Annotation of doc/build/alma8_install.frag, revision 1.2
1.1 raeburn 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal AlmaLinux 8 System</h1>
2: <p>
3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
4: server or virtual machine running AlmaLinux 8 with a minimum of packages installed.
5: The server or virtual machine will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
6: expected to have no other services running. Your server or virtual machine is expected to have
7: a 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 straightforward.
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 AlmaLinux 8 installation iso file</a></li>
27: <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
28: <li><a href="#lin">Install AlmaLinux 8</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:
36: <hr />
37: <h2>1. <a id="obt">Obtain AlmaLinux 8</a></h2>
38: <p>
39: AlmaLinux 8 isos can be obtained from links included on the
40: <a href="https://mirrors.almalinux.org/isos.html">AlmaLinux download page</a>.
41: Either download the Minimal iso or the DVD iso.
42: </p>
43:
44: <h2>2. <a id="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
45: <p>
46: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
47: <b>Note: </b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
48: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
49:
50: <ul>
51: <li>ip address </li>
52: <li>netmask </li>
53: <li>hostname </li>
54: <li>gateway </li>
55: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
56: </ul>
57:
58: <h2>3. <a id="lin">Minimal AlmaLinux 8 Install</a></h2>
59: <p>
60: Most of the installation screens are self explanatory.
61: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
62: </p>
63: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
64: <dt>Installation Language</dt>
65: <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
66: <dt>Installation Destination</dt>
67: <dd>For a fresh install may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer.
68: If you want to customize partitioning check the "I will configure partitioning" radio button.
69: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
70: majority of the disk space should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
71: of space for AlmaLinux, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 GB.
72: Since Mariadb uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
73: have at least 4 GB of space available on /var. Be sure to
74: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 MB, but you should
75: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
76: <dt>Network and Hostname</dt>
77: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
78: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
79: the DHCP option and enter your network information. Enter your hostname</dd>
80: <dt>Software Selection</dt>
81: <dd>Check the "Minimal Install" radio button in the "Base Environment" panel,
82: and check the "Standard" checkbox in the "Additional software for Selected Environment" panel.</dd>
83: </dl>
84: <p>
85: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
86: </p>
87: <h3>Firewall Configuration</h3>
88: <p>
89: LON-CAPA can use Firewalld, available by default for AlmaLinux 8. Enable access to standard
90: web server ports (i.e., http and https):
91: </p>
92: <pre>
93: systemctl enable firewalld
94: systemctl start firewalld
95: firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http
96: firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=https
97: firewall-cmd --reload
98: </pre>
99:
100: <h2>4. <a id="upd">Update your system</a></h2>
101: <p>
102: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using dnf.
103: </p>
104: <pre>
105: dnf update
106: </pre>
107: <p>
108: If the kernel was updated, reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
109: </p>
110:
111: <h3>Set up access to package repositories</h3>
112: <p>
113: Enable access to the EPEL repository
114: </p>
115: <pre>
116: dnf install epel-release
117: </pre>
118: <p>
119: Enable the AlmaLinux 8 -PowerTools repository
120: </p>
121: <pre>
122: dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools
123: </pre>
124: <p>
125: Install wget and then the loncapa.repo file from the LON-CAPA install site:
126: </p>
127: <pre>
128: dnf install wget
129: wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/loncapa.repo http://install.loncapa.org/versions/alma/8/loncapa.repo
130: </pre>
131: <p>
132: Verify the required repositories are enabled:
133: </p>
134: <pre>
135: dnf repolist enabled
136: </pre>
137: <p>
138: The list of enabled repos should be as follows:
139: </p>
140: <table style="border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;">
141: <tr><th>repo id</th><th>repo name</th></tr>
142: <tr><td>appstream</td><td>AlmaLinux 8 - AppStream</td></tr>
143: <tr><td>baseos</td><td>AlmaLinux 8 - BaseOS</td></tr>
144: <tr><td>powertools</td><td>AlmaLinux 8 - PowerTools</td></tr>
145: <tr><td>epel</td><td>Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64</td></tr>
146: <tr><td>extras</td><td>AlmaLinux 8 - Extras</td></tr>
147: <tr><td>loncapa-updates-basearch</td><td>AlmaLinux 8 LON-CAPA x86_64 Updates</td></tr>
148: <tr><td>loncapa-updates-noarch</td><td>AlmaLinux 8 LON-CAPA noarch Updates</td></tr>
149: </table>
150:
151: <h3>Install and enable a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA), e.g., postfix</h3>
152: <pre>
153: dnf install postfix
154: systemctl enable postfix
155: systemctl start postfix
156: </pre>
157:
158: <h3>Configure SELinux</h3>
159: <p>
160: The default AlmaLinux 8 installation includes SELinux enabled. Until such time as an SELinux security policy has been created for LON-CAPA, SELinux should be disabled.
