1: <h1>Setting up a Red Hat 7.3 LON-CAPA Server</h1>
2: <h2>Integrated installation</h2>
3: <p>
4: These instructions combine the installation of RedHat 7.3 and LON-CAPA
5: into one straightforward process.
6: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
7: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
8: </p>
9:
10: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
11: <p>
12: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
13: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
14: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
15: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed.
16: </p>
17:
18: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
19: <p>
20: The installation process takes the following steps:
21: </p>
22: <ol>
23: <li> Obtain Red Hat 7.3 </li>
24: <li> Gather information for installing Red Hat </li>
25: <li> Install Red Hat 7.3 </li>
26: <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings </li>
27: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
28: <li> Configure LON-CAPA </li>
29: <li> Pick a hosts.tab file </li>
30: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
31: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
32: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
33: </ol>
34:
35: <h2>Obtain the Red Hat 7.3 installation CDs</h2>
36: <p>
37: These are freely available on the internet.
38: </p>
39:
40: <h2>Determine Network settings for your site</h2>
41: <p>
42: You will need to have the following information for your site. You must
43: have a static IP address (do not use DHCP).
44: </p>
45: <ul>
46: <li>ip address </li>
47: <li>netmask </li>
48: <li>network </li>
49: <li>broadcast </li>
50: <li>hostname </li>
51: <li>gateway </li>
52: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
53: </ul>
54:
55: <h2>Install Red Hat 7.3</h2>
56: <p>
57: When you install RedHat you will need to ensure the following (the list below
58: is in the order the issues appear in the installation of Red Hat 7.3):
59: </p>
60: <dl>
61: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
62: <dd>You should definitely do a "Server" install. We do not recommend
63: Trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.</dd>
64: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
65: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of Red Hat,
66: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
67: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
68: lion's share of the drive should be allocated here. If you have 8 GB
69: of space for Red Hat, /home should receive 4 to 6 gigs. Be sure to
70: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
71: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
72: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
73: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
74: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
75: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
76: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
77: <dd>The installation script will remove and disable your firewall.</dd>
78: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
79: <dd>At a minimum, install the following packages:
80: <ul>
81: <li>NFS File Server </li>
82: <li>Windows File Server </li>
83: <li>Web Server </li>
84: </ul>
85: Other packages can be installed as you like.</dd>
86: <dt>X Windows Configuration</dt>
87: <dd>If you chose to install the X-windows packages you will need to
88: configure them. If you are unsure of the support for your video
89: card you may wish to skip the configuration.</dd>
90: </dl>
91: <p>
92: Other notes:
93: </p>
94: <ul>
95: <li>Use md5 and shadow passwords if you are given the choice (this is
96: the default). </li>
97: </ul>
98:
99: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA settings</h2>
100: <p>
101: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
102: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
103: </p>
104: <dl>
105: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
106: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
107: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
108: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
109: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
110: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification, you
111: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
112: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
113: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
114: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
115: meaningful.
116: <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters</i>
117: </dd>
118: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
119: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
120: such as "msul1" for the first library server.
121: <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or special characters</i>
122: </dd>
123: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
124: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
125: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
126: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
127: </dd>
128: <dt>Root password for SQL database</dt>
129: <dd>In order to keep people from corrupting the MYSQL database, a root
130: password is needed. You'll need to remember this.</dd>
131: </dl>
132:
133: <h2>Install LON-CAPA</h2>
134: <p>
135: Log in as root with the password you provided during the Red Hat
136: installation process.
137: </p><p>
138: Stop the http daemon while we're installing LON-CAPA. (If you're on a
139: fresh install, it is probably not running.)
140: <pre>
141: /etc/init.d/httpd stop
142: </pre>
143: </p><p>
144: Retrieve the LON-CAPA installation package
145: <pre>
146: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/rh73install/loncapa-rh73install.tar
147: tar xf loncapa-rh73install.tar
148: cd install
149: ./install.pl
150: </pre>
151: </p>
152:
153: <h2>Configure LON-CAPA</h2>
154: <p>
155: Execute the following commands
156: </p>
157: <pre>
158: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '0.6')
159: ./UPDATE
160: </pre>
161: <p>
162: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you requested
163: above.
164: </p>
165:
166: <h2>Update your system</h2>
167: <p>
168: It is very important that you update your LON-CAPA system to use the
169: latest RedHat packages. LON-CAPA uses CHECKRPMS to notify users their system
170: needs updating.
171: <pre>
172: /usr/local/loncapa/bin/CHECKRPMS
173: </pre>
174: CHECKRPMS will give you the option of downloading the updates you need.
175: Say yes. Then issue the following commands:
176: <pre>
177: cd /tmp/loncapa_rpm_updates
178: rpm -Uvh *
179: </pre>
180: </p><p>
181: You will need to reboot your system to begin running the new Linux Kernel
182: put out by RedHat. You can wait until the end of the LON-CAPA installation
183: process to reboot.
184: </p><p>
185: Congratulate yourself - your system is up to date. Please do your best to
186: keep it that way! When LON-CAPA is installed it sets itself up to run
187: CHECKRPMS script every night and email you the results.
188: <b>Please do not ignore these emails.</b>
189: You will need to update the RPMs yourself when it notifies you.
190: Keeping your system up-to-date goes a long way towards ensuring the
191: integrity of your student records.
192: </p>
193:
194: <h2>Picking a hosts.tab file</h2>
195: <p>
196: The "hosts.tab" file controls which LON-CAPA servers your server attempts
197: to access and which servers it will respond to. If this is your first
198: install of LON-CAPA on your network, we suggest choosing a 'standalone'
199: "hosts.tab". On a laptop, you must choose 'standalone'.
200: Please contact the support staff at www.loncapa.org for
201: information about adding more hosts to your "hosts.tab" file.
202: </p>
203: <p>
204: <b>Note:</b> for <b>non</b>-standalone configurations, you do need to add
205: yourself to the <tt>/home/httpd/lonTabs/hosts.tab</tt> to initially test your
206: configuration. Eventually, you will be added to the general cluster tables by
207: LON-CAPA staff, so this is temporary. A <tt>hosts.tab</tt> entry has the
208: format
209: </p>
210: <pre>
211: lonHostID:domain:hosttype:dns-name:ipaddress
212: </pre>
213: <p>
214: for example
215: </p>
216: <pre>
217: 103l5:library:s17.lite.msu.edu:35.8.63.27
218: </pre>
219: <p>
220: Please edit this file with a UNIX editor, not a PC or Mac one, so that the
221: linebreaks are correct.
222: </p>
223:
224: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
225: <p>
226: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
227: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
228: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
229: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
230: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
231: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
232: appropriate user name and your domain.
233: </p>
234: <pre>
235: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
236: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
237: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
238: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
239: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
240: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
241: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
242: </pre>
243:
244: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
245: <p>
246: The LON-CAPA network services take about a minute to start.
247: </p>
248: <pre>
249: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
250: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
251: </pre>
252:
253: <h2>Make Sure that Services Autostart on Boot</h2>
254: <p>On Redhat 7.3 it is not guaranteed that Apache and MySQL automatically
255: restart on boot. You should run /usr/sbin/ntsysv and set the following
256: daemons to be started at boot:
257: </p>
258: <pre>
259: httpd
260: mysqld
261: </pre>
262: <p>
263: It is not necessary to reboot after doing this as they should already be
264: running by this point in the installation.
265: </p>
266: <pre>
267: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
268: /etc/init.d/mysqld restart
269: </pre>
270:
271: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
272: <p>
273: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
274: coordinator. Congratulations!
275: </p>
276:
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