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.. IVLE - Informatics Virtual Learning Environment
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Copyright (C) 2007-2009 The University of Melbourne
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.. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
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(at your option) any later version.
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.. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
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GNU General Public License for more details.
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.. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
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Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
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Given versions are those on which IVLE is known to work; earlier versions
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might work too. Debian/Ubuntu package names are given after the name of the
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.. If this list changes, you also need to change the list below, and
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the list in bin/ivle-dev-setup.
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* Ubuntu 8.04 or later (other distros should work with some tweaking, but are untested)
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* Apache 2.x (``apache2``) with modules:
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+ mod_python (``libapache2-mod-python``)
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+ mod_dav_svn and mod_authz_svn (``libapache2-svn``)
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* Python 2.5 (``python2.5``) or 2.6 (``python2.6``) with modules:
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+ cjson (``python-cjson``)
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+ ConfigObj (``python-configobj``)
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+ docutils (``python-docutils``)
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+ epydoc (``python-epydoc``)
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+ FormEncode (``python-formencode``)
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+ Genshi (``python-genshi``)
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+ psycopg2 (``python-psycopg2``)
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+ pysvn (``python-svn``)
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+ Storm (``python-storm``)
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* jQuery (``libjs-jquery``)
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* PostgreSQL 8.3 or later (``postgresql``)
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* Subversion (``subversion``)
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* debootstrap (``debootstrap``)
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* GCC and related build machinery (``build-essential``)
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Master versus slave servers
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===========================
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IVLE is normally deployed in a cluster of several machines, split into
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two different roles: master and slave.
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There must be exactly one master server per cluster. The master normally
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runs the PostgreSQL database server, the Subversion server, and the IVLE User
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Management Server (``ivle-usrmgt-server``). It might also export shared data
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directories to the slaves over NFS.
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There may be any number of slaves in a cluster. They run the IVLE web
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application, which also starts console host processes. Each slave makes use
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of the shared services on the master.
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For a small instance a slave may be run on the same machine as the master.
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This is the setup described in the source installation section, while the
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Ubuntu package installation section describes a multi-node configuration.
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Installing from source
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======================
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When setting up a development IVLE environment on Ubuntu 9.04 or later,
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there are scripts to automate most of the process. First get and extract
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`a release tarball <https://launchpad.net/ivle/+download>`_, or check out
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the latest code from the Bazaar branch: ::
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This will create a new directory, ``ivle``, containing a pristine
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source tree. The remaining steps assume that you are in this new
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The ``ivle-dev-setup`` script will configure PostgreSQL, Apache, IVLE
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and the filesystem to cooperate, getting you most of the way to a
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working system in just one step: ::
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This reconfigures parts of your system, and has the potential to
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break other applications using Apache or PostgreSQL. It may also
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fail to execute if you have existing incompatible configurations
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This may take a few minutes, and will ask you to confirm installation
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of the dependency packages.
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Upon completion, you must build a self-contained jail in which to run
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untrusted user code. ``ivle-dev-setup`` will have configured most of
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the necessary settings, but you may wish to use a local Ubuntu mirror
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to improve speed or minimise download costs. If you don't wish to use
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a special mirror, you may omit the first step. ::
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sudo ivle-config --jail/mirror http://url.to.mirror/ubuntu
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sudo ivle-buildjail -r
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``ivle-buildjail`` will download a large volume of package data --
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potentially some hundreds of megabytes.
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``ivle-buildjail`` will download, unpack and install a minimal Ubuntu
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system and configure it for IVLE usage. This could take a while.
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Once the jail has been successfully built, IVLE is up and running,
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but with no user accounts or other data in place. For development
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or demonstration purposes, sample data (including fictitious users,
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subjects, and projects) can be loaded.
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For other environments, it may be more appropriate to start with an
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empty database and just create users as required.
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To load the sample data: ::
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sudo ivle-loadsampledata examples/db/sample.sql
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If you answer 'yes' to the ``ivle-loadsampledata`` prompt, any
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existing data in your IVLE database will be **permanently
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... or to add a new admin user: ::
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sudo ivle-adduser --admin -p password username 'Full Name'
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You should then be able to browse to http://ivle.localhost/, and
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log in with username ``admin`` and password ``password``, or the
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username and password that you gave to ``ivle-adduser``.
