Annotation of doc/build/suse11.3_install.frag, revision 1.1
1.1 ! raeburn 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux 11.3 System</h1>
! 2: <p>
! 3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
! 4: server running SuSE Linux 11.3 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 a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
! 7: </p><p>
! 8: More information is available at
! 9: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">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. 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.
! 15: </p>
! 16:
! 17: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
! 18: <p>
! 19: The installation process takes the following steps:
! 20: </p>
! 21: <ol>
! 22: <li><a href="#obt">Obtain SuSE 11.3 installation media (DVD)</a></li>
! 23: <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
! 24: <li><a href="#lin">Install Suse 11.3</a></li>
! 25: <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
! 26: <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
! 27: <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
! 28: <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
! 29: <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
! 30: </ol>
! 31: <hr />
! 32:
! 33: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux 11.3</a></h2>
! 34: <p>
! 35: A SuSE 11.3 iso for burning to DVD can be obtained from the opensuse download site: <a href="http://software.opensuse.org/">http://software.opensuse.org/</a>, or from an opensuse mirror site - <a href="http://download.opensuse.org/">http://download.opensuse.org/</a>. You will also find links there to sites with iso files for burning a Start-CD-Image (e.g., openSUSE-11.3-NET-i586.iso for 32 bit) used in a network install, if burning a CD is more convenient for you.
! 36: </p>
! 37:
! 38: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
! 39: <p>
! 40: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
! 41: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
! 42: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
! 43: </p>
! 44: <ul>
! 45: <li>ip address </li>
! 46: <li>netmask </li>
! 47: <li>hostname </li>
! 48: <li>gateway </li>
! 49: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
! 50: </ul>
! 51:
! 52: <h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SuSE 11.3 Install</a></h2>
! 53: <p>
! 54: Installing SuSE 11.3 is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
! 55: before. Some documentation is available from
! 56: <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local">
! 57: http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local</a> for installations from DVD and
! 58: <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet">http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet</a> for installations via the network, booting from the mini.iso CD.<br /><br />
! 59: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
! 60: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
! 61: </p>
! 62: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
! 63: <dt>Installation Language</dt>
! 64: <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
! 65: <dt>Desktop Selection</dt>
! 66: <dd>Click <i>Other</i> and choose <i>Text Mode</i></dd>
! 67: <dt>Software Selection</dt>
! 68: <dd>Choose Expert Mode and for Software enable Base System, Yast Installation Packages and Software Management</dd>
! 69: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
! 70: <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used
! 71: for permanent storage of course and user data),
! 72: a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this
! 73: simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
! 74: If you are adding an additional access server to an
! 75: existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no
! 76: permenent data are stored on an access server.
! 77: As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
! 78: the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.
! 79: If you have 20 GB of space for SuSE 11.3, /home should
! 80: receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var
! 81: filesystem to store its databases you should have as least
! 82: 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
! 83: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
! 84: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
! 85: </dd>
! 86: </dl>
! 87: <p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
! 88: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
! 89: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
! 90: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
! 91: IP address. When configuring your network card, you should include host name information (e.g., host name = tmp1, domain = lite.msu.edu), as well as name server. Other settings (ip address, gateway, netmask will have been set when you included them in the boot configuration).
! 92: </dd>
! 93: <dt>Firewall</dt>
! 94: <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow the following services: web services (http and https) and login services (SSH).</dd>
! 95: <dt>Online Update Configuration</dt>
! 96: <dd>It is recommended that you register your server with Novell for future updates during the installation process, and then run the online update.</dd>
! 97: </dt>
! 98: </dl>
! 99: <p>
! 100: After finishing the online update, the system should reboot, and
! 101: proceed to have you create a user account, show you the Release Notes,
! 102: and let you configure any extra hardware, and then finish up the boot
! 103: process. At the prompt login as root.
! 104: </p>
! 105:
! 106: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Change software sources for your system</a></h2>
! 107: Next you will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
! 108: Execute:
! 109: </p>
! 110: <pre>
! 111: yast
! 112: </pre>
! 113: <p>
! 114: Select "Installation Source" and change to point at OSS and non-OSS repositories: (http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.3/repo/oss and http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.3/repo/non-oss) or alternatively at iternet installation repositories close to your location (see <a href="http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version">http://en.opensuse.org/Mirrors_Released_Version</a>), or a local institutional source you have built from the SuSE 11.3 DVD, or you may prefer to continue to point at the installation DVD.
! 115: </p>
! 116: <h3>Add additional installation sources</h3>
! 117: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.3 repository as an additional installation source.</p>
! 118: <p>Use zypper to add the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.3 repository and two additional repositiories provide by openSuSE - one for the R statistics package (the R-patched repo), and one for the Maxima computer algebra system (the science repo). Use the following commands to add them.
! 119: <pre>
! 120: zypper ar -f 'http://install.loncapa.org/suse/11.3' LON-CAPA
! 121: zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:languages:R:patched/openSUSE_11.3' R-patched
! 122: zypper ar -f 'http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/science/openSUSE_11.3' science
! 123: </pre>
! 124: You will need to confirm that you wish to trust the key used to sign the packages in the LON-CAPA SuSE 11.3 repository.
! 125: </p>
! 126: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
! 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 the following command:
! 137: </p>
! 138: <pre>
! 139: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/11.3/suse11.3_install.tar
! 140: </pre>
! 141: <p>
! 142: Extract the archive with the following command:
! 143: </p>
! 144: <pre>
! 145: tar xf suse11.3_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 should correspond to a version number like '2.9.0')
! 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:
! 202: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
! 203: <p>
! 204: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
! 205: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
! 206: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
! 207: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
! 208: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
! 209: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
! 210: appropriate user name and your domain.
! 211: </p>
! 212: <pre>
! 213: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
! 214: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
! 215: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
! 216: </pre>
! 217:
! 218: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
! 219: <p>
! 220: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
! 221: will be apparent at this step.
! 222: </p>
! 223: <pre>
! 224: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
! 225: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
! 226: </pre>
! 227: <p>
! 228: If you receive warnings about missing perl modules when starting apache2,
! 229: please make sure you followed the instructions in
! 230: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
! 231: contact the MSU LON-CAPA group.
! 232: </p>
! 233:
! 234: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
! 235: <p>
! 236: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
! 237: coordinator. Congratulations!
! 238: </p>
! 239:
! 240: <hr />
! 241: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
! 242: <p>
! 243: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
! 244: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the MSU LON-CAPA group.
! 245: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
! 246: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
! 247: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
! 248: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
! 249: Please let us know if any parts of this document are unclear.
! 250: </p>
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