Redhat ENTERPRISE LINUX WS User Manual

Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 2.1

Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

Installation Guide

Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 2.1: Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS Installation Guide

Red Hat, Inc.

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Table of Contents

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... i

1. Document Conventions..........................................................................................................i

2. How to Use This Manual .....................................................................................................iii

2.1. We Need Feedback! ..............................................................................................iii

I. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS....................................................................................... i

1. Steps to Get You Started....................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Do You Have the Right Components? ...................................................................1

1.2. Is Your Hardware Compatible?..............................................................................2

1.3. Do You Have Enough Disk Space?........................................................................ 2

1.4. Can You Install Using the CD-ROM?....................................................................3

1.5. Which Installation Class is Best For You?.............................................................5

2. System Requirements Table..................................................................................................9

3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS ............................................................................11

3.1. The Installation Program User Interface..............................................................11

3.2. Starting the Installation Program ......................................................................... 11

3.3. Selecting an Installation Method .........................................................................14

3.4. Beginning the Installation ....................................................................................15

3.5. Language Selection.............................................................................................. 16

3.6. Keyboard Conﬁguration.......................................................................................17

3.7. Mouse Conﬁguration ........................................................................................... 18

3.8. Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS .........................................................19

3.9. Install Options......................................................................................................19

3.10. Disk Partitioning Setup ......................................................................................20

3.11. Automatic Partitioning....................................................................................... 21

3.12. Partitioning Your System................................................................................... 23

3.13. Partitioning with fdisk .......................................................................................29

3.14. Boot Loader Installation ....................................................................................29

3.15. GRUB Password ................................................................................................32

3.16. Network Conﬁguration ...................................................................................... 33

3.17. Firewall Conﬁguration .......................................................................................34

3.18. Language Support Selection ..............................................................................37

3.19. Time Zone Conﬁguration...................................................................................38

3.20. Account Conﬁguration....................................................................................... 39

3.21. Package Group Selection ................................................................................... 41

3.22. X Conﬁguration — Video Card ......................................................................... 44

3.23. Preparing to Install ............................................................................................. 45

3.24. Installing Packages............................................................................................. 46

3.25. Boot Disk Creation ............................................................................................ 46

3.26. X Conﬁguration — Monitor and Customization ...............................................47

3.27. Installation Complete .........................................................................................49

4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS via Text Mode.................................................... 51

4.1. Things You Should Know.................................................................................... 51

4.2. The Installation Program User Interface..............................................................52

4.3. Starting the Installation Program ......................................................................... 54

4.4. Installation Cross-Reference Table......................................................................55

4.5. Installing from a Hard Drive................................................................................56

4.6. Installing over a Network.....................................................................................57

II. Appendixes ...................................................................................................................................61

A. Removing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS ..........................................................................63

B. Getting Technical Support.................................................................................................. 65

B.1. Remember to Sign Up ......................................................................................... 65

B.2. An Overview of Red Hat Support ....................................................................... 65

B.3. Scope of Red Hat Support ...................................................................................66

B.4. How to Get Technical Support............................................................................66

B.5. Questions for Technical Support.........................................................................68

C. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS ................................69

C.1. You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS ......................................69

C.2. Trouble Beginning the Installation...................................................................... 69

C.3. Trouble During the Installation ........................................................................... 70

C.4. Problems After Installation .................................................................................72

D. An Introduction to Disk Partitions ..................................................................................... 77

D.1. Hard Disk Basic Concepts .................................................................................. 77

E. Driver Disks........................................................................................................................93

E.1. Why Do I Need a Driver Disk? ........................................................................... 93

Index...................................................................................................................................................95

Introduction

Welcome to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS Installation Guide. This guide contains useful information to assist you during the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS. 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 WS.

This manual will walk you through a typical installation using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CDROMs. Once you have completed the installation as outlined in this manual, you will have a fully functioning Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS system.

