Annotation of doc/build/FC5_install.frag, revision 1.2
1.1 raeburn 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 5 Linux System</h1>
2: <p>
3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
4: server running Fedora Core 5 (FC5) with a minimum of packages installed.
5: The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
6: expected to have no other services running. Your server is expected to have
7: a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
8: </p><p>
9: More information is available at
10: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
11: </p>
12:
13: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
14: <p>
15: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier.
16: You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
17: some routine Unix commands. Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl,
18: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
19: </p>
20:
21: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
22: <p>
23: The installation process takes the following steps:
24: </p>
25: <ol>
26: <li> Obtain Fedora Core 5 installation CDs</li>
27: <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
28: <li> Install Fedora Core 5 </li>
29: <li> Update your system </li>
30: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
31: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
32: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
33: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
34: </ol>
35:
36: <h2>Obtain Fedora Core 5</h2>
37: <p>
38: FC5 ISO files can be obtained from the project's main site,
39: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
40: For the minimal install you will need only the first ISO image
41: (e.g., FC5-i386-disc1.iso CD for x86-compatible 32-bit).
42: </p>
43:
44: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
45: <p>
46: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
47: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
48: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
49:
50: <ul>
51: <li>ip address </li>
52: <li>netmask </li>
53: <li>hostname </li>
54: <li>gateway </li>
55: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
56: </ul>
57:
58: <h2>Minimal FC5 Install</h2>
59: <p>
60: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
61: before. Some documentation is available from
62: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
63: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
64: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
65: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
66: </p>
67: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
68: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
69: <dd>If this is a fresh install choose "Install Fedora Core". If updating from a previous LON-CAPA installation on an earlier Fedora version (e.g., FC3 or FC4) you may prefer to choose the upgrade option, although if you established a separate partition for /home it will be faster to perform an install instead of an upgrade, and use "Create Custom Layout" to set up partitions - making sure to select the "unchanged data" option for the /home partition, in order to preserve your existing LON-CAPA data. A full back-up to tape or some external system is also strongly advised when updating the Fedora distribution in use on an existing LOn-CAPA server.
70: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
71: <dd>For a fresh install may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
72: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them. If you want to customize partitioning use "Create Custom Layout".
73: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
74: majority of the disk space should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
75: of space for FC5, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.
76: Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
77: have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
78: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
79: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
80: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
81: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
82: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
83: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
84: <dt>Software</dt>
85: <dd>Uncheck the "Office and Productivity" software option. Click the "Customize Now" radio button and for a minimal install uncheck all packages except "Base" in the Base System category. If you leave other packages checked in any of the other categories, you'll need additional ISO CDs.</dd>
86: </dl>
87: <p>
88: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. The first time you log-in, the Setup Agent will be displayed. This should be used to configure the Firewall.
89: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
90: <dd>Select Security Level: Enabled, and allow incoming: SSH (remote login), WWW (HTTP) and secure WWW (HTTPS).</dd>
91: </p>
92: <p>Exit the Setup Agent, and proceed to change the SELinux setting. The default FC5 installation includes SELinux enabled. Until such time as an SELinux security policy has been created for LON-CAPA, SELinux should be disabled.
93: Retrieve the loncapa_selinux_config file from the LON-CAPA install site:
94: </p>
95: <pre>
96: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/5/loncapa_selinux_config
97: </pre>
98: <p>
99: Install the selinux config file
100: </p>
101: <p>
102: <pre>
103: mv /etc/selinux/config /etc/selinux/config.backup
104: mv loncapa_selinux_config /etc/selinux/config
105: </pre>
106: </p>
107: <!---
108:
109: The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.
110: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.
111: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
112:
113: -->
114:
115: <h2>Update your system</h2>
116: <p>
117: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
118: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so
119: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
120: </p>
121: <pre>
122: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY
123: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
124: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-extras
125: yum update
126: </pre>
127: <p>
128: Reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
129: </p>
130: <p>
131: Retrieve the FC5_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
132: </p>
133: <pre>
134: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/5/FC5_loncapa_yum.conf
135: </pre>
136: <p>
137: Install the FC5_loncapa_yum.conf
138: </p>
139: <p>
140: <pre>
141: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
142: cp FC5_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
143: yum update
144: </pre>
145: </p>
146: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
147: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
148: <p> Execute: </p>
149: <pre>
150: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
151: </pre><p>
152: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
153: </p>
154: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
155: <p>
156: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
157: </p>
158: <pre>
159: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/5/FC5_install.tar
160: </pre>
161: <p>
162: Extract the archive with the following command:
163: </p>
164: <pre>
165: tar xf FC5_install.tar
166: </pre>
167: <p>
168: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
169: execute the setup script with the following commands:
170: </p>
171: <pre>
172: cd installation
173: ./install.pl
174: </pre>
175: <p>
176: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.<br />
177: You can safely ignore the following warnings from gcc 4 when compiling pwauth:<br />
178: <tt>
179: pwauth.c: In function ‘lastlog’:
180: <ul>
181: <li>pwauth.c:541: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strncpy’</li>
182: <li>pwauth.c:543: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
183: </ul>
184: pwauth.c: In function ‘main’:
185: <ul>
186: <li>pwauth.c:692: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’</li>
187: </ul>
188: </tt>
189:
190: </p>
191:
192: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
193: <p>
194: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
195: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
196: </p>
197: <dl>
198: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
199: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
200: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
201: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
202: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
203: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
204: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
205: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
206: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
207: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
208: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
209: special characters.</i><br />Domain names which include a departmental
210: abbreviation are not recommended as although LON-CAPA may start in
211: a single department, other departments frequently join subsequently.
212: For a domain name: 'msu' is a superior choice to 'msuphys' for example.
213: </dd>
214: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
215: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
216: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
217: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
218: </dd>
219: <dt>Domain's Primary Library Server ID</dt>
220: <dd>If you are setting up a domain with a single library server, then the domain's primary library server ID will be the LON-CAPA host id of that server (e.g., msul1). Once your domain grows and you need to add more servers, one of the library servers in the domain should be assigned as the domain's primary library server. This will be where domain-wide settings will be stored.<dd>
221: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
222: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
223: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
224: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
225: </dd>
226: <dt>Support email address</dt>
227: <dd>If you enter an e-mail address here, then users of the system
228: will be able to click an "Ask Helpdesk" link in the system to
229: display a web form which they will complete to request support from
230: your institution's helpdesk. On form submission the contents
231: will be sent to the e-mail address you specify.
232: </dd>
233: </dl>
234:
235: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
236: <p>
237: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
238: </p>
239: <pre>
240: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
241: ./UPDATE
242: </pre>
243: <p>
244: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
245: in the previous section.
246: </p>
247:
248: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
249: <p>
250: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
251: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
252: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
253: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
254: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
255: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
256: appropriate user name and your domain.
257: </p>
258: <pre>
259: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
260: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
261: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
262: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
263: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
264: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
265: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
266: </pre>
267:
268: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
269: <p>
270: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
271: will be apparent at this step.
272: </p>
273: <pre>
274: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
275: /etc/init.d/httpd start
276: </pre>
277: <p>
278: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
279: please make sure you followed the instructions in
280: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
281: contact the MSU LON-CAPA support team.
282: </p>
283: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
284: <p>
285: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
286: coordinator. Congratulations!
287: </p>
288:
289: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
290: <p>
291: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
1.2 ! raeburn 292: there's something wrong, please send a <a href="http://support.loncapa.org/help">help request</a> to the MSU LON-CAPA support team. If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or errors during the
1.1 raeburn 293: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
294: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
295: </p>
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