1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11</h1>
2: <p>
3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
4: server running SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (SLES 11) 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><a href="#obt">Obtain SLES 11 installation media</a></li>
27: <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
28: <li><a href="#lin">Install SLES 11</a></li>
29: <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
30: <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
31: <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
32: <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
33: <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
34: </ol>
35:
36: <hr />
37: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11</a></h2>
38: <p>
39: SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell site: <a href="http://www.novell.com/products/server/">http://www.novell.com/products/server/</a>. Only DVD1 is required for each architecture (DVD2 contains source rpms for the various packages).
40: </p>
41:
42: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
43: <p>
44: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
45: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
46: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
47: </p>
48: <ul>
49: <li>ip address </li>
50: <li>netmask </li>
51: <li>hostname </li>
52: <li>gateway </li>
53: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
54: </ul>
55:
56: <h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SLES 11 Install</a></h2>
57: <p>
58: Installing SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
59: before. Some documentation is available from
60: <a href="http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles11/">
61: http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles11/</a>.<br /><br />
62: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
63: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
64: </p>
65: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
66: <dt>Installation Language</dt>
67: <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
68:
69: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
70: <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used
71: for permanent storage of course and user data),
72: a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this
73: simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
74: If you are adding an additional access server to an
75: existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no
76: permanent data are stored on an access server.
77: As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
78: the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.
79: If you have 20 GB of space for SLES11, /home should
80: receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var
81: filesystem to store its databases you should have as least
82: 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.
85: </dd>
86: <dt>Software Selection</dt>
87: <dd>
88: Installation of the minimum set of packages is recommended. This will involve unchecking all checkboxes except for the base SLES installation.</dd>
89: </dl>
90: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
91: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
92: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
93: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
94: IP address. When configuring your network card, you should include you static IP address, netmask, host name information (e.g., host name = tmp1, domain = lite.msu.edu), as well as name servers and gateway.
95: </dd>
96: <dt>Online update</dt>
97: <dd>Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"</dd>
98: </dt>
99: </dl>
100: <p>
101: Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.
102: </p>
103: <h3>Configure Firewall Settings</h3>
104: <p>After reboot you should start yast, and select Security and Users -> Firewall. At step 2 include the following services: HTTP, HTTP with SSL, and Secure Shell.
105: </p>
106:
107: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Change software sources for your system</a></h2>
108: <p>
109: You will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
110: Execute:
111: </p>
112: <pre>
113: yast
114: </pre>
115: <p>
116: Select "Change Source of Installation". The media you used to install SLES11 will be listed as an installation source. If you do not already have a SLES11 installation source at your location, you may want to consider creating one from the iso files you used to create . Proceed as follows (e.g., for 32 bit):</p>
117: <pre>
118: mkdir -p sles11/DVD1
119: mount -o ro,loop SLES-11-DVD-i586-GM-DVD1.iso /mnt
120: cp -rv /mnt/* sles11/DVD1
121: umount /mnt
122: </pre>
123: <h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
124: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SLES 11 repository as an additional installation source, so software installation in yast will have access to at least two repositories - a SuSE/Novell source (for packages included for the standard distribution) and the LON-CAPA repository (for extra packages needed to run LON-CAPA). For the LON-CAPA source you will use:
125: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
126: <dd>Protocol</dd>
127: <dt>HTTP</dt>
128: <dd>Server Name</dd>
129: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
130: <dd>Directory on server</dd>
131: <dt>suse/sles11/</dt>
132: <dd>Authentication</dd>
133: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
134: </dl>
135: After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, quit yast.
136: </p>
137: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
138: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
139: <p> Execute: </p>
140: <pre>
141: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
142: </pre><p>
143: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
144: </p>
145: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
146: <p>
147: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
148: </p>
149: <pre>
150: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/sles11/sles11_install.tar
151: </pre>
152: <p>
153: Extract the archive with the following command:
154: </p>
155: <pre>
156: tar xf sles11_install.tar
157: </pre>
158: <p>
159: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
160: execute the setup script with the following commands:
161: </p>
162: <pre>
163: cd installation
164: ./install.pl
165: </pre>
166: <p>
167: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
168: </p>
169: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
170: <p>
171: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
172: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
173: </p>
174: <dl>
175: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
176: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
177: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
178: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
179: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
180: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
181: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
182: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
183: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
184: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
185: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
186: special characters.</i>
187: </dd>
188: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
189: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
190: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
191: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
192: </dd>
193: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
194: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
195: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
196: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
197: </dd>
198: </dl>
199:
200: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
201: <p>
202: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
203: </p>
204: <pre>
205: cd /root/loncapa-N.N.N (N.N.N should correspond to a version number like '2.2.2')
206: ./UPDATE
207: </pre>
208: <p>
209: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
210: in the previous section.
211: </p>
212: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
213: <p>
214: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
215: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
216: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
217: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
218: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
219: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
220: appropriate user name and your domain.
221: </p>
222: <pre>
223: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
224: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
225: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
226: </pre>
227:
228: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
229: <p>
230: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
231: will be apparent at this step.
232: </p>
233: <pre>
234: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
235: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
236: </pre>
237: <p>
238: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
239: please make sure you followed the instructions in
240: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
241: contact the LON-CAPA group.
242: </p>
243:
244: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
245: <p>
246: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
247: coordinator. Congratulations!
248: </p>
249:
250: <hr />
251: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
252: <p>
253: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
254: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA group.
255: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
256: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
257: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
258: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
259: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
260: </p>
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