Annotation of doc/build/suse9.3_install.frag, revision 1.1
1.1 ! raeburn 1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE 9.3 Linux Professional System</h1>
! 2: <p>
! 3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
! 4: server running SuSE Linux Professional 9.3 (SLP 9.3) 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
! 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. However, it is still a
! 16: non-trivial undertaking and experience with SuSE Linux will make this
! 17: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
! 18: some routine Unix commands. Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl,
! 19: perl, and MySQL are not 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 SLP 9.3 installation media (DVD, or CDs)</li>
! 28: <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
! 29: <li> Install SLP 9.3</li>
! 30: <li> Update your system </li>
! 31: <li> Install LON-CAPA </li>
! 32: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
! 33: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
! 34: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
! 35: </ol>
! 36:
! 37: <h2>Obtain SuSE Linux Professional 9.3</h2>
! 38: <p>
! 39: SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell SuSE site: <a href="ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/">ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/</a> or one of its <a href="http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html">mirrors</a>.
! 40: </p>
! 41:
! 42: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
! 43: <p>
! 44: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
! 45: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
! 46: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
! 47: </p>
! 48: <ul>
! 49: <li>ip address </li>
! 50: <li>netmask </li>
! 51: <li>hostname </li>
! 52: <li>gateway </li>
! 53: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
! 54: </ul>
! 55:
! 56: <h2>Minimal SLP 9.3 Install</h2>
! 57: <p>
! 58: Installing SuSE Linux Professional is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
! 59: before. Some documentation is available from
! 60: <a href="http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse93/">
! 61: http://www.novell.com/documentation/suse93/</a>.<br /><br />
! 62: Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
! 63: There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
! 64: </p>
! 65: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
! 66: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
! 67: <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used
! 68: for permanent storage of course and user data),
! 69: a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this
! 70: simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
! 71: If you are adding an additional access server to an
! 72: existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no
! 73: permenent data are stored on an access server.
! 74: As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
! 75: the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.
! 76: If you have 20 GB of space for SLP9.3, /home should
! 77: receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var
! 78: filesystem to store its databases you should have as least
! 79: 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
! 80: include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
! 81: typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
! 82: </dd>
! 83: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
! 84: <dd>Click on the "Software" link or use the "Change" select box in
! 85: the installation Setting screen, and choose Minimal Install.</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>Firewall</dt>
! 90: <dd>Enable the firewall, and allow the the following services: web services (http and https) and login services (secure shell). Use the "Expert" option to open the following ports for TCP services: 8080 5663.</dd>
! 91: </p>
! 92: <p>
! 93: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
! 94: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
! 95: 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).
! 96: </dd>
! 97: <dt>Online update</dt>
! 98: <dd>Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"</dd>
! 99: </dt>
! 100: </dl>
! 101: <p>
! 102: Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.
! 103: </p>
! 104:
! 105: <h2>Change software sources for your system</h2>
! 106: <p>
! 107: 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 "Change Source of Installation" and change to point at a SuSE mirror close to your location. You can find a list of mirrors at the<a href="http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html">SuSE mirror page</a>.
! 115: </p>
! 116: <h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
! 117: <p>Add the LON-CAPA SuSE 9.3 repository as an additional installation source, so software installation in yast will have access to two repositories - a SuSE mirror (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:
! 118: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
! 119: <dd>Protocol</dd>
! 120: <dt>HTTP</dt>
! 121: <dd>Server Name</dd>
! 122: <dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
! 123: <dd>Directory on server</dd>
! 124: <dt>suse/9.3/</dt>
! 125: <dd>Authentication</dd>
! 126: <dt>Anonymous</dt>
! 127: </dl>
! 128: After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, choose "Edit", then "Refresh" the quit yast.
! 129: </p>
! 130: <h2>Update pwdutils package</h2>
! 131: <p>
! 132: Start yast, and choose the "Install and Remove software" option, and use "Search" to find pwdutils. Indicate that you wish to update to version 3.0.2.</p>
! 133: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
! 134: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
! 135: <p> Execute: </p>
! 136: <pre>
! 137: yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
! 138: </pre><p>
! 139: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies. When prompted to choose an apache package, select apache, NOT apache2, then click Solve.
! 140: </p>
! 141: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
! 142: <p>
! 143: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
! 144: </p>
! 145: <i>32 bit architecture</i>
! 146: <pre>
! 147: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.3/i386/suse_install.tar
! 148: </pre>
! 149: <br />
! 150: <i>64 bit architecture</i>
! 151: <pre>
! 152: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/9.3/x86_64/suse_install.tar
! 153: </pre>
! 154: <p>
! 155: Extract the archive with the following command:
! 156: </p>
! 157: <pre>
! 158: tar xf suse_install.tar
! 159: </pre>
! 160: <p>
! 161: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
! 162: execute the setup script with the following commands:
! 163: </p>
! 164: <pre>
! 165: cd installation
! 166: ./install.pl
! 167: </pre>
! 168: <p>
! 169: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
! 170: </p>
! 171: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
! 172: <p>
! 173: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
! 174: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
! 175: </p>
! 176: <dl>
! 177: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
! 178: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
! 179: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
! 180: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
! 181: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
! 182: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
! 183: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
! 184: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
! 185: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
! 186: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
! 187: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
! 188: special characters.</i>
! 189: </dd>
! 190: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
! 191: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
! 192: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
! 193: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
! 194: </dd>
! 195: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
! 196: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
! 197: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
! 198: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
! 199: </dd>
! 200: </dl>
! 201:
! 202: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
! 203: <p>
! 204: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
! 205: </p>
! 206: <pre>
! 207: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.3')
! 208: ./UPDATE
! 209: </pre>
! 210: <p>
! 211: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
! 212: in the previous section.
! 213: </p>
! 214: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
! 215: <p>
! 216: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
! 217: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
! 218: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
! 219: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
! 220: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
! 221: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
! 222: appropriate user name and your domain.
! 223: </p>
! 224: <pre>
! 225: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
! 226: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
! 227: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
! 228: mkdir ~USERNAME
! 229: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
! 230: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
! 231: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
! 232: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
! 233: </pre>
! 234: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
! 235: <p>
! 236: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
! 237: will be appearant at this step.
! 238: </p>
! 239: <pre>
! 240: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
! 241: /etc/init.d/apache start
! 242: </pre>
! 243: <p>
! 244: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
! 245: please make sure you followed the instructions in
! 246: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
! 247: contact the LON-CAPA support team.
! 248: </p>
! 249: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
! 250: <p>
! 251: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
! 252: coordinator. Congratulations!
! 253: </p>
! 254: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
! 255: <p>
! 256: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
! 257: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA support team.
! 258: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
! 259: <a href="http://support.loncapa.org/help/">http://support.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
! 260: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
! 261: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
! 262: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
! 263: </p>
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