1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Red Hat Manuals
  4. Software
  5. ENTERPRISE LINUX AS 2.1 -
  6. Installation manual

Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX AS 2.1 Installation Manual

Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1
The Official Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS
Installation Guide

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the ENTERPRISE LINUX AS 2.1 and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX AS 2.1

Summary of Contents for Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX AS 2.1

  • Page 1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1 The Official Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Installation Guide...
  • Page 2 ISBN: N/A Red Hat, Inc. 1801 Varsity Drive Raleigh, NC 27606-2072 USA +1 919 754 3700 (Voice) +1 919 754 3701 (FAX) 888 733 4281 (Voice) P.O. Box 13588 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 USA © 2002 Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat, Inc.
  • Page 3 SSH and Secure Shell are trademarks of SSH Communications Security, Inc. FireWire is a trademark of Apple Computer Corporation. S/390 and zSeries are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners. Printed in Canada, Ireland, and Japan...

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    Contents Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1 Introduction .................. . ix Document Conventions.
  • Page 5 3.14 Boot Loader Installation............53 3.15 GRUB Password ..............57 3.16 Network Configuration ...
  • Page 6 LVS Scheduling Overview ............105 Routing Methods ..............107 Persistence and Firewall Marks .
  • Page 7 Appendix A Additional Resources for LVS Clustering ... 155 Appendix B A Sample /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf File ....157 Appendix C Removing Red Hat Linux ........161 Appendix D Getting Technical Support .
  • Page 8 viii...

  • Page 9: Introduction

    Section 0.1:Document Conventions Introduction Welcome to the Official Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Installation Guide. This guide contains useful information to assist you during the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS. From fundamental concepts such as installation preparation to the step-by-step installation procedure, this book will be a valuable resource as you install Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS.
  • Page 10 Introduction Use Netscape Navigator to browse the Web. [key] A key on the keyboard is shown in this style. For example: To use completion, type in a character and then press the key. Your terminal will [Tab] [Tab] display the list of files in the directory that start with that letter. [key]-[combination] A combination of keystrokes is represented in this way.
  • Page 11 Section 0.1:Document Conventions $ ls Desktop axhome logs paulwesterberg.gif Mail backupfiles mail reports The output returned in response to the command (in this case, the contents of the directory) is shown in this style. prompt A prompt, which is a computer’s way of signifying that it is ready for you to input something, will be shown in this style.

  • Page 12: How To Use This Manual

    Hat Enterprise Linux AS to begin the installation process. Refer to the Red Hat Frequently Asked Questions for answers to questions and problems that may occur before, during, or after the installation. You will find the FAQ online at: http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/faqs/rhl_general_faq/...
  • Page 13 If you have a support question (for example, if you need help configuring X, or if you are not sure how to partition your hard drive[s]), please register your product at http://www.redhat.com/apps/activate/ and use the online support system for those type of requests.
  • Page 14 Introduction...

  • Page 15: Part I Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux As

    Part I Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS...

  • Page 17: Chapter 1 Steps To Get You Started

    If your particular product did not include all of the printed Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS manuals, you can find them online or on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Documentation CD included with your official Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS product. To find the manuals in both HTML and PDF formats online, go to http://www.redhat.com/docs.

  • Page 18: Is Your Hardware Compatible

    Registration offers many useful services, such as installation support, access to Red Hat Network, and more. To register your product, go to http://www.redhat.com/apps/activate/. You will find your Product ID on the Registration Information card in your Official Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS boxed set. Once registered, you will have access to all the extras that Red Hat provides to its registered users.

  • Page 19: Can You Install Using The Cd-Rom

    Section 1.4:Can You Install Using the CD-ROM? • You must have one or more partitions that may be deleted, thereby freeing up enough disk space to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS. 1.3.1 Installation Disk Space Requirements Note These recommendations are based on an installation that only installs one language (such as English).

  • Page 20: Usb Floppies

    You may need to create a diskette from an image file; for example, you may need to use updated diskette images obtained from the Red Hat Linux errata page ( http://www.redhat.com/apps/sup- port/updates.html) or you may need to create a boot disk.
  • Page 21 Section 1.4:Can You Install Using the CD-ROM? An image file contains an exact copy (or image) of a diskette’s contents. Since a diskette contains filesystem information in addition to the data contained in files, the image file is not usable until it has been written to a diskette.

  • Page 22: Which Installation Class Is Best For You

    Chapter 1:Steps to Get You Started Linux AS CD-ROM, change to the directory containing the desired image file, and use the following command (changing the name of the image file and diskette device as appropriate): # dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k To make another diskette, label that diskette, and run dd again, specifying the appropriate image file.
  • Page 23 Section 1.5:Which Installation Class is Best For You? 1.5.1 Advanced Server Installation An Advanced Server installation is most appropriate for server installations capable of high levels of availablity through load balancing and failover capacities. Below are the minimum recommended disk space requirements for an Advanced Server installation where only one language (such as English) will be installed.
  • Page 24 Chapter 1:Steps to Get You Started • The size of the swap partition is determined by the amount of RAM in your system and the amount of space available on your hard drive. If you have 128 MB of RAM, then the swap partition created can be 128 MB –...
  • Page 25 Section 1.5:Which Installation Class is Best For You? Note The partitions represented below were created on a system with 9 GB of hard drive space and 512 MB of RAM. Depending on the amount of hard drive space and memory you have available, these values may differ slightly. •...
  • Page 26 Chapter 1:Steps to Get You Started...

  • Page 27: Chapter 2 System Requirements Table

    System Requirements Table 2 System Requirements Table The most recent list of supported hardware can be found at http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/. Refer to the Red Hat Cluster Manager Installation and Administration Guide for specific details on hardware installation and supplemental hardware information.

  • Page 28: System Requirements Table

    Chapter 2:System Requirements Table mouse: type, protocol, and number of buttons; ex: generic 3 button PS/2 mouse, MouseMan 2 button serial mouse monitor: make, model, and manufacturer specifications; ex: Optiquest Q53, ViewSonic G773 video card: make, model number and size of VRAM;...
  • Page 29 System Requirements Table domain name: the name given to your organization; ex: Red Hat’s would be redhat.com hostname: the name of your computer; your personal choice of names; ex: cookie, southpark If any of these networking requirements or terms are unfamiliar to you, contact your network admin-...
  • Page 30 Chapter 2:System Requirements Table...

  • Page 31: Chapter 3 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux As

    Section 3.1:The Installation Program User Interface 3 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS This chapter explains how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS from the CD-ROM using the graph- ical, mouse-based installation program. The following topics are discussed: • Getting familiar with the installation program’s user interface •...

  • Page 32: Starting The Installation Program

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Console Keystrokes Contents [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F5] other messages [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F7] X graphical display Generally, there is no reason to leave the default console (virtual console #7) unless you are attempting to diagnose installation problems. 3.2 Starting the Installation Program To start the installation, you must first boot the installation program.
  • Page 33 Section 3.2:Starting the Installation Program To change your BIOS settings, watch the instructions provided on your dis- play when your computer first begins to boot. Often you will see a line of text telling you to press the [Del] [F1] key to enter the BIOS settings.
  • Page 34 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS If you are having trouble booting into the graphical installation program, you can try to boot using the no framebuffer (nofb) boot option. At the boot command, enter the following: boot: nofb This option allows you to use the graphical installation program without using a framebuffer. Enter expert mode using the following boot command: boot: linux expert If you need to perform the installation in serial mode, type the following command:...

