Annotation of doc/build/instructions_with_cd.html, revision 1.3
1.1 harris41 1: <H1>LON-CAPA Installation Instructions</H1>
1.3 ! harris41 2: <CENTER>for the 05/24/2001 developer's release
! 3: <BR>Scott Harrison, last updated 05/19/2001</CENTER>
1.1 harris41 4: <P>
5: <STRONG>What you need:</STRONG>
6: <UL>
7: <LI>a RedHat Linux compatible computer that is hooked up to the ethernet
8: with a working IP address,
9: <LI>a LON-CAPA installation CD,
10: <LI>and an installation boot floppy.
11: </UL>
12: </P>
13: <P>
14: <STRONG>Starting instructions:</STRONG>
15: <UL>
16: <LI>Turn the computer off.
17: <LI>Insert the "LON-CAPA Installation Boot Floppy"
18: <LI>Turn the computer on.
19: <LI>During boot-up, insert the "LON-CAPA Installation CD-ROM"
20: <LI>(For systems with bootable CD-ROM devices, you can just use
21: the CD-ROM and not use the installation boot floppy).
22: </UL>
23: </P>
24: <P>
25: <STRONG>Warnings:</STRONG>
26: <UL>
27: <LI>Installation will remove all data on your computer.
28: <LI>This is a prototype installation release of a developing software system.
29: <LI>We are developing documentation on the LON-CAPA installation
30: at http://install.lon-capa.org/. Documentation is not well developed
31: on these pages, but it may be of some help in understanding the system
32: internals.
33: <LI>Standard legal disclaimer: Use this software at your own risk. By
34: using this software you assume all liability for its operation.
35: </UL>
36: </P>
37: <P>
38: <STRONG>Installation screens:</STRONG>
39: <BR>
40: The following installation screens present an example
41: installation for a computer grover.morphy.edu (12.34.56.99) done by a
42: Doctor Herbert Sherbert. Since this is the first installation
43: of a LON-CAPA server at Morphy University, Dr. Sherbert chooses
44: to install a library server which can store educational resources
45: (as opposed to an access server which simply load-balances high
46: amounts of web server requests). For those experienced with
47: RedHat-type installations, there are really only two screens which are
48: specific to setting LON-CAPA system parameters.
49: <UL>
50: <LI><STRONG>Installation Welcome Screen</STRONG>. Just press the
51: "Enter/Return" key at this first screen.
52: <LI><STRONG>Language Selection</STRONG>. Choose English. (It is the
53: only supported language so far in the translation tables associated
54: with the installation). Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
55: <LI><STRONG>Keyboard Selection</STRONG>. Most likely, you have a "us"
56: keyboard which is the default setting. Select "OK" to advance to the
57: next screen.
58: <LI><STRONG>Welcome to Learning Online!</STRONG>. This screen
59: directs you to look for more information at http://install.lon-capa.org/.
60: Please be advised that documentation on these pages is not highly
61: developed. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
62: <LI><STRONG>Installation Type</STRONG>. Five options are presented on this
63: installation screen.
64: <UL>
65: <LI>Install LON-CAPA Library Server
66: <LI>Install LON-CAPA Access Server
67: <LI>Install LON-CAPA Library Development Server
68: <LI>Install LON-CAPA Access Development System
69: <LI>Upgrade Existing Installation
70: </UL>
71: If this is the first LON-CAPA machine you are setting up at your
72: institution, I strongly recommend you select "Install LON-CAPA Library
73: Development Server". The first two choices are run-time servers which
74: are significantly more secure (for instance, do not support telnet,
75: just ssh). These choices do not support X-windows or other system
76: amenities which will make tinkering and learning about the LON-CAPA
77: system more difficult. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
78: <LI><STRONG>Manual Partitioning</STRONG>. Read the screen. Write down
79: the amount of RAM on your system. Multiply the RAM by ten and
80: calculate the number of MEGAbytes (not kilobytes) of swap space
81: your system is recommended to be on your hard drive.
82: Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
83: <LI><STRONG>Current Disk Partitions</STRONG>. More information
84: on using disk druid to properly configure a linux system is present on
85: many different internet sites that you can find with an internet
86: search engine like www.google.com. One such site is
87: http://www.linuxinfor.com/rhl70/s1-textmode-partition.html.
88: Partition your hard disk. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
89: <LI><STRONG>Choose Partitions to Format</STRONG>. Select all your partitions
90: and select "OK". (You probably do not need to check for bad blocks
91: during the format).
92: <LI><STRONG>Hostname Configuration</STRONG>. Dr. Sherbert would
93: enter grover.morphy.edu. You would enter the host name corresponding
94: to the working IP address attached by ethernet to your computer.
95: Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
96: <LI><STRONG>Network Configuration</STRONG>. Do NOT use bootp/dhcp.
97: LON-CAPA only works with static IP. Enter in the IP address of
98: your computer (e.g. 12.34.56.99). Find out the correct values
99: for netmask, gateway, and primary nameserver from other personnel
100: at your institution (or look at information present on currently
101: connected computers). Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
102: <LI><STRONG>Library Server Configuration</STRONG>. "LON Host ID" can be
103: any set of alphanumeric characters. This host id must be unique (per computer)
104: in terms of the entire worldwide LON-CAPA network. The system administrator
105: e-mail is where periodic status reports are e-mailed in the event of
106: system startup, shutdown, malfunction, and routine checks. The domain
107: is a set of alphanumeric characters unique to a given institution.
108: The final two fields, "Load Limit" and "Expiration Time", allow
109: for the handling of server load and cached educational resources.
110: We recommend that you leave these two fields at their default values.