1. Document Conventions

When you read this manual, you will see that certain words are represented in different fonts, typefaces, sizes, and weights. This highlighting is systematic; different words are represented in the same style to indicate their inclusion in a speciﬁc category. The types of words that are represented this way include the following:

command

Linux commands (and other operating system commands, when used) are represented this way. This style should indicate to you that you can type the word or phrase on the command line and press [Enter] to invoke a command. Sometimes a command contains words that would be displayed in a different style on their own (such as ﬁlenames). In these cases, they are considered to be part of the command, so the entire phrase will be displayed as a command. For example:

Use the cat testfile command to view the contents of a ﬁle, named testfile, in the current working directory.

filename

Filenames, directory names, paths, and RPM package names are represented this way. This style should indicate that a particular ﬁle or directory exists by that name on your Red Hat Linux system. Examples:

The .bashrc ﬁle in your home directory contains bash shell deﬁnitions and aliases for your own use.

The /etc/fstab ﬁle contains information about different system devices and ﬁlesystems. Install the webalizer RPM if you want to use a Web server log ﬁle analysis program.

application

This style should indicate to you that the program named is an end-user application (as opposed to system software). For example:

Use Netscape Navigator to browse the Web.

[key]

A key on the keyboard is shown in this style. For example: To use [Tab] completion, type in a character and then press the [Tab] key. Your terminal will

display the list of ﬁles in the directory that start with that letter.

[key]-[combination]

A combination of keystrokes is represented in this way. For example: The [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Backspace] key combination will restart the X Window System.

ii Introduction

text found on a GUI interface

A title, word, or phrase found on a GUI interface screen or window will be shown in this style. When you see text shown in this style, it 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.

top level of a menu on a GUI screen or window

When you see a word in this style, it indicates that the word is the top level of a pulldown menu. If you click on the word on the GUI screen, the rest of the menu should appear. For example:

Under Settings on a GNOME terminal, you will see the following menu items: Preferences, Reset Terminal, Reset and Clear, and Color selector.

If you need to type in a sequence of commands from a GUI menu, they will be shown like the following example:

Click on Programs=>Applications=>Emacs to start the Emacs text editor.

button on a GUI screen or window

This style indicates that the text will be found on a clickable button on a GUI screen. For

example: Click on the Back button to return to the webpage you last viewed.

computer output

When you see text in this style, it indicates text displayed by the computer on the command line. You will see responses to commands you typed in, error messages, and interactive prompts for your input during scripts or programs shown this way. For example:

Use the ls command to display the contents of a directory:

$ 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. Examples:

[stephen@maturin stephen]$

leopard login:

user input

Text that the user has to type, either on the command line, or into a text box on a GUI screen, is displayed in this style. In the following example, text is displayed in this style:

To boot your system into the text based installation program, you will need to type in the text command at the boot: prompt.

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 will be marked as note, tip, important, caution, or a warning. For example:

Introduction iii

Note

Remember that Linux is case sensitive. In other words, a rose is not a ROSE is not a rOsE.

Tip

The directory /usr/share/doc contains additional documentation for packages installed on your system.

Important

If you modify the DHCP conﬁguration ﬁle, the changes will not take effect until you restart the DHCP daemon.

Caution

Do not perform routine tasks as root — use a regular user account unless you need to use the root account for system administration tasks.

Warning

If you choose not to partition manually, a server installation will remove all existing partitions on all installed hard drives. Do not choose this installation class unless you are sure you have no data you need to save.

2. How to Use This Manual

This manual focuses on a CD-ROM based installation, so it is ideal for users (both new and old) who want a quick and simple installation solution. It will help you prepare your system, walk you through the installation, and assist you in the conﬁguration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS.

If you are an experienced user who wants to perform a Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD-ROM installation, and you do not need a review of the basics, you can skip ahead to Chapter 3 to begin the installation process.

Tip

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/

iv Introduction

2.1. We Need Feedback!

If you spot a typo in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS Installation Guide, or if you have thought of a way to make this manual better, we would love to hear from you! Please submit a report in Bugzilla (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/) against the component rhel-ig-ws-x86.

Be sure to mention the manual’s identiﬁer:

rhel-ig-ws-x86(EN)-2.1-HTML-RHI (2003-01-31T11:13-0400)

That way we will know exactly which version of the guide you have. If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation, try to be as speciﬁc as possible when de-

scribing it. If you have found an error, please include the section number and some of the surrounding text so we can ﬁnd it easily.

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.

I. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

Table of Contents

1. Steps to Get You Started................................................................................................................. 1

2. System Requirements Table...........................................................................................................9

3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS ................................................................................... 11

4. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS via Text Mode ..........................................................51

Chapter 1.

Steps to Get You Started

Before you install Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS, you should perform the following steps:

1.1. Do You Have the Right Components?

If you have purchased an Ofﬁcial Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS product, you are ready to go. However, mistakes occasionally happen, so now is a good time to double-check the contents of your product.

A black, red, and white Registration Information card is included with your product. A list of the contents of your boxed set version is on the back of the card. Please read over the list and check to make sure that you have all the CDs and manuals that are included with the version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS that you purchased.

If you have purchased an Ofﬁcial Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS product from Red Hat, Inc. (or one of its distributors), and you are missing one or more of the items listed, please let us know. Contact information is also available on the Registration Information card.

How to identify our ofﬁcial boxed set: The bottom of our box has an ISBN number next to one of the bar codes. That ISBN number should be in this form:

1-58569-x-y

(The x and y will be unique numbers.) Red Hat partners with companies (international and domestic) so that we can make Red Hat Enterprise

Linux WS available to you in the most convenient form. Because of these partnerships, you might ﬁnd that your Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS product may not have been actually produced by Red Hat.

If your product has a different ISBN number (or none at all), you will need to contact the company that produced it. Normally, third-party producers will include their logo and/or contact information on the outside of their box; an ofﬁcial Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS boxed set lists only our name and contact information.

1.1.1. Where to Find Other Manuals

If your particular product did not include all of the printed Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS manuals, you can ﬁnd them online or on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS Documentation CD included with your ofﬁcial Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS product.

To ﬁnd the manuals in both HTML and PDF formats online, go to http://www.redhat.com/docs.

1.1.2. Registering Your Product

If you have purchased an Ofﬁcial Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS product, you should register your product. 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 WS boxed set. Once registered, you will have access to all the extras that Red Hat provides to its registered users.

For more information on registering and the scope of Red Hat technical support offerings, see Appendix B.

2 Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started

1.2. Is Your Hardware Compatible?

Hardware compatibility is particularly important if you have an older system ora system that you built yourself. Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 2.1 should be compatible with most hardware in systems that were factory built within the last two years. However, hardware speciﬁcations change almost daily, so it is hard to guarantee that your hardware will be 100% compatible.

The most recent list of supported hardware can be found at http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/.

1.3. Do You Have Enough Disk Space?

Nearly every modern-day operating system (OS) uses disk partitions, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS is no exception. When you install Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS, you may have to work with disk partitions. If you have not worked with disk partitions before (or need a quick review of the basic concepts) read Appendix D before proceeding.

The disk space used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS must be separate from the disk space used by other OSes you might have installed on your system , such as Windows, OS/2, or even a different version of Linux. At least two partitions (/ and swap) must be dedicated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS.

Before you start the installation process, one of the following conditions must be met:

• Your computer must have enough unpartitioned

disk space for the installation of Red Hat Enter-

prise Linux WS.

• You must have one or more partitions that may be deleted, thereby freeing up enough disk space to

install Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS.

1.3.1. Installation Disk Space Requirements

Note

These recommendations are based on an installation that only installs one language (such as English). If you plan to install multiple languages to use on your system, you should increase the disk space requirements.

See Section 1.5, for further information regarding disk space requirements for your speciﬁc installation needs.

Workstation

For a Workstation installation, choosing to install GNOME2or KDE3, requires at least 1.0 GB of

1. Unpartitioned disk space meansthat the hard drive(s)you are installing to have not been divided into sections

for data. When you partition a disk, each partition will behave like a separate disk drive.

2. Acronym for GNU Network Object Model Environment. GNOME is part of the GNU project and part of

the free software, or open source, movement. GNOME is a Windows-like desktop system that works on UNIX

and UNIX-like systems. The main objective of GNOME is to provide a user-friendly suite of applications and an

easy-to-use desktop.

3. Acronym for K Desktop Environment. A network-transparent, contemporarydesktop environment for UNIX

workstations, KDE is part of the open source movement. It is free to anyone and its source code is available to

anyone to modify.

Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 3

free space. Choosing both GNOME and KDE requires at least 1.3 GB of free disk space.

