doc/gutshtml/Configuration - view

File: [LON-CAPA] / doc / gutshtml / Configuration
Revision 1.1: download - view: text, annotated - select for diffs
Fri Jun 28 20:30:29 2002 UTC (22 years, 5 months ago) by www
Branches: MAIN
CVS tags: version_0_5_1, version_0_5, version_0_4, stable_2002_july, STABLE, HEAD

HTML version of GUTS manual. Individual files will still need cleanup.

<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta name=Title content=Configuration> <meta name=Keywords content=""> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=macintosh"> <meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10"> <meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 10"> <link rel=File-List href="Configuration_files/filelist.xml"> <title>Configuration</title>  <style>  </style> </head> <body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'> <div class=Section1> <h1>Configuration</h1> Scott Harrison, freeware volunteer, sharrison@sourceforge.net <h2><a name="_Toc421867172">Configuring the Apache Web Server</a></h2> The configuring of the Apache Web Server and the input of LON-CAPA configuration values is handled automatically by the <tt>./UPDATE</tt> command. In this document, the details of what the <tt>./UPDATE</tt> command facilitates are described. <tt>/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf</tt> is adjusted to include the LON-CAPA web server configuration. This happens by appending the following line to <tt>httpd.conf</tt>: <table border=1 cellpadding=0 bgcolor="#aaaaaa" style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt; background:#AAAAAA'> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <tt>Include conf/loncapa_apache.conf</tt> </td> </tr> </table> The <tt>/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa_apache.conf</tt> file customizes the Apache Web Server to have the needed configuration to deliver LON-CAPA on the world-wide web. The <tt>loncapa_apache.conf</tt> file does not contain any information specified by the system administrator. The <tt>loncapa_apache.conf</tt> file does, however, cause <tt>loncapa.conf</tt> to be included. <tt>/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf</tt> contains only information specified by the system administrator. Generally speaking, the information inside <tt>/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf</tt> is machine-specific (each LON-CAPA server has its own specific values inside <tt>loncapa.conf</tt>). <tt>/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa_apache.conf</tt> performs the following customizations of the Apache Web Server: <ul type=disc> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>The document root of all the web pages is set to be <tt>/home/httpd/html/</tt>.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>The web httpd user is set to be 'www'. The web httpd group is set to be 'www'. This means that all web processes only have the authorities granted by the Linux system to user=www and group=www. </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>Shared object modules are supported for the perl language (mod-perl). </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>A print spool alias and a cgi-bin script alias are specified.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>Access handlers are specified for published educational resources, author construction spaces, and raw binary data access.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>50 different URI syntaxes are assigned to web handlers present inside <tt>/home/httpd/lib/perl/Apache/</tt>.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>Directory options are set for '<tt>/</tt>' and '<tt>/home/httpd/html/</tt>'.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'>General configuration values are specified that can be accessed by the perl web handler modules; e.g. lonTabDir=/home/httpd/lonTabs, londPort=5663, etc.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in'><tt>/etc/httpd/conf/startup.pl</tt> is invoked to test and load the perl web handler modules into memory for the httpd web server processes.</li> </ul> <tt>/etc/httpd/conf/loncapa.conf</tt> specifies machine-specific values that are accessible to the perl web handler modules. Ordinarily, these values are not to be entered manually. These values are interactively solicited from the system administrator by the <tt>loncapa/doc/loncapafiles/updatequery.piml</tt> file. The following values comprise the <tt>loncapa.conf</tt> file: <ul type=disc> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in'>LON Host ID ("Machine Name") is an internal ID within the LON-CAPA network used to specify the uniqueness of a particular LON-CAPA server.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in'>LON System Administrator E-Mail specifies the e-mail address of an institutional member responsible for direct upkeep of this server. </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in'>LON Domain ("Domain Name") is a unique internal identifier within the LON-CAPA network specific to the home institution; A LON-CAPA domain is a collection of load-balancing institutional machines forming a cluster of LON-CAPA servers. It has nothing to do with the many other meanings for the word "domain", such as "domain names" like "loncapa.org", or Windows file server domains. If you are installing a LON-CAPA server for testing purposes, it is safe to create your own domain name for testing. You should ask the person running a real domain before adding your computer to their domain.