This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA server running Fedora Core 2 (FC2). The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be expected to have no other services running on it.
More information is available at http://install.lon-capa.org/.
Installing Linux is getting easier and easier. However, it is still a non-trivial undertaking and experience with Red Hat Linux will make this process easier. You will be required to log in to the machine and execute some routine Unix commands. Some familiarity with Linux is assumed. 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 linux ISO files can be obtained from the projects main site, http://fedora.redhat.com/.
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.
Installing Fedora is quite easy if you've installed any of the Red Hat products before. Some documentation is available from http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/anaconda-installer/. There are a few sections that require comment.
Finish installing your server, reboot it, and log in as root.
Execute the following command:
wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/fedora/fedora_install.tar
This will retrieve from the LON-CAPA website all the packages needed to get LON-CAPA running on your system, except for the LON-CAPA source itself.
Extract the archive with the following command:
tar xf fedora_install.tar
This creates a directory named installation.
Fedora Core 2 installs the http server even if you have not chosen it in the package selection part of the install. LON-CAPA will not work with this web server installed. It must be removed. Use the following commands to remove the http and mod_perl packages if they exist: (Note: The commands below use backticks, not single quotes.:
rpm -e `rpm -q -a | grep mod_perl` rpm -e `rpm -q -a | grep httpd`
If the above commands returns no output (the usual indicator of success), or an error message 'rpm: no packages given for erase' (meaning there were no packages that contain httpd or mod_perl), you are good to go.
This section walks you through installing the packages which LON-CAPA requires. There are a lot of dependencies. They have been grouped in a somewhat logical fashion to make them easier to deal with. When installing the rpms you should watch for errors. Errors generated by RPMs which are already should not be considered a problem, although you will have to ensure the other rpms in the directory get installed.
To install the many LON-CAPA dependencies, execute the following commands:
cd installation cd mysql rpm -Uvh *rpm cd ../apache rpm -Uvh *rpm cd ../mod_perl rpm -Uvh *rpm cd ../perl_dependencies rpm -Uvh *rpm cd ../GD rpm -Uvh *rpm cd ../gnuplot rpm --install --oldpackage readline-2.2.1-6.i386.rpm rpm --install --oldpackage --excludedocs libpng-1.0.12-2.i386.rpm rpm -Uvh gnuplot-3.7.1-5.i386.rpm libgd-1.3-4.i386.rpm ncurses4-5.0-5.i386.rpm cd ../misc rpm -Uvh *rpm cd ..
Notes:
We have prepared a script which takes care of most of the configuration that must be done to get the newly installed packages working with LON-CAPA. This script will retrieve the latest LON-CAPA release from http://install.loncapa.org. You will be prompted for a root password for your MySQL server. You will need to remember this password in case you should ever need to make changes the the server.
Execute the script as follows:
cd setup; ./install.pl
LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters 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-N.N (N.N should correspond to a version number like '1.2') ./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 users password. The password will show in plaintext as you type it. Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later. Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.
cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN (WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE) mkdir ~USERNAME/public_html chown USERNAME:www ~USERNAME/public_html chmod 0775 ~USERNAME/public_html chmod a+x ~USERNAME
The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations will be appearant at this step.
/etc/init.d/loncontrol start /etc/init.d/httpd start
If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules, please make sure you followed the instructions in Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies. If you still have errors, please contact the LON-CAPA development team.
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 get in touch with the LON-CAPA developers. If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible. If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.