doc/build/instructions_with_cd.html - view

File: [LON-CAPA] / doc / build / Attic / instructions_with_cd.html
Revision 1.2: download - view: text, annotated - select for diffs
Fri May 18 22:01:16 2001 UTC (23 years, 5 months ago) by harris41
Branches: MAIN
CVS tags: HEAD

updated with fixes (Guy made some helpful suggestions)..
based on new improvements to installation process

<H1>LON-CAPA Installation Instructions</H1> <CENTER>for the 02/20/2001 prototype release Scott Harrison, last updated 02/21/2001</CENTER> What you need: <UL> <LI>a RedHat Linux compatible computer that is hooked up to the ethernet with a working IP address, <LI>a LON-CAPA installation CD, <LI>and an installation boot floppy. </UL> Starting instructions: <UL> <LI>Turn the computer off. <LI>Insert the "LON-CAPA Installation Boot Floppy" <LI>Turn the computer on. <LI>During boot-up, insert the "LON-CAPA Installation CD-ROM" <LI>(For systems with bootable CD-ROM devices, you can just use the CD-ROM and not use the installation boot floppy). </UL> Warnings: <UL> <LI>Installation will remove all data on your computer. <LI>This is a prototype installation release of a developing software system. <LI>We are developing documentation on the LON-CAPA installation at http://install.lon-capa.org/. Documentation is not well developed on these pages, but it may be of some help in understanding the system internals. <LI>Standard legal disclaimer: Use this software at your own risk. By using this software you assume all liability for its operation. </UL> Installation screens: The following installation screens present an example installation for a computer grover.morphy.edu (12.34.56.99) done by a Doctor Herbert Sherbert. Since this is the first installation of a LON-CAPA server at Morphy University, Dr. Sherbert chooses to install a library server which can store educational resources (as opposed to an access server which simply load-balances high amounts of web server requests). For those experienced with RedHat-type installations, there are really only two screens which are specific to setting LON-CAPA system parameters. <UL> <LI>Installation Welcome Screen. Just press the "Enter/Return" key at this first screen. <LI>Language Selection. Choose English. (It is the only supported language so far in the translation tables associated with the installation). Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Keyboard Selection. Most likely, you have a "us" keyboard which is the default setting. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Welcome to Learning Online!. This screen directs you to look for more information at http://install.lon-capa.org/. Please be advised that documentation on these pages is not highly developed. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Installation Type. Five options are presented on this installation screen. <UL> <LI>Install LON-CAPA Library Server <LI>Install LON-CAPA Access Server <LI>Install LON-CAPA Library Development Server <LI>Install LON-CAPA Access Development System <LI>Upgrade Existing Installation </UL> If this is the first LON-CAPA machine you are setting up at your institution, I strongly recommend you select "Install LON-CAPA Library Development Server". The first two choices are run-time servers which are significantly more secure (for instance, do not support telnet, just ssh). These choices do not support X-windows or other system amenities which will make tinkering and learning about the LON-CAPA system more difficult. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Manual Partitioning. Read the screen. Write down the amount of RAM on your system. Multiply the RAM by ten and calculate the number of MEGAbytes (not kilobytes) of swap space your system is recommended to be on your hard drive. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Current Disk Partitions. More information on using disk druid to properly configure a linux system is present on many different internet sites that you can find with an internet search engine like www.google.com. One such site is http://www.linuxinfor.com/rhl70/s1-textmode-partition.html. Partition your hard disk. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Choose Partitions to Format. Select all your partitions and select "OK". (You probably do not need to check for bad blocks during the format). <LI>Hostname Configuration. Dr. Sherbert would enter grover.morphy.edu. You would enter the host name corresponding to the working IP address attached by ethernet to your computer. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Network Configuration. Do NOT use bootp/dhcp. LON-CAPA only works with static IP. Enter in the IP address of your computer (e.g. 12.34.56.99). Find out the correct values for netmask, gateway, and primary nameserver from other personnel at your institution (or look at information present on currently connected computers). Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Library Server Configuration. "LON Host ID" can be any set of alphanumeric characters. This host id must be unique (per computer) in terms of the entire worldwide LON-CAPA network. The system administrator e-mail is where periodic status reports are e-mailed in the event of system startup, shutdown, malfunction, and routine checks. The domain is a set of alphanumeric characters unique to a given institution. The final two fields, "Load Limit" and "Expiration Time", allow for the handling of server load and cached educational resources. We recommend that you leave these two fields at their default values. <IMG ALIGN="TOP" SRC="libraryserverconfiguration.gif" ALT="library server configuration graphic">   <LI>Library System Settings. Many different kinds of computers are used at Morphy University: Macintosh, Linux, BSD, and Windows 3.1/95/98/2000/Me/NT. To provide flexible and easy access to the library server for faculty participants, Samba is selected to enable Windows/Network Neighborhood file shares (e.g. Loncapa_morphy/Morphyl1). Apple Shares is selected to enable Apple Share connection with the Apple "Chooser" (e.g. LONCAPA_MORPHYL1). NFS is selected to enable user-specific network file services for Linux (and other) computers with NFS client utilities. NTP Server allows for the synchronization of time and should be set to an IP address that supports the XNTP version 3 protocol; if left blank, there will be no time synchronization on the server, though it's time is expected to remain relatively constant (and correct if the machine is configured properly). Kerberos realm allows for authenticating students and instructors based on an institution's Kerberos version 4 password-checking scheme (if supported by the institution). IMPORTANT: You will need to add an entry to hosts.tab (second "Add" key) corresponding to your new installation. Dr. Sherbert would enter something corresponding to morphyl1:morphy:library:grover.morphy.edu:12.34.56.99. <IMG ALIGN="TOP" SRC="librarysystemsettings.gif" ALT="library server configuration graphic">   <LI>Mouse Selection. Enter the appropriate values for describing the model mouse attached to your computer. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Time Zone Selection. You probably do not want to select the GMT option. Just enter in the time zone of your institution. (If the time is incorrect upon system bootup, and you cannot or do not want to connect to an NTP server, you can always reconfigure the system time with the command, as root, /usr/sbin/timeconfig). Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Root Password. Enter in your machine's root password. Be creative and decide on something non-guessable. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Web Server Password. Enter in your machine's password for a user 'www'. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Add User. Add a user to the machine. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>User Account Setup. Perform any additional changes to the user accounts on your machine. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>X probe results. (We assume you have a detectable video card). Select "OK" to advance to the next screen. <LI>Warning, Installation to begin. You will now erase all data on your hard disk and install the LON-CAPA system. Select "OK" to courageously begin. <LI>Package Installation. A carefully selected set of RPMs is being installed that provides full LON-CAPA system functionality. <LI>Bootdisk. If you want (though it is probably not necessary), you can insert a fresh (NOT your LON-CAPA installation boot floppy) floppy disk to help ensure you can boot up your LON-CAPA server system. <LI>Monitor Setup. Select what kind of monitor is attached to your computer (or just choose custom). Several screens will follow which guide your configuration of your computer monitor. (Note that this configuration only occurs with development servers, since the other servers do not support X-windows). It probably makes sense to start "X" up when booting if it appears it is correctly configuring your computer monitor. <LI>Note about hosts.allow. To enable various kinds of network connectivity (including appleshares, network neighborhood, telnet, ftp, nfs) from other computers on the internet, you may want to adjust your /etc/hosts.allow table after boot-time. (The web server and the LON-CAPA network layer do not depend on /etc/hosts.allow however.) Dr. Sherbert added the following line to his /etc/hosts.allow file to make sure other computers at Morphy University could access grover.morphy.edu: <PRE> ALL: .morphy.edu </PRE> Alternatively, to allow wide access (though password-protected) to anyone in the world, Dr. Sherbert could have added <PRE> ALL: ALL </PRE> <LI>Complete. Select "OK" to reboot the system. Be sure to remove your installation medium (both the CD-ROM and installation floppy) before boot-up. </UL> Booting up for the first time: <UL> <LI>It will probably say "Cannot connect to the database!" after the loncontrol server process runs upon boot-up. You need to edit /etc/httpd/conf/access.conf and replace the line <pre>PerlSetVar lonSqlAccess {[[[[lonSqlAccess]]]]}</pre> with <pre>PerlSetVar lonSqlAccess 123</pre> <LI>Please, as root, run "sh /usr/sbin/loncapa_configure". This is a one-time action that synchronizes the system services on the machine. </UL> Feedback: <UL> <LI>Specific ideas on how to manage the installation can be sent to harris41@msu.edu. In terms of bug reports, we would also like to hear from you, but there is no need for great detail (or despair?) since the bug is most likely already on our "to-do" list. </UL>