Running Canvas LMS Locally

Overview

Virtualize Ubuntu 16.04 in VirtualBox
Configuring Ubuntu Environment
Quick Starting Canvas-LMS

Part 1 - Virtualize Ubuntu 16.04 in VirtualBox

Install VirtualBox
Create new Ubuntu 16.04 image using VirtualBox
- it is imperatrive the machine used has at least 8GB memory

Part 2 - Configuring Ubuntu Environment

Execute the command below to install curl
```
  sudo apt -y install curl
```
Execute the command below to install Git
```
  sudo apt -y install git
```
Execute the command below to install python
```
  sudo apt-get -y install python
```
Execute the command below to install software-properties-common
```
  sudo apt-get -y install software-properties-common
```
Execute the command below to add repository ppa:brightbox/ruby-ng
```
  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:brightbox/ruby-ng
```
Execute the command below to update previously installed software
```
  sudo apt-get -y update
```

Execute the command below to install Postgres

  sudo apt-get -y install postgresql-9.5

Execute the command below to download apache passenger

  sudo apt-get -y install passenger libapache2-mod-passenger apache2

Execute the command below to install apache local download optimizer using the X-Sendfile header
```
  sudo apt-get -y install libapache2-mod-xsendfile
```

Part 3 - Configuring Postgres

Execute the commands below to set up a Canvas user inside of Postgres

  sudo -u postgres createuser canvas --no-createdb --no-superuser --no-createrole --pwprompt

  sudo -u postgres createdb canvas_production --owner=canvas

  sudo -u postgres createuser $USER

  sudo -u postgres psql -c "alter user \"$USER\" with superuser" postgres

Part 4 - Configuring Ubuntu Environment

Execute the command below to install Ruby 2.6

  sudo apt-get -y install ruby2.6 ruby2.6-dev zlib1g-dev libxml2-dev \
                      libsqlite3-dev postgresql libpq-dev \
                      libxmlsec1-dev curl make g++

Execute the command below to install NodeJS

  curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get -y install nodejs

Execute the command below to install npm
```
  sudo apt-get -y install npm
```
Execute the command below to install latest npm
```
  sudo npm install -g npm@latest
```

Execute the commands below to install yarn

  curl -sS https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
  echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
  sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install yarn=1.19.1-1

Execute the commands below to install redis

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/redis-server
  sudo apt-get -y update
  sudo apt-get -y install redis-server

Part 4 - Cloning The Application

Execute the command below to create a dev directory
```
  mkdir ~/dev
```

Execute the command below to clone canvas-lms

  git clone https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms.git ~/dev/canvas-lms

Execute the command below to change directories to newly cloned project
```
  cd ~/dev/canvas-lms
```
Execute the command below to change branches to stable
```
  git checkout stable
```

Part 5 - Creating Server Application Root

Execute the command below to create an application root
```
  sudo mkdir -p /var/canvas
```
Execute the command below to create an application root
```
  sudo mkdir -p /var/canvas
```
Execute the command below to populate the newly created application root
```
  cd ~/dev/canvas-lms
  sudo cp -av . /var/canvas
```
Execute the command below to echo the contents of the newly populated application root
```
  ls /var/canvas
```

Part 6 - Bundler and Canvas Dependencies

Execute the command below to install bundler and yarn dependencies

  cd /var/canvas
  sudo gem install bundler --version 2.2.19
  bundle _2.2.19_ install --without pulsar --path vendor/bundle
  sudo yarn install

Part 7 - Bootstrapping Database

Execute the command below to pull in the default database configuration values

  cd /var/canvas
  for config in amazon_s3 database \
  delayed_jobs domain file_store outgoing_mail security external_migration; \
  do cp config/$config.yml.example config/$config.yml; done

Part 8 - Configuring Production settings

Execute the commands below to initialize settings files

  cd /var/canvas
  sudo cp config/dynamic_settings.yml.example config/dynamic_settings.yml
  sudo cp config/database.yml.example config/database.yml
  sudo cp config/outgoing_mail.yml.example config/outgoing_mail.yml
  sudo cp config/domain.yml.example config/domain.yml
  sudo cp config/security.yml.example config/security.yml
  sudo cp config/cache_store.yml.example config/cache_store.yml
  sudo cp config/redis.yml.example config/redis.yml