Custom

A Custom installation requires for a minimal installation (without the Workstation packages) and at least 3.2 GB of free space if every package is selected.

If you are not sure that you meet these conditions, or if you want to know how to create free disk space for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS installation, please refer to Appendix D.

1.4. Can You Install Using the CD-ROM?

There are several methods that can be used to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS. This manual focuses on installing from the CD-ROM. For instructions on alternative installation methods, refer to Chapter 4.

Installing from a CD-ROM requires that you have purchased a Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 2.1 product, or you have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD-ROM, and you have a CD-ROM drive. Most new computers will allow booting from the CD-ROM. If your system will support booting from the CD-ROM, it is an easy way to begin a local CD-ROM installation.

Your BIOS may need to be changed to allow booting from your CD-ROM drive. For more information about editing your BIOS, see Section 3.2.1.

1.4.1. Alternative Boot Methods

If you cannot boot from the CD-ROM drive, the following alternative boot method is available:

Local Boot Disk

If you need a local boot disk4, you must create it. The local boot disk image ﬁle, boot.img, is located in the images directory on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD-ROM. Refer to Section 1.4.2, for more information on making a boot disk.

Note

USB Floppies — You can also boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS installation program using a

USB ﬂoppy as a boot disk (if your system supports booting from a USB ﬂoppy).

Note

Although it is not required to boot your installation, you may occasionally ﬁnd that a driver disk is needed to continue with the installation. Appendix E explains why a driver disk may be necessary for your installation, and how to obtain one if needed.

4. A boot disk is a diskette you create during an installation that can later be used to boot the operatingsystem.

Normally, your computer boots from a hard disk, but if the hard disk is damaged, you can boot the computerfrom

a bootable diskette.

4 Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started

1.4.2. Making Installation Diskettes

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 Enterprise Linux WS errata page (http://www.redhat.com/apps/support/errata) or you may need to create a boot disk.

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.

To start, you will need a blank, formatted, high-density (1.44MB), 3.5-inch diskette. You will need access to a computer with a 3.5-inch diskette drive. The computer must be able to run either an MSDOS program or the dd utility found on most Linux-like operating systems.

The images directory on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD-ROM contains the boot images. Once you have selected the proper image (such as boot.img for a CD-ROM-based installation or

bootnet.img for a network installation), transfer the image ﬁle onto a diskette.

1.4.2.1. Using the rawrite Utility

Tomake a diskette using MS-DOS, use the rawrite utility included on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD-ROM in the dosutils directory. First, label a blank, formatted 3.5-inch diskette appropriately (such as "Boot Disk" or "Updates Disk"). Insert it into the diskette drive. Then, use the following commands (assuming your CD-ROM is drive d:):



C:\



D:\

cd \dosutils

D:\dosutils Enter disk image source file name: ..\images\boot.img Enter target diskette drive: a: Please insert a formatted diskette into drive A: and press --ENTER-- : [Enter] D:\dosutils

First, rawrite asks you for the ﬁlename of a diskette image; enter the directory and name of the image you wish to write (for example, ..\images\boot.img). Then rawrite asks for a diskette drive to write the image to; enter a:. Finally, rawrite asks for conﬁrmation that a formatted diskette is in the drive you have selected. After pressing [Enter] to conﬁrm, rawrite copies the image ﬁle onto the diskette. If you need to make another diskette, label that diskette, and run rawrite again, specifying the appropriate image ﬁle.



rawrite



1.4.2.2. Using the dd Command

Tomake a diskette under Linux (or any other Linux-like operating system), you must have permission to write to the device representing a 3.5-inch diskette drive (known as /dev/fd0 under Linux).

First, label a blank, formatted diskette appropriately (such as "Boot Disk" or "Updates Disk"). Insert it into the diskette drive (but do not issue a mount5command). After mounting the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 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.

5. When you mount a ﬂoppy or CD-ROM, you make that device’s contents available to you. See the Ofﬁcial

Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide for more information.

Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 5

1.5. Which Installation Class is Best For You?

Usually, Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS is installed on its own disk partition or set of partitions, or over another installation of Linux.

