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/.
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.
The installation process takes the following steps:
SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell SuSE site: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/ or one of its mirrors.
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.
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.
Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.
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 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:
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.
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 the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
32 bit architecturewget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.2/i386/suse_install.tar
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain coordinator. Congratulations!
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.