1: <html><head><title>Setting up a Red Hat7.3 LON-CAPA Server</title></head><body>
2: <!-- $Id: new_install_rh73.html,v 1.1 2002/05/22 22:02:59 matthew Exp $ -->
3: <h1>Setting up a Red Hat7.3 LON-CAPA Server</h1>
4:
5: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
6: <p>
7: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
8: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
9: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
10: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed.
11: </p>
12:
13: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
14: <p>
15: The installation process takes the following steps:
16: <ol>
17: <li> Obtain Red Hat 7.3
18: <li> Gather information for installing Red Hat
19: <li> Install Red Hat 7.3
20: <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings
21: <li> Install LON-CAPA
22: <li> Configure LON-CAPA
23: <li> Pick a hosts.tab file
24: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator
25: <li> Start/Restart services
26: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA
27: </ol>
28: </p>
29:
30: <h2>Obtain the Red Hat 7.3 installation CDs</h2>
31: <p>
32: If you like, you may contact the LON-CAPA development staff and we can
33: mail the CDs to you. Another option is to download the cd images and
34: burn them yourself.
35: </p>
36:
37: <h2>Gather information for the Red Hat Installation</h2>
38: <p>
39: You will need to gather some network information for your server. You will
40: also need to determine some of the LON-CAPA configuration information before
41: you begin.
42: </p>
43: <h3>Network settings for your site</h3>
44: <p>
45: <ul>
46: <li>ip address
47: <li>netmask
48: <li>network
49: <li>broadcast
50: <li>hostname
51: <li>gateway
52: <li>domain name server(s)
53: </ul>
54: </p>
55:
56: <h2>Install Red Hat 7.3</h2>
57: <p>
58: When you install RedHat you will need to ensure the following (the list below
59: is in the order the issues appear in the installation of Red Hat 7.3):
60: <dl>
61: <dt>Installation Type
62: <dd>You should definitely do a "Server" install. We do not recommend
63: Trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.
64: <dt>Partitioning your Drive
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.
72: <dt>Network Configuration
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.
76: <dt>Firewall Configuration
77: <dd>The installation script will remove and disable your firewall.
78: <dt>Package Group Selection
79: <dd>At a minimum, install the following packages:
80: <ul>
81: <li>NFS File Server
82: <li>Windows File Server
83: <li>Web Server
84: </ul>
85: Other packages can be installed as you like.
86: <dt>X Windows Configuration
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.
90: </dl>
91: Other notes:
92: <ul>
93: <li>Use md5 and shadow passwords if you are given the choice (this is
94: the default).
95: </ul>
96: </p>
97:
98: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA settings</h2>
99: <p>
100: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
101: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
102: <dl>
103: <dt>Host Type (library or access)
104: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
105: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
106: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
107: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
108: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification, you
109: should make your machine a 'library' server.
110: <dt>LON-CAPA domain
111: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
112: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
113: meaningful.
114: <dt>LON-CAPA host id
115: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
116: such as "msul1" for the first library server.
117: <dt>Host administrator email
118: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
119: are sent every time the system starts up.
120: <dt>Root password for SQL database
121: <dd>In order to keep people from corrupting the MYSQL database, a root
122: password is needed. You'll need to remember this.
123: </dl>
124: </p>
125:
126: <h2>Install LON-CAPA</h2>
127: <p>
128: Log in as root with the password you provided during the Red Hat
129: installation process.
130: <pre>
131: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/rh73install/loncapa-rh73install.tar
132: tar xf loncapa-rh73install.tar
133: cd install
134: ./install.pl
135: </pre>
136: </p>
137:
138: <h2>Configure LON-CAPA</h2>
139: <p>
140: Execute the following commands
141: <pre>
142: cd /root/loncapa/
143: ./UPDATE
144: </pre>
145: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you requested
146: above. Additionally, you will need to enter the following information
147: (options 5 and 6 in the menu):
148: <dl>
149: <dt>Cache Expiration Time
150: <dd>86400
151: <dt>Server Load
152: <dd>2.0
153: </dl>
154: </p>
155:
156: <h2>Picking a hosts.tab file</h2>
157: The "hosts.tab" file controls which LON-CAPA servers your server attempts
158: to access and which servers it will respond to. If this is your first
159: install of LON-CAPA on your network, we suggest choosing a 'standalone'
160: "hosts.tab". Please contact the support staff at www.loncapa.org for
161: information about adding more hosts to your "hosts.tab" file.
162:
163: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
164: <p>
165: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
166: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
167: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
168: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
169: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the passwd username
170: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
171: appropriate user name and your domain.
172: <pre>
173: cd /root/loncapa/loncom/build
174: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
175: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
176: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
177: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
178: </pre>
179: </p>
180:
181: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
182: <p>
183: The services take about 10 minutes to start.
184: <pre>
185: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
186: /etc/init.d/httpd restart
187: </pre>
188: </p>
189:
190: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
191: <p>
192: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
193: coordinator. Congratulations!
194: </p>
195:
196:
197:
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