GrowIEP Installation Guide

Overview

This is a semi-technical tutorial that will walk the user through the process of installing GrowIEP on Ubuntu Server 14.04.  GrowIEP is an IEP management solution, based on the illinois state forms, created by DuPage High School District 88. Grow IEP is web-based and can connect directly to Powerschool's SIS system..    

Download

Current Version: 1.11.0

Download GrowIEP War

Download Report Bundle

Installation

In this tutorial we will be installing GrowIEP on Ubuntu Linux 14.04 (Server Edition).  Ubuntu server doesn't come with a graphical user interface by default, so everything will need to be typed by hand in the terminal.  It is recommended, but not required, that you install openssh-server and use a client like putty to access your server, this will allow you to easily copy and paste the commands in red below.  

1. Install Ubuntu 14.04 Server - 64-bit on a server or virtual machine with at least 2GB of memory (4GB or higher recommended).  
   
   ** Do not use the Desktop version, we make use of IP Tables to NAT ports which will not work with Network Manager.  **
   
   
2. Assign a static IP address to the server:
   
   sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
   
   Enter for the following with the addresses specific to your installation:
   
   

   auto lo
   iface lo inet loopback
   
   auto eth0
   iface eth0 inet static
   	address X.X.X.X
   	netmask X.X.X.X 
   	gateway X.X.X.X
   	dns-nameservers X.X.X.X
   	dns-search your.dns.suffix.com
   
   
   

3. Once complete reboot with:
   
   sudo reboot
   
   
4. Check your new ip address with:
   
   ifconfig
   
   
5. Download and install the District 88 Repo Package:
   
   wget http://www.dupage88.net/repo
   sudo dpkg -i repo
   
   
6. Update your system packages with:
   
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   
   
7. Install Oracle Java 8 via a third party repository as well as a ntp server and the mysql database server
   
   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer ntp mysql-server oracle-java8-set-default
   
   Important: You will be prompted three times to enter a password for MySql, each time just hit enter.
   
   
8. Install tomcat version 8 with:
   
   sudo apt-get install apache-tomcat8
   
   
9. Install the District 88 packages with:
   
   sudo apt-get install tomcat-root apache-tomcat-redirect
   
   
10. Now we need to create a few directories and set the proper permissions on them.
    
    sudo mkdir /var/log/grow
    sudo chown tomcat:tomcat /var/log/grow
    
    sudo mkdir -p /opt/growiep/reports
    sudo chown -R tomcat:tomcat /opt/growiep
    
    sudo mkdir /etc/growiep
    sudo chown tomcat:tomcat /etc/growiep
    
    
11. Add a user to the tomcat manager application so we can install GrowIEP.
    
    sudo nano /opt/tomcat8/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml
    
    Add the following right above the "</tomcat-users>" line:
    
    <user username="tomcatman" password="yourpassword" roles="manager-gui" />
    
    
    
12. Now we will adjust the maximum file upload size since GrowIEP is larger than 50MB.
    
    sudo nano /opt/tomcat8/tomcat/webapps/manager/WEB-INF/web.xml
    
    and change the following lines
    
    <max-file-size>524288000</max-file-size>
    <max-request-size>524288000</max-request-size>
    
    to
    
    <max-file-size>104857600</max-file-size>
    <max-request-size>104857600</max-request-size>
    
    and restart tomcat with:
    
    

    sudo service tomcat8 restart

     
13. Now we will create an empty database for GrowIEP
    
    mysql -u root
    create database growiep;
    exit
    
    
14. Now we can finally install GrowIEP by navigating to http://x.x.x.x/manager/html.  You will need to log in with the username/password from the previous step.  In the area titled WAR file to deploy upload the latest version of GrowIEP.war.  
    
    
15. Check that the installation was successful by opening a browser and navigating to:
    
    http://X.X.X.X/ --> This should redirect you to http://www.dupage88.net, this is OK, we will change the redirect in a moment
    
    http://X.X.X.X/GrowIEP/
    
    User: admin
    Password: password
    
    
16. Now we will modify configuration file for redirector or tomcat-root web app.  This application will basically redirect the user to telescreen when they make a request to http://X.X.X.X/.  
    
    sudo nano /etc/redirector.properties
    
    change:
    
    DEFAULT=http://www.dupage88.net
    
    to
    
    DEFAULT=/GrowIEP