Exercise 46: Alabama Cement


To begin an installation of SLES 9, insert the first CD into the computer and reboot the system. On most computers, the system will boot from the CD, and you will be ready to begin the installation. If this does not happen, you might need to reconfigure the BIOS and change the boot drive order to check for media in the CD/DVD drive first.

The first menu to appear offers a number of choices:

  • Boot the Hard Disk This stops the installation and boots the operating system already on the hard disk. Because this is the safest choice, it is the default.

  • Installation This is the option to select to begin the normal installation.

  • Installation ACPI Disabled Choose this option if you need the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface to not interfere with the installation process.

  • Installation Safe Settings Choose this option if DMA mode is needed to get around normal installation. Use this choice if the installation keeps failing with one of the other selections.

  • Rescue System This allows you to boot the system from the CD in the event that the hard drive boot files are damaged.

  • Memory Test This checks RAM only.

At the bottom of the screen, a number of function keys are identified:

  • F1 Help

  • F2 Toggle through screen display settings

  • F3 Toggle through installation location choices

  • F4 Toggle through languages

  • F5 Choose a debugging output level

  • F6 Include a driver update CD in the installation

To perform a normal installation, choose Installation from the menu, and press Enter. You must then walk through the interfaces presented in YaST2, the installation and system administration program. Although there can be deviations, based on your exact configuration, the following are the major screens in order that you must walk through:

1.

Choose a language You can click Accept to move on or Abort to cancel the installation.

2.

Choose the installation mode You can choose to perform a new installation (the default), update an existing system, repair an installed system, boot an installed system, or abort. For a normal installation, choose New Installation.

3.

At this point, the system will probe for devices and show you a list of what it has identified. It will identify the system, keyboard, mouse, and so on, as well as show you the recommended installation settings based on the chosen mode. Recommendations and settings fall within these categories:

  • System

  • Mode

  • Keyboard layout

  • Mouse

  • Partitioning

  • Software

  • Booting

  • Time zone

  • Language

  • Default runlevel

4.

Three command buttons are available: Change to alter any of the settings, Abort to cancel, and Accept to continue on. Choose Accept; then click Continue, and a warning message appears stating that YaST2 has obtained all the information required to install SUSE LINUX. The installation will be carried out according to the settings made in the previous dialogs. To commit the installation and choices made, click the Yes, Install button.

5.

The hard disk is then prepared/partitioned. This will take a few minutes, and you might need to make other changes manually later if you are implementing RAID or LVM devices. At a minimum, two partitions are created: root and swap.

6.

Packages are installed next, and you will need to insert various CDs as prompted. Your goal is usually to complete the installation as quickly as possible, so you can always go back and add any packages at a later point in time.

7.

You are prompted to give a password for the root user (and enter it twice for verification). The password can consist of digits, spaces, letters, and the standard punctuation characters. It is recommended that it contain at least five characters and at a minimum the case is mixed between upper and lower. If you enter more than eight characters, you will be prompted to truncate or change it.

8.

Network configuration occurs next, and a scan is automatically done to detect network cards, DSL connections, ISDN adapters, and modems. A summary screen shows you the values found, as well as the current settings for Proxy (default is disabled) and VNC Remote Administration (default is disabled). You can change any of these values, go back, abort, or put the network settings shown to you into effect by clicking Next.

9.

After the network configuration is written/saved, the Internet connection is tested. This operation is purely optional, and you can choose to skip the test if you like. A successful test, however, gives you the option to run the YaST Online Update (YOU) and check for the latest release notes and updates. If updates are available, you can choose to download and install them, or skip the update (which can be done at any later time from within YaST2).

10.

Service configuration comes next, allowing you to configure such items as Certificate Management and OpenLDAP Server.

11.

The user authentication method must be chosen. Three choices are available:

  • NIS To use if you are using an NIS server

  • LDAP To use if you are using an LDAP server for user data

  • Local (/etc/passwd) The choice to select if you are storing passwords in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow

Accept the default user authentication method (LDAP).

12.

You can add new local users at this point. The same password rules for creating the root user apply to creating passwords for the local users as well.

NOTE

Not only can you add a new user at this point, but also you should. It is good practice to only use root when necessary, so you should at least have one other user account to log in as by default. I suggest that an "admin" user be created at this point.

13.

SuSEconfig now starts and writes the system configuration. The amount of time this takes will vary greatly from system to system based on the parameters that you've entered.

14.

Release notes are displayed covering the following areas:

  • General Information that everybody should read

  • Update Covers changes not appearing in the Admin Guide

  • Installation More information about the installation

  • Updates and Features Covers technical changes and enhancements

  • Providing Feedback Tells how to contact SUSE, and so on

15.

Hardware configuration of the graphics card, printers, and sound cards follows, and then the installation is complete. You must click the command button labeled Finish, and then you can log in to the system. (It is a good idea to do so as the admin user added during step 12.)

Upon successful completion of these steps, a login screen will appear prompting for a username and password. After you give those entries, a Welcome menu thanks you for installing SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 and provides a list of URLs relating to this and other Novell products.

If there are problems with the installation, you should trace down the first occurrence in which trouble appeared and look for a solution to it before continuing on. The best tool to use for any problem within this category is common sense.

For example, if the system will not read the media, verify that the CD set you have is good by checking to see if another system can read it. If the installation hangs, verify that your system meets the minimum system requirements and that power saving features are not affecting your ability to do the installation.

Remember that the first menu to appear offers a plethora of choices besides Installation. Choosing one of the other choices can help you continue on with the installation and repair any system files.



NovellR Linux Certification Practium Lab Manual
NovellR Linux Certification Practium Lab Manual
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 192

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