Return to suse11.3_install.frag CVS log

Up to [LON-CAPA] / doc / build

- Update link to installation documentation for opensuse 11.
- Update installation instructions to use generic install.pl
  included in linux/install.tar
- Update instructions for creating Domain Coordinator for changes
  in loncom/build/make_domain_coordinator.pl script in 2.10

<h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux 11.3 System</h1>
<p>
This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
server running SuSE Linux 11.3 with a minimum of packages installed.
The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
expected to have no other services running.  Your server is expected to have a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
</p><p>
More information is available at
<a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
</p>

<h2>Before you begin</h2>
<p>
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.
</p>

<h2>Installation Overview</h2>
<p>
The installation process takes the following steps:
</p>
<ol>
  <li><a href="#obt">Obtain SuSE 11.3 installation media (DVD)</a></li>
  <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
  <li><a href="#lin">Install Suse 11.3</a></li>
  <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
  <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
  <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
  <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
  <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
</ol>
<hr />

<h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux 11.3</a></h2>
<p>
A SuSE 11.3 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-11.3-NET-i586.iso for 32 bit) used in a network install, if burning a CD is more convenient for you.
</p>

<h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
<p>
You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
<b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>ip address </li>
  <li>netmask </li>
  <li>hostname </li>
  <li>gateway </li>
  <li>domain name server(s) </li>
</ul>

<h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SuSE 11.3 Install</a></h2>
<p>
Installing SuSE 11.3 is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
before.  Some documentation is available from the 
<a href="http://doc.opensuse.org/products/opensuse/openSUSE/opensuse-startup/art.osuse.installquick.html">
Installation Quick Start</a> guide.<br /><br />
Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
</p>
<dl style="list-style:square outside none">
   <dt>Installation Language</dt>
   <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
   <dt>Desktop Selection</dt>
   <dd>Click <i>Other</i> and choose <i>Text Mode</i></dd>
   <dt>Software Selection</dt>
   <dd>Choose Expert Mode and for Software enable Base System, Yast Installation Packages and Software Management</dd>
   <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
   <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used
       for permanent storage of course and user data),
       a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this
       simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
       If you are adding an additional access server to an
       existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no
       permenent data are stored on an access server.
       As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
       the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.
       If you have 20 GB of space for SuSE 11.3, /home should
       receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var
       filesystem to store its databases you should have as least
       4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to
       include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
       typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
       </dd>
</dl>
<p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
<dl style="list-style:square outside none">
   <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
   <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
       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).
   </dd>
   <dt>Firewall</dt>
   <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow login services (SSH).</dd>
</dl>
<p>
After finishing the online update, the system should reboot, and
proceed to have you create a user account, show you the Release Notes,
and let you configure any extra hardware, and then finish up the boot
process. At the prompt login as root.
</p>

<h2>4. <a name="upd">Change software sources for your system</a></h2>
Next you will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
Execute:
</p>
<pre>
yast
</pre>
<p>
Select "Installation Source" and change to point at OSS and non-OSS repositories: (http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.3/repo/oss and http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.3/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 11.3 DVD, or you may prefer to continue to point at the installation DVD.
</p>
<h3>Add additional installation sources</h3>
<p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.3 repository as an additional installation source.</p>
<p>Use zypper to add the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.3 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.
<pre>
zypper ar -f 'http://install.loncapa.org/suse/11.3' LON-CAPA
zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:languages:R:patched/openSUSE_11.3' R-patched
zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/science/openSUSE_11.3' science
</pre>
You will need to confirm that you wish to trust the key used to sign the packages in the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.3 repository.
</p>
<h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
<h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
<p> Execute: </p>
<pre>
yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
</pre><p>
This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
</p>
<h3>Configure firewall settings for Apache</h3>
<p>After Apache has been installed use yast to configure the Firewall to open port 80 for http (and port 443 for https, if you plan to use Apache with SSL).
<dl style="list-style:square outside none">
   <dt>Firewall</dt>
   <dd>Allow the following services: web services (http and https).</dd>
</dl>
</p>
<h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
<p>
Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
</p>
<pre>
wget http://install.loncapa.org/linux/install.tar
</pre>
<p>
Extract the archive with the following command:
</p>
<pre>
tar xf install.tar
</pre>
<p>
This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
execute the setup script with the following commands:
</p>
<pre>
cd installation
./install.pl
</pre>
<p>
The script is used to prepare a Linux system to run LON-CAPA, and can also be
used to check the configuration of a system on which LON-CAPA has already been installed.  Typically, though, you will run this script only once, when you first install LON-CAPA.
</p>
<p>
The script will analyze your system to determine which actions are recommended.  The script will then prompt you to choose the actions you would like taken.
Once a choice has been entered for all nine possible actions, required changes will be made.
</p>
<p>The possible actions are:
<ul>
<li>Create the www user/group</li>
<li>Install the package LON-CAPA uses to authenticate users.</li>
<li>Set-up the MySQL database</li>
<li>Set-up MySQL permissions</li>
<li>Configure Apache web server</li>
<li>Configure start-up of services</li>
<li>Check firewall settings</li>
<li>Stop services not used by LON-CAPA,<br />
    e.g., services for a print server: cups daemon</li>
<li>Download LON-CAPA source code in readiness for installation</li>
</ul>
</p>
<h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
<p>
LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
</p>
<dl>
  <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
  <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
      general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
      their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
      to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
      your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
      should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
  <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
  <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
      Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
      meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
      special characters.</i>
  </dd>
  <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
  <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
      such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
      no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
  </dd>
  <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
  <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
      are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
      serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
  </dd>
</dl>

<h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
<p>
To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
</p>
<pre>
cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z     (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.10.0')
./UPDATE
</pre>
<p>
You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
in the previous section.
</p>

<h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
<p>
You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
invoked below requires that you enter the user's password. 
Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later.
Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.
</p>
<pre>
cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build
perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
</pre>

<h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
<p>
The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
will be apparent at this step.
</p>
<pre>
/etc/init.d/loncontrol start
/etc/init.d/apache2 start
</pre>
<p>
If you receive warnings about missing perl modules when starting apache2,
please make sure you followed the instructions in
<b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
contact the MSU LON-CAPA group.
</p>

<h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
<p>
Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
coordinator.  Congratulations!
</p>

<hr />
<h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
<p>
If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
there's something wrong, please get in touch with the MSU LON-CAPA group.
You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
<a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
Please let us know if any parts of this document are unclear.
</p>