[LON-CAPA-cvs] cvs: doc /build sles11_install.frag
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<h1>Installing LON-CAPA on a minimal SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11</h1>
<p>
This document guides you through the process of setting up a new LON-CAPA
server running SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (SLES 11) with a minimum of packages installed.
The computer will be configured solely as a LON-CAPA server and will be
expected to have no other services running. Your server is expected to have
a reasonably fast connection to the internet.
</p><p>
More information is available at
<a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/">http://install.lon-capa.org/</a>.
</p>
<h2>Before you begin</h2>
<p>
Installing Linux is getting easier and easier.
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.
</p>
<h2>Installation Overview</h2>
<p>
The installation process takes the following steps:
</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="#obt">Obtain SLES 11 installation media</a></li>
<li><a href="#net">Determine Network Settings</a></li>
<li><a href="#lin">Install SLES 11</a></li>
<li><a href="#upd">Update your system</a></li>
<li><a href="#ilc">Install LON-CAPA</a></li>
<li><a href="#cdc">Create a Domain Coordinator</a></li>
<li><a href="#sts">Start/Restart services</a></li>
<li><a href="#log">Log in to LON-CAPA</a></li>
</ol>
<hr />
<h2>1. <a name="obt">Obtain SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11</a></h2>
<p>
SuSE ISO files can be obtained from the Novell site: <a href="http://www.novell.com/products/server/">http://www.novell.com/products/server/</a>. Only DVD1 is required for each architecture (DVD2 contains source rpms for the various packages).
</p>
<h2>2. <a name="net">Determine Network Settings</a></h2>
<p>
You will need to know the following network settings for your installation.
<b>Note:</b>You must have a static IP address to use LON-CAPA.
DHCP is <em>not</em> supported.
</p>
<ul>
<li>ip address </li>
<li>netmask </li>
<li>hostname </li>
<li>gateway </li>
<li>domain name server(s) </li>
</ul>
<h2>3. <a name="lin">Minimal SLES 11 Install</a></h2>
<p>
Installing SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is quite easy if you've installed Linux products
before. Some documentation is available from
<a href="http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles11/">
http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles11/</a>.<br /><br />
Most of the subsequent installation screens are self explanatory.
There are a few steps that require comment and are dealt with below.
</p>
<dl style="list-style:square outside none">
<dt>Installation Language</dt>
<dd>Use English as your installation language.</dd>
<dt>Partitioning your Drive</dt>
<dd>For a LON-CAPA library server (i.e., the main server used
for permanent storage of course and user data),
a separate partition is recommended for /home, as this
simplifies future upgrades of the operating system.
If you are adding an additional access server to an
existing LON-CAPA domain, this does not apply as no
permanent data are stored on an access server.
As LON-CAPA resource files are stored in the /home directory,
the majority of the disk space should be allocated here.
If you have 20 GB of space for SLES11, /home should
receive at least 10 to 12 gigs. Since MySQL uses the /var
filesystem to store its databases you should have as least
4 gigs of space available on /var. Be sure to
include adequate swap space. A minimum is 512 Megs, but you should
typically have 1 or 2x as much swap space as you do physical RAM.
</dd>
<dt>Software Selection</dt>
<dd>
Installation of the minimum set of packages is recommended. This will involve unchecking all checkboxes except for the base SLES installation.</dd>
</dl>
<p>Once you system has rebooted, you will use yast to complete the configuration. Change the following settings:
<dl style="list-style:square outside none">
<dt>Network Configuration</dt>
<dd>LON-CAPA will <b>not</b> work with a machine set up to use a dynamic
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.
</dd>
<dt>Online update</dt>
<dd>Indicate "Yes" when prompted to "run online update now?"</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
<p>
Finish installing your server, read the "readme", reboot and log in as root.
</p>
<h3>Configure Firewall Settings</h3>
<p>After reboot you should start yast, and select Security and Users -> Firewall. At step 2 include the following services: HTTP, HTTP with SSL, and Secure Shell.