  • Page 35: Selecting An Installation Method

    Section 3.4:Beginning the Installation If your computer cannot boot directly from CD-ROM (and you cannot use a DOS-based autoboot), you will have to use a boot diskette to get things started. 3.3 Selecting an Installation Method What type of installation method do you wish to use? The following installation methods are available: CD-ROM If you have a CD-ROM drive and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS CD-ROM, you can use this method.
  • Page 36 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.4.1 Installing from CD-ROM To install Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS from a CD-ROM, choose the option from the boot CD-ROM loader screen and select . When prompted, insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS CD into your CD-ROM drive (if you did not boot from the CD-ROM).

  • Page 37: Language Selection

    Section 3.5:Language Selection What If the IDE CD-ROM Was Not Found? If you have an IDE (ATAPI) CD-ROM, but the installation program fails to find your IDE (ATAPI) CD-ROM and asks you what type of CD-ROM drive you have, try the following boot command. Restart the installation, and at the boot: prompt enter linux hd X =cdrom.

  • Page 38: Keyboard Configuration

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Figure 3–1 Language Selection 3.6 Keyboard Configuration Choose the keyboard model that best fits your system (see Figure 3–2, Keyboard Configuration). If you cannot find an exact match, choose the best match for your keyboard type (for example, Generic Generic 101-key PC Next, choose the correct layout type for your keyboard (for example, U.S.
  • Page 39 Section 3.6:Keyboard Configuration To test your keyboard configuration, use the blank text field at the bottom of the screen to enter text. Once you have made the appropriate selections, click to continue. Next Figure 3–2 Keyboard Configuration To change your keyboard type after you have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, log in as root and use the /usr/sbin/kbdconfig command.

  • Page 40: Mouse Configuration

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS To re-enable dead keys (assuming you chose to disable them during the in- stallation), you will also need to comment out the line enabling dead keys in the XF86Config-4 file (or, it you are using XFree86 version 3, the XF86Config file) in /etc/X11.
  • Page 41 Section 3.7:Mouse Configuration Figure 3–3 Mouse Configuration If you have a PS/2 or a bus mouse, you do not need to pick a port and device. If you have a serial mouse, you should choose the correct port and device that your serial mouse is on. checkbox allows you to use a two-button mouse as if it had three buttons.

  • Page 42: Welcome To Red Hat Linux

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.8 Welcome to Red Hat Linux screen does not prompt you for any input. Please read over the help text in the left panel Welcome for additional instructions and information on where to register your Official Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS product.

  • Page 43: Disk Partitioning Setup

    Section 3.10:Disk Partitioning Setup 3.10 Disk Partitioning Setup Partitioning allows you to divide your hard drive into isolated sections, where each section behaves as its own hard drive. Partitioning is particularly useful if you run more than one operating system. If you are not sure how you want your system to be partitioned, read Appendix F, An Introduction to Disk Partitions for more information.

  • Page 44: Automatic Partitioning

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.11 Automatic Partitioning Figure 3–6 Automatic Partitioning Automatic partitioning allows you to have some control concerning what data is removed (if any) from your system. Your options are: • Remove all Linux partitions on this system —...

  • Page 45: Partitioning Your System

    Section 3.12:Partitioning Your System CAUTION If you select this option, all data on the selected hard drive(s) will be removed by the installation program. Do not select this option if you have information that you want to keep on the hard drive(s) where you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS.
  • Page 46 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS , please skip ahead to Section 3.13, Partitioning with fdisk . If you chose Manually partition with fdisk At this point, you must tell the installation program where to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS. This is done by defining mount points for one or more disk partitions in which Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS will be installed.
  • Page 47 Section 3.12:Partitioning Your System 3.12.1 Graphical Display of Hard Drive(s) Disk Druid offers a graphical representation of your hard drive(s). Using your mouse, click once to highlight a particular field in the graphical display. Double-click to edit an existing partition or to create a partition out of existing free space. Above the display, you will see the name (such as /dev/hda), the (which shows the hard...
  • Page 48 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.12.3 Partition Fields Above the partition hierarchy are labels which present information about the partitions you are creat- ing. The labels are defined as follows: • : This field displays the partition’s device name. Device •...
  • Page 49 Section 3.12:Partitioning Your System CAUTION If your hard drive is more than 1024 cylinders (and your system was man- ufactured more than two years ago), you may need to create a /boot partition if you want the / (root) partition to use all of the remaining space on your hard drive.
  • Page 50 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Figure 3–8 Creating a New Partition • : Enter the partition’s mount point. For example, if this partition should be the root Mount Point partition, enter /; enter /boot for the /boot partition, and so on. You can also use the pulldown menu to choose the correct mount point for your partition.

  • Page 51: Swap Partition

    Section 3.12:Partitioning Your System If you choose , you must give size constraints in the field to the right of Fill all space up to (MB) this option. This allows you to keep a certain amount of space free on your hard drive for future use.

  • Page 52: Partitioning With Fdisk

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS • — The VFAT filesystem is a Linux filesystem that is compatible with Windows 95/NT long vfat filenames on the FAT filesystem. 3.12.6 Editing Partitions To edit a partition, select the button or double-click on the existing partition. Edit Note If the partition already exists on your hard disk, you will only be able to...

  • Page 53: Boot Loader Installation

    Section 3.14:Boot Loader Installation If you have chosen to use fdisk, the next screen will prompt you to select a drive to partition using fdisk. Once you have chosen which drive to partition, you will be presented with the fdisk command screen.
  • Page 54 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Figure 3–9 Boot Loader Installation If you chose to install a boot loader (GRUB or LILO), you must determine where it will be installed. You may install your boot loader in one of two places: The master boot record (MBR) The recommended place to install a boot loader, unless the MBR already starts another operating system loader, such as System Commander or OS/2’s Boot Manager.
  • Page 55 Section 3.14:Boot Loader Installation CAUTION If you have a RAID card, be aware that some BIOSes do not support booting from the RAID card. In cases such as these, the boot loader should not be installed on the MBR of the RAID array. Rather, the boot loader should be installed on the MBR of the same drive as the /boot partition was created.
  • Page 56 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS • Using the boot disk you have created, type linux rescue at the boot: prompt. You then pick an installation method and choose a valid installation tree to load from. For more information regarding rescue mode, refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide. 3.14.2 Alternative Boot Loaders If you do not wish to use GRUB or LILO to boot your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS system, you have several alternatives:...

  • Page 57: Grub Password

    Section 3.15:GRUB Password The two entries in lilo.conf will be linux and linux-up. The linux entry will boot by default. However, if you have trouble with the SMP kernel, you can elect to boot the linux-up entry instead. You will retain all the functionality as before, but you will only be operating with a single processor.

  • Page 58: Network Configuration

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.16 Network Configuration If you do not have a network device, you will not see this screen. Skip ahead to Section 3.17, Firewall Configuration. If you have a network device and you have not already configured your networking (such as booting from a network boot disk you created and entering in your network information as prompted), you now have the opportunity (as shown in Figure 3–11, Network Configuration) to do so.