Part 3 - Configure Initial Settings

Execute the commands below to configure database settings
```
  cd /var/canvas/config
  sudo nano database.yml
```
- Ensure the production property’s username and password have been set to your respective postgres username and password
  - Use echo $USER to recall the username from this tutorial
Execute the commands below to configure database settings
```
  cd /var/canvas/config
  sudo nano outgoing_mail.yml
```
- Ensure the production property’s address has been set to your email address’s smtp address.
  - gmail is smtp.gmail.com for example
- Ensure the production property’s username has been set your email address
- Ensure the production property’s password has been set your email password
- Ensure the production property’s domain has been set to testcanvas.com
- Ensure the production property’s outgoing_address has been set to the email address that canvas will send mail from
Execute the commands below to configure domain settings
```
  cd /var/canvas/config
  sudo nano domain.yml
```
- Ensure the production property’s domain has been set to testcanvas.com
Execute the commands below to configure security settings
```
  cd /var/canvas/config
  sudo nano security.yml
```
- Ensure the production property’s encryption_key has been set a value of at least 20 digits.
  - Copy the stdout from the command below to autogenerate an encryption key
    - cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'A-Za-z0-9' | head -c 24; echo ''

Part 4 - Create Asset Directories

Execute the commands below to create directories to store canvas-generated files

  cd /var/canvas	
  sudo mkdir -p log tmp/pids public/assets app/stylesheets/brandable_css_brands
  sudo touch app/stylesheets/s_defaults_autogenerated.scss
  sudo touch Gemfile.lock
  sudo touch log/production.log		
  sudo chown -R $USER config/environment.rb log tmp public/assets app/*
  sudo yarn install

Part 5 - Restart Apache Server

Execute the commands below to restart the Apache server to reduce memory consumption
```
  sudo systemctl reload apache2
  sudo systemctl restart apache2
```

Part 6 - Populate Asset Directories

Execute the commands below to build canvas-generated files
```
  cd /var/canvas
  RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake db:reset_encryption_key_hash
  RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake canvas:compile_assets
```
- Note - Your machine must have at least 8GB memory to run the commands above. The command below is particularly expensive, and is otherwise unexecutable. You may need to execute this command several times if it fails.
  - RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake canvas:compile_assets

Part 7 - Assign ownership of `public`

Execute the command below to assign ownership of the public directory to the current user.
```
  cd /var/canvas
  sudo chown -R $USER public/
```

Part 8 - Populate Database

Execute the command below to populate database
```
  cd /var/canvas
  RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake db:initial_setup
```
- Upon being prompted to create an administrator account, set the following environment variables respectively

Environment Variable	Value(s) supported
CANVAS_LMS_ADMIN_EMAIL	E-mail address used for default administrator login
CANVAS_LMS_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Password for default administrator login
CANVAS_LMS_ACCOUNT_NAME	Account name seen by users, usually your organization name
CANVAS_LMS_STATS_COLLECTION	opt_in, opt_out, or anonymized

Part 9 - Configure Apache Passenger

Execute command below to install libapache2-mod-passenger

  sudo apt install -y dirmngr gnupg
  sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 561F9B9CAC40B2F7
  sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates
  sudo chmod go=r /etc/apt/sources.list.d/passenger.list
  sudo -i -u $USER <<'EOF'
  echo deb [arch=amd64] https://oss-binaries.phusionpassenger.com/apt/passenger focal main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/passenger.list ; exit
  EOF

Execute command below to enable mod_rewrite

  sudo systemctl reload apache2
  sudo systemctl restart apache2
  sudo a2enmod rewrite

Execute command below to ensure Passenger is enabled for Apache configuration

  sudo systemctl reload apache2
  sudo systemctl restart apache2
  sudo a2enmod passenger

Execute command below to ensure apache configuration supports SSL

  sudo systemctl reload apache2
  sudo systemctl restart apache2
  sudo a2enmod ssl
  sudo systemctl reload apache2
  sudo systemctl restart apache2

Part 10 - Configure Canvas with Apache

Execute the command below to disable any Apache VirtualHosts running
```
  sudo unlink /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf
```

