Annotation of doc/build/F14_install.frag, revision 1.3
1.1 raeburn 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora 14 Linux System</h1>
2: <p>
3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
4: server running Fedora 14 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 Fedora 14 installation DVD or CDs</a></li>
27: <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
28: <li><a href="#lin">Install Fedora 14</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: <hr />
36: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain Fedora 14</a></h2>
37: <p>
38: Fedora 14 ISO files can be obtained from the project's main site,
39: <a href="http://fedoraproject.org/">http://fedoraproject.org/</a>.
40: You can either download an iso image(s) of the full distribution for burning to DVD,
41: or to CDs, or you can download a single net install for burning to CD. If you use the
42: net install CD, after booting from the CD, and selecting "Installation,"
43: you will need to select HTTP as the installation source, and specify the
44: host and path to Fedora 14 files for your particular architecture, e.g.,<br />
45: Host: http://mirrors.kernel.org/<br />
46: Path: fedora/releases/14/Fedora/i386/os/
47: </p>
48:
49: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
50: <p>
51: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
52: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
53: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
1.3 ! raeburn 54: </p>
1.1 raeburn 55: <ul>
56: <li>ip address </li>
57: <li>netmask </li>
58: <li>hostname </li>
59: <li>gateway </li>
60: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
61: </ul>
62: <h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal Fedora 14 Install</a></h2>
63: <p>
64: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
65: before. Some documentation is available from the
66: <a href="http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/14/html/Installation_Guide/index.html">
67: Fedora Installation guide</a>.
68: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
69: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
70: </p>
71: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
72: <dt>Installation Language</dt>
73: <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
74: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
75: <dd>If this is a fresh install choose "Install Fedora". If updating from a previous LON-CAPA installation on an earlier Fedora version (e.g., Fedora9 or Fedora10) you may prefer to choose the upgrade option, although if you established a separate partition for /home it will be faster to perform an install instead of an upgrade, and use "Create Custom Layout" to set up partitions - making sure to select the "unchanged data" option for the /home partition, in order to preserve your existing LON-CAPA data. A full back-up to tape or some external system is also strongly advised when updating the Fedora distribution in use on an existing LON-CAPA server.</dd>
76: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
77: <dd>For a fresh install may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
78: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them. If you want to customize partitioning use "Create Custom Layout".
79: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
80: majority of the disk space should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
81: of space for Fedora 14, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.
82: Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
83: have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
84: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
85: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
86: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
87: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
88: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
89: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
90: <dt>Software</dt>
91: <dd>Uncheck the "Office and Productivity" software option. Click the "Customize Now" radio button and for a minimal install uncheck all packages except "Base" in the Base System category.</dd>
92: </dl>
93: <p>
94: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root. The first time you log-in, the Setup Agent will be displayed. If you have not already done so you can use this to configure your network interface.
95: <p>Exit the Setup Agent</p>
96: <h3>Configure SELinux</h3>
97: <p>
98: The default Fedora 14 installation includes SELinux enabled. Until such time as an SELinux security policy has been created for LON-CAPA, SELinux should be disabled.
99: Retrieve the loncapa_selinux_config file from the LON-CAPA install site:
100: </p>
101: <pre>
102: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/14/loncapa_selinux_config
103: </pre>
104: <p>
105: Install the selinux config file
106: </p>
107: <p>
108: <pre>
109: mv /etc/selinux/config /etc/selinux/config.backup
110: mv loncapa_selinux_config /etc/selinux/config
111: </pre>
112: </p>
113: <h3>Firewall Configuration</h3>
114: To configure the firewall settings, use the system-config-firewall utility. Execute: <p>
115: <pre>lokkit</pre></p><p>
1.3 ! raeburn 116: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
1.1 raeburn 117: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
118: <dd>Select Security Level: Enabled, and allow incoming: SSH (remote login), WWW (HTTP) and secure WWW (HTTPS).</dd>
1.3 ! raeburn 119: </dl>
! 120: <br />Exit the system-config-firewall
! 121: </p>
1.1 raeburn 122: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Update your system</a></h2>
123: <p>
124: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using yum.
125: Yum is configured to check encyption keys for the packages it installs, so
126: you need to import the keys before invoking yum.
127: </p>
128: <pre>
129: rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-primary
130:
131: yum update
132: </pre>
133: <p>
134: <b>Reboot</b> your system before continuing with the installation.
