Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Installation Guide for x86, Itanium™, AMD64, and Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4: Installation Guide for x86, Itanium™, AMD64, and Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T) Copyright © 2005 Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat, Inc. 1801 Varsity Drive Raleigh NC 27606-2072 USA Phone: +1 919 754 3700 Phone: 888 733 4281 Fax: +1 919 754 3701 PO Box 13588 Research Triangle Park NC 27709 USA rhel-ig-x8664(EN)-4-Print-RHI (2004-09-24T13:10) Copyright © 2005 by Red Hat, Inc.
Table of Contents Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... i 1. Document Conventions .......................................................................................................... i 2. How to Use This Manual ..................................................................................................... iii 2.1. We Need Feedback! .....................................................
.17. x86, AMD64, and Intel® EM64T Boot Loader Configuration ..................................... 35 4.17.1. Advanced Boot Loader Configuration ............................................................ 37 4.17.2. Rescue Mode................................................................................................... 39 4.17.3. Alternative Boot Loaders ................................................................................ 39 4.17.4. SMP Motherboards and GRUB ..............................
D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions ............................................................................................. 71 D.1. Hard Disk Basic Concepts .............................................................................................. 71 D.1.1. It is Not What You Write, it is How You Write It............................................ 71 D.1.2. Partitions: Turning One Drive Into Many ........................................................ 73 D.1.3.
Introduction Welcome to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide. This guide contains useful information to assist you during the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. 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. 1. Document Conventions When you read this manual, certain words are represented in different fonts, typefaces, sizes, and weights.
ii Introduction text found on a GUI interface A title, word, or phrase found on a GUI interface screen or window is shown in this style. Text shown in this style is being used to identify a particular GUI screen or an element on a GUI screen (such as text associated with a checkbox or field). Example: Select the Require Password checkbox if you would like your screensaver to require a password before stopping.
Introduction iii The directory for the kernel source is /usr/src//, where is the version of the kernel installed on this system. Additionally, we use several different strategies to draw your attention to certain pieces of information. In order of how critical the information is to your system, these items are marked as a note, tip, important, caution, or warning. For example: Note Remember that Linux is case sensitive. In other words, a rose is not a ROSE is not a rOsE.
iv Introduction Note If you currently use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 (or greater) on an x86 system, you can perform an upgrade. Although upgrades are supported by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux family on x86 processors, you are likely to have a more consistent experience by backing up your data and then installing this release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux over your previous Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation. This recommended reinstallation method helps to ensure the best system stability possible.
Introduction v or nonexistent support to customers. Red Hat’s installation support is deliverable via email or via the telephone and special circumstances will be considered and addressed for users with physical limitations. Customers should inform the support technician if they require specialized support. For more information, refer to: • http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Accessibility-HOWTO/ • http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.
vi Introduction
Chapter 1. Itanium System Specific Information 1.1. Itanium System Installation Overview Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an Itanium system is different from installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an x86-based system. In general, the sequence of steps to a successful installation are the following: 1. Boot into the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) Shell. 2. If you cannot boot from the CD-ROM, make an LS-120 diskette from the boot image file provided with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 3.
2 Chapter 1. Itanium System Specific Information To view the results of this system poll, type the following command at the EFI Shell prompt: map The output is listed in the order the system was probed. So, all FAT16 file systems are listed first, then IDE hard drives, then SCSI hard drives, then IDE CD-ROM drives, and finally SCSI CD-ROM drives.
Chapter 2. Steps to Get You Started 2.1. Where to Find Other Manuals Red Hat Enterprise Linux manuals are available online or on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Documentation CD included with your Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription. If you are a new user and need information on getting started with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you may find the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Step By Step Guide to be helpful.
4 Chapter 2. Steps to Get You Started The disk space used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux must be separate from the disk space used by other OSes you may have installed on your system, such as Windows, OS/2, or even a different version of Linux. For x86, AMD64, and Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T) systems, at least two partitions (/ and swap) must be dedicated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Chapter 2. Steps to Get You Started 5 2.4.2. Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM isolinux (not available for Itanium systems) is used for booting the Red Hat Enterprise Linux in- stallation CD.
