Annotation of doc/build/FC3_install.frag, revision 1.3
1.1 matthew 1: <html>
2: <head><title>LON-CAPA FC3 Installation</title></head>
3: <body>
4:
5: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 3 Linux System</h1>
6: <p>
7: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
8: server running Fedora Core 3 (FC3) with a minimum of packages installed.
9: The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
10: expected to have no other services running. Your server is expected to have
11: a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
12: </p><p>
13: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
14: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
15: </p>
16:
17: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
18: <p>
19: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
20: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
21: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
1.2 matthew 22: some routine Unix commands.Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl,
23: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
1.1 matthew 24: </p>
25:
26: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
27: <p>
28: The installation process takes the following steps:
29: </p>
30: <ol>
31: <li> Obtain Fedora Core 3 installation CDs</li>
32: <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
33: <li> Install Fedora Core 3 </li>
34: <li> Update your system </li>
35: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
36: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
37: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
38: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
39: </ol>
40:
41: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 3</h2>
42: <p>
43: FC3 ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site,
44: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
45: You will need only the first ISO image for the minimal install.
46: </p>
47:
48: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
49: <p>
50: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
51: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
52: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
53: </p>
54: <ul>
55: <li>ip address </li>
56: <li>netmask </li>
57: <li>hostname </li>
58: <li>gateway </li>
59: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
60: </ul>
61:
62: <h2>Minimal FC3 Install</h2>
63: <p>
64: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
65: before. Some documentation is available from
66: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
67: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
1.2 matthew 68: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
69: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
1.1 matthew 70: </p>
71: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
72: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
73: <dd>Choose "Server" installation
74: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
75: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
76: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
77: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
78: majority of the disk space should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
79: of space for FC3, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.
80: Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
81: have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
82: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
83: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
84: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
85: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
86: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
87: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
88: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
89: <dd>Select SSH (remote login), HTTP/HTTPS (web server).</dd>
90: <dt>SELinux Configuration</dt>
1.2 matthew 91: <dd>Choose an SElinux setting of 'disabled' or 'warn', unless you are
92: familiar with SElinux and writing security policies
93: <b>and want to help us write a security policy for LON-CAPA</b>.
1.1 matthew 94: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
1.3 ! matthew 95: <dd>Choose 'minimal install' which is close to the last item on the list.</dd>
1.1 matthew 96: </dl>
97: <p>
98: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
99: </p>
100:
101: <!---
102:
103: The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.
104: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.
105: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
106:
107: -->
108:
109: <h2>Update your system</h2>
110: <p>
111: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
112: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so
113: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
114: </p>
115: <pre>
116: rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
117: yum update
118: </pre>
119: <p>
1.2 matthew 120: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
1.1 matthew 121: </p>
122: <p>
123: Retrieve the FC3_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
124: </p>
125: <pre>
126: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/FC3_loncapa_yum.conf
127: </pre>
128: <p>
129: Install the FC3_loncapa_yum.conf
130: </p>
131: <pre>
132: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
133: cp FC3_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
134: yum update
135: </pre>
136: </p>
137:
138:
139: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
140: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
141: <p> Execute: </p>
142: <pre>
143: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
144: </pre><p>
145: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
146: </p>
147: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
148: <p>
149: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
150: </p>
151: <pre>
152: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar
153: </pre>
154: <p>
155: Extract the archive with the following command:
156: </p>
157: <pre>
158: tar xf fedora_install.tar
159: </pre>
160: <p>
161: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
162: execute the setup script with the following commands:
163: </p>
164: <pre>
165: cd installation
166: ./install.pl
167: </pre>
168: <p>
169: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
170: </p>
171:
172: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
173: <p>
174: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
175: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
176: </p>
177: <dl>
178: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
179: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
180: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
181: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
182: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
183: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
184: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
185: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
186: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
187: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
188: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
189: special characters.</i>
190: </dd>
191: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
192: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
193: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
194: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
195: </dd>
196: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
197: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
198: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
199: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
200: </dd>
201: </dl>
202:
203: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
204: <p>
205: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
206: </p>
207: <pre>
1.2 matthew 208: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
1.1 matthew 209: ./UPDATE
210: </pre>
211: <p>
212: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
213: in the previous section.
214: </p>
215:
216: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
217: <p>
218: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
219: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
220: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
221: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
222: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
223: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
224: appropriate user name and your domain.
225: </p>
226: <pre>
227: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
228: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
229: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
230: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
231: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
232: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
233: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
234: </pre>
235:
236: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
237: <p>
238: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
239: will be appearant at this step.
240: </p>
241: <pre>
242: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
243: /etc/init.d/httpd start
244: </pre>
245: <p>
246: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
247: please make sure you followed the instructions in
248: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
249: contact the LON-CAPA development team.
250: </p>
251: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
252: <p>
253: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
254: coordinator. Congratulations!
255: </p>
256:
1.2 matthew 257: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
1.1 matthew 258: <p>
259: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
260: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers.
261: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
262: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
263: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
264: </p>
265:
266: </body>
267:
268:
269:
270:
271:
272:
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