  • Page 59: Firewall Configuration

    Section 3.17:Firewall Configuration Figure 3–11 Network Configuration Note Do not use the numbers as seen in this sample configuration. These values will not work for your own network configuration. If you are not sure what values to enter, contact your network administrator for assistance. Even if your computer is not part of a network, you can enter a hostname for your system.
  • Page 60 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS users on the network can access. A properly configured firewall can greatly increase the security of your system. Figure 3–12 Firewall Configuration Choose the appropriate security level for your system. High If you choose High , your system will not accept connections (other than the default settings) that are not explicitly defined by you.
  • Page 61 Section 3.17:Firewall Configuration If you are connecting your system to the Internet, but do not plan to run a server, this is the safest choice. If additional services are needed, you can choose to allow specific services Customize through the firewall. Medium If you choose , your firewall will not allow remote machines to have access to certain...
  • Page 62 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS If you allow incoming DHCP queries and replies, you allow any network interface that uses DHCP to determine its IP address. DHCP is normally enabled. If DHCP is not enabled, your computer can no longer get an IP address. Secure SHell (SSH) is a suite of tools for logging into and executing commands on a remote machine.

  • Page 63: Language Support Selection

    Section 3.18:Language Support Selection 3.18 Language Support Selection Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS can install and support multiple languages for use on your system. You must select a language to use as the default language. The default language will be used on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS system once installation is complete.

  • Page 64: Time Zone Configuration

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.19 Time Zone Configuration You can set your time zone by selecting your computer’s physical location or by specifying your time zone’s offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Notice the two tabs at the top of the screen (see Figure 3–14, Configuring the Time Zone). The first tab allows you to configure your time zone by your location.

  • Page 65: Account Configuration

    Section 3.20:Account Configuration If you wish to change your time zone configuration after you have booted your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS system, become root and use the /usr/sbin/timeconfig command. 3.20 Account Configuration screen allows you to set your root password. Additionally, you can set up Account Configuration user accounts for you to log in to once the installation is complete (see Figure 3–15, Account Creation).
  • Page 66 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Use the root account only for system administration. Create a non-root account for your general use and su - to root when you need to fix something quickly. These basic rules will minimize the chances of a typo or an incorrect command doing damage to your system.

  • Page 67: Package Group Selection

    Section 3.21:Package Group Selection 3.20.2 Setting Up User Accounts If you choose to create a user account now, you will have an account to log in to once the installation has completed. This allows you to safely and easily log into your computer without having to be root to create your user account.
  • Page 68 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS You can select components, which group packages together according to function (for example, , or ), individual packages, or a combination of the two. GNOME Software Development To select a component, click on the checkbox beside it (see Figure 3–17, Package Group Selection). Figure 3–17 Package Group Selection Select each component you wish to install.
  • Page 69 Section 3.21:Package Group Selection Figure 3–18 Selecting Individual Packages You can choose to view the individual packages in allows you to see tree view flat view Tree view the packages grouped by application type. When you expand this list and pick one group, the list of packages in that group appears in the panel on the right.
  • Page 70 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Note Some packages (such as the kernel and certain libraries) are required for ev- ery Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS system and are not available to select or deselect. These base packages are selected by default. 3.21.2 A Brief Introduction to GNOME GNOME is a powerful graphics-driven desktop environment.

  • Page 71: Unresolved Dependencies

    Section 3.21:Package Group Selection Refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide to learn more about GNOME. 3.21.3 A Brief Introduction to KDE KDE provides a complete desktop environment, including a file manager, a window manager, an in- tegrated help system, a configuration system, numerous tools and utilities, and an ever-increasing number of applications.

  • Page 72: Configuration - Video Card

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Figure 3–20 Unresolved Dependencies 3.22 X Configuration — Video Card The first part of X configuration deals with video card configuration. 3.22.1 Video Card Configuration Xconfigurator will now present a list of video cards for you to choose from. If you decided to install the X Window System packages, you now have the opportunity to configure an X server for your system.

  • Page 73: Preparing To Install

    Section 3.23:Preparing to Install Figure 3–21 Video Card Setup Next, enter the amount of video memory installed on your video card. If you are not sure, please consult the documentation accompanying your video card. You will not damage your video card by choosing more memory than is available, but the X server may not start correctly if you do.

  • Page 74: Installing Packages

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS WARNING If, for some reason, you would rather not continue with the installation process, this is your last opportunity to safely cancel the process and re- boot your machine. Once you press the Next button, partitions will be written and packages will be installed.

  • Page 75: Boot Disk Creation

    Section 3.26:X Configuration — Monitor and Customization 3.25 Boot Disk Creation If you chose to create a boot disk, you should now insert a blank, formatted diskette into your diskette drive (see Figure 3–23, Creating Your Boot Disk). It is highly recommended that you create a boot disk. If your system were not able to boot properly using GRUB or LILO, a boot disk would enable you to properly boot your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS system.
  • Page 76 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.26.1 Configuring Your Monitor If you chose to skip X configuration, go to Section 3.27, Installation Complete. Xconfigurator, the X Window System configuration tool, presents a list of monitors for you to choose from.
  • Page 77 Section 3.26:X Configuration — Monitor and Customization The horizontal and vertical ranges that Xconfigurator suggests for your monitor are also displayed on this screen. If you decide that the values you have selected are incorrect, you can click the Restore original values button to return to the suggested settings.

  • Page 78: Installation Complete

    Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Figure 3–25 X Customization 3.27 Installation Complete Congratulations! Your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1 installation is now complete! The installation program will prompt you to prepare your system for reboot. Do not forget to remove any diskette in the diskette drive or CD in the CD-ROM drive.
  • Page 79 Section 3.27:Installation Complete system. You should see one or more screens of messages scroll by. Eventually, you should see a login: prompt or a GUI login screen (if you installed the X Window System and chose to start X automatically). If you are not sure what to do next, we suggest you begin with the Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide (available online at http://www.red- hat.com/docs if not included as part of your product), which covers topics...
  • Page 80 Chapter 3:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS...

  • Page 81: Chapter 4 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux As Via Text Mode

    Please review the hardware table at Table 2–1, System Requirements Table. The most recent list of supported hardware can be found at http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/. You should check your hardware against this list before proceeding.
  • Page 82 Chapter 4:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS via Text Mode Note You can perform a text mode installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1 by following the instructions in this chapter. However, if you are installing from a CD-ROM, you might prefer to use the graphical installation mode, which is easy to use and provides a flexible, custom installation mode.

  • Page 83: The Installation Program User Interface

    10.0.2.1 might be the address of a name server. • Domain name — the name your organization uses; for example, Red Hat has a domain name of redhat.com. • Hostname — the name assigned to your individual system; for example, a computer might be named pooh.
  • Page 84 Chapter 4:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS via Text Mode Figure 4–1 Installation Program Widgets as seen in Configure TCP/IP Figure 4–2 Installation Program Widgets as seen in Disk Druid Here is a list of the most important widgets shown in Figure 4–1, Installation Program Widgets as , and Figure 4–2, Installation Program Widgets as seen in Disk Druid : seen in Configure TCP/IP...
  • Page 85 Section 4.2:The Installation Program User Interface you can only interact with the window on top. When you are finished in that window, it will disappear, allowing you to continue working in the window underneath. • Text Input — text input lines are regions where you can enter information required by the instal- lation program.