6 Chapter 2. Steps to Get You Started Note The directory specified in the following refers to /location/of/disk/space/. This means it is the directory up to, but not including, the RedHat/ distribution directory. For example, if you have Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 installation files located in /export/rhel/ on the installation staging server, /location/of/disk/space/ would be /export/rhel/.
Chapter 2. Steps to Get You Started 7 2.5.1. Using ISO Images for NFS Installs NFS installations can use ISO (or CD-ROM) images rather than copying an entire installation tree. After placing the required ISO images (the binary Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROMs) in a directory, choose to install via NFS. You will then point the installation program at that directory to perform the installation.
8 Chapter 2. Steps to Get You Started To prepare your system for a hard drive installation, you must set the system up in one of the following ways: • Using a set of CD-ROMs — Create CD-ROM ISO image files from each installation CD-ROM. For each CD-ROM, execute the following command on a Linux system: • Using ISO images — transfer these images to the system to be installed. dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/tmp/file-name.
Chapter 3. System Requirements Table The most recent list of supported hardware can be found at http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/. This system requirements table will help you keep a record of your current system settings and requirements. Enter information about your system in the table provided as a handy reference to help make your Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation go more smoothly.
10 Chapter 3. System Requirements Table sound card: make, chipset and model number; ex: S3 SonicVibes, Sound Blaster 32/64 AWE IP, DHCP, and BOOTP addresses: four numbers, separated by dots; ex: 10.0.2.15 netmask: four numbers, separated by dots; ex: 255.255.248.0 gateway IP address: four numbers, separated by dots; ex: 10.0.2.245 one or more name server IP addresses (DNS): one or more sets of dot-separated numbers; ex: 10.0.2.1 domain name: the name given to your organization; ex: example.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux This chapter explains how to perform a Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation from the CD-ROM, using the graphical, mouse-based installation program. The following topics are discussed: • Becoming familiar with the installation program’s user interface • Starting the installation program • Selecting an installation method • Configuration steps during the installation (language, keyboard, mouse, partitioning, etc.) • Finishing the installation 4.1.
12 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux elilo linux text 4.1.1. A Note about Virtual Consoles The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program offers more than the dialog boxes of the installation process. Several kinds of diagnostic messages are available to you, as well as a way to enter commands from a shell prompt. The installation program displays these messages on five virtual consoles, among which you can switch using a single keystroke combination.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 13 Figure 4-1. Installation Program Widgets as seen in Boot Loader Configuration 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 and Figure 4-2: • Window — Windows (usually referred to as dialogs in this manual) appear on your screen throughout the installation process. At times, one window may overlay another; in these cases, you can only interact with the window on top.
14 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux than can be displayed in the space reserved for it, a scroll bar appears; if you position the cursor within the text widget, you can then use the [Up] and [Down] arrow keys to scroll through all the information available. Your current position is shown on the scroll bar by a # character, which moves up and down the scroll bar as you scroll.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 15 4.3.1. Booting the Installation Program on x86, AMD64, and Intel® EM64T Systems You can boot the installation program using any one of the following media (depending upon what your system can support): • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM — Your machine supports a bootable CD-ROM drive and you have the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM set.
16 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux drive, NFS, FTP, or HTTP installation) you must boot from an LS-120 diskette. Refer to Section 4.3.2.2 Booting the Installation Program from an LS-120 Diskette for more information. 4.3.2.1. Booting the Installation Program from the CD-ROM To boot from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD #1 follow these steps: 1. Remove all media except Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD #1. 2. From the Boot Option menu choose EFI Shell. 3.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 17 4.3.3. Additional Boot Options While it is easiest to boot using a CD-ROM and perform a graphical installation, sometimes there are installation scenarios where booting in a different manner may be needed. This section discusses additional boot options available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
18 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.3.3.1. Kernel Options Options can also be passed to the kernel. For example, to instruct the kernel to use all the RAM in a system with 128 MB of RAM, at the installation boot prompt, enter: linux mem=128M For text mode installations, use: linux text mem=128M With most computers, there is no need to pass this argument to the kernel. The kernel detects the amount of memory your system has in most cases.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 19 HTTP If you are installing directly from an HTTP (Web) server, use this method. You need a boot CDROM (use the linux askmethod boot option). Refer to Section 4.10 Installing via HTTP, for HTTP installation instructions. 4.5. Installing from CD-ROM To install Red Hat Enterprise Linux from a CD-ROM, choose the CD-ROM option and select OK. When prompted, insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD into your CD-ROM drive (if you did not boot from the CD).
