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<h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 System</h1>
<p>
This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
server or virtual machine running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 with a minimum of packages installed.
The server or virtual machine will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
expected to have no other services running.  Your server or virtual machine is expected to have
a 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 straightforward.
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 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 installation iso file or media</a></li>
  <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
  <li><a href="#lin">Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8</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 id="obt">Obtain Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8</a></h2>
<p>
RHEL8 downloads are available from Red Hat:
<a href="http://redhat.com/">http://redhat.com/</a>.
Either download the Boot ISO or the RHEL 8 binary DVD ISO
</p>

<h2>2. <a id="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.

<ul>
  <li>ip address </li>
  <li>netmask </li>
  <li>hostname </li>
  <li>gateway </li>
  <li>domain name server(s) </li>
</ul>

<h2>3. <a id="lin">Minimal Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Install</a></h2>
<p>
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux is straightforward. 
Documentation is available from
<a href="https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/">
https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/</a>
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>Installation Destination</dt>
   <dd>For a fresh install may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer.
       If you want to customize partitioning check the "I will configure partitioning" radio button.
       LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
       majority of the disk space should be allocated here.  If you have 20 GB
       of space for RHEL, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 GB.
       Since Mariadb uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
       have at least 4 GB of space available on /var.  Be sure to
       include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 MB, but you should
       typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
   <dt>Network and Hostname</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, be sure to unselect
       the DHCP option and enter your network information. Enter your hostname</dd>
   <dt>Software Selection</dt>
   <dd>Check the "Minimal Install" radio button in the "Base Environment" panel,
       and check the "Standard" checkbox in the "Add-Ons for Selected Environment" panel.</dd>
</dl>
<p>
Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
</p>
<h3>Firewall Configuration</h3>
<p>
LON-CAPA can use Firewalld, available by default for RHEL 8.  Enable access to standard
web server ports (i.e., http and https):
</p>
<pre>
systemctl enable firewalld
systemctl start firewalld
firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=https
firewall-cmd --reload
</pre>

<h2>4. <a id="upd">Update your system</a></h2>
<p>
You will need a Red Hat subscription in order to have access to Red Hat updates.
Your institution may have a Red Hat site license, and may maintain a Red Hat Satellite
service which can be used to access updates.  If not, you can obtain a free 30-day
evaluation license from Red Hat.  Once that has expired you will need to purchase a
subscription.  You can use the following comand to register your server/VM with the
Red Hat account you created:
</p>
<pre>
subscription-manager register
</pre>
<p>
Once you have registered your server/VM you can than associate entitlements available
from your subscription with your server/VM. The following command will show which
repositories are enabled:
<pre>
dnf repolist enabled
</pre>
<p>
You will need the "rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms" and "rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms"
repos enabled. If neither are enabled, enable them using:
</p>
<pre>
subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms
subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms
</pre>
<p>
Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using dnf.
</p>
<pre>
dnf update
</pre>
<p>
If the kernel was updated, reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
</p>

<h3>Set up access to package repositories</h3>
<p>
Enable access to the EPEL repository
</p>
<pre>
dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
</pre>
<p>
Enable the "codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms" repository.
</p>
<pre>
subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms 
</pre>
<p>
Install the loncapa.repo file from the LON-CAPA install site:
</p>
<pre>
wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/loncapa.repo http://install.loncapa.org/versions/redhat/8/loncapa.repo
</pre>
<p>
Verify the required repositories are enabled
</p>
<pre>
dnf repolist enabled
</pre>
<p>
The list of enabled repos should be as follows:
</p>
<table style="border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;">
<tr><th>repo id</th><th>repo name</th></tr>
<tr><td>rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms</td><td>Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)</td></tr>
<tr><td>rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms</td><td>Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)</td></tr>
<tr><td>codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms</td><td>Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder for RHEL 8 x86_64 (RPMs)</td></tr>
<tr><td>*epel</td><td>Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_6</td></tr>
<tr><td>loncapa-updates-basearch</td><td>RHEL 8 LON-CAPA x86_64 Updates</td></tr>
<tr><td>loncapa-updates-noarch</td><td>RHEL 8 LON-CAPA noarch Updates</td></tr>
</table>

<h3>Install and enable a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA), e.g., postfix</h3>
<pre>
dnf install postfix
systemctl enable postfix
systemctl start postfix
</pre>

<h3>Configure SELinux</h3>
<p>
The default RHEL8 installation includes SELinux enabled. Until such time as an SELinux security policy has been created for LON-CAPA, SELinux should be disabled.
Retrieve the loncapa_selinux_config file from the LON-CAPA install site:
</p>
<pre>
wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/redhat/8/loncapa_selinux_config
</pre>
<p>
Install the selinux config file
</p>
<pre>
mv /etc/selinux/config /etc/selinux/config.backup
mv loncapa_selinux_config /etc/selinux/config
reboot
</pre>

<h2>5. <a id="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
<h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
<p> Execute: </p>
<pre>
dnf install LONCAPA-prerequisites
</pre><p>
This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
</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 ten possible actions, required changes will be made.
</p>
<p>The possible actions are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Create the www user/group</li>
<li>Install the package LON-CAPA uses to authenticate users.</li>
<li>Set-up the MySQL (Mariadb) database</li>
<li>Set-up MySQL (Mariadb) permissions</li>
<li>Configure Apache web server</li>
<li>Configure systemd security settings for Apache web server</li>
<li>Configure start-up of services</li>
<li>Check firewall settings</li>
<li>Stop services not used by LON-CAPA,  e.g., services for a print server: cups daemon</li> 
<li>Download LON-CAPA source code in readiness for installation</li>
</ul>
<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><br>Domain names which include a departmental
      abbreviation are not recommended as although LON-CAPA may start in
      a single department, other departments frequently join subsequently.
      For a domain name: 'msu' is a superior choice to 'msuphys' for example.
  </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>Domain's Primary Library Server ID</dt>
   <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>
  <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>
  <dt>Support email address</dt>
  <dd>Enter an e-mail address here, so users of the system
      will be able to click an "Ask Helpdesk" link in the system to
      display a web form which they will complete to request support from
      your institution's helpdesk. On form submission the contents
      will be sent to the e-mail address you specify.
  </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 '2.11.3')
./UPDATE
</pre>
<p>
You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
in the previous section.
</p>

<h2>6. <a id="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.
If installing a library server and an access server on separate machines or VMs
you need only run make_domain_coordinator.pl on the library server. 
</p>
<pre>
cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build
perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
</pre>

<h2>7. <a id="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>
/home/httpd/perl/loncontrol start
systemctl start httpd
</pre>
<p>
If you receive warnings about missing perl modules, when starting the httpd service
please make sure that the LONCAPA-prerequisites rpm is installed using this command:
</p>
<pre>
rpm -q LONCAPA-prerequisites
</pre>
<p>
If it is not installed, ensure that the required Linux repositories are enabled (see
the "Set up access to package repositories" section above), then install it:
</p>
<pre>
dnf install LONCAPA-prerequisites
</pre>
<p>
If you still have errors, please contact the LON-CAPA Helpdesk: helpdesk at loncapa.org
</p>
<p>Ensure that LON-CAPA network services and the httpd service are set to start on boot:
<pre>
systemctl enable loncontrol
systemctl enable httpd
</pre>

<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 contact the LON-CAPA helpdesk. 
Installation/update support is available from:  helpdesk at loncapa.org  
(replace " at " with @).
If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or errors during the
automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
</p>