  • Page 86: Starting The Installation Program

    Chapter 4:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS via Text Mode CAUTION Unless a dialog box is waiting for your input, do not press any keys during the installation process (doing so may result in unpredictable behavior). 4.3 Starting the Installation Program The following methods can be used to start the installation: •...

  • Page 87: Installation Cross-Reference Table

    Section 4.4:Installation Cross-Reference Table Note The initial boot messages will not contain any references to SCSI or network cards. This is normal; these devices are supported by modules that are loaded during the installation process. Note that the command to start a serial installation has changed. If you must perform the installation in serial mode, use the following command: boot: linux text console= <device>...

  • Page 88: Time Zone

    Chapter 4:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS via Text Mode Table 4–1 Installation Cross-reference Table Text Mode Screen Text Mode Reference Point Language Screen Section 3.5, Language Selection Keyboard Screen Section 3.6, Keyboard Configuration — Layout Installation Method Section 3.3, Selecting an Installation Method Installing from a Hard Disk Section 4.5, Installing from a Hard Drive Installing over a Network...

  • Page 89: Installing From A Hard Drive

    Section 4.5:Installing from a Hard Drive Text Mode Screen Text Mode Reference Point Package Installation (Group, Individual, Section 3.21, Package Group Selection Dependencies) Video Card Configuration Section 3.26, X Configuration — Monitor and Customization Package Installation Section 3.23, Preparing to Install and Section 3.24, Installing Packages Boot Disk Creation Section 3.25, Boot Disk Creation...

  • Page 90: Installing Over A Network

    . If the ISO images are not in the root directory of that partition, enter the Directory holding images path to the ISO images (for example, if the ISO images are in /test/new/RedHat, you would enter /test/new). After you have identified the disk partition, you will next see the dialog.
  • Page 91 – umount /mnt/cdrom • Insert CD-ROM 2 and execute the following commands: – mount /mnt/cdrom – cp -var /mnt/cdrom/RedHat /location/of/disk/space Where /location/of/disk/space is a directory you create such as /export/2.1/ . – umount /mnt/cdrom • Next, make /location/of/disk/space accessible to the installation program (for example, exporting it for NFS installations).
  • Page 92 If the NFS server is exporting a mirror of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS installation tree, enter the directory which contains the RedHat directory. (If you do not know this directory path, ask your system administrator.) For example, if your NFS server contains the directory /mirrors/red- hat/i386/RedHat, enter /mirrors/redhat/i386.
  • Page 93 Enter the name or IP address of the HTTP site you are installing from, and the name of the directory there containing the RedHat installation files for your architecture. For example, if the HTTP site contains the directory /mirrors/redhat/i386/RedHat, enter /mirrors/redhat/i386.
  • Page 94 Chapter 4:Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS via Text Mode...

  • Page 95: Part Ii Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux As

    Part II Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS...

  • Page 97: Chapter 5 Introduction

    Section 5.1:Technology Overview 5 Introduction Using Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1, it is possible to create highly available server clustering solutions able to withstand many common hardware and software failures with little or no interruption of critical services. In addition, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, by allowing multiple computers to work together in offering these critical services, can help system administrators plan and execute system maintenance and upgrades without any service interruption.

  • Page 98: Basic Configurations

    Chapter 5:Introduction Note Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS’s clustering technology is not synonymous with fault tolerance. Fault tolerant systems use highly specialized and of- ten very expensive hardware to implement a fully redundant environment in which services can run uninterrupted by hardware failures. However, fault tolerant systems do not account for operator and software errors which Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS can address through service re- dundancy.
  • Page 99 Section 5.2:Basic Configurations Having access to the same data source helps Red Hat Cluster Manager more effectively handle failover situations because after a failure occurs the functional node’s newly activated services have access to the exact same data used by the failed node. However, to protect the integrity of data on shared devices, services within a high-availability cluster are only allowed to run on one node at any given time.
  • Page 100 Chapter 5:Introduction...

  • Page 101: Chapter 6 Linux Virtual Server Overview

    Section 6.1:A Basic LVS Configuration 6 Linux Virtual Server Overview As mentioned in the introduction, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS clustering uses a Linux machine called the active router to send requests from the Internet to a pool of servers. To accomplish this, LVS clusters consist of two basic machine classifications —...
  • Page 102 Chapter 6:Linux Virtual Server Overview Figure 6–1 A Basic LVS Configuration Service requests arriving at the LVS cluster are addressed to a virtual IP address or VIP. This is a publicly-advertised address the administrator of the site associates with a fully-qualified domain name, such as www.example.com, and which is assigned to one or more virtual server .
  • Page 103 Section 6.1:A Basic LVS Configuration Alternatively, each virtual server can be associated with a separate device per service. For example, HTTP traffic can be handled on eth0:1, and FTP traffic can be handled on eth0:2. Only one LVS router is active at a time. The role of the active router is to redirect service requests from virtual IP addresses to the real servers.

  • Page 104: A Three Tiered Lvs Configuration

    Chapter 6:Linux Virtual Server Overview to all of the servers simultaneously. Also, the cluster administrator can use programs such as rsync to replicate changed data across all nodes at a set interval. However, this type of data synchronization does not work well if the cluster is extremely busy with users uploading files or issuing database transactions.

  • Page 105: Lvs Scheduling Overview

    Section 6.3:LVS Scheduling Overview This configuration is ideal for busy FTP servers, where accessible data is stored on a central, highly available server and accessed by each real server via an NFS exported directory or Samba share. This topography is also great for websites that access a central, highly available database for transactions. And using an active-active configuration with Red Hat Cluster Manager, the administrator can con- figure one high-availability cluster to serve both of these roles simultaneously.
  • Page 106 Chapter 6:Linux Virtual Server Overview Distributes each request sequentially around the pool of real servers. Using this algorithm, all the real servers are treated as equals without regard to capacity or load. This scheduling model resembles round-robin DNS but is more granular due to the fact that it is network-connection based and not host-based.

  • Page 107: Routing Methods

    Section 6.4:Routing Methods of connections. If all the nodes for the destination IP are above capacity, it replicates a new server for that destination IP address by adding the real server with the least connections from the overall pool of real servers to the subset of real servers for that destination IP. The most loaded node is then dropped from the real server subset to prevent over-replication.
  • Page 108 Chapter 6:Linux Virtual Server Overview 6.4.1 NAT Routing Figure 6–3, An LVS Cluster Implemented with NAT Routing, illustrates an LVS cluster utilizing NAT routing to move requests between the Internet and a private network. Figure 6–3 An LVS Cluster Implemented with NAT Routing In the example, there are two NICs in the LVS router.

  • Page 109: Persistence And Firewall Marks

    Section 6.5:Persistence and Firewall Marks backup LVS router simultaneously. All of the cluster’s real servers located on the private network use the floating IP for the NAT router as their default route to communicate with the active LVS router so that their ability to respond to requests from the Internet never goes down.

