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
23: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
24: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed.
25: </p>
26:
27: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
28: <p>
29: The installation process takes the following steps:
30: </p>
31: <ol>
32: <li> Obtain Red Hat 7.3 </li>
33: <li> Gather information for installing Red Hat </li>
34: <li> Install Red Hat 7.3 </li>
35: <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings </li>
36: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
37: <li> Configure LON-CAPA </li>
38: <li> Pick a hosts.tab file </li>
39: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
40: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
41: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
42: </ol>
43:
44: <h2>Obtain the Red Hat 7.3 installation CDs</h2>
45: <p>
46: These are freely available on the internet.
47: </p>
48:
49: <h2>Determine Network settings for your site</h2>
50: <p>
51: You will need to have the following information for your site. You must
52: have a static IP address (do not use DHCP).
53: </p>
54: <ul>
55: <li>ip address </li>
56: <li>netmask </li>
57: <li>network </li>
58: <li>broadcast </li>
59: <li>hostname </li>
60: <li>gateway </li>
61: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
62: </ul>
63:
64: <h2>Install Red Hat 7.3</h2>
65: <p>
66: When you install RedHat you will need to ensure the following (the list below
67: is in the order the issues appear in the installation of Red Hat 7.3):
68: </p>
69: <dl>
70: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
71: <dd>You should definitely do a "Server" install. We do not recommend
72: Trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.</dd>
73: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
74: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of Red Hat,
75: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
76: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
77: lion's share of the drive should be allocated here. If you have 8 GB
78: of space for Red Hat, /home should receive 4 to 6 gigs. Be sure to
79: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
80: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
81: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
82: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
83: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
84: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
85: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
86: <dd>The installation script will remove and disable your firewall.</dd>
87: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
88: <dd>At a minimum, install the following packages:
89: <ul>
90: <li>NFS File Server </li>
91: <li>Windows File Server </li>
92: <li>Web Server </li>
93: </ul>
94: Other packages can be installed as you like.</dd>
95: <dt>X Windows Configuration</dt>
96: <dd>If you chose to install the X-windows packages you will need to
97: configure them. If you are unsure of the support for your video
98: card you may wish to skip the configuration.</dd>
99: </dl>
100: <p>
101: Other notes:
102: </p>
103: <ul>
104: <li>Use md5 and shadow passwords if you are given the choice (this is
105: the default). </li>
106: </ul>
107:
108: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA settings</h2>
109: <p>
110: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
111: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
112: </p>
113: <dl>
114: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
115: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
116: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
117: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
118: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
119: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification, you
120: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
121: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
122: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
123: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
124: meaningful.
125: <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters</i>
126: </dd>
127: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
128: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
129: such as "msul1" for the first library server.
130: <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters</i>
131: </dd>
132: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
133: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
134: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
135: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
136: </dd>
137: <dt>Root password for SQL database</dt>
138: <dd>In order to keep people from corrupting the MYSQL database, a root
139: password is needed. You'll need to remember this.</dd>
140: </dl>
141:
142: <h2>Install LON-CAPA</h2>
143: <p>
144: Log in as root with the password you provided during the Red Hat
145: installation process.
146: </p>
147: <pre>
148: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/rh73install/loncapa-rh73install.tar
149: tar xf loncapa-rh73install.tar
150: cd install
151: ./install.pl
152: </pre>
153:
154: <h2>Configure LON-CAPA</h2>
155: <p>
156: Execute the following commands
157: </p>
158: <pre>
159: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '0.4')
160: ./UPDATE
161: </pre>
162: <p>
163: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you requested
164: above.
165: </p>
166:
167: <h2>Picking a hosts.tab file</h2>
168: <p>
169: The "hosts.tab" file controls which LON-CAPA servers your server attempts
170: to access and which servers it will respond to. If this is your first
171: install of LON-CAPA on your network, we suggest choosing a 'standalone'
172: "hosts.tab". On a laptop, you must choose 'standalone'.
173: Please contact the support staff at www.loncapa.org for
174: information about adding more hosts to your "hosts.tab" file.
175: </p>
176: <p>
177: <b>Note:</b> for <b>non</b>-standalone configurations, you do need to add
178: yourself to the <tt>/home/httpd/lonTabs/hosts.tab</tt> to initially test your
179: configuration. Eventually, you will be added to the general cluster tables by
180: LON-CAPA staff, so this is temporary. A <tt>hosts.tab</tt> entry has the
181: format
182: </p>
183: <pre>
184: lonHostID:domain:hosttype:dns-name:ipaddress
185: </pre>
186: <p>
187: for example
188: </p>
189: <pre>
190: 103l5:library:s17.lite.msu.edu:35.8.63.27
191: </pre>
192: <p>
193: Please edit this file with a UNIX editor, not a PC or Mac one, so that the
194: linebreaks are correct.
195: </p>
196:
197: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
198: <p>
199: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
200: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
201: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
202: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
203: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
204: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
205: appropriate user name and your domain.
206: </p>
207: <pre>
208: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
209: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
210: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
211: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
212: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
213: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
214: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
215: </pre>
216:
217: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
218: <p>
219: The LON-CAPA network services take about a minute to start.
220: </p>
221: <pre>
222: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
223: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
224: </pre>
225:
226: <h2>Update your system</h2>
227: <p>
228: It is very important that you update your LON-CAPA system to use the
229: latest packages. LON-CAPA uses CHECKRPMS to notify users their system
230: needs updating.
231: <pre>
232: cd /usr/local/loncapa/bin;
233: ./CHECKRPMS
234: </pre>
235: CHECKRPMS will give you the option of downloading the updates you need.
236: Say yes. Then issue the following commands:
237: <pre>
238: cd /tmp/loncapa_rpm_updates'
239: rpm -Uvh *
240: </pre>
241: Congratulate yourself - your system is up to date. Please do your best to
242: keep it that way!
243: </p>
244:
245: <h2>Make Sure that Services Autostart on Boot</h2>
246: <p>On Redhat 7.3 it is not guaranteed that Apache and MySQL automatically
247: restart on boot. You should run /usr/sbin/ntsysv and set the following
248: daemons to be started at boot:
249: </p>
250: <pre>
251: httpd
252: mysqld
253: </pre>
254: <p>
255: It is not necessary to reboot after doing this as they should already be
256: running by this point in the installation.
257: </p>
258: <pre>
259: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
260: /etc/init.d/mysqld restart
261: </pre>
262:
263: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
264: <p>
265: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
266: coordinator. Congratulations!
267: </p>
268: </body>
269: </html>
270:
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