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If the automatic installation scripts do not work, or if you want more
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control over the whole process, these manual steps are probably for
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you. But you need not read this section at all if you were able to log
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in after following the steps above.
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.. If this list changes, you also need to change the list above, and
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the command in bin/ivle-dev-setup.
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If you want to grab all of the required packages in one command, use::
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sudo apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-python libapache2-svn \
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python2.6 python-cjson python-configobj python-docutils python-epydoc \
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python-formencode python-genshi python-psycopg2 python-svn python-storm \
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libjs-jquery postgresql subversion debootstrap rsync build-essential
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As IVLE needs to compile some binaries, you must first build, then
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install it. From the source directory created earlier: ::
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sudo ./setup.py install
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Setting up the database
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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First, it is recommended that you create a separate database user for IVLE.
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You may use any name for the user. ::
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sudo -u postgres createuser ivleuser # Answer 'n' to all questions
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sudo -u postgres psql -c "ALTER USER ivleuser WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'ivle-password';"
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Now, you must create a PostgreSQL database, and populate it with the
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IVLE schema. You may use any name for the database (here we use ``ivle``). ::
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sudo -u postgres createdb -O ivleuser ivle
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sudo -u postgres createlang plpgsql ivle
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psql -h localhost -W ivle ivleuser < userdb/users.sql
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The configuration wizard - ``ivle-config`` - will ask you a series of
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questions. You should give the database username and password as configured
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above. Apart from database settings, the defaults should be correct
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for a development system. If deploying IVLE properly - particularly on
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multiple nodes - several options will need to be changed. Watching
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Creating the data tree
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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IVLE needs a directory hierarchy in which to store filesystem data, which
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by default lives in ``/var/lib/ivle``. Create it now. ::
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sudo ivle-createdatadirs
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Configuring the jail environment
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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You will require a self-contained jail environment in which to safely
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execute student code.
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Before you can actually build the jail, a few configuration options are
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needed. Open up ``/etc/ivle/ivle.conf``, and find the ``[jail]`` section
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(**not** the ``[[jails]]`` section).
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suite = jaunty # Replace this with the codename of your Ubuntu release.
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mirror = http://url.to.archive/mirror # Replace with a fast Ubuntu mirror.
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.. TODO: Move this around a bit, as the config options required differ for
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the packaged version.
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Now we can actually build the jail. The creation process basically downloads
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a minimal Ubuntu system and installs it in ``/var/lib/ivle/jails/__base__``.
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Note that this could download a couple of hundred megabytes. ::
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sudo ivle-buildjail -r
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IVLE makes use of two Apache virtual hosts: one for the application itself,
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and one for the Subversion services. There are example configuration files
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in ``examples/config/apache.conf`` and ``examples/config/apache-svn.conf``,
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which will run IVLE at http://ivle.localhost/.
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On a Debian or Ubuntu system, just copy those two files into
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``/etc/apache2/sites-available`` under appropriate names (eg. ``ivle`` and
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``ivle-svn``). Then you need to activate them: ::
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sudo a2ensite ivle-svn
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sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
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Configuring hostname resolution
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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All of IVLE's hostnames need to be resolvable from the local system. For a
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production environment, this would be done in DNS. For a development system,
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this is usually done in ``/etc/hosts``. Add this line to that file: ::
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127.0.1.1 ivle.localhost public.ivle.localhost svn.ivle.localhost
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Code running inside the jail environment also needs to be able to resolve
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those names. Add, to ``/var/lib/ivle/jails/__base_build__/etc/hosts``: ::
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127.0.1.1 svn.ivle.localhost
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Then refresh the active copy of the jail: ::
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Configuring the user management server
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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You need to have the IVLE user management server (``usrmgt-server``) running
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for many parts of IVLE to operate properly, so it should be configured to
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start on boot. There is an example init script in
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``examples/config/usrmgt-server.init``. For Debian or Ubuntu, copy it to
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``/etc/init.d/ivle-usrmgt-server``. Start it now, and set it to start
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sudo /etc/init.d/ivle-usrmgt-server start
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sudo update-rc.d ivle-usrmgt-server defaults 99
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Creating the initial user
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The final step in getting a usable IVLE set up is creating a user. You'll
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probably want admin privileges - if not, drop the ``--admin``. ::
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sudo ivle-adduser --admin -p PASSWORD USERNAME 'FULL NAME'
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You should then be able to browse to http://ivle.localhost/, and
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log in with that username and password.
