canvas-lms Installation Guide Installation Guide

canvas-lms is a free and open-source learning management. Canvas provides open source learning management system

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 4+ cores

RAM: 8GB minimum

Storage: 50GB for data

Network: HTTP/HTTPS

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 80 (default canvas-lms port)

Various services

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install canvas-lms
sudo dnf install -y canvas_lms

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now canvas-lms

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install canvas-lms
sudo apt install -y canvas_lms

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now canvas-lms

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 80

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Install canvas-lms
sudo pacman -S canvas_lms

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now canvas-lms

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Install canvas-lms
apk add --no-cache canvas_lms

# Enable and start service
rc-update add canvas-lms default
rc-service canvas-lms start

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Install canvas-lms
sudo zypper install -y canvas_lms

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now canvas-lms

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install canvas_lms

# Start service
brew services start canvas_lms

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install canvas_lms

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'canvas-lms_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service canvas-lms start

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install canvas_lms

# Or using Scoop
scoop install canvas_lms

# Verify installation
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/canvas_lms

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
canvas-lms --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable canvas-lms

# Start service
sudo systemctl start canvas-lms

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop canvas-lms

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart canvas-lms

# Check status
sudo systemctl status canvas-lms

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u canvas-lms -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add canvas-lms default

# Start service
rc-service canvas-lms start

# Stop service
rc-service canvas-lms stop

# Restart service
rc-service canvas-lms restart

# Check status
rc-service canvas-lms status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'canvas-lms_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service canvas-lms start

# Stop service
service canvas-lms stop

# Restart service
service canvas-lms restart

# Check status
service canvas-lms status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start canvas_lms
brew services stop canvas_lms
brew services restart canvas_lms

# Check status
brew services list | grep canvas_lms

powershell

# Start service
net start canvas-lms

# Stop service
net stop canvas-lms

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service canvas-lms
Stop-Service canvas-lms
Restart-Service canvas-lms

# Check status
Get-Service canvas-lms

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream canvas_lms_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:80;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name canvas_lms.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name canvas_lms.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/canvas_lms.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/canvas_lms.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://canvas_lms_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName canvas_lms.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://canvas_lms.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName canvas_lms.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/canvas_lms.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/canvas_lms.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:80/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:80/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend canvas_lms_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/canvas_lms.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend canvas_lms_backend

backend canvas_lms_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server canvas_lms1 127.0.0.1:80 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R canvas_lms:canvas_lms /etc/canvas_lms
sudo chmod 750 /etc/canvas_lms

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status canvas-lms

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u canvas-lms -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep canvas_lms)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/canvas_lms"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/canvas_lms-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/canvas_lms /var/lib/canvas_lms

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/canvas_lms-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop canvas-lms

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/canvas_lms/canvas_lms-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start canvas-lms

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u canvas-lms -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/canvas_lms/canvas_lms.log

# Check configuration
canvas-lms --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/canvas_lms

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 80

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 80

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep canvas_lms)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep canvas_lms)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 80

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  canvas_lms:
    image: canvas_lms:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/canvas_lms
      - ./data:/var/lib/canvas_lms
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update canvas_lms

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade canvas_lms

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu canvas_lms

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade canvas_lms

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update canvas_lms

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade canvas_lms

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/canvas_lms-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/canvas_lms

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart canvas-lms

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/canvas_lms

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/canvas_lms -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/canvas_lms

Official Documentation: https://docs.canvas_lms.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/canvas_lms/canvas_lms

Community Forum: https://forum.canvas_lms.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.canvas_lms.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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