20 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux • a — first IDE controller, master • b — first IDE controller, slave • c — second IDE controller, master • d — second IDE controller, slave If you have a third and/or fourth controller, continue assigning letters in alphabetical order, going from controller to controller, and master to slave. 4.6.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 21 4.8. Installing via NFS The NFS dialog applies only if you are installing from an NFS server (if you selected NFS Image in the Installation Method dialog). Enter the domain name or IP address of your NFS server. For example, if you are installing from a host named eastcoast in the domain example.com, enter eastcoast.example.com in the NFS Server field. Next, enter the name of the exported directory. If you followed the setup described in Section 2.
22 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Figure 4-5. FTP Setup Dialog Enter the name or IP address of the FTP site you are installing from, and the name of the directory containing the RedHat/ installation files for your architecture. For example, if the FTP site contains the directory /mirrors/redhat/arch/RedHat/, enter /mirrors/redhat/arch/ (where arch is replaced with the architecture type of your system, such as i386, ia64, ppc, or s390).
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 23 Figure 4-6. HTTP Setup Dialog Next, the Welcome dialog appears. Tip You can save disk space by using the ISO images you have already copied to the server. To accomplish this, install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using ISO images without copying them into a single tree by loopback mounting them. For each ISO image: mkdir discX mount -o loop example-1.iso discX 4.11. Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux The Welcome screen does not prompt you for any input.
24 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Figure 4-7. Language Selection Once you select the appropriate language, click Next to continue. 4.13. Keyboard Configuration Using your mouse, select the correct layout type (for example, U.S. English) for the keyboard you would prefer to use for the installation and as the system default (refer to Figure 4-8). Once you have made your selection, click Next to continue.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 25 Figure 4-8. Keyboard Configuration Tip To change your keyboard layout type after you have completed the installation, use the Keyboard Configuration Tool. Type the system-config-keyboard command in a shell prompt to launch the Keyboard Configuration Tool. If you are not root, it prompts you for the root password to continue. 4.14.
26 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Warning The Red Hat Update Agent downloads updated packages to /var/spool/up2date/ by default. If you partition the system manually, and create a separate /var/ partition, be sure to create the partition large enough (3.0 GB or more) to download package updates. Figure 4-9. Disk Partitioning Setup If you chose to manually partition using Disk Druid, refer to Section 4.16 Partitioning Your System.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 27 4.15. 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 — select this option to remove only Linux partitions (partitions created from a previous Linux installation). This does not remove other partitions you may have on your hard drive(s) (such as VFAT or FAT32 partitions).
28 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Caution It is always a good idea to back up any data that you have on your systems. For example, if you are upgrading or creating a dual-boot system, you should back up any data you wish to keep on your hard drive(s). Mistakes do happen and can result in the loss of all your data. Tip If you have a RAID card, be aware that some BIOSes do not support booting from the RAID card.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Figure 4-11. Partitioning with Disk Druid on x86, AMD64, and Intel® EM64T Systems Figure 4-12.
30 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux The partitioning tool used by the installation program is Disk Druid. With the exception of certain esoteric situations, Disk Druid can handle the partitioning requirements for a typical installation. 4.16.1. 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.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 31 To create an LVM logical volume, you must first create partitions of type physical volume (LVM). Once you have created one or more physical volume (LVM) partitions, select LVM to create an LVM logical volume. 4.16.3. Partition Fields Above the partition hierarchy are labels which present information about the partitions you are creating. The labels are defined as follows: • Device: This field displays the partition’s device name.
32 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Using this formula, a system with 2 GB of physical RAM would have 4 GB of swap, while one with 3 GB of physical RAM would have 5 GB of swap. Creating a large swap space partition can be especially helpful if you plan to upgrade your RAM at a later time. Tip If your partitioning scheme requires a swap partition that is larger than 2 GB, you should create an additional swap partition.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 33 Tip If your hard drive is more than 1024 cylinders (and your system was manufactured 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. Tip If you have a RAID card, be aware that some BIOSes do not support booting from the RAID card.
