Annotation of doc/build/fedora_install.frag, revision 1.13
1.12 matthew 1: <html>
2: <head><title>New installation instructions</title></head>
3: <body>
4:
1.13 ! matthew 5: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal Fedora Core 2 Linux System</h1>
1.1 matthew 6: <p>
7: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
1.13 ! matthew 8: server running Fedora Core 2 (FC2) with a minimum of packages installed.
! 9: The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
! 10: expected to have no other services running. Your server is expected to have
! 11: a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
1.1 matthew 12: </p><p>
13: More information is available at <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">
14: http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
15: </p>
16:
17: <h2>Before you begin</h2>
18: <p>
19: Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a
20: non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this
21: process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
22: some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed.
23: Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl, perl, and MySQL are not
24: required to install and run LON-CAPA.
25: </p>
26:
27: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
28: <p>
29: The installation process takes the following steps:
30: </p>
31: <ol>
32: <li> Obtain Fedora Linux </li>
33: <li> Determine Network Settings</li>
34: <li> Install Fedora </li>
1.12 matthew 35: <li> Updating your system </li>
36: <li> Installing LON-CAPA </li>
1.1 matthew 37: <li> Create a Domain Coordinator </li>
38: <li> Start/Restart services </li>
39: <li> Log in to LON-CAPA </li>
40: </ol>
41:
42: <h2>Obtain Fedora Linux</h2>
43: <p>
1.13 ! matthew 44: FC2 ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site,
1.1 matthew 45: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/">http://fedora.redhat.com/</a>.
1.13 ! matthew 46: You will need only the first ISO image for the minimal install.
! 47: </p>
1.1 matthew 48:
49: <h2>Determine Network Settings</h2>
50: <p>
51: You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
52: <b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
53: DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
54: </p>
55: <ul>
56: <li>ip address </li>
57: <li>netmask </li>
58: <li>hostname </li>
59: <li>gateway </li>
60: <li>domain name server(s) </li>
61: </ul>
62:
1.13 ! matthew 63: <h2>Minimal FC2 Install</h2>
1.1 matthew 64: <p>
65: Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products
66: before. Some documentation is available from
67: <a href="http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/">
68: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/</a>.
69: There are a few sections that require comment.
70: </p>
71: <dl style="list-style:square outside none">
72: <dt>Installation Type</dt>
73: <dd>You should do a "Server" install. We do not recommend
74: trying to install LON-CAPA with a different installation type.</dd>
75: <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
76: <dd>You may want to use the automatic partitioning feature of the installer,
77: however you should review the results and be prepared to modify them.
78: LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory, so the
79: lion's share of the drive should be allocated here. If you have 20 GB
1.2 matthew 80: of space for Red Hat, /home should receive at least 10 to 12 gigs.
81: Since MySQL uses the /var filesystem to store its databases you should
82: have at least 4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
1.1 matthew 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.</dd>
85: <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
86: <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
87: IP address. When configuring your network card, be sure to unselect
88: the DHCP option and enter in your network information.</dd>
89: <dt>Firewall Configuration</dt>
90: <dd>The firewall should be customized to allow incoming ssh and www.
91: Additional ports used by LON-CAPA are 5663 and 8080.
92: Enter these in the entry box as <nobr>"5663:tcp, 8080:tcp"</nobr>.</dd>
93: <dt>Package Group Selection</dt>
1.13 ! matthew 94: <dd>Choose 'minimal install'</dd>
1.1 matthew 95: </dl>
96: <p>
97: Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
98: </p>
99:
1.12 matthew 100: <h2>Updating your system</h2>
1.1 matthew 101: <p>
1.12 matthew 102: Retrieve the loncapa_yum.conf file from the LON-CAPA install site:
1.1 matthew 103: </p>
104: <pre>
1.12 matthew 105: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/loncapa_yum.conf
1.1 matthew 106: </pre>
107: <p>
1.13 ! matthew 108: Copy the loncapa_yum.conf file to /etc/yum.conf:
! 109: </p>
! 110: <pre>
! 111: mv /etc/yum.conf /etc/yum.conf.backup
! 112: cp loncapa_yum.conf /etc/yum.conf
! 113: </pre>
! 114: <p>
1.12 matthew 115: Update your system to the latest versions of the system software:
1.1 matthew 116: </p>
117: <pre>
1.13 ! matthew 118: yum update
1.1 matthew 119: </pre>
120: <p>
1.13 ! matthew 121: You will need to reboot your system after yum finishes. Reboot your system before proceeding with the LON-CAPA install.
