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    1: <h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12</h1>
    2: <p>
    3: This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
    4: server running SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (SLES 12) 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 straightforward.
   16: You will be required to log in to the machine and execute
   17: some routine Unix commands.  Familiarity with the Apache web server, mod_perl,
   18: perl, and MySQL are not required to install and run LON-CAPA.
   19: </p>
   20: 
   21: <h2>Installation Overview</h2>
   22: <p>
   23: The installation process takes the following steps:
   24: </p>
   25: <ol>
   26:   <li><a href="#obt">Obtain SLES 12 installation media</a></li>
   27:   <li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
   28:   <li><a href="#lin">Install SLES 12</a></li>
   29:   <li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
   30:   <li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
   31:   <li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
   32:   <li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
   33:   <li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
   34: </ol>
   35: 
   36: <hr>
   37: <h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 12</a></h2>
   38: <p>
   39: SLES12 ISO files can be obtained from the SuSE site: <a href="https://www.suse.com/download/sles/">https://www.suse.com/download/sles/</a>.  Download the SLE-12-SP5-Full-x86_64-GM-Media1.iso.
   40: </p>
   41: 
   42: <h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></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>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SLES 12 Install</a></h2>
   57: <p>
   58: Installing SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
   59: before.  Some documentation is available from
   60: <a href="http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles12/">
   61: http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles12/</a>.<br><br>
   62: Most of the 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>Installation Language</dt>
   67:    <dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
   68: 
   69:    <dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
   70:    <dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used
   71:        for permanent storage of course and user data),
   72:        a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this
   73:        simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
   74:        If you are adding an additional access server to an
   75:        existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no
   76:        permanent data are stored on an access server.
   77:        As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
   78:        the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.
   79:        If you have 20 GB of space for SLES12, /home should
   80:        receive at least 10 to 12 GB. Since MySQL uses the /var
   81:        filesystem to store its databases you should have as least
   82:        4 gigs of space available on /var.  Be sure to
   83:        include adequate swap space.  A minimum is 512 MB, but you should
   84:        typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
   85:        </dd>
   86:    <dt>Network Configuration</dt>
   87:    <dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
   88:        IP address.  When configuring your network card, you should include you static IP address, netmask, host name information (e.g., host name = tmp1, domain = lite.msu.edu), as well as name servers and gateway.
   89:    </dd>
   90:    <dt>Available Extensions and Modules</dt>
   91:    <dd>Register the system with suse.com, and then check boxes for the following<ul>
   92:        <li>SuSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit</li>
   93:        <li>SUSE Package Hub</li>
   94:        </ul>
   95:    </dd>
   96:    <dt>System Role</dt>
   97:    <dd>Select: Default System</dd>
   98:    <dt>Software Selection</dt>
   99:    <dd>Customize by clicking "Software" on the Installation Settings screen
  100:        Uncheck the boxes for "GNOME Desktop Environment" and X Window System.<br />
  101:        Check the boxes for the following:<ul>
  102:        <li>Help and Support Documentation</li>
  103:        <li>Base System</li>
  104:        <li>AppArmor</li>
  105:        <li>Minimal System (Appliances)  
  106:        <li>YaST2 configuration packages</li>
  107:        </ul>
  108:    </dd>
  109:    <dt>Security</dt>
  110:    <dd>The following should be set on the Installation Settings screen:
  111:     <ul>
  112:      <li>Firewall will be enabled>/li>
  113:      <li>SSH service will be enabled</li>
  114:     </ul>
  115:     If you will need command line access other than via the console, click the link to toggle the setting for the SSH port so it will be open.
  116:   </dd>
  117: </dl>
  118: <p>
  119: Finish installing your server, reboot and log in as root.
  120: </p>
  121: 
  122: <h2>4. <a name="upd">Add software sources for your system</a></h2>
  123: <p>
  124: Use zypper to add package repositories for LON-CAPA and the statistics package: R.<br />
  125: Execute:
  126: </p>
  127: <pre>
  128: zypper addrepo http://install.loncapa.org/suse/sles12/ 'LON-CAPA'
  129: zypper addrepo 'https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/R:/released/SLE_12/' 'R-released SLE_12'
  130: zypper refresh
  131: </pre>
  132: <p>
  133: Verify the required repositories are enabled:
  134: </p>
  135: <pre>
  136: zypper lr -E
  137: </pre>
  138: <p>
  139: The list of enabled repos should be as follows:
  140: </p>
  141: <table style="border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;">
  142: <tr><th>Alias</th><th>Name</th></tr>
  143: <tr><td>LON-CAPA</td><td>LON-CAPA</td></tr>
  144: <tr><td>R-released SLE_12</td><td>R-released SLE_12</td></tr>
  145: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-Product-SLES12-SP5-Pool</td><td>SLES12-SP5-Pool</td></tr>
  146: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-Product-SLES12-SP5-Updates</td><td>SLES12-SP5-Updates</td></tr>
  147: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Software_Development_Kit_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-SDK12-SP5-Pool</td><td>SLE-SDK12-SP5-Pool</td></tr>
  148: <tr><td>SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Software_Development_Kit_12_SP5_x86_64:SLE-SDK12-SP5-Updates</td><td>SLE-SDK12-SP5-Updates</td></tr>
  149: <tr><td>SUSE_Package_Hub_12_SP5_x86_64:SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Pool</td><td>SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Pool</td></tr>
  150: <tr><td>SUSE_Package_Hub_12_SP5_x86_64:SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Standard-Pool</td><td>SUSE-PackageHub-12-SP5-Standard-Pool</td></tr>
  151: </table>
  152: <h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
  153: <h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
  154: <p> Execute: </p>
  155: <pre>
  156: zypper in LONCAPA-prerequisites
  157: </pre><p>
  158: This may take some minutes due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
  159: </p>
  160: <h3>Configure Firewall Settings</h3>
  161: <p>After installing the prerequisites you should start yast, and select Security and Users -> Firewall. At step 2 include the following services: HTTP, HTTP with SSL, and Secure Shell.