34 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux • Mount Point: Enter the partition’s mount point. For example, if this partition should be the root partition, enter /; enter /boot for the /boot partition, and so on. You can also use the pull-down menu to choose the correct mount point for your partition. • File System Type: Using the pull-down menu, select the appropriate file system type for this partition. For more information on file system types, refer to Section 4.16.5.1 File System Types.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux • 35 vfat — The VFAT file system is a Linux file system that is compatible with Microsoft Windows long filenames on the FAT file system. This file system must be used for the /boot/efi/ partition on Itanuim systems. 4.16.6. Editing Partitions To edit a partition, select the Edit button or double-click on the existing partition. Note If the partition already exists on your hard disk, you can only change the partition’s mount point.
36 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Figure 4-14. Boot Loader Configuration If you do not want to install GRUB as your boot loader, click Change boot loader, where you can choose not to install a boot loader at all. If you already have a boot loader that can boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux and do not want to overwrite your current boot loader, choose Do not install a boot loader by clicking on the Change boot loader button.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 37 Once you have loaded the GRUB boot screen, use the arrow keys to choose a boot label or type [e] for edit. You are presented with a list of items in the configuration file for the boot label you have selected. Boot loader passwords provide a security mechanism in an environment where physical access to your server is available. If you are installing a boot loader, you should create a password to protect your system.
38 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Figure 4-15. Boot Loader Installation Tip 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. If your system only uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you should choose the MBR.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 39 To add default options to the boot command, enter them into the Kernel parameters field. Any options you enter are passed to the Linux kernel every time it boots. 4.17.2. Rescue Mode Rescue mode provides the ability to boot a small Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment entirely from boot media or some other boot method instead of the system’s hard drive.
40 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.17.4. SMP Motherboards and GRUB This section is specific to SMP motherboards only. SMP, short for Symmetric Multiprocessing, is a computer architecture providing fast performance by making multiple CPUs available to complete individual processes simultaneously (multiprocessing). If the installation program detects an SMP motherboard on your system, it automatically creates two boot loader entries.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 41 The installation program automatically detects any network devices you have and display them in the Network Devices list. Once you have selected a network device, click Edit. From the Edit Interface pop-up screen, you can choose to configure the IP address and Netmask of the device via DHCP (or manually if DHCP is not selected) and you can choose to activate the device at boot time.
42 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Tip To change your network configuration after you have completed the installation, use the Network Administration Tool. Type the system-config-network command in a shell prompt to launch the Network Administration Tool. If you are not root, it prompts you for the root password to continue. 4.19. Firewall Configuration Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers firewall protection for enhanced system security.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 43 Enable firewall If you choose Enable firewall, connections are not accepted by your system (other than the default settings) that are not explicitly defined by you. By default, only connections in response to outbound requests, such as DNS replies or DHCP requests, are allowed. If access to services running on this machine is needed, you can choose to allow specific services through the firewall.
44 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux The SELinux implementation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux is designed to improve the security of various server daemons while minimizing the impact on the day-to-day operations of your system. Three states are available for you to choose from during the installation process: • Disable — Select Disable if you do not want SELinux security controls enabled on this system.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 45 Figure 4-19. Language Support Selection To use more than one language on your system, choose specific languages to be installed or select all languages to have all available languages installed on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. Use the Reset button to cancel your selections. Resetting reverts to the default; only the language you selected for use during the installation is installed.
46 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Figure 4-20. Configuring the Time Zone Select System Clock uses UTC if you know that your system is set to UTC. Tip To change your time zone configuration after you have completed the installation, use the Time and Date Properties Tool. Type the system-config-date command in a shell prompt to launch the Time and Date Properties Tool. If you are not root, it prompts you for the root password to continue.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 47 Figure 4-21. Root Password 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 minimize the chances of a typo or an incorrect command doing damage to your system. Tip To become root, type su - at the shell prompt in a terminal window and then press [Enter]. Then, enter the root password and press [Enter].
