Dell Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 4 Owner's Manual
Dell PowerEdge Systems
Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 (x86_64, x86)
Installation Instructions
and
Important Information
Notes and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of
your computer.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if
instructions are not followed.
____________________
Information in this publication is subject to change without notice.
© 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc.
is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL logo, PowerEdge™ and OpenManage™ are
trademarks of Dell Inc. AMD
®
Xeon
are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.Microsoft®, is
a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Red Hat
Enterprise Linux
States and/or other countries.
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this publication to refer to either the entities claiming
the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and
trade names other than its own.
April 2011 Rev. A04
®
and Enterprise Linux® are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. in the United
®
is a registered trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Intel® and
Contents
Highlights of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Product Family
Completing the Setup of AS, ES, and WS . . . . . . . . . 6
Installing and Reinstalling Red Hat
Enterprise Linux
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Operating System Architecture
Selecting the Kernel
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Using the Red Hat Set Up Agent (ES Only) . . . . . . 7
Disabling the X Window System at Start-Up
Configuring Network Settings
. . . . . . . . . . . . 8
. . . . . 8
Enabling the Display of Non-English
Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Updating Your System Packages Using
Red Hat Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Installing Using the Dell
Systems Management Tools
and Documentation Media
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Using the Red Hat Media
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Installing With Dell Unified Server
Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 update 9
Obtaining the DKMS Framework
for Device Drivers
Important Information
General Issues
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
. . . . . 14
Contents 3
Issues Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 Update 1
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Issues Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 Update 3
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Issues Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 Update 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Issues Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 Update 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Issues Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 Update 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Issues Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 4 Update 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Finding More Information
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4 Contents
This document provides the following information:
• Steps for installing and reinstalling Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 on your
system.
NOTE: The Dell Systems Management Tools and Documentation media
contains the latest drivers available at the time of purchase of your system.
The media automatically installs drivers and any Dell-specific updates not
included on the Red Hat media. Save your Dell
and Documentation media in case you need to reinstall the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux operating system.
NOTE: For information on operating system packages, see rhn.redhat.com.
Systems Management Tools
• Information sources that help to solve known issues in the operating system.
If you are installing or reinstalling Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server
(AS), Enterprise Server (ES), or Workstation Server (WS), see "Installing Red
Hat Enterprise Linux Using the Red Hat Media" on page 12.
Highlights of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Product Family
Table 1 lists some of the key features of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES and
AS operating systems.
Table 1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Feature Highlights
Product Minimum RAM Maximum RAM Maximum Physical Processors
ES 256 MB 16 GB 2
AS 256 MB Defined by
hardware
NOTE: Dell also installs Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS as part of specific high
performance computing cluster (HPCC) applications. For additional information,
see the documentation that shipped with your HPCC software package.
Installation Instructions and Important Information 5
Defined by hardware
Operating System Architecture
Some Dell PowerEdge systems offer processors that include either Intel Extended
Memory 64-bit Technology (EM64T) or AMD
processor includes Intel EM64T or AMD64 technology, either the x86 version
or the x86_64 version of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system may
be installed on your system. If your processor does not include Intel EM64T
or AMD64 technology, only the x86 version of the operating system can be
installed on your system.
Depending on the operating system version installed on your system and the
applications you use, the processors with Intel EM64T or AMD64 run in one
of the following three modes:
• Legacy—x86 operating system version installed.
• Compatible—x86_64 operating system installed and a 32-bit
application
• 64-bit—x86_64 operating system installed and a 64-bit
application
NOTE: In Legacy mode, all drivers must be 32-bit. In Compatible and 64-bit modes,
all drivers must be 64-bit.
NOTE: The latest update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 is Update 9. Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 4 Update 9 provides fixes for certain issues found in the previous
releases. However, the Dell OpenManage components are supported only on Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 8.
running.
running.
64 processor technology. If your
Completing the Setup of AS, ES, and WS
This section describes the actions required to complete the operating system
configuration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, ES, or WS.
You can download updated operating system packages and the latest kernel
releases from the Red Hat Network website at rhn.redhat.com.
Selecting the Kernel
The GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) screen is displayed after you boot
your system, allowing you to select the kernel that you want to run. The
kernel versions that you can select are listed in Table 2.