</p>
<h2>4. <a name="upd">Change software sources for your system</a></h2>
<p>
You will use yast to import packages required for LON-CAPA.<br />
Execute:
</p>
<pre>
yast
</pre>
<p>
Select "Change Source of Installation". The media you used to install SLES11 will be listed as an installation source. If you do not already have a SLES11 installation source at your location, you may want to consider creating one from the iso files you used to create . Proceed as follows (e.g., for 32 bit):</p>
<pre>
mkdir -p sles11/DVD1
mount -o ro,loop SLES-11-DVD-i586-GM-DVD1.iso /mnt
cp -rv /mnt/* sles11/DVD1
umount /mnt
</pre>
<h3>Add an additional installation source</h3>
<p>Add the LON-CAPA SLES 11 repository as an additional installation source, so software installation in yast will have access to at least two repositories - a SuSE/Novell source (for packages included for the standard distribution) and the LON-CAPA repository (for extra packages needed to run LON-CAPA). For the LON-CAPA source you will use:
<dl style="list-style:square outside none">
<dd>Protocol</dd>
<dt>HTTP</dt>
<dd>Server Name</dd>
<dt>install.loncapa.org</dt>
<dd>Directory on server</dd>
<dt>suse/sles11/</dt>
<dd>Authentication</dd>
<dt>Anonymous</dt>
</dl>
After saving this configuration information for the LON-CAPA repository, quit yast.
</p>
<h2>5. <a name="ilc">Installing LON-CAPA</a></h2>
<h3>Install prerequisites</h3>
<p> Execute: </p>
<pre>
yast -i LONCAPA-prerequisites
</pre><p>
This may take a moment due to LON-CAPA's large number of dependencies.
</p>
<h3>Retrieve and execute LON-CAPA setup program</h3>
<p>
Retrieve the LON-CAPA setup with one of the following commands:
</p>
<pre>
wget http://install.loncapa.org/versions/suse/sles11/sles11_install.tar
</pre>
<p>
Extract the archive with the following command:
</p>
<pre>
tar xf sles11_install.tar
</pre>
<p>
This creates a directory named <tt>installation</tt>. Change to it and
execute the setup script with the following commands:
</p>
<pre>
cd installation
/install.pl
</pre>
<p>
This script will prompt you for the MySQL root password and will download the latest LON-CAPA release.
</p>
<h3>Determine LON-CAPA Settings</h3>
<p>
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.
</p>
<dl>
<dt>Host Type (library or access)</dt>
<dd>The server must be designated a 'library' or an 'access' server. In
general you should have a library server for your instructors to create
their course content on and run their courses. Students should connect
to access servers. If you are doing the first install of LON-CAPA at
your site, or if you are playing with it for your own edification you
should make your machine a 'library' server.</dd>
<dt>LON-CAPA domain</dt>
<dd>Each site or school which installs LON-CAPA needs its own domain.
Here at MSU we use 'msu'. You should choose something short but
meaningful. <i>Restriction: One word, no hyphens, underscores, or
special characters.</i>
</dd>
<dt>LON-CAPA host id</dt>
<dd>Each LON-CAPA server requires a unique internal name. We use names
such as "msul1" for the first library server. <i>Restriction: One word,
no hyphens, underscores, or special characters.</i>
</dd>
<dt>Host administrator email</dt>
<dd>The amount of email sent to this address is relatively minimal. Messages
are sent every time the system starts up, or if the system is in
serious trouble. On a laptop, make this <tt>root@localhost</tt>.
</dd>
</dl>
<h3>Configuring LON-CAPA</h3>
<p>
To configure and install LON-CAPA, execute the following commands:
</p>
<pre>
cd /root/loncapa-N.N.N (N.N.N should correspond to a version number like '2.2.2')
/UPDATE
</pre>
<p>
You will need to enter the LON-CAPA configuration information you determined
in the previous section.
</p>
<h2>6. <a name="cdc">Creating a Domain Coordinator</a></h2>
<p>
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.
</p>
<pre>
cd /root/loncapa-N.N/loncom/build
perl make_domain_coordinator.pl USERNAME DOMAIN
(WILL PROMPT FOR PASSWORD HERE)
</pre>
<h2>7. <a name="sts">Start/Restart Services</a></h2>
<p>
The LON-CAPA network services take a moment to start. Most misconfigurations
will be apparent at this step.
</p>
<pre>
/etc/init.d/loncontrol start
/etc/init.d/apache2 start
</pre>
<p>
If you receive warnings when starting the httpd about missing perl modules,
please make sure you followed the instructions in
<b>Installing LON-CAPA Dependencies</b>. If you still have errors, please
contact the LON-CAPA group.
</p>
<h2>8. <a name="log">Log in to your LON-CAPA Machine</a></h2>
<p>
Point a web browser at your new machine and log in as the domain
coordinator. Congratulations!
</p>
<hr />
<h2>If things aren't working right</h2>
<p>
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 group.
You can submit a help request using our web form:<br />
<a href="http://help.loncapa.org/help/">http://help.loncapa.org/help/</a><br />
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.
</p>
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