48 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Note Do not use one of the example passwords offered in this manual. Using one of these passwords could be considered a security risk. Tip To change your root password after you have completed the installation, use the Root Password Tool. Type the system-config-rootpassword command in a shell prompt to launch the Root Password Tool. If you are not root, it prompts you for the root password to continue. 4.23.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 49 Figure 4-22. Package Group Selection Select each component you wish to install. Selecting Everything (at the end of the component list) installs all packages included with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Once a package group has been selected, click on Details to view which packages are installed by default, and to add or remove optional packages from that group. Figure 4-23.
50 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.24. Preparing to Install A screen preparing you for the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux now appears. For your reference, a complete log of your installation can be found in /root/install.log once you reboot your system. 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 reboot your machine.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 51 4.27. Activate Your Subscription Before you can access service and software maintenance information, and the support documentation included in your subscription, you must activate your subscription by registering with Red Hat.
52 Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux • /usr/bin/up2date --register 4.28. Itanium Systems — Booting Your Machine and Post-Installation Setup This section describes how to boot your Itanium into Red Hat Enterprise Linux and how to set your EFI console variables so that Red Hat Enterprise Linux is automatically booted when the machine is powered on.
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 53 system to boot into Red Hat Enterprise Linux automatically, you need to configure the EFI Boot Manager. To configure the EFI Boot Manager (may vary slightly depending on your hardware): 1. Boot the Itanium system and choose Boot option maintenance menu from the EFI Boot Manager menu. 2. Choose Add a Boot Option from the Main Menu. 3. Select the system partition that is mounted as /boot/efi/ in Linux. 4. Select the elilo.efi file. 5.
54 Chapter 4.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System This appendix explains the various methods available for upgrading your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. A.1. Determining Whether to Upgrade or Re-Install Although upgrades are supported from Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 2.
56 Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System Some upgraded packages may require the installation of other packages for proper operation. If you choose to customize your packages to upgrade, you may be required to resolve dependency problems. Otherwise, the upgrade procedure takes care of these dependencies, but it may need to install additional packages which are not on your system. Depending on how you have partitioned your system, the upgrade program may prompt you to add an additional swap file.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System 57 Update boot loader configuration — Choose this option to keep your current boot loader configuration (GRUB or LILO depending on what you have currently installed) and have updates applied. Skip boot loader updating — Choose this option if you do not want to make any changes to your current boot loader configuration. If you are using a third party boot loader, you should not update your boot loader.
58 Appendix A.
Appendix B. Removing Red Hat Enterprise Linux To uninstall Red Hat Enterprise Linux from your x86-based system, you must remove the Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot loader information from your master boot record (MBR). Note It is always a good idea to backup any data that you have on your system(s). Mistakes do happen and can result in the loss all of your data. In DOS and Windows, use the Windows fdisk utility to create a new MBR with the undocumented flag /mbr.
60 Appendix B. Removing Red Hat Enterprise Linux The print command also displays the partition’s type (such as linux-swap, ext2, ext3, and so on). Knowing the type of the partition helps you in determining whether to remove the partition. Remove the partition with the command rm. For example, to remove the partition with minor number 3: rm 3 Important The changes start taking place as soon as you press [Enter], so review the command before committing to it.
Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux This appendix discusses some common installation problems and their solutions. C.1. You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux C.1.1. Are You Unable to Boot With Your RAID Card? If you have performed an installation and cannot boot your system properly, you may need to reinstall and create your partitions differently. Some BIOSes do not support booting from RAID cards.
62 Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux more RAM is present in the system), and for some new machines where the video card shares the video memory with the main memory. Another option is to perform a media check on your installation CD-ROMs. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program has the ability to test the integrity of the installation media. It works with the CD, DVD, hard drive ISO, and NFS ISO installation methods.
Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 63 One possible solution is to try using the resolution= boot option. This option may be most helpful for laptop users. Refer to Appendix F Additional Boot Options for more information. Note To disable frame buffer support and allow the installation program to run in text mode, try using the nofb boot option. This command may be necessary for accessibility with some screen reading hardware. C.3. Trouble During the Installation C.
64 Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux C.3.4. Using Remaining Space You have a swap and a / (root) partition created, and you have selected the root partition to use the remaining space, but it does not fill the hard drive. If your hard drive is more than 1024 cylinders, you must create a /boot partition if you want the / (root) partition to use all of the remaining space on your hard drive. C.3.5.
Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 65 line 20, in run rc = self.todo.doInstall () File "/var/tmp/anaconda-7.1//usr/lib/anaconda/todo.py", line 1468, in doInstall self.fstab.savePartitions () File "fstab.py", line 221, in savePartitions sys.exit(0) SystemExit: 0 Local variables in innermost frame: self:
66 Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux C.4. Problems After Installation C.4.1. Trouble With the Graphical GRUB Screen on an x86-based System? If you are experiencing problems with GRUB, you may need to disable the graphical boot screen. To do this, become the root user and edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file. Within the grub.conf file, comment out the line which begins with splashimage by inserting the # character at the beginning of the line.
Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 67 id:5:initdefault: When you are satisfied with your change, save and exit the file using the [Ctrl]-[Q] keys. A window appears and asks if you would like to save the changes. Click Save. The next time you log in after rebooting your system, you are presented with a graphical login prompt. C.4.3.
68 Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux Once the boot loader screen has returned, type b to boot the system. Once you have booted into single user mode and have access to the # prompt, you must type passwd root, which allows you to enter a new password for root. At this point you can type shutdown -r now to reboot the system with the new root password. If you cannot remember your user account password, you must become root.
Appendix C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 69 C.4.7. Your Printer Does Not Work If you are not sure how to set up your printer or are having trouble getting it to work properly, try using the Printer Configuration Tool. Type the system-config-printer command at a shell prompt to launch the Printer Configuration Tool. If you are not root, it prompts you for the root password to continue. C.4.8.
70 Appendix C.
Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions Note This appendix is not necessarily applicable to non-x86-based architectures. However, the general concepts mentioned here may apply. 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 pre-installed operating systems, relatively few people understand how partitions work.
72 Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions Figure D-2. Disk Drive with a File System As Figure D-2, implies, the order imposed by a file system involves some trade-offs: • A small percentage of the drive’s available space is used to store file system-related data and can be considered as overhead. • A file system splits the remaining space into small, consistently-sized segments. For Linux, these segments are known as blocks.
Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 73 D.1.2. Partitions: Turning One Drive Into Many As disk drive capacities soared, some people began to wonder if having all of that formatted space in one big chunk was such a great idea. This line of thinking was driven by several issues, some philosophical, some technical. On the philosophical side, above a certain size, it seemed that the additional space provided by a larger drive created more clutter.
74 Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions DOS Figure D-6. Disk Drive With Single Partition In many cases, there is only a single partition spanning the entire disk, essentially duplicating the method used before partitions. The partition table has only one entry used, and it points to the start of the partition. We have labeled this partition as being of the "DOS" type.
Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 75 D.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 reasonablysized partitions and still have disk space left over. There needed to be some way of creating more partitions. Enter the extended partition.
76 Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions D.1.4.1. Using Unpartitioned Free Space In this situation, the partitions already defined do not span the entire hard disk, leaving unallocated space that is not part of any defined partition. Figure D-8, shows what this might look like. DOS DOS Linux native Figure D-8. Disk Drive with Unpartitioned Free Space In Figure D-8, 1 represents an undefined partition with unallocated space and 2 represents a defined partition with allocated space.
Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 77 Destructive Repartitioning Basically, you delete the single large partition and create several smaller ones. As you might imagine, any data you had in the original partition is destroyed. This means that making a complete backup is necessary. For your own sake, make two backups, use verification (if available in your backup software), and try to read data from your backup before you delete the partition.
78 Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions DOS DOS DOS Figure D-11. Disk Drive Being Compressed In Figure D-11, 1 represents before and 2 represents after. 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. D.1.
Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 79 Note The following information is specific to x86-based computers only. As a convenience to our customers, we provide the parted utility. This is a freely available program that can resize partitions. If you decide to repartition your hard drive with parted, it is important that you be familiar with disk storage and that you perform a backup of your computer data. You should make two copies of all the important data on your computer.
80 Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions N The final number denotes the partition. The first four (primary or extended) partitions are numbered 1 through 4. Logical partitions start at 5. So, for example, /dev/hda3 is the third primary or extended partition on the first IDE hard disk, and /dev/sdb6 is the second logical partition on the second SCSI hard disk.
