Setting up Dreamwidth on Linode

These instructions will help you set up Dreamwidth on Linode hosting, brought to you by exor74.

Ordering

Newark is the best choice for a node location for 2 reasons:

• Guaranteed 64-bit host
• Fast internal-network disk image fetch from exor674

There are two ways to set up Dreamwidth on Linode. This guide will show you how to set up a Linux deployment that will support a Dreamwidth installation.

If you want the easiest install, exor674 has made an image you can use. We also, however, have instructions on how to install Dreamwidth on a Linode system from scratch.

Setting up a Linux Deployment

Click on "Deploy a Linux Distribution":

This will bring you to the Linode Distribution Wizard.

1. Click on "Ubuntu 8.04 LTS 64 Bit"
2. Enter "3096" as the disk image size if you are going to be using the Dreamwidth Image. Or, if you are planning on installing from scratch, you can use whatever space you have left for this disk image.
3. Enter "256" for Swap
4. Enter password, and hit "Create Profile"

Wait for it to complete, and then hit "Create new disk image".

1. Label: "Dreamwidth Image"
2. Size: "1024"
3. Filesystem Type: "ext3"
4. Hit "Create Disk"

1. Click on "Ubuntu 8.04 LTS 64 Bit Profile"
2. Set /dev/xvdc to "Dreamwidth Image", and hit "Save Profile"

Go to the "Network" tab, and click on "Add Private IP".

And take note of the text after "eth0"--this is your node's public IP--and the text under "for manual configuration"--your private network IP.

Getting into the node

Go back to the "Dashboard" tab, hit "Boot", and wait for the task to complete. Open your SSH client and SSH to root@noted eth0 address, and enter your root password:

Tada! You are now logged in and can issue commands.

Install using the Dreamwidth image

We're going to install a canned Dreamwidth image to make things easier on us. You're going to want to be logged in with SSH to the node, as talked about above.

First, install wget:

apt-get install wget

If you are on a Newark node:

use the earlier noted "for manual configuration" line 
wget http://192.168.133.102:6887/Linode-Dreamwidth-Ubuntu.img

If you are *NOT* in Newark:

wget http://ns1.andreanall.com:6887/Linode-Dreamwidth-Ubuntu.img

Now you can copy the image to your deployment:

dd if=Linode-Dreamwidth-Ubuntu.img of=/dev/xvdc

Note: This may take a while.

Now you can delete the old Ubuntu image and switch over to the Dreamwidth image. To delete the old Ubuntu image:

1. Press "Shutdown"(Image 1), and wait for it to finish
2. Ticky the box next to "Ubuntu 8.04 LTS 64 Bit Disk Image (ext3)"(Image 2) and hit "Delete"(Image 3)
3. Click on "Ubuntu 8.04 LTS 64 Bit Profile"(Image 4)

To switch to the Dreamwidth Image, click on your profile's link and:

1. Change /dev/xvda to "Dreamwidth Image"
2. Clear /dev/xvdc
3. Hit "Save Profile"

1. Click on "Dreamwidth Image"
2. Enter "12032" in the "New Size" field
3. Hit "Save Changes"
4. Wait till it completes

Setting up the new disk image

1. Go to the "Settings & Utilities" tab
2. In the "Change a Filesystem's root Password" section
3. Set the "Disk Image" to "Dreamwidth Image"
4. Enter your password
5. Hit "Change Password"
6. Go to the "Dashboard" tab

Now, resign into your node:

1. Hit "Boot"
2. Wait 30 seconds after the job completes.
3. Open your SSH client and SSH to root@noted eth0 address, and enter your root password

Note: you may have to tell SSH that nothing funky is happening

rm /etc/ssh/*key*
dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server
exit

Open your SSH client and SSH to root@noted eth0 address, and enter your root password. Note: you may have to tell SSH that nothing funky is happening.

Set up database and postfix

passwd dw
wget http://ns1.andreanall.com:6887/LDW-patch1.tgz
cd /
tar xzvpf ~/LDW-patch1.tgz
rm ~/LDW-patch1.tgz
mysqladmin -pomg\!dreamwidth password newpassword
echo 'set password = password("othernewpass")' | \
  mysql -udw -pyay\!dreamwidth

You will also want to install postfix:

 dpkg-reconfigure postfix

Choose "Internet Site". Enter your domain information and other information it asks for; the rest of the defaults should be fine.

Note: If you can't enter your domain name in the Mac OS X Terminal because it won't delete the default, go to Preferences->Advanced and click "Delete sends Ctrl-H". Change it back afterwards, or vi will delete before instead of after the cursor. Now you can switch into your Dreamwidth user account:

su - dw

Set up ljconfig.pl

vi etc/ljconfig.pl

1. Use the right domain: Change $DOMAIN to your domain
2. Get the right database password: Search for "yay" (/yay in vi). Change "yay!dreamwidth" to "other_new_password"

Save and quit vi (:wq) and restart apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

1.  ??
2. PROFIT!

Installing from scratch

Don't bother with the image and do Dreamwidth Scratch Installation on the profile you created.