161: Retrieve the loncapa_selinux_config file from the LON-CAPA install site:
162: </p>
163: <pre>
164: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/alma/8/loncapa_selinux_config
165: </pre>
166: <p>
167: Install the selinux config file
168: </p>
169: <pre>
170: mv /etc/selinux/config /etc/selinux/config.backup
171: mv loncapa_selinux_config /etc/selinux/config
172: reboot
173: </pre>
174:
175: <h2>5. <a id="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
176: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
177: <p> Execute: </p>
178: <pre>
179: dnf install LONCAPA-prerequisites
180: </pre><p>
181: This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
182: </p>
183: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
184: <p>
185: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
186: </p>
187: <pre>
188: wget http://install.loncapa.org/linux/install.tar
189: </pre>
190: <p>
191: Extract the archive with the following command:
192: </p>
193: <pre>
194: tar xf install.tar
195: </pre>
196: <p>
197: This creates a directory named <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console','Menlo','Monaco','Courier', monospace;">installation</span>.
198: Change to it and execute the setup script with the following commands:
199: </p>
200: <pre>
201: cd installation
202: ./install.pl
203: </pre>
204: <p>
205: The script is used to prepare a Linux system to run LON-CAPA, and can also be
206: 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.
207: </p>
208: <p>
209: 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.
210: Once a choice has been entered for all nine possible actions, required changes will be made.
211: </p>
212: <p>The possible actions are:</p>
213: <ul>
214: <li>Create the www user/group</li>
215: <li>Install the package LON-CAPA uses to authenticate users.</li>
216: <li>Set-up the MySQL (Mariadb) database</li>
217: <li>Set-up MySQL (Mariadb) permissions</li>
218: <li>Configure Apache web server</li>
219: <li>Configure start-up of services</li>
220: <li>Check firewall settings</li>
221: <li>Stop services not used by LON-CAPA, e.g., services for a print server: cups daemon</li>
222: <li>Download LON-CAPA source code in readiness for installation</li>
223: </ul>
224: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
225: <p>
226: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
227: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
228: </p>
229: <dl>
230: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
231: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
232: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
233: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
234: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
235: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
236: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
237: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
238: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
239: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
240: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no underscores, and no special
241: characters except . or -</i> .<br />Domain names which include a departmental
242: abbreviation are not recommended as although LON-CAPA may start in
243: a single department, other departments frequently join subsequently.
244: For a domain name: 'msu' is a superior choice to 'msuphys' for example.
245: </dd>
246: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
247: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
248: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
249: no underscores, and no special characters except -</i> .
250: </dd>
251: <dt>Domain's Primary Library Server ID</dt>
252: <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>
253: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
254: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
255: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
256: serious trouble. If you are installing a LON-CAPA instance on a laptop,
257: because you are planning to contribute to LON-CAPA development,
258: make this <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console','Menlo','Monaco','Courier', monospace;">
259: root@localhost</span>.
260: </dd>
261: <dt>Support email address</dt>
262: <dd>Enter an e-mail address here, so users of the system
263: will be able to click an "Ask Helpdesk" link in the system to
264: display a web form which they will complete to request support from
265: your institution's helpdesk. On form submission the contents
266: will be sent to the e-mail address you specify.
267: </dd>
268: </dl>
269:
270: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
271: <p>
272: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
273: </p>
274: <pre>
1.2 ! raeburn 275: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.11.4')
1.1 raeburn 276: ./UPDATE
277: </pre>
278: <p>
279: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
280: in the previous section.
281: </p>
282:
283: <h2>6. <a id="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
284: <p>
285: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
286: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
287: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
288: invoked below requires that you enter the user's password.
289: Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later.
290: Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.
291: If installing a library server and an access server on separate machines or VMs
292: you need only run make_domain_coordinator.pl on the library server.
293: </p>
294: <pre>
295: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build
296: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
297: </pre>
298:
299: <h2>7. <a id="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
300: <p>
301: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
302: will be apparent at this step.
303: </p>
304: <pre>
305: /home/httpd/perl/loncontrol start
306: systemctl start httpd
307: </pre>
308: <p>
309: If you receive warnings about missing perl modules, when starting the httpd service
310: please make sure that the LONCAPA-prerequisites rpm is installed using this command:
311: </p>
312: <pre>
313: rpm -q LONCAPA-prerequisites rpm
314: </pre>
315: <p>
316: If it is not installed, ensure that the required Linux repositories are enabled (see
317: the "Set up access to package repositories" section above), then install it:
318: </p>
319: <pre>
320: dnf install LONCAPA-prerequisites
321: </pre>
322: <p>
323: If you still have errors, please contact the LON-CAPA Helpdesk: helpdesk at loncapa.org
324: </p>
325: <p>Ensure that LON-CAPA network services and the httpd service are set to start on boot:
326: <pre>
327: systemctl enable loncontrol
328: systemctl enable httpd
329: </pre>
330:
331: <h2>8. <a id="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
332: <p>
333: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
334: coordinator. Congratulations!
335: </p>
336:
337: <hr>
338: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
339: <p>
340: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
341: there's something wrong, please contact the LON-CAPA helpdesk.
342: Installation/update support is available from: helpdesk at loncapa.org
343: (replace " at " with @).
344: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or errors during the
345: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
346: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
347: </p>
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