Annotation of doc/build/fedora_install.frag, revision 1.1
1.1 ! matthew 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a Fedora Linux System</h1>
! 2: <p>
! 3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
! 4: server running Fedora Linux. The computer will be configured solely as
! 5: a LON-CAPA server and will be expected to have no other services running
! 6: on it.
! 7: </p><p>
! 8: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
! 9: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
! 10: </p>
! 11:
! 12: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
! 13: <p>
! 14: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
! 15: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
! 16: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
! 17: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed.
! 18: Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, perl, and MySQL are not
! 19: required to install and run LON-CAPA.
! 20: </p>
! 21:
! 22: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
! 23: <p>
! 24: The installation process takes the following steps:
! 25: </p>
! 26: <ol>
! 27: <li> Obtain Fedora Linux </li>
! 28: <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
! 29: <li> Install Fedora </li>
! 30: <li> Install LON-CAPA Dependencies </li>
! 31: <li> Determine your LON-CAPA Settings </li>
! 32: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
! 33: <li> Configure LON-CAPA </li>
! 34: <li> Pick a hosts.tab file </li>
! 35: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
! 36: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
! 37: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
! 38: </ol>
! 39:
! 40: <h2>Obtain Fedora Linux</h2>
! 41: <p>
! 42: Fedora linux ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site,
! 43: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
! 44: </p>
! 45:
! 46: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
! 47: <p>
! 48: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
! 49: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
! 50: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
! 51: </p>
! 52: <ul>
! 53: <li>ip address </li>
! 54: <li>netmask </li>
! 55: <li>hostname </li>
! 56: <li>gateway </li>
! 57: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
! 58: </ul>
! 59:
! 60: <h2>Gather needed information</h2>
! 61:
! 62:
! 63:
! 64: <h2>Install Fedora</h2>
! 65: <p>
! 66: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
! 67: before. Some documentation is available from
! 68: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
! 69: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
! 70: There are a few sections that require comment.
! 71: </p>
! 72: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
! 73: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
! 74: <dd>You should do a "Server" install. We do not recommend
! 75: trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.</dd>
! 76: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
! 77: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
! 78: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
! 79: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
! 80: lion's share of the drive should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
! 81: of space for Fedora, /home should receive 16 gigs. Be sure to
! 82: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
! 83: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.</dd>
! 84: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
! 85: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
! 86: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
! 87: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
! 88: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
! 89: <dd>The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.
! 90: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.
! 91: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
! 92: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
! 93: <dd>
! 94: <b>Do not</b> install a web server. It is intentially omitted from
! 95: this list. Installing packages not listed below is not recommended.
! 96: If you install packages not listed below you should expect difficulties
! 97: when installing the LON-CAPA dependencies.
! 98: <ul>
! 99: <li>Editors</li>
! 100: <li>Text Based Internet</li>
! 101: <li>Authoring and Publishing</li>
! 102: <li>Development Tools
! 103: <li>Administration Tools
! 104: <li>Printing Support
! 105: </ul>
! 106: </dd>
! 107: </dl>
! 108: <p>
! 109: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
! 110: </p>
! 111:
! 112: <h2>Retrieving the LON-CAPA Installation Archive</h2>
! 113: <p>
! 114: Execute the following command:
! 115: </p>
! 116: <pre>
! 117: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar
! 118: </pre>
! 119: <p>
! 120: This will retrieve from the LON-CAPA website all the packages needed to get
! 121: LON-CAPA running on your system, except for the LON-CAPA source itself.
! 122: </p>
! 123: <p>
! 124: Extract the archive with the following command:
! 125: </p>
! 126: <pre>
! 127: tar xf fedora_install.tar
! 128: </pre>
! 129: <p>
! 130: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.
! 131: </p>
! 132:
! 133: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2>
! 134: <p>
! 135: This section walks you through installing the packages which LON-CAPA requires.