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*Alternatively*, you may wish to import the IVLE sample data, for a complete
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working IVLE environment (not for production use). See :ref:`sample-data`.
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For more advanced configuration, see :ref:`Configuring IVLE
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<ref-configuring-ivle>`.
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Installing from an Ubuntu package
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=================================
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IVLE is packaged in `a Launchpad PPA <https://launchpad.net/~unimelb-ivle/+archive/production>`_,
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providing a more managed installation and upgrade mechanism than a source
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These instructions document the process to install a production-ready
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multi-node IVLE cluster. They expect that you have three domain names:
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one for the main IVLE web UI, one for the Subversion service, and one
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for serving user files publicly.
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By design the public domain may have arbitrary user-generated content
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served. Because of this, it should not have any domain with sensitive
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cookies as a suffix, including the main IVLE web UI. Be very careful
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with your choice here.
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All master and slave nodes need to have access to the IVLE PPA.
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`Visit it <https://launchpad.net/~unimelb-ivle/+archive/production>`_ and
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follow the installation instructions on all involved systems.
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Setting up the database server
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The master server runs the central IVLE PostgreSQL database. ::
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sudo apt-get install postgresql
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Ubuntu's default PostgreSQL configuration doesn't permit remote access,
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so we need to tweak it to allow password access from our slave. In
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``/etc/postgresql/8.3/main/postgresql.conf``, find the ``listen_addresses``
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option, and ensure it is set to ``*``. In
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``/etc/postgresql/8.3/main/pg_hba.conf`` add a line like the following to the
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end. This example will allow any host in the ``1.2.3.4/24`` subnet to
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authenticate with a password as the ``ivle`` user to the ``ivle`` database. ::
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host ivle ivle 1.2.3.4/24 md5
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Then restart PostgreSQL, and the slaves should be able to see the database. ::
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sudo /etc/init.d/postgresql-8.3 restart
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Installing and configuring IVLE
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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We can now install IVLE. The installation process will ask you a few questons.
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Answer that this host is a **master**, let it generate a random usrmgt-server
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secret, elect to manage the database with ``dbconfig-common``, and use a
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sudo apt-get install ivle
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Once that's done, we have a couple of additional configuration items to set:
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the URLs discussed earlier. Open up ``/etc/ivle/ivle.conf``,
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and replace ``public.ivle.localhost`` and ``svn.ivle.localhost`` with the
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correct domain names.
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Make sure you restart the ``usrmgt-server`` afterwards, or newly created users
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may inherit the old domain names. ::
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sudo /etc/init.d/usrmgt-server restart
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Sharing data between the servers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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As well as its relational database, IVLE has a data hierarchy on the
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fileystem. Two part of this (``/var/lib/ivle/jails`` and
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``/var/lib/ivle/sessions``) must be shared between the master and all of the
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slaves. It doesn't matter how you achieve this, but a reasonable method is
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described here: exporting over NFS from the master.
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We'll first create a tree (``/export/ivle`` in this example, but it can be
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whatever you want) to be exported to the slaves, move the existing data
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directories into it, and symlink them back into place. ::
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sudo mkdir /export/ivle
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sudo mv /var/lib/ivle/{sessions,jails} /export/ivle
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sudo ln -s /export/ivle/{sessions,jails} /var/lib/ivle
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Next install an NFS server. ::
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sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server
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Now we can export the directory we created earlier across the network.
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Add something like the following line to ``/etc/exports``. ``someslave``
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should be replaced with the hostname, IP address, or subnet of your
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/export/ivle someslave(rw,sync)
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Make sure you inform the kernel of the new export. ::
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The master serves Subversion repositories through Apache on the Subversion
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domain name that was discussed above. ::
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sudo cp /usr/share/doc/ivle/apache-svn.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/ivle-svn
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sudo a2ensite ivle-svn
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Edit ``/etc/apache2/sites-available/ivle-svn``, ensuring that the
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``ServerName`` matches your chosen domain name. Then reload Apache's
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sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
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Setting up a jail environment
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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IVLE requires that a base jail be provided, on top of which all of the
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individual user jails are constructed in order to safely execute user code.