1.1 matthew 122: </p>
123:
1.12 matthew 124: <h2>Installing LON-CAPA</h2>
125: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
1.6 matthew 126: <p>
127: <p>
1.12 matthew 128: Installating the LON-CAPA prerequisites is pretty straightforward. Execute:
129: </p><pre>
1.13 ! matthew 130: yum install LONCAPA-prerequisites ntp
1.12 matthew 131: </pre><p>
132: This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
1.7 matthew 133: </p>
1.12 matthew 134: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
1.7 matthew 135: <p>
1.12 matthew 136: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with the following command:
1.7 matthew 137: </p>
1.12 matthew 138: <pre>
139: wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar
140: </pre>
1.7 matthew 141: <p>
1.12 matthew 142: Extract the archive with the following command:
1.1 matthew 143: </p>
144: <pre>
1.12 matthew 145: tar xf fedora_install.tar
1.1 matthew 146: </pre>
147: <p>
1.12 matthew 148: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
149: execute the setup script with the following commands:
1.1 matthew 150: </p>
151: <pre>
1.12 matthew 152: cd installation
1.1 matthew 153: ./install.pl
154: </pre>
1.12 matthew 155: <p>
156: This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
157: </p>
1.1 matthew 158:
1.12 matthew 159: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
1.1 matthew 160: <p>
161: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters be set in order
162: for it to function at all. Below is a list with descriptions.
163: </p>
164: <dl>
165: <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
166: <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
167: general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
168: their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
169: to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
170: your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
171: should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
172: <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
173: <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
174: Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
175: meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
176: special characters.</i>
177: </dd>
178: <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
179: <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
180: such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
181: no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
182: </dd>
183: <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
184: <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
185: are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
186: serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
187: </dd>
188: </dl>
189:
1.12 matthew 190: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
1.1 matthew 191: <p>
192: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
193: </p>
194: <pre>
1.5 matthew 195: cd /root/loncapa-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.2')
1.1 matthew 196: ./UPDATE
197: </pre>
198: <p>
199: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
200: in the previous section.
201: </p>
202:
203: <h2>Creating a Domain Coordinator</h2>
204: <p>
205: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
206: 'domain coordinator'. This user creates accounts for other users and
207: grants them additional privileges. The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
208: invoked below requires that you enter the users password. The password will
209: show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username"
210: command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an
211: appropriate user name and your domain.
212: </p>
213: <pre>
214: cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
215: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
216: (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
1.8 matthew 217: mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html
218: chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html
219: chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html
220: chmod a+x ~USERNAME
1.1 matthew 221: </pre>
222:
223: <h2>Start/Restart Services</h2>
224: <p>
225: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
226: will be appearant at this step.
227: </p>
228: <pre>
229: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
230: /etc/init.d/httpd start
231: </pre>
1.5 matthew 232: <p>
233: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
234: please make sure you followed the instructions in
235: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
236: contact the LON-CAPA development team.
237: </p>
1.1 matthew 238: <h2>Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</h2>
239: <p>
240: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
241: coordinator. Congratulations!
242: </p>
1.4 matthew 243:
244: <h2>If Things aren't working right</h2>
245: <p>
246: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
247: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers.
248: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
249: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
250: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
251: </p>
1.12 matthew 252:
253: </body>
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