  • Page 110: Lvs Cluster - A Block Diagram

    Chapter 6:Linux Virtual Server Overview 6.5.2 Firewall Marks Firewall marks are an easy and efficient way to a group ports used for a protocol or group of related protocols. For instance, if one is running an e-commerce site, firewall marks can be used to bundle HTTP connections on port 80 and secure, HTTPS connections on port 443.
  • Page 111 Section 6.6:LVS Cluster — A Block Diagram Figure 6–4 Components of a Running LVS Cluster The pulse daemon is runs on both the active and passive LVS routers. On the backup router, pulse sends a heartbeat to the public interface of the active router to make sure the active router is still functioning correctly.
  • Page 112 Chapter 6:Linux Virtual Server Overview If the backup router does not receive a response from the active router, it will initiate failover by calling send_arp to reassign all virtual IP addresses to the NIC hardware addresses (MAC address) of the backup node, sends a command to the active router via both the public and private network interfaces to shut down the lvs daemon on the active router, and starts the lvs daemon on the backup node to accept requests for the configured virtual servers.
  • Page 113 Section 6.6:LVS Cluster — A Block Diagram Piranha Configuration Tool The Web-based tool for monitoring, configuring, and administering an LVS cluster. Normally this is the tool used to maintain /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf. send_arp This program sends out ARP broadcasts when the floating IP address changes from one node to an- other during failover.
  • Page 114 Chapter 6:Linux Virtual Server Overview...

  • Page 115: Chapter 7 Initial Configuration

    Section 7.1:Configuring Services on the LVS Routers 7 Initial Configuration After installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, you must take some basic steps to set up both the LVS routers and the real servers in the LVS cluster. This chapter reviews these basic steps. Note The LVS router node that will become the active node once the cluster is started is also referred to as the primary node.

  • Page 116: Setting A Password For The Piranha Configuration Tool

    Chapter 7:Initial Configuration Important If both ipchains and iptables are selected to activate on a particu- lar runlevel, ipchains will take precedence. Although iptables is the default network packet filtering mechanism under the 2.4 kernel, it cannot be used concurrently with ipchains. At boot time, the kernel activates ipchains then attempts to activate iptables.

  • Page 117: Starting The Piranha Configuration Tool Service

    Section 7.3:Starting the Piranha Configuration Tool Service WARNING For a password to be more secure, it should not contain proper nouns, commonly used acronyms, or words in a dictionary from any language. Also, do not leave the password in clear text anywhere on the system. If the password is changed during an active Piranha Configuration Tool session, the administrator will be prompted to provide the new password.

  • Page 118: Limiting Access To The Piranha Configuration Tool

    Chapter 7:Initial Configuration 7.3.1 Configuring the Piranha Configuration Tool Web Server Port The Piranha Configuration Tool runs on port 3636 by default. To change this port number, change the line Port 3636 in Section 2 of the piranha-gui Web server configuration file /etc/sysconfig/ha/conf/httpd.conf.

  • Page 119: Turning On Packet Forwarding

    Section 7.5:Turning on Packet Forwarding You can also allow specific hosts or subnets as in this example: Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 192.168.1.100 Allow from 172.16.57 In the above example, only Web browsers from the machine with the IP address of 192.168.1.100 and machines on the 172.16.57/24 network can access the Piranha Configuration Tool.

  • Page 120: Configuring Services On The Real Servers

    Chapter 7:Initial Configuration 7.6 Configuring Services on the Real Servers If the real servers in the cluster are Red Hat Linux systems, set the appropriate the server daemons to activate at boot time. These daemons can include httpd for Web services or xinetd for FTP or telnet services.

  • Page 121: Chapter 8 Setting Up A Red Hat Enterprise Linux As Lvs Cluster

    Section 8.1:The NAT LVS Cluster 8 Setting Up a Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS Cluster A Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS cluster consists of two basic groups: the LVS routers and the real servers. To prevent a single point of failure, each groups should contain at least two member systems. The LVS router group should consist of two identical or very similar systems running Red Hat Enter- prise Linux AS.
  • Page 122 After physically connecting together the cluster hardware, configure the network interfaces on the primary and backup LVS routers. This can be done using a graphical application such as redhat-con- fig-network or by editing the network scripts manually. For more information about adding devices using redhat-config-network, see the chapter titled Network Configuration in the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.

  • Page 123: Configuring Network Interfaces For A Nat Lvs Cluster

    Section 8.2:Configuring Network Interfaces for a NAT LVS Cluster WARNING Do not use the ifup scripts to bring up any floating IP addresses you may configure using Piranha Configuration Tool (eth0:1 or eth1:1). Use the service command to start pulse instead (see Section 9.8, Starting the Cluster for details).
  • Page 124 Chapter 8:Setting Up a Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS Cluster The /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 for the private NAT interface on the LVS router could look something like this: DEVICE=eth1 BOOTPROTO=static ONBOOT=yes IPADDR=10.11.12.9 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 In this example, the VIP for the LVS router’s public interface will be 192.168.26.10 and the VIP for the NAT or private interface will be 10.11.12.10.
  • Page 125 Section 8.2:Configuring Network Interfaces for a NAT LVS Cluster Note Once the network interfaces are up on the real servers, the machines will be unable to ping or connect in other ways to the public network. This is normal. You will, however, be able to ping the real IP for the LVS router’s private interface, in this case 10.11.12.8.

  • Page 126: Multi-Port Services And Lvs Clustering

    Chapter 8:Setting Up a Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS Cluster Once forwarding is enabled on the LVS routers and the real servers are set up and have the clustered services running, use the Piranha Configuration Tool to configure the cluster as shown in Chapter 9, Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool .
  • Page 127 Section 8.3:Multi-port Services and LVS Clustering Important In the explanation below, both iptables and ipchains commands are used to illustrate marking packets. However, administrators should be aware that iptables is the preferred method for filtering network packets, be- cause it is a more secure, robust, and flexible technology. Also, in future versions of Red Hat Linux ipchains may no longer be supported.
  • Page 128 Chapter 8:Setting Up a Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS Cluster Important Although iptables is the default network packet filtering mechanism un- der the 2.4 kernel, it cannot be used concurrently with ipchains. If you attempt to /sbin/modprobe ip_tables and the ipchains module is already loaded, the kernel will issue an error and fail to start iptables.

  • Page 129: Ftp In An Lvs Cluster

    Section 8.4:FTP In an LVS Cluster WARNING The commands above will take effect immediately, but do not persist through a reboot of the system. To ensure network packet filter settings are restored upon reboot, refer to Section 8.5, Saving Network Packet Filter Settings 8.4 FTP In an LVS Cluster File Transport Protocol (FTP) is an old and complex multi-port protocol that presents a distinct set of...
  • Page 130 Chapter 8:Setting Up a Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS Cluster 2. The FTP client/server relationship can potentially open a large number of ports that the Piranha Configuration Tool and IPVS do not know about. 8.4.2 How This Affects LVS Routing IPVS packet forwarding only allows connections in and out of the cluster based on it recognizing its port number or its firewall mark.
  • Page 131 Section 8.4:FTP In an LVS Cluster In the above network packet filter commands, n.n.n should be replaced with the first three values for the floating IP for the NAT interface’s internal network interface defined in the GLOBAL SETTINGS panel of Piranha Configuration Tool. These commands allow the LVS router to accept outgoing connections from the real servers that IPVS does not know about.