111: <BR><IMG ALIGN="TOP" SRC="libraryserverconfiguration.gif" ALT="library server configuration graphic">
112: <BR> <BR>
113: <LI><STRONG>Library System Settings</STRONG>. Many different kinds
114: of computers are used at Morphy University: Macintosh, Linux, BSD, and Windows
115: 3.1/95/98/2000/Me/NT. To provide flexible and easy access to the library
116: server for faculty participants, Samba is selected to enable Windows/Network
117: Neighborhood file shares (e.g. Loncapa_morphy/Morphyl1). Apple Shares
118: is selected to enable Apple Share connection with the Apple "Chooser"
119: (e.g. LONCAPA_MORPHYL1). NFS is selected to enable user-specific network
120: file services for Linux (and other) computers with NFS client utilities.
121: NTP Server allows for the synchronization of time and should be set to
122: an IP address that supports the XNTP version 3 protocol; if left blank,
123: there will be no time synchronization on the server, though it's
124: time is expected to remain relatively constant (and correct if the machine
125: is configured properly). Kerberos realm allows for authenticating students
126: and instructors based on an institution's Kerberos version 4 password-checking
1.2 harris41 127: scheme (if supported by the institution). <b>IMPORTANT: You will
128: need to add an entry to hosts.tab (second "Add" key) corresponding to
129: your new installation.</b> Dr. Sherbert would enter something corresponding to
1.1 harris41 130: morphyl1:morphy:library:grover.morphy.edu:12.34.56.99.
131: <BR><IMG ALIGN="TOP" SRC="librarysystemsettings.gif" ALT="library server configuration graphic">
132: <BR> </BR>
133: <LI><STRONG>Mouse Selection</STRONG>. Enter the appropriate values
134: for describing the model mouse attached to your computer.
135: Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
136: <LI><STRONG>Time Zone Selection</STRONG>. You probably do not want to select
137: the GMT option. Just enter in the time zone of your institution.
138: (If the time is incorrect upon system bootup, and you cannot or do not want
139: to connect to an NTP server, you can always reconfigure the system time
140: with the command, as root, /usr/sbin/timeconfig).
141: Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
142: <LI><STRONG>Root Password</STRONG>. Enter in your machine's root password.
143: Be creative and decide on something non-guessable.
144: Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
145: <LI><STRONG>Web Server Password</STRONG>. Enter in your machine's
146: password for a user 'www'. Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
147: <LI><STRONG>Add User</STRONG>. Add a user to the machine.
148: Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
149: <LI><STRONG>User Account Setup</STRONG>. Perform any additional
150: changes to the user accounts on your machine.
151: Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
152: <LI><STRONG>X probe results</STRONG>. (We assume you have a detectable
153: video card). Select "OK" to advance to the next screen.
154: <LI><STRONG>Warning, Installation to begin</STRONG>. You will
155: now erase all data on your hard disk and install the LON-CAPA
156: system. Select "OK" to courageously begin.
157: <LI><STRONG>Package Installation</STRONG>. A carefully selected
158: set of RPMs is being installed that provides full LON-CAPA system
159: functionality.
160: <LI><STRONG>Bootdisk</STRONG>. If you want (though it is probably
161: not necessary), you can insert a fresh (NOT your LON-CAPA installation
162: boot floppy) floppy disk to help ensure you can boot up your LON-CAPA
163: server system.
164: <LI><STRONG>Monitor Setup</STRONG>. Select what kind of monitor is
165: attached to your computer (or just choose custom). Several screens
166: will follow which guide your configuration of your computer monitor.
167: (Note that this configuration only occurs with development servers,
168: since the other servers do not support X-windows). It probably
169: makes sense to start "X" up when booting if it appears it is
170: correctly configuring your computer monitor.
171: <LI><STRONG>Note about hosts.allow</STRONG>. To enable various kinds
172: of network connectivity (including appleshares, network neighborhood,
173: telnet, ftp, nfs) from other computers on the internet, you may want
174: to adjust your /etc/hosts.allow table after boot-time. (The web server
175: and the LON-CAPA network layer do not depend on /etc/hosts.allow however.)
176: Dr. Sherbert added the following line to his /etc/hosts.allow file to make sure
177: other computers at Morphy University could access grover.morphy.edu:
178: <PRE>
179: ALL: .morphy.edu
180: </PRE>
181: Alternatively, to allow wide access (though password-protected) to anyone
182: in the world, Dr. Sherbert could have added
183: <PRE>
184: ALL: ALL
185: </PRE>
186: <LI><STRONG>Complete</STRONG>. Select "OK" to reboot the system.
187: Be sure to remove your installation medium (both the CD-ROM and installation
188: floppy) before boot-up.
189: </UL>
190: <STRONG>Booting up for the first time:</STRONG>
191: <UL>
1.2 harris41 192: <LI>It will probably say "Cannot connect to the database!" after the
193: loncontrol server process runs upon boot-up. You need to edit
194: /etc/httpd/conf/access.conf and replace the line
195: <pre>PerlSetVar lonSqlAccess {[[[[lonSqlAccess]]]]}</pre>
196: with
197: <pre>PerlSetVar lonSqlAccess 123</pre>
198: <LI>Please, as root, run "sh /usr/sbin/loncapa_configure". This is a one-time
1.1 harris41 199: action that synchronizes the system services on the machine.
200: </UL>
201: <STRONG>Feedback:</STRONG>
202: <UL>
203: <LI>Specific ideas on how to manage the installation can be sent to
204: harris41@msu.edu. In terms of bug reports, we would also like to hear
205: from you, but there is no need for great detail (or despair?) since the
206: bug is most likely already on our "to-do" list.
207: </UL>
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