This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA server or virtual machine running Fedora 26 with a minimum of packages installed. The server or virtual machine will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be expected to have no other services running. Your server or virtual machine is expected to have a fast connection to the internet.
More information is available at http://install.lon-capa.org/.
Installing Linux is straightforward. 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.
The installation process takes the following steps:
Fedora 26 Server isos can be obtained from the Fedora download page (64 bit), or the Fedora secondary download page (32 bit). Either download the Standard ISO image or the Netinstall ISO image.
You will need to know the following network settings for your installation. Note: You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA. DHCP is not supported.
Documentation is available from https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/docs/ Most of the installation screens are self explanatory. There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
LON-CAPA can use Firewalld, available by default for Fedora 26. Enable access to standard web server ports (i.e., http and https):
systemctl enable firewalld systemctl start firewalld firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=http firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=https firewall-cmd --reload
Update your system to the latest versions of the system software using dnf.
dnf update
If the kernel was updated, reboot your system before continuing with the installation.
Install the loncapa.repo file from the LON-CAPA install site:
wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/loncapa.repo http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/26/loncapa.repo
Verify the required repositories are enabled:
dnf repolist enabled
The list of enabled repos should be as follows ($basearch = x86_64 or i386):
repo id | repo name |
---|---|
fedora | Fedora 26 - $basearch |
fedora-modular | Fedora Modular 26 - $basearch |
loncapa-updates-basearch | Fedora 26 LON-CAPA $basearch Updates |
loncapa-updates-noarch | Fedora 26 LON-CAPA noarch Updates |
updates | Fedora 26 - $basearch - Updates |
updates-modular | Fedora Modular 26 - $basearch - Updates |
dnf install postfix systemctl enable postfix systemctl start postfix
The default Fedora 26 installation includes SELinux enabled. Until such time as an SELinux security policy has been created for LON-CAPA, SELinux should be disabled. Retrieve the loncapa_selinux_config file from the LON-CAPA install site:
wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/26/loncapa_selinux_config
Install the selinux config file
mv /etc/selinux/config /etc/selinux/config.backup mv loncapa_selinux_config /etc/selinux/config reboot
Execute:
dnf install LONCAPA-prerequisites
This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
wget http://install.loncapa.org/linux/install.tar
Extract the archive with the following command:
tar xf install.tar
This creates a directory named installation. Change to it and execute the setup script with the following commands:
cd installation ./install.pl
The script is used to prepare a Linux system to run LON-CAPA, and can also be used to check the configuration of a system on which LON-CAPA has already been installed. Typically, though, you will run this script only once, when you first install LON-CAPA.
The script will analyze your system to determine which actions are recommended. The script will then prompt you to choose the actions you would like taken. Once a choice has been entered for all nine possible actions, required changes will be made.
The possible actions are:
LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.11.3') ./UPDATE
You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined in the previous section.
You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script invoked below requires that you enter the user's password. Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain. If installing a library server and an access server on separate machines or VMs you need only run make_domain_coordinator.pl on the library server.
cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations will be apparent at this step.
/home/httpd/perl/loncontrol start systemctl start httpd
If you receive warnings about missing perl modules, when starting the httpd service please make sure that the LONCAPA-prerequisites rpm is installed using this command:
rpm -q LONCAPA-prerequisites rpm
If it is not installed, ensure that the required Linux repositories are enabled (see the "Set up access to package repositories" section above), then install it:
dnf install LONCAPA-prerequisites
If you still have errors, please contact the LON-CAPA Helpdesk: helpdesk at loncapa.org
Ensure that LON-CAPA network services and the httpd service are set to start on boot:
systemctl enable loncontrol systemctl enable httpd
Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain coordinator. Congratulations!
If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think there's something wrong, please contact the LON-CAPA helpdesk. Installation/update support is available from: helpdesk at loncapa.org (replace " at " with @). If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or errors during the automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible. If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.