135: </p>
136: <p>
137: Retrieve the F14_loncapa_yum file from the LON-CAPA install site:
138: </p>
139: <pre>
140: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/14/F14_loncapa_yum.conf
141: </pre>
142: <p>
143: Install the F14_loncapa_yum.conf
144: </p>
145: <p>
146: <pre>
147: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
148: cp F14_loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
149: </pre>
150: </p>
151:
152: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
153: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
154: <p>Import the LON-CAPA encryption key</p>
155: <pre>
156: rpm --import http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-loncapa
157: </pre>
158: <p> Execute: </p>
159: <pre>
160: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites
161: </pre><p>
1.2 raeburn 162: This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
1.1 raeburn 163: </p>
164: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
165: <p>
166: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
167: </p>
168: <pre>
1.2 raeburn 169: wget http://install.loncapa.org/linux/install.tar
1.1 raeburn 170: </pre>
171: <p>
172: Extract the archive with the following command:
173: </p>
174: <pre>
1.2 raeburn 175: tar xf install.tar
1.1 raeburn 176: </pre>
177: <p>
178: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
179: execute the setup script with the following commands:
180: </p>
181: <pre>
182: cd installation
183: ./install.pl
184: </pre>
185: <p>
1.2 raeburn 186: The script is used to prepare a Linux system to run LON-CAPA, and can also be
187: 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.
188: </p>
189: <p>
190: 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.
191: Once a choice has been entered for all nine possible actions, required changes will be made.
192: </p>
193: <p>The possible actions are:
1.1 raeburn 194: <ul>
1.2 raeburn 195: <li>Create the www user/group</li>
196: <li>Install the package LON-CAPA uses to authenticate users.</li>
197: <li>Set-up the MySQL database</li>
198: <li>Set-up MySQL permissions</li>
199: <li>Configure Apache web server</li>
200: <li>Configure start-up of services</li>
201: <li>Check firewall settings</li>
202: <li>Stop services not used by LON-CAPA,<br />
203: e.g., services for a print server: cups daemon</li>
204: <li>Download LON-CAPA source code in readiness for installation</li>
1.1 raeburn 205: </ul>
206: </p>
207: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
208: <p>
209: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
210: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
211: </p>
212: <dl>
213: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
214: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
215: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
216: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
217: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
218: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
219: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
220: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
221: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
222: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
223: meaningful. <i>Restriction: no spaces, underscores or
224: special characters (besides - and .).</i><br />
225: Domain names which include a departmental
226: abbreviation are not recommended as although LON-CAPA may start in
227: a single department, other departments frequently join subsequently.
228: For a domain name: 'msu' is a superior choice to 'msuphys' for example.
229: </dd>
230: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
231: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
232: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
233: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
234: </dd>
235: <dt>Domain's Primary Library Server ID</dt>
236: <dd>If you are setting up a domain with a single library server, then the domain's primary library server ID will be the LON-CAPA host id of that server (e.g., msul1). Once your domain grows and you need to add more servers, one of the library servers in the domain should be assigned as the domain's primary library server. This will be where domain-wide settings will be stored.<dd>
237: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
238: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
239: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
240: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
241: </dd>
242: <dt>Support email address</dt>
243: <dd>If you enter an e-mail address here, then users of the system
244: will be able to click an "Ask Helpdesk" link in the system to
245: display a web form which they will complete to request support from
246: your institution's helpdesk. On form submission the contents
247: will be sent to the e-mail address you specify.
248: </dd>
249: </dl>
250:
251: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
252: <p>
253: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
254: </p>
255: <pre>
1.2 raeburn 256: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.10.0')
1.1 raeburn 257: ./UPDATE
258: </pre>
259: <p>
260: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
261: in the previous section.
262: </p>
263:
264: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
265: <p>
266: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
267: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
268: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
1.2 raeburn 269: invoked below requires that you enter the user's password.
270: Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later.
271: Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.
1.1 raeburn 272: </p>
273: <pre>
1.2 raeburn 274: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build
1.1 raeburn 275: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
276: </pre>
277:
278: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
279: <p>
280: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
281: will be apparent at this step.
282: </p>
283: <pre>
284: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
285: /etc/init.d/httpd start
286: </pre>
287: <p>
288: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
289: please make sure you followed the instructions in
290: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
291: contact the MSU LON-CAPA group.
292: </p>
293:
294: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
295: <p>
296: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
297: coordinator. Congratulations!
298: </p>
299:
300: <hr />
301: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
302: <p>
303: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
304: there's something wrong, please send a <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help">help request</a> to the MSU LON-CAPA group. If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or errors during the
305: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
306: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
307: </p>
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