Installing Canvas

[Derek]

Well. Another Open Source LMS. Technically speaking I'm not a user
yet. .

How have others found installing Canvas?

Quoting from the documentation: "Secondly, this tutorial is targeting
POSIX-based systems (like Mac OS X and Linux). This tutorial was
written and tested using Ubuntu's latest LTS 10.04.1. If you have a
different system, consider setting up a server or virtual machine
running the latest Ubuntu LTS. We'll assume you've either done so or
are familiar with these working parts enough to do translations
yourself."

Does this mean a standard "buy some hosting space" (like Bluehost.com)
is OK?? If the answer is yes, I may try to install this on my
Bluehost account.

-Derek

[Zach Wily]

Derek,

I don't know much about Bluehost, but if it's a shared hosting service
it probably won't support Canvas LMS very well. Rails apps are
typically more resource intensive than PHP apps, and shared hosts
generally don't support them. Canvas is a fairly large and
sophisticated app, so even some Rails-specific hosts may not support
all of its features.

If you're serious about running Canvas yourself, we recommend either
following the documentation as closely as possible (and starting with
a fresh Ubuntu LTS virtual machine) or first getting comfortable with
setting up a Rails application. There are a lot of good resources
online, starting at http://rubyonrails.org/.

Good luck, and when you hit problems that appear to be Canvas related,
please let us know and we'll be happy to help.

zach

[Boetheus]

What about Dreamhost? They have Ruby support. I have installed the
files and have put in the values for the domain.yml and database.yml.
What do I do next to get the site to come up?

On Feb 2, 8:43 am, Zach Wily <z...@instructure.com> wrote:
> Derek,
>
> I don't know much about Bluehost, but if it's a shared hosting service
> it probably won't support Canvas LMS very well. Rails apps are
> typically more resource intensive than PHP apps, and shared hosts
> generally don't support them. Canvas is a fairly large and
> sophisticated app, so even some Rails-specific hosts may not support
> all of its features.
>
> If you're serious about running Canvas yourself, we recommend either
> following the documentation as closely as possible (and starting with
> a fresh Ubuntu LTS virtual machine) or first getting comfortable with
> setting up a Rails application. There are a lot of good resources

> online, starting athttp://rubyonrails.org/.

[JT Olds]

You may have some luck following the directions hosted at
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Getting_Started_with_Ruby_on_Rails

However, there will most likely be two places you have difficulty: 1)
it looks like Dreamhost might not use Bundler to manage Rails Gem
dependencies. You will need to make sure your Dreamhost instance has
the Gems installed listed in the Gemfile, which may be quite
challenging and time consuming without Bundler.

2) You need to have the automated jobs daemon running. Much of Canvas'
functionality depends on that daemon running at all times. I don't see
any obvious documentation on Dreamhost's site for how to start daemons
or otherwise long-lived processes, but I am told it is possible
somehow.

There are many other services that allow you to be more flexible with
the software and services you run, such as Amazon's EC2, Slicehost,
Linode, etc, that you may have a better shot with.

Good luck,

-JT

[Derek Chirnside]

This (finding a Ruby enabled host) is the sticking point for me.  I have talked locally to a few people (far from exhaustively): no go.  I can find no expertise in Ruby.

I have looked at Mediatemple http://mediatemple.net/ on advice from a friend.  It's like spagetti soup jargon: "automated jobs daemon"  or just get a Ruby on Rails "container" someone said.  Sure enough on the MT site there is a note about this, and it looks like MT will do what is needed.  But I'm not ready yet.  I want someone to do the pathfinding and say "Yes, provider X (eg Media Temple) supports the dependencies for Ruby on Rails and the extra bits like Bundler" and more importantly I have done it. 

Once I know it can be done I will launch out, probably buy some space and try this sometime.  But I have NO expertise in Ruby, and will be trying harder to find some local help.

As JT said, there are other hosts.  I found an article that compared GoDaddy, Linode and Gator?? but nothing on Ruby.

I'm watching this space.  I used Canvas for 60 minutes the other day on the free site.  Smiling all the way.

-Derek


Derek Chirnside - lits.gen.nz
For the first two-thirds of the twentieth century a powerful tide bore Americans into ever deeper engagement in the life of their communities, but a few decades ago--silently, without warning--that tide reversed and we were overtaken by a treacherous rip current. Without at first noting, we have been pulled apart from one another and from our communities over the last third of the century - Bowling Alone; Putnam, 2000, p.27

[Boetheus]

I talked to Dreamhost. They said I should have any problems. Here is
what I am getting now.

Error message:
Could not find gem 'rails (= 2.3.9, runtime)' in any of the gem
sources listed in your Gemfile. (Bundler::GemNotFound)
Exception class:
PhusionPassenger::UnknownError

On Feb 10, 2:31 pm, JT Olds <j...@instructure.com> wrote:
> You may have some luck following the directions hosted athttp://wiki.dreamhost.com/Getting_Started_with_Ruby_on_Rails

[jud...@gmail.com]

I know this is old discussion - but it may help anyone who stumbles over this (as I have).

Turnkey Linux offers a Instructure Canvas installed and managed for you for about $14 a month on an Amazon s2 set-up which is pretty nice. 

http://www.turnkeylinux.org/canvas/

https://hub.turnkeylinux.org/pricing/

I haven't had much luck trying to set it up on dreamhost so this looks like a relatively useful option.

[jud...@gmail.com]

* Amazon EC2