Annotation of doc/build/suse10.1_install.frag, revision 1.1

1.1     ! raeburn     1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10</h1>
        !             2: <p>
        !             3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
        !             4: server running SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SLES 10) 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> Obtain SLES 10 installation media</li>
        !            27:   <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
        !            28:   <li> Install SLES 10</li>
        !            29:   <li> Update your system </li>
        !            30:   <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
        !            31:   <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
        !            32:   <li> Start/Restart services </li>
        !            33:   <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
        !            34: </ol>
        !            35: 
        !            36: <h2>Obtain SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10</h2>
        !            37: <p>
        !            38: SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell site: <a href="http://www.novell.com/products/server/">http://www.novell.com/products/server/</a>.  
        !            39: </p> 
        !            40: 
        !            41: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
        !            42: <p>
        !            43: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.  
        !            44: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
        !            45: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
        !            46: </p>
        !            47: <ul>
        !            48:   <li>ip address </li>
        !            49:   <li>netmask </li>
        !            50:   <li>hostname </li>
        !            51:   <li>gateway </li>
        !            52:   <li>domain name server(s) </li>
        !            53: </ul>
        !            54: 
        !            55: <h2>Minimal SLES 10 Install</h2>
        !            56: <p>
        !            57: Installing SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
        !            58: before.  Some documentation is available from 
        !            59: <a href="http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles10/">
        !            60: http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles10/</a>.<br /><br />
        !            61: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
        !            62: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
        !            63: </p>
        !            64: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
        !            65:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
        !            66:    <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used 
        !            67:        for permanent storage of course and user data), 
        !            68:        a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this    
        !            69:        simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
        !            70:        If you are adding an additional access server to an 
        !            71:        existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no 
        !            72:        permanent data are stored on an access server.
        !            73:        As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
        !            74:        the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.    
        !            75:        If you have 20 GB of space for SLES10, /home should
        !            76:        receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var 
        !            77:        filesystem to store its databases you should have as least 
        !            78:        4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to 
        !            79:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
        !            80:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
        !            81:        </dd>
        !            82:    <dt>Software Selection</dt>
        !            83:    <dd> 
        !            84:    Installation of the minimum set of packages is recommended.  This will involve unchecking all checkboxes except for the base SuSE installation.</dd>
        !            85: </dl>
        !            86: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
        !            87: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
        !            88:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
        !            89:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
        !            90:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, you should include you static IP address, netmask, host name information (e.g., host name = tmp1, domain = lite.msu.edu), as well as name servers and gateway.
        !            91:    </dd>
        !            92:    <dt>Online update</dt>
        !            93:    <dd>Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"</dd>
        !            94:    </dt>
        !            95: </dl>
        !            96: <p>
        !            97: Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.
        !            98: </p>
        !            99: <h2>Configure Firewall Settings</h2>
        !           100: <p>After reboot you should start yast, and select Security and Users -> Firewall. At step 2 include the following services: HTTP, HTTP with SSL, and Secure Shell.  Use the "Expert..." option to add additional TCP services on ports 5663 and 8080.    
        !           101: </p>
        !           102: <h2>Change software sources for your system</h2>
        !           103: <p>
        !           104: You will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
        !           105: Execute:
        !           106: </p>
        !           107: <pre>
        !           108: yast
        !           109: </pre>
        !           110: <p>
        !           111: Select "Change Source of Installation". The media you used to install SLES10 will be listed as an installation source.  You may also wish to create a local repository by copying the contents of the RPM directories on the five CDs to a local directory to avoid the need to flip CDs during LON-CAPA installation.  Information about building a local repository is available at:<a href="http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/02/yast_instsrc.html">http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/02/yast_instsrc.html</a>.