! 136: There are a lot of dependencies to deal with. They have been grouped in a
! 137: somewhat logical fashion to make them easier to deal with. When installing
! 138: the rpms you should watch for errors.
! 139: </p><p>
! 140: The quick instructions are:
! 141: </p>
! 142: <pre>
! 143: cd installation
! 144: cd mysql
! 145: rpm -Uvh *rpm
! 146: cd ../apache
! 147: rpm -Uvh *rpm
! 148: cd ../mod_perl
! 149: rpm -Uvh *rpm
! 150: cd ../perl_dependencies
! 151: rpm -Uvh *rpm
! 152: cd ../GD
! 153: rpm -Uvh *rpm
! 154: cd ../gnuplot
! 155: rpm --install --oldpackage readline-2.2.1-6.i386.rpm
! 156: rpm --install --oldpackage --excludedocs libpng-1.0.12-2.i386.rpm
! 157: rpm -Uvh gnuplot-3.7.1-5.i386.rpm libgd-1.3-4.i386.rpm ncurses4-5.0-5.i386.rpm
! 158: cd ../misc
! 159: rpm -Uvh *rpm
! 160: cd ..
! 161: </pre>
! 162: <p>
! 163: <b>Notes:</b>
! 164: <ul>
! 165: <li>MySQL is used to store caches of data, not original copies.
! 166: Administering LON-CAPA machines does not yet mean becoming a
! 167: database administrator.</li>
! 168: <li>Apache 1.3 and mod_perl 1.x are required by LON-CAPA. These are
! 169: provided in the installation package.
! 170: <li>A specific version of Gnuplot is required by LON-CAPA. Do not
! 171: install a version different from the one included in the LON-CAPA
! 172: installation package.</li>
! 173: </ul>
! 174: </p>
! 175:
! 176: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA Dependencies</h2>
! 177: <p>
! 178: We have prepared a script which takes care of most of the configuration that
! 179: must be done to get the newly installed packages working with LON-CAPA.
! 180: This script will retrieve the latest LON-CAPA release from
! 181: <a href="http://install.loncapa.org">http://install.loncapa.org</a>.
! 182: You will be prompted for a root password for your MySQL server. You
! 183: will need to remember this password in case you should ever need to make
! 184: changes the the server.
! 185: </p><p>
! 186: Execute the script as follows:
! 187: </p>
! 188: <pre>
! 189: cd setup;
! 190: ./install.pl
! 191: </pre>
! 192:
! 193: <h2>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h2>
! 194: <p>
! 195: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
! 196: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
! 197: </p>
! 198: <dl>
! 199: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
! 200: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
! 201: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
! 202: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
! 203: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
! 204: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
! 205: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
! 206: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
! 207: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
! 208: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
! 209: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
! 210: special characters.</i>
! 211: </dd>
! 212: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
! 213: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
! 214: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
! 215: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
! 216: </dd>
! 217: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
! 218: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
! 219: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
! 220: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
! 221: </dd>
! 222: </dl>
! 223:
! 224: <h2>Configuring LON-CAPA</h2>
! 225: <p>
! 226: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
! 227: </p>
! 228: <pre>
! 229: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.1')
! 230: ./UPDATE
! 231: </pre>
! 232: <p>
! 233: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
! 234: in the previous section.
! 235: </p>
! 236:
! 237: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
! 238: <p>
! 239: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
! 240: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
! 241: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
! 242: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
! 243: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
! 244: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
! 245: appropriate user name and your domain.
! 246: </p>
! 247: <pre>
! 248: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
! 249: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
! 250: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
! 251: </pre>
! 252:
! 253: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
! 254: <p>
! 255: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
! 256: will be appearant at this step.
! 257: </p>
! 258: <pre>
! 259: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
! 260: /etc/init.d/httpd start
! 261: </pre>
! 262:
! 263: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
! 264: <p>
! 265: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
! 266: coordinator. Congratulations!
! 267: </p>
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