Annotation of doc/build/suse11.2_install.frag, revision 1.4
1.1 raeburn 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux 11.2 System</h1>
2: <p>
3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
4: server running SuSE Linux 11.2 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 a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
7: </p><p>
8: More information is available at
9: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
10: </p>
11:
12: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
13: <p>
14: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute some routine Unix commands. Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
15: </p>
16:
17: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
18: <p>
19: The installation process takes the following steps:
20: </p>
21: <ol>
22: <li><a href="#obt">Obtain SuSE 11.2 installation media (DVD)</a></li>
23: <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
24: <li><a href="#lin">Install Suse 11.2</a></li>
25: <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
26: <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
27: <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
28: <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
29: <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
30: </ol>
31: <hr />
32:
33: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux 11.2</a></h2>
34: <p>
1.2 raeburn 35: A SuSE 11.2 iso for burning to DVD can be obtained from the opensuse download site: <a href="http://software.opensuse.org/">http://software.opensuse.org/</a>, or from an opensuse mirror site - <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/">http://download.opensuse.org/</a>. You will also find links there to sites with iso files for burning a Start-CD-Image (e.g., openSUSE-11.2-NET-i586.iso for 32 bit) used in a network install, if burning a CD is more convenient for you.
1.1 raeburn 36: </p>
37:
38: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
39: <p>
40: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
41: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
42: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
43: </p>
44: <ul>
45: <li>ip address </li>
46: <li>netmask </li>
47: <li>hostname </li>
48: <li>gateway </li>
49: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
50: </ul>
51:
52: <h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SuSE 11.2 Install</a></h2>
53: <p>
54: Installing SuSE 11.2 is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
55: before. Some documentation is available from
56: <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local">
57: http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local</a> for installations from DVD and
58: <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet">http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet</a> for installations via the network, booting from the mini.iso CD.<br /><br />
59: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
60: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
61: </p>
62: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
63: <dt>Installation Language</dt>
64: <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
65: <dt>Desktop Selection</dt>
66: <dd>Click <i>Other</i> and choose <i>Text Mode</i></dd>
67: <dt>Software Selection</dt>
68: <dd>Choose Expert Mode and for Software enable Base System, Yast Installation Packages and Software Management</dd>
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: permenent 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 SuSE 11.2, /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: </dl>
87: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
88: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
89: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
90: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
91: IP address. When configuring your network card, you should include host name information (e.g., host name = tmp1, domain = lite.msu.edu), as well as name server. Other settings (ip address, gateway, netmask will have been set when you included them in the boot configuration).
92: </dd>
93: <dt>Firewall</dt>
94: <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow the following services: web services (http and https) and login services (SSH).</dd>
95: <dt>Online Update Configuration</dt>
96: <dd>It is recommended that you register your server with Novell for future updates during the installation process, and then run the online update.</dd>
97: </dt>
98: </dl>
99: <p>
100: After finishing the online update, the system should reboot, and
101: proceed to have you create a user account, show you the Release Notes,
102: and let you configure any extra hardware, and then finish up the boot
103: process. At the prompt login as root.
104: </p>
105:
106: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Change software sources for your system</a></h2>
107: Next you will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
108: Execute:
109: </p>
110: <pre>
111: yast
112: </pre>
113: <p>
114: Select "Installation Source" and change to point at OSS and non-OSS repositories: (http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.2/repo/oss and http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.2/repo/non-oss) or alternatively at iternet installation repositories close to your location (see <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version">http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version</a>), or a local institutional source you have built from the SuSE 11.2 DVD, or you may prefer to continue to point at the installation DVD.
115: </p>
116: <h3>Add additional installation sources</h3>
1.4 ! raeburn 117: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.2 repository as an additional installation source.</p>
! 118: <p>Use zypper to add the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.2 repository and two additional repositiories provide by openSuSE - one for the R statistics package (the R-patched repo), and one for the Maxima computer algebra system (the science repo). Use the following commands to add them.
1.1 raeburn 119: <pre>
1.4 ! raeburn 120: zypper ar -f 'http://install.loncapa.org/suse/11.2' LON-CAPA
1.1 raeburn 121: zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:languages:R:patched/openSUSE_11.2' R-patched
1.3 raeburn 122: zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/science/openSUSE_11.2' science
1.1 raeburn 123: </pre>
1.4 ! raeburn 124: You will need to confirm that you wish to trust the key used to sign the packages in the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.2 repository.
1.1 raeburn 125: </p>
126: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
127: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
128: <p> Execute: </p>
129: <pre>
130: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
131: </pre><p>
132: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
133: </p>
134: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
135: <p>
136: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
137: </p>
138: <pre>
139: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/11.2/suse11.2_install.tar
140: </pre>
141: <p>
142: Extract the archive with the following command:
143: </p>
144: <pre>
145: tar xf suse11.2_install.tar
146: </pre>
147: <p>
148: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
149: execute the setup script with the following commands:
150: </p>
151: <pre>
152: cd installation
153: ./install.pl
154: </pre>
155: <p>
156: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
157: </p>
158: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
159: <p>
160: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
161: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
162: </p>
163: <dl>
164: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
165: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
166: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
167: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
168: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
169: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
170: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
171: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
172: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
173: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
174: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
175: special characters.</i>
176: </dd>
177: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
178: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
179: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
180: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
181: </dd>
182: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
183: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
184: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
185: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
186: </dd>
187: </dl>
188:
189: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
190: <p>
191: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
192: </p>
193: <pre>
194: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '2.9.0')
195: ./UPDATE
196: </pre>
197: <p>
198: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
199: in the previous section.
200: </p>
201:
202: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
203: <p>
204: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
205: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
206: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
207: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
208: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
209: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
210: appropriate user name and your domain.
211: </p>
212: <pre>
213: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
214: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
215: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
216: </pre>
217:
218: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
219: <p>
220: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
221: will be apparent at this step.
222: </p>
223: <pre>
224: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
225: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
226: </pre>
227: <p>
228: If you receive warnings about missing perl modules when starting apache2,
229: please make sure you followed the instructions in
230: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
231: contact the MSU LON-CAPA group.
232: </p>
233:
234: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
235: <p>
236: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
237: coordinator. Congratulations!
238: </p>
239:
240: <hr />
241: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
242: <p>
243: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
244: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the MSU LON-CAPA group.
245: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
246: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
247: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
248: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
249: Please let us know if any parts of this document are unclear.
250: </p>
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