  • Page 132: Saving Network Packet Filter Settings

    Chapter 8:Setting Up a Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS LVS Cluster WARNING The commands above take effect immediately, but do not persist through a reboot of the system. To ensure network packet filter settings are re- stored after a reboot, see Section 8.5, Saving Network Packet Filter Set- tings Finally, you will need to be sure the appropriate service is set to activate on the proper runlevels.

  • Page 133: Chapter 9 Configuring The Lvs Routers With Piranha Configuration Tool

    Section 9.2:Logging Into the Piranha Configuration Tool 9 Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool The Piranha Configuration Tool provides a structured approach to creating the necessary configura- tion file for a Piranha cluster — /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf. This chapter describes the basic operation of the Piranha Configuration Tool and how to activate the cluster once configuration is complete.

  • Page 134: Control/Monitoring

    Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool Figure 9–1 The Welcome Panel Click on the button and enter piranha for the and the administrative password Login Username you created in the Password field. The Piranha Configuration Tool is made of four main screens or panels. In addition, the Virtual panel contains four subsections.
  • Page 135 Section 9.3: CONTROL/MONITORING Figure 9–2 The CONTROL/MONITORING Panel Auto update The status display on this page can be updated automatically at a user configurable interval. To enable this feature, click on the Auto update checkbox and set the desired update frequency in text box (the default value is 10 seconds).

  • Page 136: Global Settings

    Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool GLOBAL SETTINGS panel is where the cluster administrator defines the networking details for GLOBAL SETTINGS the primary LVS router’s public and private network interfaces. Figure 9–3 The GLOBAL SETTINGS Panel The top half of this panel sets up the primary LVS router’s public and private network interfaces. These are the interfaces already configured in Section 8.2, Configuring Network Interfaces for a NAT LVS Cluster.
  • Page 137 Section 9.4: GLOBAL SETTINGS The primary LVS router’s private IP can be configured on any interface that accepts TCP/IP, whether it be an Ethernet adapter or a serial port. LVS type Click the button to select LVS clustering. WARNING Only clustering is supported by Red Hat.

  • Page 138: Redundancy

    Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool WARNING After completing this page, click the ACCEPT button to make sure you do not lose any changes when selecting a new panel. REDUNDANCY panel allows you to configure of the backup LVS router node and set various REDUNDANCY heartbeat monitoring options.
  • Page 139 Section 9.5: REDUNDANCY Figure 9–4 The REDUNDANCY Panel Redundant server public IP Enter the public real IP address for the backup LVS router node. Redundant server private IP Enter the backup node’s private real IP address in this text field. If you do not see the field called , go back to the Redundant server private IP...

  • Page 140: Virtual Servers

    Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool Heartbeat runs on port This field sets the port at which the heartbeat communicates with the primary LVS node. The default is set to 539 if this field is left blank. WARNING Remember to click the button after making any changes in this...
  • Page 141 Section 9.6: VIRTUAL SERVERS Each server displayed in the panel can be configured on subsequent screens or VIRTUAL SERVERS subsections. To add a service, click the button. To remove a service, select it by clicking the radio button next to the virtual server and click the button.
  • Page 142 Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool Name Enter a descriptive name to identify the virtual server. This name is not the hostname for the machine, so make it descriptive and easily identifiable. You can even reference the protocol used by the virtual server, such as HTTP.
  • Page 143 Section 9.6: VIRTUAL SERVERS Enter the name of the network device to which you want the floating IP address defined the field to bind. Virtual IP Address You should alias the public floating IP address to the Ethernet interface connected to the public network.
  • Page 144 Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool If an administrator needs persistent connections to the virtual server during client transactions, enter the number of seconds of inactivity allowed to lapse before a connection times out in this text field. Important If you entered a value in the field above, you should...
  • Page 145 Section 9.6: VIRTUAL SERVERS Figure 9–7 The REAL SERVER Subsection Click the button to add a new server. To delete an existing server, select the radio button beside it and click the button. Click the button to load the panel, as seen DELETE EDIT EDIT REAL SERVER...
  • Page 146 Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool Figure 9–8 The REAL SERVER Configuration Panel This panel consists of three entry fields: Name A descriptive name for the real server. This name is not the hostname for the machine, so make it descriptive and easily identifiable.
  • Page 147 Section 9.6: VIRTUAL SERVERS WARNING Remember to click the ACCEPT button after making any changes in this panel. To make sure you do not lose any changes when selecting a new panel. 9.6.3 Subsection EDIT MONITORING SCRIPTS There are two ways to access the subsection: by clicking the EDIT MONITORING SCRIPTS EDIT...
  • Page 148 Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool Send Enter a string for the nanny daemon to send to each real server in this field. By default the send field is completed for HTTP. You can alter this value depending on your needs. If you leave this field blank, the nanny daemon attempts to open the port and assume the service is running if it succeeds.

  • Page 149: Synchronizing Configuration Files

    Section 9.7:Synchronizing Configuration Files Enter a the textual response the server should return if it is functioning properly. If you wrote your own sending program, enter the response you told it to send if it was successful. To determine what to send for a given service, you can open a telnet connection to the port on a real server and see what is returned.
  • Page 150 Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool Important /etc/sysctl, /etc/sysconfig/iptables, /etc/sysconfig/ipchains files do not change when you configure the cluster using the Piranha Configuration Tool. 9.7.1 Synchronizing lvs.cf Anytime the LVS configuration file, /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf, is created or updated, you must copy it to the backup LVS router node.

  • Page 151: Starting The Cluster

    Section 9.8:Starting the Cluster Important If you are not sure whether or not packet forwarding is enabled in the kernel, see Section 7.5, Turning on Packet Forwarding for instructions on how to check and, if necessary, enable this key functionality. 9.7.3 Synchronizing Network Packet Filtering Rules If you are using a network packet filter, such as iptables or ipchains, you will need to synchro- nize the appropriate configuration file on the backup LVS router.
  • Page 152 Chapter 9:Configuring the LVS Routers with Piranha Configuration Tool gratuitous lvs arps finished To stop watching /var/log/messages, type [Ctrl]-[c] From this point on, the primary LVS router is also the active LVS router. While you can make requests to the cluster at this point, you should start the backup LVS router before putting the cluster into service.

  • Page 153: Part Iii

    Part III Appendixes...

  • Page 155: Appendix A Additional Resources For Lvs Clustering

    LVS cluster. The best place to start is to point a Web browser at the index.html file in this directory. Helpful Websites • http://www.redhat.com/ — The Red Hat website contains links to Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS product information, documentation, and support. • http://www.linuxvirtualserver.org/ — The community LVS project page and a good source for additional information and documentation.
  • Page 156 Appendix A:Additional Resources for LVS Clustering...
  • Page 157 A Sample /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf File B A Sample /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf File The following is a sample lvs.cf file for a cluster using firewall mark 21 for FTP services and firewall mark 80 to bundle HTTP and HTTPS requests. serial_no = 94 primary = 192.168.26.9 primary_private = 10.11.12.9 service = lvs backup_active = 1...

