3.4.1. Installing Open edX Devstack

This section describes how to install the Open edX developer stack (devstack).

3.4.1.1. Installation Prerequisites for Devstack

Before you install devstack, make sure that you have met the installation prerequisites.

You must also ensure that you have the administrator password for your local computer. The administrator password is needed to configure NFS (network file system) to allow users to access code directories directly from your computer.

3.4.1.1.1. Selecting a Download Option

The Open edX virtual machine box file has a file size of approximately four gigabytes. To download the box file, you can use one of these methods.

  • Install devstack with a direct Vagrant box download. The first time you start the devstack virtual machine, the Vagrant virtual machine management tool downloads the box file.
  • Use a BitTorrent client to download the Vagrant box file before you install devstack. The first time you start the devstack virtual machine, the Vagrant virtual machine management tool uses the previously downloaded box file.

If your internet connection is limited or intermittent, edX recommends that you torrent the box file. However, this step is optional.

3.4.1.1.2. Torrent the Box File (Optional)

  1. Download the torrent file for the latest Open edX release. For the URLs and box names of the Open edX releases, see Open edX Releases Wiki page.

    curl -OJL https://s3.amazonaws.com/edx-static/vagrant-images/eucalyptus-devstack-2016-08-19.box?torrent
    
  2. Use a BitTorrent client to open the .torrent file and download the .box file. For more information about using a BitTorrent client, see the documentation for the client software that you choose.

  3. Find the name of the Vagrant box for the Open edX release that you are installing. To find the Vagrant box name for an Open edX release, see Open edX Releases Wiki page.

  4. Create a Vagrant box using the vagrant box add command. Specify the name of the box and the file path of the box file that you downloaded. The name of the box you create must match the box name for the Open edX release you are installing.

    vagrant box add {BOX-NAME} {BOX-FILE}
    

    Where {BOX-NAME} is the name of the box specified on the Open edX Releases Wiki page, and {BOX-FILE} is the path to the box file you downloaded. For example, the following command creates a box named eucalyptus-devstack-2016-08-19.

    vagrant box add eucalyptus-devstack-2016-08-19 /path/to/box/eucalyptus-devstack-2016-08-19.box
    

3.4.1.2. Install Devstack

To install devstack, follow these steps.

  1. Ensure the nfsd client is running. You can use the nfsd status command.

    sudo nfsd status
    nfsd service is enabled
    nfsd is running (pid 313, 8 threads)
    

    If the nfsd service is not running, use the nfsd start command.

    sudo nfsd start
    Starting the nfsd service
    
  2. Create a devstack directory and navigate to it in the command prompt.

    mkdir devstack
    cd devstack
    
  3. Set the OPENEDX_RELEASE environment variable to the Git tag name of the release of the Open edX platform that you are installing. For information about the latest Open edX releases and the Git tag names for them, see Open edX Releases Wiki page.

    For example, open-release/eucalyptus.1 is the Git tag name for the first Eucalyptus release. The following command sets the value of the OPENEDX_RELEASE environment variable to open-release/eucalyptus.1.

    export OPENEDX_RELEASE="open-release/eucalyptus.1"
    

    If you do not set this environment variable, Vagrant will install the most recent snapshot version of the Open edX platform. The snapshot version is not a supported release.

  4. Download the install script.

    curl -OL https://raw.github.com/edx/configuration/$OPENEDX_RELEASE/util/install/install_stack.sh
    
  5. Run the install script to create and start the devstack virtual machine.

    bash install_stack.sh devstack
    

    Note

    This step downloads the box file if you did not already use Torrent to download and add it.

    If you destroy and recreate the virtual machine, Vagrant reuses the box file and does not download it again. See Vagrant’s documentation on boxes for more information.

    When prompted, enter the administrator password for your local computer.

When you have completed these steps, see Starting Open edX Devstack to begin using devstack.

For help with the devstack installation, see Troubleshooting Devstack Installation.