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in'>LON Load Limit ("Server Load") specifies a threshold of activity within The LearningOnline Network that this machine should provide. The recommended value is 2.00. Depending on processor architecture (dual processor), this value may be increased, but there is no readily available measure in this regard.</li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in'>Cache Expiration Time indicates, in seconds, how long distributed resources should be held in the server's cache when not being accessed by students, instructors, or any other class of user. The recommended value is 86400. </li> </ul> <h2><a name="_Toc421867173">Configuring the LON-CAPA Network</a></h2> In order for LON-CAPA to connect to other servers that provide educational resources or to balance the load of high-volume web-requests, there needs to be a way to access information that describes the other LON-CAPA servers present on the internet. <tt>/home/httpd/lonTabs/hosts.tab</tt> defines all of the other machines that a given LON-CAPA server can interact with. (In a sense, this is a mechanism of security so that connections cannot be attempted from spurious entities.) The format of <tt>hosts.tab</tt> is to define each LON-CAPA server on separate lines. Each line is field-separated by colons ':'. An example entry in <tt>hosts.tab</tt> is: <table border=1 cellpadding=0 bgcolor="#aaaaaa" style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt; background:#AAAAAA'> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <tt>vulon1:msuvu:library:loncapa3.vu.msu.edu:35.9.80.250</tt> </td> </tr> </table> The first field is the LON Host ID (see the above description of <tt>loncapa.conf</tt>). The second field is the Domain Name. The third field is the server type (see the section "Different Types of LON-CAPA Servers"). The fourth field is a DNS-registered full IP name. The fifth field is the numeric IP address. <tt>/home/httpd/lonTabs/spare.tab</tt> is a list of LON Host IDs corresponding to Access Servers (or Library Servers). <tt>spare.tab</tt> should not be the same on every LON-CAPA server machine. The purpose of this list is to specify other servers toward which user web requests can be re-directed. Current experience is that the servers on <tt>spare.tab</tt> are particularly active (and much needed) shortly before homework assignments are due.... An example of <tt>spare.tab</tt> relates to the Library Server vulon1 which load-balances the requests onto two other Access Servers as shown in the example <tt>spare.tab</tt> below: <table border=1 cellpadding=0 bgcolor="#aaaaaa" style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt; background:#AAAAAA'> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'> <tt>vulona1</tt> <tt>vulona2</tt> </td> </tr> </table> <h2><a name="_Toc421867174">Configuring MySQL</a></h2> The following commands describe how to configure the MySQL database on your LON-CAPA server. Note: <ul type=disc> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;tab-stops:list .5in'>you should substitute 'ROOTPASSWORD' with something very hard to guess (it does not have to be the Linux OS root password) </li> <li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3;tab-stops:list .5in'>The MySQL www@localhost user must always have a password of 'localhostkey' in order for there to be correct operation of a standard LON-CAPA system. </li> </ul> The following instructions assume you are logged in as 'root'. Entering the mysql shell <table border=1 cellpadding=0 bgcolor="#aaaaaa" style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt; background:#AAAAAA'> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><pre> mysql -u root -p mysql OR mysql -u root mysql (depending on whether you have set a root password) </pre></td> </tr> </table> Creating the mysql 'www' user (after entering mysql shell) <table border=1 cellpadding=0 bgcolor="#aaaaaa" style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt; background:#AAAAAA'> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><pre> mysql> CREATE DATABASE loncapa;  mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host, User, Password) mysql> VALUES ('localhost','www',password('localhostkey'));  mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO www@localhost;  mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES; </pre></td> </tr> </table> SECURITY: set a password for the mysql 'root' user <table border=1 cellpadding=0 bgcolor="#aaaaaa" style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt; background:#AAAAAA'> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><pre> shell> mysql -u root mysql mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR root@localhost=PASSWORD('ROOTPASSWORD'); </pre></td> </tr> </table> SECURITY: only allow access from localhost <table border=1 cellpadding=0 bgcolor="#aaaaaa" style='mso-cellspacing:1.5pt; background:#AAAAAA'> <tr> <td style='padding:.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><pre> shell> mysql -u root -p mysql mysql> DELETE FROM user WHERE host<>'localhost'; </pre></td> </tr> </table> <![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p> <![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p> </div> <div class=Section2> <![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p> </div> </body> </html>