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We need to change some configuration options before we can build a working
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jail. First set the mirror and Ubuntu release -- make sure you replace the
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URL and release code name with an Ubuntu mirror and your Ubuntu release. ::
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sudo ivle-config --jail/mirror http://url.to.mirror/ubuntu --jail/suite hardy
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Now comes the ugly bit: we need to tell the jail builder where to get the
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IVLE code that must be present in the jail. If you're using the production
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PPA, the following ``/etc/ivle/ivle.conf`` snippet will work. If you're not,
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you'll have to replace the ``extra_keys`` and ``extra_sources`` values ::
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-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
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mI0ES2pQKAEEANiscebT7+SFnvpN8nABcwT5nEV6psUOF8CcIIrz3iv6b6wA3lYd0DzbD7RD
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fs1MNriEHHgqPF6EUhGrkk1165Oqi+lULdjgL0Fzi3GFvLV9F8+BtL3wt3+MM7YC+aTS1nhF
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dQcPpnhNAJagW5gR4dIc4w87sNquxgCdJeJn/N3XABEBAAG0KkxhdW5jaHBhZCBVbml2ZXJz
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aXR5IG9mIE1lbGJvdXJuZSBJVkxFIFBQQYi2BBMBAgAgBQJLalAoAhsDBgsJCAcDAgQVAggD
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BBYCAwECHgECF4AACgkQVwp7ATtnautCMgP8C6PbLNyx9akgbiwhakFfGaEbxGFCo1EAUE7v
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FgdelJSEkeQLAn4WoANpixuojNi++PEDis22S4tz+ZC6G0dRU9Pcc1bb4xUgphR83QTcufH7
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5EagfTf5lLIWaLdg5f/NeuHHrKvwKvPVkNJ3ShQejFB/xWGpqe2Rr7Rscm9lT0Q=
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-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
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extra_packages = ivle-services,
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extra_sources = deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/unimelb-ivle/production/ubuntu hardy main,
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Now we can build the jail. This will download lots of packages, and install
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a minimal Ubuntu system in ``/var/lib/ivle/jails/__base__``. ::
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sudo ivle-buildjail -r
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You should now have a functional master.
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Creating the initial user
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The last master step for getting a usable IVLE set up is creating a user.
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You'll probably want admin privileges - if not, drop the ``--admin``. ::
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sudo ivle-adduser --admin -p PASSWORD USERNAME 'FULL NAME'
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You can then visit your IVLE web UI domain and login in with the username
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Installing and configuring IVLE
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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We need to tell the database configuration assistant that we want to connect
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to a remote database. The second command will also ask you whether you want to
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store administrative passwords: say no here. ::
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sudo apt-get install dbconfig-common
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sudo dpkg-reconfigure dbconfig-common
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We are going to need some details from the master for authentication purposes.
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Grab the ``password`` value from the ``database`` section, and the ``magic``
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value from the ``usrmgt`` section of the master's ``/etc/ivle/ivle.conf``.
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Now we can install IVLE. Advise the installer that this machine is not a
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master, and use the details retrieved from the master to answer the rest of
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sudo apt-get install ivle
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Once the installation has completed, make the same configuration changes as on
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the master: set the domain names in ``ivle.conf`` to real values.
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For maximum performance, you should also set the ``version`` value in the
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``media`` section. The exact string is not important, as long as the value is
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identical on every slave, and changed on each upgrade. It is used to make
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static file URLs unique, so clients can cache them indefinitely. The IVLE
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version is conventionally used as this string.
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Getting access to the shared data
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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We need to mount the shared components of the IVLE data hierarchy from the
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master. If you've used the suggested method, follow these instructions.
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Otherwise you'll have to work it out for yourself.
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First install the NFS common utilities, required for NFS mounts. ::
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sudo apt-get install nfs-common
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Now we can add the mount to ``/etc/fstab``. Something like this should do: ::
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themaster:/export/ivle /export/ivle nfs defaults 0 0
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Then mount the filesystem, and link the shared directories into the
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rmdir /var/lib/ivle/{sessions,jails}
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ln -s /export/ivle/{sessions,jails} /var/lib/ivle
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The slaves use Apache to serve the main IVLE web UI and public user files.
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Let's activate the configuration now. ::
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sudo cp /usr/share/doc/ivle/apache.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/ivle
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Now edit ``/etc/apache2/sites-available/ivle``, and ensure that the
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``ServerName`` matches your chosen IVLE web UI domain name, and
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``ServerAlias`` your public name. Then reload Apache's configuration. ::
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sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
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doc/man/install.rst
