Ubuntu 10.04 Server Install

Steps to take to setup a server for Open Admin (OA) use.

1. Install the base server package. Do not pick any extra addons, unless you need this server for something else. We will add the required packages by apt-get and thus minimize the number of bells and whistles.

2. Install the Apache2 server ( apt-get install apache2 ).

3. Install the Mysql database server ( apt-get install mysql-server ). Choose a good root password for mysql and write it down. Used below.

4. Install the sshd server ( apt-get install openssh-server ). You may also change the port number of the ssh server in /etc/ssh/ssh_config, if desired.

5. Install LaTeX (for pdf generation) ( apt-get install texlive-full ).

6. Copy the main OA files into position in /etc/openadmin. Each school, if more than one, will have it's files in /opt/openadmin/School1 and below this will have the admin, etc, cgi directories and so on. Another school would be in /opt/openadmin/School2.

7. Change the ownership of these files to be the same as the apache server, since the scripts run with the uid of the apache server, and need permission to create working files in their own directories, etc. ( chown -R www-data:www-date/opt/openadmin ). www-data is the user the apache server runs as.

8. Add your password files into /etc/apache2/auth_users (and create that directory) Use the 'htpasswd' program to create userids and passwords. The name of the file containing these credentials must agree with that found in the apache configuration file for this school

9. Add your oa website files into /etc/apache2/sites-available. You can activate the sites by creating a symlink to this from the /etc/apache2/sites-enabled directory or just use a2ensite to activate the site.

10. Activate the SSI module if you desired to see the current date on your website. ( use a2enmod include ). Use apache2ctl graceful to gracefully restart apache.

11. Restart apache and you should now have your website(s).

12. Create the database for your school and then populate it.

    mysqladmin -pPASSWORD create SCHOOLDATABASE

    mysql -pPASSWORD SCHOOLDATABASE $<$ blank475.sql

    The blank475.sql file is found in the download in the utility/sql directory. You can also use metaupdate.pl to populate the meta table (or use the metaXXX.sql file to populate this with useful defaults).

13. Now add the Perl modules needed by the scripts, to run correctly. These are found in the module475.txt file (also in the utility directory). Install the modules where possible using: apt-get install LIBRARYNAME. Otherwise, the CPAN method is: perl -MCPAN -e 'install LIBRARYNAME'.

You should now have a functional server for Open Admin. Any problems, please contact me - Les Richardson ( openadmin@gmail.com )