  • Page 158: Appendix B A Sample /Etc/Sysconfig/Ha/Lvs.cf File

    Appendix B:A Sample /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf File address = 10.11.12.2 active = 1 weight = 1 server three { address = 10.11.12.3 active = 1 weight = 1 virtual FTP { active = 1 address = 192.168.27.10 eth0:1 vip_nmask = 255.255.255.0 fwmark = 21 port = 21 persistent = 1 send = "quit"...
  • Page 159 A Sample /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf File fwmark = 80 port = 443 persistent = 320 load_monitor = none scheduler = wlc protocol = tcp timeout = 6 reentry = 15 quiesce_server = 1 server one { address = 10.11.12.1 active = 1 weight = 1 server two { address = 10.11.12.2...
  • Page 160 Appendix B:A Sample /etc/sysconfig/ha/lvs.cf File...

  • Page 161: Appendix C Removing Red Hat Linux

    Removing Red Hat Linux C Removing Red Hat Linux To uninstall Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS from your system, you will need to remove the GRUB or LILO information from your master boot record (MBR). In DOS, NT, and Windows 95 you can use fdisk to create a new MBR with the "undocumented" flag /mbr.
  • Page 162 Appendix C:Removing Red Hat Linux...

  • Page 163: Appendix D Getting Technical Support

    Under the Brim: The Official Red Hat E-Newsletter — Every month, get the latest news and product information directly from Red Hat. To sign up, go to http://www.redhat.com/apps/activate/. You will find your Product ID on the Reg- istration Information Card in your Official Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS boxed set.

  • Page 164: Scope Of Red Hat Support

    A large number of Linux-related websites are available. The best starting point for finding information on Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS is the Red Hat, Inc. website: http://www.redhat.com/ Many Linux-related books are available. If you are new to Linux, a book that covers Linux basics will be invaluable.

  • Page 165: How To Get Technical Support

    Red Hat, depending upon which Red Hat product you purchased. D.4.1 Signing up for Technical Support To sign up for technical support, you will need to: 1. Create a customer profile at http://www.redhat.com/apps/activate/. You may have already com- pleted this step; if you have, continue to the next step.

  • Page 166: Questions For Technical Support

    6. Answer the optional customer questionnaire. 7. Submit the form. If the previous steps were completed successfully, you can now login at http://www.redhat.com/sup- port and open a new technical service request. However, you must still use your Product ID in order to obtain technical support via telephone (if the product you purchased came with phone support).
  • Page 167 Red Hat’s technical support staff can assist you. D.5.1 How to Send Support Questions Please login at http://www.redhat.com/support and open a new service request, or call the phone number for support. If your product came with phone support, or you have purchased a phone support contract, the phone number you will need to call will be provided to you during the sign up process.
  • Page 168 Appendix D:Getting Technical Support...

  • Page 169: Appendix E Troubleshooting Your Installation Of Red Hat Enterprise Linux As

    Section E.1:You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS E Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS This appendix discusses some common installation problems and their solutions. E.1 You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux E.1.1 Are You Unable to Boot from the CD-ROM? If you cannot boot from your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS CD-ROM, you have two options: 1.

  • Page 170: Boot Disk

    Appendix E:Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Check the online errata ( http://www.redhat.com/support/errata) for updated diskette images (if avail- able) and follow the instructions in Section 1.4.2, Making Installation Diskettes, to make an updated boot disk for your system.

  • Page 171: Trouble Beginning The Installation

    Section E.2:Trouble Beginning the Installation Once these changes have been made, you should be able to finish your installation and boot the system properly. E.2 Trouble Beginning the Installation E.2.1 Is Your Mouse Not Detected? If the screen (see Figure E–1, Mouse Not Detected) appears, then the installation Mouse Not Detected program was not able to identify your mouse correctly.

  • Page 172: Trouble During The Installation

    Appendix E:Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS The installation program will first try to run in frame buffer mode. If that fails, it will try to run in a lower resolution mode. If that still fails, the installation program will run in text mode. Users who have video cards that will not run at 800 x 600 resolution should type lowres at the boot: prompt to run the installation program in 640 x 480 resolution.

  • Page 173: Cd-Rom

    Section E.3:Trouble During the Installation When defining a partition’s type as Linux swap, you do not have to assign it a mount point. Disk Druid automatically assigns the mount point for you. E.3.4 Are You Seeing Python Errors? During some installations of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, the installation program (also known as Anaconda) may fail with a Python or traceback error.

  • Page 174: Problems After Installation

    Finally, if you are still facing problems related to this error, register your product and contact our support team. To register your product, go to http://www.redhat.com/apps/activate. E.4 Problems After Installation E.4.1 Trouble With the Graphical GRUB Screen? If, for some reason, you need to disable the graphical boot screen, you can do so, as root, by editing the /boot/grub/grub.conf file and then rebooting your system.
  • Page 175 If you selected either the custom or workstation installation and do not see the graphical login screen, check your hardware for compatibility issues. The Hardware Compatibility List can be found at http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/. E.4.5 Does Netscape Navigator Crash on JavaScript Pages? If Netscape Navigator continuously crashes on pages that contain JavaScripts, you may need to edit your ~/.mailcap file.
  • Page 176 Appendix E:Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS E.4.6 Your Printer Will Not Work Under X If you are not sure how to set up your printer or are having trouble getting it to work properly, try using the graphical printconf program.
  • Page 177 Section E.4:Problems After Installation label=linux root=/dev/sda1 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img read-only append="mem=128M" Remember to run /sbin/lilo -v after changing /etc/lilo.conf. Note that you can also produce the same effect by actually passing this option when you are specifying the label/image to use in GRUB or LILO. For example if you had a label named linux, at the boot loader menu you could type: linux mem= xx M Remember to replace xx with the amount of RAM in your system.
  • Page 178 Appendix E:Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS...