        !           112: </p>
        !           113: <h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
        !           114: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SLES 10 repository as an additional installation source, so software installation in yast will have access to two repositories - a SuSE/Novell source (for packages included for the standard distribution) and the LON-CAPA repository (for extra packages needed to run LON-CAPA). For the LON-CAPA source you will use:
        !           115: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
        !           116: <dd>Protocol</dd>
        !           117: <dt>HTTP</dt>
        !           118: <dd>Server Name</dd>
        !           119: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
        !           120: <dd>Directory on server</dd>
        !           121: <dt>suse/sles10/</dt>
        !           122: <dd>Authentication</dd>
        !           123: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
        !           124: </dl>
        !           125: After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, quit yast.  
        !           126: </p>
        !           127: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
        !           128: <p> Execute: </p>
        !           129: <pre>
        !           130: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
        !           131: </pre><p>
        !           132: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
        !           133: </p>
        !           134: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
        !           135: <p>
        !           136: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
        !           137: </p>
        !           138: <pre>
        !           139: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/sles10/sles10_install.tar
        !           140: </pre>
        !           141: <p>
        !           142: Extract the archive with the following command:
        !           143: </p>
        !           144: <pre>
        !           145: tar xf sles10_install.tar
        !           146: </pre>
        !           147: <p>
        !           148: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
        !           149: execute the setup script with the following commands:
        !           150: </p>
        !           151: <pre>
        !           152: cd installation
        !           153: ./install.pl
        !           154: </pre>
        !           155: <p>
        !           156: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
        !           157: </p>
        !           158: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
        !           159: <p>
        !           160: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
        !           161: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
        !           162: </p>
        !           163: <dl>
        !           164:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
        !           165:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
        !           166:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
        !           167:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
        !           168:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at 
        !           169:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
        !           170:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
        !           171:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
        !           172:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
        !           173:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
        !           174:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or 
        !           175:       special characters.</i>
        !           176:   </dd>
        !           177:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
        !           178:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
        !           179:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word, 
        !           180:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
        !           181:   </dd>
        !           182:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
        !           183:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
        !           184:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in 
        !           185:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
        !           186:   </dd>
        !           187: </dl>
        !           188: 
        !           189: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
        !           190: <p>
        !           191: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
        !           192: </p>
        !           193: <pre>
        !           194: cd /root/loncapa-N.N.N     (N.N.N should correspond to a version number like '2.2.2')
        !           195: ./UPDATE
        !           196: </pre>
        !           197: <p>
        !           198: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined 
        !           199: in the previous section.  
        !           200: </p>
        !           201: <p>After installing LON-CAPA, and taking any actions included in the WARNINGS file created during installation, it is recommended that you set loncontrol to start automatically on boot, by executing the following command:</p>
        !           202: <pre>
        !           203: /sbin/chkconfig --level 345 loncontrol on
        !           204: </pre>
        !           205: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
        !           206: <p>
        !           207: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
        !           208: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
        !           209: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
        !           210: invoked below requires that you enter the users password.  The password will
        !           211: show in plaintext as you type it.  Feel free to use the "passwd username"
        !           212: command to change it later.  Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an 
        !           213: appropriate user name and your domain.
        !           214: </p>
        !           215: <pre>
        !           216: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
        !           217: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
        !           218: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
        !           219: </pre>
        !           220: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
        !           221: <p>
        !           222: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
        !           223: will be apparent at this step.
        !           224: </p>
        !           225: <pre>
        !           226: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
        !           227: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
        !           228: </pre>
        !           229: <p>
        !           230: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
        !           231: please make sure you followed the instructions in 
        !           232: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
        !           233: contact the LON-CAPA support team.
        !           234: </p>
        !           235: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
        !           236: <p>
        !           237: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
        !           238: coordinator.  Congratulations!
        !           239: </p>
        !           240: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
        !           241: <p>
        !           242: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
        !           243: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA support team.
        !           244: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
        !           245: <a href="http://support.loncapa.org/help/">http://support.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
        !           246: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
        !           247: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
        !           248: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
        !           249: </p>

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