1: <html>
2: <head>
3: <title>LON-CAPA FC4 Installation</title>
4: </head>
5: <body>
6: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 4 Linux System</h1>
7: <p>
8: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
9: server running Fedora Core 4 (FC4) with a minimum of packages installed.
10: The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
11: expected to have no other services running. Your server is expected to have
12: a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
13: </p><p>
14: More information is available at
15: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
16: </p>
17:
18: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
19: <p>
20: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
21: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
22: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
23: some routine Unix commands.Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl,
24: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
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 Fedora Core 4 installation CDs</li>
33: <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
34: <li> Install Fedora Core 4 </li>
35: <li> Update your system </li>
36: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
37: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
38: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
39: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
40: </ol>
41:
42: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 4</h2>
43: <p>
44: FC4 ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site,
45: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
46: For the minimal install you will need only the first ISO image (e.g., FC4-i386-disc1.iso CD for x86-compatible 32-bit).
47: </p>
48:
49: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
50: <p>
51: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
52: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
53: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
54: </p>
55: <ul>
56: <li>ip address </li>
57: <li>netmask </li>
58: <li>hostname </li>
59: <li>gateway </li>
60: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
61: </ul>
62:
63: <h2>Minimal FC4 Install</h2>
64: <p>
65: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
66: before. Some documentation is available from
67: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
68: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
69: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
70: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
71: </p>
72: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
73: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
74: <dd>Choose "Server" installation
75: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
76: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
77: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
78: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
79: majority of the disk space should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
80: of space for FC4, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.
81: Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
82: have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
83: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
84: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
85: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
86: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
87: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
88: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
89: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
90: <dd>Select SSH (remote login), HTTP/HTTPS (web server).</dd>
91: <dt>SELinux Configuration</dt>
92: <dd>Choose an SElinux setting of 'disabled' or 'warn', unless you are
93: familiar with SElinux and writing security policies
94: <b>and want to help us write a security policy for LON-CAPA</b>.
95: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
96: <dd>Choose 'Minimal' which is the last item on the list.</dd>
97: </dl>
98: <p>
99: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
100: </p>
101:
102: <!---
103:
104: The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.
105: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.
106: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
107:
108: -->
109:
110: <h2>Update your system</h2>
111: <p>
112: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
113: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so
114: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
115: </p>
116: <pre>
117: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
118: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-extras
119: yum update
120: </pre>
121: <p>
122: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
123: </p>
124: <p>
125: Retrieve the FC4_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
126: </p>
127: <pre>
128: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/4/FC4_loncapa_yum.conf
129: </pre>
130: <p>
131: Install the FC4_loncapa_yum.conf
132: </p>
133: <pre>
134: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
135: cp FC4_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
136: yum update
137: </pre>
138: </p>
139:
140:
141: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
142: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
143: <p> Execute: </p>
144: <pre>
145: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
146: </pre><p>
147: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
148: </p>
149: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
150: <p>
151: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
152: </p>
153: <pre>
154: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/4/fedora_install.tar
155: </pre>
156: <p>
157: Extract the archive with the following command:
158: </p>
159: <pre>
160: tar xf fedora_install.tar
161: </pre>
162: <p>
163: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
164: execute the setup script with the following commands:
165: </p>
166: <pre>
167: cd installation
168: ./install.pl
169: </pre>
170: <p>
171: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.<br />
172: You can safely ignore the following warnings from gcc 4 when compiling pwauth:<br />
173: <tt>
174: pwauth.c: In function ‘lastlog’:
175: <ul>
176: <li>pwauth.c:541: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strncpy’</li>
177: <li>pwauth.c:543: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
178: </ul>
179: pwauth.c: In function ‘main’:
180: <ul>
181: <li>pwauth.c:692: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
182: </ul>
183: </tt>
184:
185: </p>
186:
187: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
188: <p>
189: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
190: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
191: </p>
192: <dl>
193: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
194: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
195: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
196: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
197: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
198: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
199: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
200: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
201: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
202: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
203: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
204: special characters.</i>
205: </dd>
206: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
207: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
208: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
209: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
210: </dd>
211: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
212: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
213: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
214: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
215: </dd>
216: </dl>
217:
218: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
219: <p>
220: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
221: </p>
222: <pre>
223: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
224: ./UPDATE
225: </pre>
226: <p>
227: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
228: in the previous section.
229: </p>
230:
231: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
232: <p>
233: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
234: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
235: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
236: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
237: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
238: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
239: appropriate user name and your domain.
240: </p>
241: <pre>
242: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
243: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
244: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
245: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
246: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
247: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
248: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
249: </pre>
250:
251: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
252: <p>
253: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
254: will be appearant at this step.
255: </p>
256: <pre>
257: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
258: /etc/init.d/httpd start
259: </pre>
260: <p>
261: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
262: please make sure you followed the instructions in
263: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
264: contact the LON-CAPA development team.
265: </p>
266: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
267: <p>
268: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
269: coordinator. Congratulations!
270: </p>
271:
272: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
273: <p>
274: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
275: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers.
276: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
277: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
278: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
279: </p>
280:
281: </body>
282: </html>
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