  • Page 179: Appendix F An Introduction To Disk Partitions

    Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts F An Introduction to Disk Partitions Disk partitions are a standard part of the personal computer landscape and have been for quite some time. However, with many people purchasing computers featuring preinstalled operating systems, relatively few people understand how partitions work. This chapter attempts to explain the reasons for and use of disk partitions so your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS installation will be as simple and painless as possible.
  • Page 180 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions Figure F–1 An Unused Disk Drive Not much to look at, is it? But if we are talking about disk drives on a basic level, it will do. Say that we would like to store some data on this drive. As things stand now, it will not work. There is something we need to do first…...
  • Page 181 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts Figure F–2 Disk Drive with a Filesystem As Figure F–2, Disk Drive with a Filesystem, implies, the order imposed by a filesystem involves some trade-offs: • A small percentage of the drive’s available space is used to store filesystem-related data and can be considered as overhead.
  • Page 182 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions a wide variety of filesystems (including many commonly used by other operating systems), making data interchange between different filesystems easy. Figure F–3 Disk Drive with a Different Filesystem Of course, writing a filesystem to disk is only the beginning. The goal of this process is to actually store and retrieve data.
  • Page 183 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts Figure F–4 Disk Drive with Data Written to It As Figure F–4, Disk Drive with Data Written to It, shows, 14 of the previously-empty blocks are now holding data. However, by simply looking at this picture, we cannot determine exactly how many files reside on this drive.
  • Page 184 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions drives with a greater capacity, but the overhead imposed by the filesystem to track files became ex- cessive. The solution to this problem was to divide disks into partitions. Each partition can be accessed as if it was a separate disk.
  • Page 185 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts • Whether the partition is "active" • The partition’s type Let us take a closer look at each of these characteristics. The starting and ending points actually define the partition’s size and location on the disk. The "active" flag is used by some operating systems’ boot loaders.
  • Page 186 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions Partition Type Value Partition Type Value Venix 80286 CP/M Novell DOS access Microport DOS R/O GNU HURD DOS secondary Novell Netware 286 By this point, you might be wondering how all this additional complexity is normally used. See Figure F–6, Disk Drive With Single Partition, for an example.
  • Page 187 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts This is a typical partition layout for most newly purchased computers with a consumer version of Microsoft Windows™ preinstalled. F.1.3 Partitions within Partitions — An Overview of Extended Partitions Of course, over time it became obvious that four partitions would not be enough. As disk drives continued to grow, it became more and more likely that a person could configure four reasonably-sized partitions and still have disk space left over.
  • Page 188 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions As this figure implies, there is a difference between primary and logical partitions — there can only be four primary partitions, but there is no fixed limit to the number of logical partitions that can ex- ist.
  • Page 189 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts Figure F–8 Disk Drive with Unpartitioned Free Space If you think about it, an unused hard disk also falls into this category. The only difference is that all the space is not part of any defined partition. In any case, you can simply create the necessary partitions from the unused space.
  • Page 190 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions Figure F–9 Disk Drive With an Unused Partition If you find yourself in this situation, you can use the space allocated to the unused partition. You will first need to delete the partition, and then create the appropriate Linux partition(s) in its place. You can either delete the partition using the DOS fdisk command, or you will be given the opportunity to do so during a custom installation.
  • Page 191 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts CAUTION If there was an operating system of some type installed on that parti- tion, it will need to be reinstalled as well. Be aware that some com- puters sold with pre-installed operating systems may not include the CD-ROM media to reinstall the original operating system.
  • Page 192 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions CAUTION As Figure F–10, Disk Drive Being Destructively Repartitioned, shows, any data present in the original partition will be lost without proper backup! Non-Destructive Repartitioning Here, you run a program that does the seemingly impossible: it makes a big partition smaller without losing any of the files stored in that partition.
  • Page 193 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts Figure F–11 Disk Drive Being Compressed This step is crucial. Without it, the location of your data could prevent the partition from being resized to the extent desired. Note also that, for one reason or another, some data cannot be moved. If this is the case (and it severely restricts the size of your new partition(s)), you may be forced to destructively repartition your disk.
  • Page 194 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions Figure F–12 Disk Drive with Partition Resized It is important to understand what the resizing software you use does with the newly freed space, so that you can take the appropriate steps. In the case we have illustrated, it would be best to simply delete the new DOS partition and create the appropriate Linux partition(s).
  • Page 195 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts Figure F–13 Disk Drive with Final Partition Configuration Note The following information is specific to Intel-based computers only. As a convenience to Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS users, the DOS fips utility is included on the Red Hat Linux/x86 CD 1 in the dosutils directory.
  • Page 196 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions That said, if you decide to repartition your hard drive with fips, it is vital that you do two things: • Perform a backup — Make two copies of all the important data on your computer. These copies should be to removable media (such as tape or diskettes), and you should make sure they are read- able before proceeding.
  • Page 197 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts This letter indicates which device the partition is on. For example, /dev/hda (the first IDE hard disk) or /dev/sdb (the second SCSI disk). The final number denotes the partition. The first four (primary or extended) partitions are num- bered 1 through 4.
  • Page 198 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions through a process known as mounting. Mounting a partition makes its storage available starting at the specified directory (known as a mount point). For example, if partition /dev/hda5 were mounted on /usr, that would mean that all files and directories under /usr would physically reside on /dev/hda5.
  • Page 199 Section F.1:Hard Disk Basic Concepts • A root partition ( / ) — The root partition is where / (the root directory) resides. In this partitioning layout, all files (except those stored in /boot) reside on the root partition. Because of this, it is in your best interest to maximize the size of your root partition.
  • Page 200 Appendix F:An Introduction to Disk Partitions If you have only SCSI hard drives, /boot must be located on a drive at ID 0 or ID 1. No other SCSI IDs will work. Partition Completely Below Cylinder 1023 No matter which of the above configurations apply, the partition that holds /boot must be located entirely below cylinder 1023.

  • Page 201: Appendix G Driver Disks

    If you suspect that your system may require one of these drivers, you should create the driver disk before beginning your Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS installation. Another option for finding specialized driver disk information is on Red Hat’s website at http://www.redhat.com/support/errata under the section called . Occasionally, popular Bug Fixes...
  • Page 202 Appendix G:Driver Disks Enterprise Linux AS CD-ROM 1. In such cases, the Red Hat website may contain a link to a driver disk image. Creating a Driver Disk from an Image File If you have a driver disk image that you need to write to a floppy disk, this can be done from within DOS or Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS.
  • Page 203 Index Index /boot partition ( See partition, /boot ) bootable CD-ROM...... . 34, 86 booting active router installation program....... 32 ( See LVS clustering ) adding partitions ......49 filesystem type ......51 Advanced Server canceling the installation ....
  • Page 204 Index clock ........64 other manuals......17 GRUB ........53 driver disk ......20, 32, 201 hardware ........82 creating from image ..... 202 LILO ........53 produced by others..
  • Page 205 Index SYSLINUX......56 booting without diskette ....86 BIOS-related issues ...... 199 can you install with a CD-ROM ..19 configuration ......53 CD-ROM ........36 installation ......... 53 choosing .....
  • Page 206 Index text mode ......33, 81, 86 configuration ......53 cross-reference table ....87 installation ......... 53 online help ......87 partitioning-related issues ....199 user interface ......83 removing.....
  • Page 207 Index routing prerequisites ..... 123 network install ....... 90 scheduling, job ......105 send_arp program..... 113 installation ......... 91 shared data........ 103 starting the cluster......151 synchronizing configuration files.
  • Page 208 Index naming partitions......196 creating installation diskette ..... 21 non-destructive ......192 real servers numbering partitions..... 196 ( See LVS clustering ) other operating systems....197 configuring services ..... 119 recommended ......48 recursion types of partitions ..
  • Page 209 Index starting after the installation...... 174 installation ......32, 35, 86 graphical GRUB screen....174 steps graphical LILO screen ....174 choosing an installation class .... 22 logging in ......175 Netscape Navigator ....175 disk space ....
  • Page 210 Index video configuration ......82 virtual consoles ......31 weighted least connections ( See job scheduling, LVS ) weighted round robin ( See job scheduling, LVS ) configuration ......72 X Window System ......72 Xconfigurator monitor setup ..

Table of Contents