6 Installation Instructions and Important Information
Table 2. Red Hat Linux Kernels
Kernel Name Architecture Kernel Type
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
(2.6.9-x.ELhugemem)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
(2.6.9-x.ELlargesmp)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
(2.6.9-x.EL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
(2.6.9-x.ELsmp)
i686 Hugemem (more than 16 GB
memory)
x86_64 Largesmp (more than 8 processors)
i686/x86_64 Uniprocessor (UP)
i686/x86_64 Symmetric Multiprocessor (SMP)
Using the Red Hat Set Up Agent (ES Only)
CAUTION: If you configure your mouse using the Red Hat Set Up Agent, your
mouse may be erratic and unusable. If this issue occurs, press <Ctrl><Alt><F1> to
switch to a virtual terminal. Then, press <Ctrl><Alt><F2> to switch back to the
Hat Set Up Agent. Your mouse should be usable again.
Red
After you select the kernel, the operating system loads. Then, the
Red Hat Set Up Agent loads and a welcome message is displayed.
The Red Hat Set Up Agent provides the following windows to help you
configure your system:
•Language
•Welcome
• License Agreement
•Keyboard
•Mouse
• Root Password
•Network Setup
•Security Level
•Timezone
• Date and Time
•Display
Installation Instructions and Important Information 7
•Red Hat Login
• Why Register
•Create Login
•Activate
• System User
•Sound Card
• Additional media
• Finish Setup
To apply the configuration steps for each window, click Next.
NOTE: It is strongly recommended that you click Next in the Red Hat Set Up Agent
Welcome window to configure your operating system settings.
Disabling the X Window System at Start-Up
To boot into a console login environment instead of the X Window System,
edit the /etc/inittab file and change id:5:initdefault: to
id:3:initdefault:
To start the X Window System from a console shell prompt, type:
startx
Configuring Network Settings
You can configure network settings using one of the following methods:
• From a command line
• Within the X Window System
Configuring Network Settings From a Command Line
To configure network settings from a command line, type:
netconfig -d ethx
where ethx is the network interface to be configured.
8 Installation Instructions and Important Information
Configuring Network Settings Within the X Window System
1
Select
System SettingsNetwork
The
Network Configuration
2
Click
New
.
The
Select Device Type
3
Select
Ethernet Connection
The
Select Ethernet Device
4
Choose one of the following steps:
window is displayed.
• Select the appropriate device and click
The
Configure Network Settings
from the Red Hat Main menu.
window is displayed.
and click
Forward
.
window is displayed.
Forward
window is displayed.
.
• Select the
The
Other Ethernet Card
Select Ethernet Adapter
option.
window is displayed. Select an adapter
name from the drop-down menu, configure additional settings,
and
click
Forward
The
Configure Network Settings
5
Configure the network settings for the device according to your
preferences and click
The
Create Ethernet Device
6
Click
Apply
.
The
Network Configuration
7
Highlight the Ethernet device you just configured and click
8
When prompted, click
.
window is displayed
Forward
.
window is displayed.
window is displayed.
Yes
to activate your changes.
Your network is now activated.
9
Click
Close
to close the window.
Activate
.
Installation Instructions and Important Information 9
Enabling the Display of Non-English Characters
In the X Window System, the default language is set to English.
To change the default setting to another language, select
System SettingsLanguageat the Red Hat Main menu and select
the appropriate language. Only languages that were installed are available
for selection.
To change the keyboard type, select System Settings Keyboard at the
Red Hat Main menu and select the appropriate keyboard.
If Japanese or Chinese (Simplified) characters do not display correctly in a
text console, perform the following steps:
1
Log in at the console and at the command prompt, type
modprobe vga16fb
2
To enable display of Japanese characters, type
export LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8
To enable display of Chinese (Simplified) characters, type
.
.
export LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8
3
At the command prompt, type
bterm
.
The text-based user interface now displays Japanese or Chinese (Simplified)
characters.
.
Updating Your System Packages Using Red Hat Network
Red Hat periodically releases software updates to:
•Fix bugs
• Address security issues
• Add new hardware support
• Add new features
You can download updated operating system packages and the latest kernel
releases from rhn.redhat.com.
It is strongly recommended that you use the RHN service to update your
system software to the latest revisions before you deploy your system.
10 Installation Instructions and Important Information
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