  162: </p>
  163: <h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
  164: <p>
  165: Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
  166: </p>
  167: <pre>
  168: wget http://install.loncapa.org/linux/install.tar
  169: </pre>
  170: <p>
  171: Extract the archive with the following command:
  172: </p>
  173: <pre>
  174: tar xf install.tar
  175: </pre>
  176: <p>
  177: This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>.  Change to it and
  178: execute the setup script with the following commands:
  179: </p>
  180: <pre>
  181: cd installation
  182: ./install.pl
  183: </pre>
  184: <p>
  185: The script is used to prepare a Linux system to run LON-CAPA, and can also be
  186: 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.
  187: </p>
  188: <p>
  189: 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.
  190: Once a choice has been entered for all nine possible actions, required changes will be made.
  191: </p>
  192: <p>The possible actions are:
  193: <ul>
  194: <li>Create the www user/group</li>
  195: <li>Install the package LON-CAPA uses to authenticate users.</li>
  196: <li>Set-up the MySQL database</li>
  197: <li>Set-up MySQL permissions</li>
  198: <li>Configure Apache web server</li>
  199: <li>Configure start-up of services</li>
  200: <li>Check firewall settings</li>
  201: <li>Stop services not used by LON-CAPA,<br>
  202:     e.g., services for a print server: cups daemon</li>
  203: <li>Download LON-CAPA source code in readiness for installation</li>
  204: </ul>
  205: </p>
  206: 
  207: <h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
  208: <p>
  209: LON-CAPA requires a number of identifying parameters to be set in order
  210: for it to function at all.  Below is a list with descriptions.
  211: </p>
  212: <dl>
  213:   <dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
  214:   <dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server.  In
  215:       general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
  216:       their course content on and run their courses.  Students should connect
  217:       to access servers.  If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
  218:       your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
  219:       should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
  220:   <dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
  221:   <dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
  222:       Here at MSU we use 'msu'.  You should choose something short but
  223:       meaningful.  <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
  224:       special characters.</i>
  225:   </dd>
  226:   <dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
  227:   <dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name.  We use names
  228:       such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
  229:       no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
  230:   </dd>
  231:   <dt>Host administrator email</dt>
  232:   <dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal.  Messages
  233:       are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
  234:       serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
  235:   </dd>
  236: </dl>
  237: 
  238: <h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
  239: <p>
  240: To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
  241: </p>
  242: <pre>
  243: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z     (X.Y.Z should correspond to a version number like '2.10.0')
  244: ./UPDATE
  245: </pre>
  246: <p>
  247: You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
  248: in the previous section.
  249: </p>
  250: 
  251: <h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
  252: <p>
  253: You will need at least one user at your site who has the role of
  254: 'domain coordinator'.  This user creates accounts for other users and
  255: grants them additional privileges.  The make_domain_coordinator.pl script
  256: invoked below requires that you enter the user's password.
  257: Feel free to use the "passwd username" command to change it later.
  258: Replace USERNAME and DOMAIN with an appropriate user name and your domain.
  259: </p>
  260: <pre>
  261: cd /root/loncapa-X.Y.Z/loncom/build
  262: perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
  263: </pre>
  264: 
  265: <h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
  266: <p>
  267: The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start.  Most misconfigurations
  268: will be apparent at this step.
  269: </p>
  270: <pre>
  271: /etc/init.d/loncontrol start
  272: /etc/init.d/apache2 start
  273: </pre>
  274: <p>
  275: If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
  276: please make sure you followed the instructions in
  277: <b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>.  If you still have errors, please
  278: contact the LON-CAPA group.
  279: </p>
  280: 
  281: <h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
  282: <p>
  283: Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
  284: coordinator.  Congratulations!
  285: </p>
  286: 
  287: <hr>
  288: <h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
  289: <p>
  290: If you've followed the steps above and the server doesn't start or you think
  291: there's something wrong, please get in touch with the LON-CAPA group.
  292: You can submit a help request using our web form:<br>
  293: <a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br>
  294: If there were errors in installation of the dependency RPMs or during the
  295: automatic setup, please send us as much information as possible.
  296: If some part of this document is unclear please let us know.
  297: </p>