Execute the command below to create a virtual host

  sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/canvas.conf

Paste the snippet below in the newly created file

  <VirtualHost *:80>
      ServerName canvas.example.com
      ServerAlias canvasfiles.example.com
      ServerAdmin youremail@example.com
      DocumentRoot /var/canvas/public
      RewriteEngine On
      RewriteCond %{HTTP:X-Forwarded-Proto} !=https
      RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/health_check
      RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L]
      ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/canvas_errors.log
      LogLevel warn
      CustomLog /var/log/apache2/canvas_access.log combined
      SetEnv RAILS_ENV production
      <Directory /var/canvas/public>
          Options All
  		AllowOverride All
  		Require all granted
      </Directory>
  </VirtualHost>
  <VirtualHost *:443>
      ServerName canvas.example.com
      ServerAlias canvasfiles.example.com
      ServerAdmin youremail@example.com
      DocumentRoot /var/canvas/public  
      ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/canvas_errors.log
      LogLevel warn
      CustomLog /var/log/apache2/canvas_ssl_access.log combined
      SSLEngine on
      BrowserMatch "MSIE [17-9]" ssl-unclean-shutdown
      # the following ssl certificate files are generated for you from the ssl-cert package.
      SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
      SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
      SetEnv RAILS_ENV production
      <Directory /var/canvas/public>
          Options All
  		AllowOverride All
  		Require all granted
      </Directory>
  </VirtualHost>

In VirtualHost *:443 element, modify the following properties respectively:
- ServerName
- ServerAdmin
- DocumentRoot
- SetEnv
- Directory
- SSLCertificateFile (probably)
- SSLCertificateKeyFile (probably)

Execute the command below to modify passenger configuration

  sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/passenger.conf

Place the following boilerplate code into the passenger.conf

  <IfModule mod_passenger.c>
      PassengerRoot /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/phusion_passenger/locations.ini
      PassengerDefaultRuby /usr/bin/passenger_free_ruby
      PassengerDefaultUser example-user
      PassengerStartTimeout 180
  </IfModule>

Ensure the following line is modified respectively, replacing REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_CANVAS_USERNAME with the username used to configure canvas earlier
```
  PassengerDefaultUser REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_CANVAS_USERNAME
```

Execute the commands below to enable HTTP and HTTPS connections on the system’s firewall.
```
  sudo ufw allow http
  sudo ufw allow https
  sudo ufw reload
```

Execute the commands below to enable Apache site configuration

  cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
  sudo a2ensite canvas

Execute the command below to restart Apache server

  sudo systemctl restart apache2
  sudo systemctl reload apache2

Part 11 - Set Up an SSL Certificate

Execute the command below to update the Snap app store.

  sudo snap install core && sudo snap refresh core

Execute the command below to remove any existing Certbot installation.
```
  sudo apt remove certbot
```
Execute the command below to install Certbot.
```
  sudo snap install --classic certbot
```
Execute the command below to download a certificate for your site.
When prompted, select your site’s domain name from the list of configured Apache domains.
```
  sudo certbot certonly --apache
```
Certbot includes a Chron job that automatically renews your certificate before it expires. Execute the command below to test the automatic renewal with the following command.
```
  sudo certbot renew --dry-run
```

Execute nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/canvas.conf to open the canvas config file again, and modify the SSL lines as follows.

  SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem

Execute the command below to enable the SSL module.
```
  sudo a2enmod ssl
```

Execute the commands below to restart Apache server

  sudo systemctl restart apache2
  sudo systemctl reload apache2

Part 12 - Configure Redis

Execute the commands below to copy the example cache configuration file.

  cd /var/canvas
  sudo cp config/cache_store.yml.example config/cache_store.yml

Execute the command below

  sudo nano /var/canvas/config/cache_store.yml

and set redis_store as cache_store for development, test, and production. The configuration file should resemble the snippet below

  development:
      cache_store: redis_store
  test:
      cache_store: redis_store
  production:
      cache_store: redis_store

Execute the commands below to copy the Redis configuration file.

  cd /var/canvas
  sudo cp config/redis.yml.example config/redis.yml

Execute the command below to add a production section like the entering the server location for Redis
```
  cd /var/canvas
  sudo nano config/redis.yml
```
- and set ensure the file resembles the snippet below
```
  production:
      servers:
          - redis://localhost
```

Final Steps - Protect credentials

Execute the commands below to ensure credentials are readable only by the $USER user.

  cd /var/canvas/config
  sudo chown $USER *.yml
  sudo chmod 400 *.yml