Appendix D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 81 Keeping this in mind, we recommend that, unless you have a reason for doing otherwise, you should at least create the following partitions: swap, /boot/ (or a /boot/efi/ partition for Itanium systems), a /var/ partition for Itanium systems, and / (root). For more information, refer to Section 4.16.4 Recommended Partitioning Scheme.
82 Appendix D.
Appendix E. Driver Media E.1. Why Do I Need Driver Media? While the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program is loading, a screen may appear asking you for driver media.
84 Appendix E. Driver Media Tip It is also possible to use a driver image via a network file. Instead of using the linux dd boot command, use the linux dd=url command, where url is replaced by an HTTP, FTP, or NFS address of the driver image to be used. Another option for finding specialized driver information is on Red Hat’s website at http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/ under the section called Bug Fixes.
Appendix E. Driver Media 85 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program asks you to insert the driver diskette. Once the driver diskette is read by the installation program, it can apply those drivers to hardware discovered on your system later in the installation process.
86 Appendix E.
Appendix F. Additional Boot Options This appendix discusses additional boot and kernel boot options available for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program. To use any of the boot options presented here, type the command you wish to invoke at the installation boot: prompt. Boot Time Command Arguments askmethod This command asks you to select the installation method you would like to use when booting from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM.
88 Appendix F. Additional Boot Options to the remote display terminal and does not allow access from anyone or any system not specifically authorized for remote access. driverdisk This command performs the same function as the dd command and also prompts you to use a driver diskette during the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. ide=nodma This command disables DMA on all IDE devices and may be useful when having IDE-related problems.
Appendix F. Additional Boot Options 89 nopass This command disables the passing of keyboard and mouse information to stage 2 of the installation program. It can be used to test keyboard and mouse configuration screens during stage 2 of the installation program when performing a network installation. nopcmcia This command ignores any PCMCIA controllers in system. noprobe This command disables hardware detection and instead prompts the user for hardware information.
90 Appendix F. Additional Boot Options text This command disables the graphical installation program and forces the installation program to run in text mode. updates This command prompts you to insert a floppy diskette containing updates (bug fixes). It is not needed if you are performing a network installation and have already placed the updates image contents in RHupdates/ on the server. vnc This command allows you to install from a VNC server.
Appendix G. Additional Resources about Itanium and Linux Other reference materials, related to running Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an Itanium system, are available on the Web. A few of the available resources are as follows: • http://www.intel.com/products/server/processors/server/itanium/index.htm?iid=sr+itanium& The Intel website on the Itanium Processor — • http://developer.intel.com/technology/efi/index.htm?iid=sr+efi& — The Intel website for the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) • http://www.
92 Appendix G.
Index Symbols /boot/ partition recommended partitioning, 31 /boot/efi/, 31 /root/install.
94 E I EFI system partition, 2 EFI Shell, 1 ELILO autoboot, 52 post-installation boot setup, 52 extended partitions, 75 ia64 (see Itanium) IDE CD-ROM unrecognized, problems with, 19 install log file /root/install.
95 K P kernel boot options, 87 kernel options, 18 keyboard configuration, 24 navigating the installation program using, 14 keymap selecting type of keyboard, 24 packages groups, 48 selecting, 48 installing, 48 selecting, 48 parted partitioning utility, 79 partition extended, 75 Partition Magic, 39 partitioning, 28 automatic, 25, 27 basic concepts, 71 creating new, 33 file system type, 34 deleting, 35 destructive, 77 editing, 35 extended partitions, 75 how many partitions, 73, 80 introduction to, 73 maki
96 S security levels firewall configuration, 42 SELinux, 43 selecting packages, 48 SELinux security levels, 43 SMP motherboards GRUB, 40 starting installation, 14, 19 startup.
Colophon The manuals are written in DocBook SGML v4.1 format. The HTML and PDF formats are produced using custom DSSSL stylesheets and custom jade wrapper scripts. The DocBook SGML files are written in Emacs with the help of PSGML mode. Garrett LeSage created the admonition graphics (note, tip, important, caution, and warning). They may be freely redistributed with the Red Hat documentation. The Red Hat Product Documentation Team consists of the following people: Sandra A.
98 Nadine Richter — German translations Audrey Simons — French translations Francesco Valente — Italian translations Sarah Wang — Simplified Chinese translations Ben Hung-Pin Wu — Traditional Chinese translations