Warning

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS over another installation of Linux (including Red Hat Linux) does not preserve any information (ﬁles or data) from a prior installation. Make sure you save or back up any important ﬁles!

Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS provides two different classes, or types, of installations:

Workstation

The Workstation conﬁguration includes, at your option, the ability to install a default X Window System environment with management.

Custom

A Custom installation allows you the greatest ﬂexibility during your installation. You choose your boot loader, which packages you want, and more. Custom installations are most appropriate for those users more familiar with Red Hat Linux installations and for those afraid of losing complete ﬂexibility.

These classes give you the option of simplifying the installation process (with some potential for loss of conﬁguration ﬂexibility), or retaining ﬂexibility with a slightly more complex installation process. Next, take a detailed look at each class, so you can decide which one is right for you.

1.5.1. Workstation Installation

Below are the minimum recommended disk space requirements for a Workstation installation where only one language (such as English) will be installed.

Note

The minimum recommended disk space requirements as listed below, are just minimum recommendations for the installation itself. You should adjust these disk space requirements as appropriate for your speciﬁc computing needs (such as disk space for personal ﬁles, additional applications you may install at a later time, and so on).

• Workstation (minimum, no graphical interface): 800 MB

• Workstation (default, choosing GNOME or KDE): 1 GB

• Workstation (choosing GNOME and KDE): 1.3 GB

• Workstation (choosing everything, GNOME and KDE): 1.5 GB

If you plan to choose all group packages, as well as select additional individual packages, you may want to allow yourself 2.0 GB or more of disk space. This will provide space where additional data may be written.

6 Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started

1.5.1.1. What a Workstation Installation Will Do

A Workstation installation, with automatic partitioning, will create the following partitions:

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.

• A 47 MB partition (mounted as /boot) in which the Linux kernel and related ﬁles are kept.

• A partition of at least 4877 MB (mounted as /usr).

• 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 – 256 MB (twice your RAM), depending on how much disk space is available.

For this example, a 1020 MB swap partition (mounted as

• A 2738 MB ext partition.

• A partition of at least 2094 MB (mounted as /home).

• A 384 MB partition (mounted as /).

• A 259 MB partition (mounted as /var).

swap) is created.



This partitioning scheme offers a reasonably ﬂexible ﬁlesystem conﬁguration for most server tasks.

1.5.2. Custom Installations

The Custom installation allows you the most ﬂexibility during your installation. During a Custom installation, you have complete control over the packages that will be installed on your system.

The recommended disk space requirements for a Custom installation are as follows:

Note

• Custom (minimum, without Workstation packages): 350 MB

• Custom (minimum, with Workstation packages): 500 MB

• Custom (default): 1 GB

• Custom (choosing everything): 3.2 GB

Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 7

1.5.2.1. What a Custom Installation Will Do

As you might guess from the name, a custom installation puts the emphasis on ﬂexibility. You have complete control over which packages will be installed on your system.

If you choose automatic partitioning, a Custom installation will create the following partitions:

Note

• 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 – 256 MB (twice your RAM), depending on how much disk space is available.

For this example, a 1020 MB swap partition (mounted as

• A 47 MB partition (mounted as /boot) in which the Linux kernel and related ﬁles reside.

• A 2609 MB root partition (mounted as /) in which all other ﬁles are stored (the exact size of this

swap) is created.



partition is dependent on your available disk space).

8 Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started

Chapter 2.

System Requirements Table

The most recent list of supported hardware can be found at http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/. This chapter provides you with a system requirements table, which will help you keep a record ofyour

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 WS installation go more smoothly.

hard drive(s): type, label,

size; ex: IDE hda=1.2 GB

partitions: map of partitions and mount points; ex:

/dev/hda1=/home, /dev/hda2=/ (ﬁll this in

once you know where they will reside)

memory: amount of RAM installed on your system; ex: 64 MB, 128 MB

CD-ROM: interface type; ex: SCSI, IDE (ATAPI)

SCSI adapter: if present, make and model number; ex: BusLogic SCSI Adapter, Adaptec 2940UW

network card: if present, make and model number; ex: Tulip, 3COM 3C590

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; ex: Creative Labs Graphics Blaster 3D, 8MB

10 Chapter 2. 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: for Red Hat, this would be redhat.com

hostname: the name of your computer; your personal choice of names; ex: cookie, southpark

Table 2-1. System Requirements Table

If any of these networking requirements or terms are unfamiliar to you, contact your network administrator for assistance.

Chapter 3.

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

This chapter explains how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS from the CD-ROM using the graphical, mouse-based installation program. The following topics are discussed:

• Getting familiar with the installation program’s user interface

• Starting the installation program

• Selecting an installation method

• Conﬁguration steps during the installation (language, keyboard, mouse, etc.)

• Finishing the installation

3.1. The Installation Program User Interface

If you have used a graphical user interface (GUI) before, you will be familiar with this process; simply use your mouse to navigate the screens, "click" buttons, or enter text ﬁelds. You can also navigate through the installation using the [Tab] and [Enter] keys.

3.1.1. A Note about Virtual Consoles

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS installation program offers more than the dialog boxes of the installation process. Several different kinds of diagnostic messages are available to you, in addition to providing 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.

These virtual consoles can be helpful if you encounter a problem while installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS. Messages displayed on the installation or system consoles can help pinpoint a problem. Please see Table 3-1 for a listing of the virtual consoles, keystrokes used to switch to them, and their contents.

Console Keystrokes Contents

1 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F1] installation dialog

2 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F2] shell prompt

3 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F3] install log (messages from

4 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F4] system-related messages

5 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F5] other messages

7 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F7] X graphical display

Table 3-1. Console, Keystrokes, and Contents

Generally, there is no reason to leave the default console (virtual console #7) unless you are attempting to diagnose installation problems.

installation program)

12 Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

3.2. Starting the Installation Program

Tostart the installation, you must ﬁrst boot the installation program. Please make sure you have all the resources you will need for the installation. If you have already read through Chapter 1, and followed the instructions, you should be ready to begin.

Note

Occasionally, some hardware components require a driver disk during the installation. A driver disk adds support for hardware that is not otherwise supported by the installation program. Refer to Appendix E for more information.

3.2.1. Booting the Installation Program

Note

To create a boot disk, refer to Section 1.4.2.

You can boot the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS installation program using any one of the following media (depending upon what your system can support):

• Bootable CD-ROM — Your machine supports a bootable CD-ROM drive and you want to perform

a local CD-ROM installation.

• Local boot disk — Your machine will not support a bootable CD-ROM and you want to install from

a local CD-ROM or a hard drive.

• Network boot disk — Use a network boot disk to install via NFS, FTP, and HTTP.

Insert the boot disk into your computer’s ﬁrst diskette drive and reboot (or boot using the CD-ROM, if your computer supports booting from it). Your BIOS settings may need to be changed to allow you to boot from the diskette or CD-ROM.

Tip

To change your BIOS settings, watch the instructions provided on your display when your computer ﬁrst begins to boot. Often you will see a line of text telling you to press the [Del] or [F1] key to enter the BIOS settings.

Once you’ve entered your BIOS setup program, ﬁnd the section where you can alter your boot sequence. The default is often C, A or A, C (depending on whether you boot from your hard drive [C] or a diskette drive [A]). Change this sequence so that the CD-ROM is ﬁrst in your boot order and that C or A (whichever is your typical boot default) is second. This instructs the computer to ﬁrst look at the CD-ROM drive for bootable media; if it does not ﬁnd bootable media on the CD-ROM drive, it will then check your hard drive or diskette drive.

Save your changes before exiting the BIOS. For more information, please refer to the documentation that came with your system.

After a short delay, a screen containing the boot: prompt should appear. The screen contains information on a variety of boot options. Each boot option also has one or more help screens associated with it. To access a help screen, press the appropriate function key as listed in the line at the bottom of the screen.

Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 13

As you boot the installation program, be aware of two issues:

• Once you see the boot: prompt, the installation program will automatically begin if you take no

action within the ﬁrst minute. To disable this feature, press one of the help screen function keys.

• If you press a help screen function key, there will be a slight delay while the help screen is read

from the boot media.

Normally, you only need to press [Enter] to boot. Watch the boot messages to see if the Linux kernel detects your hardware. If your hardware is properly detected, please continue to the next section. If it does not properly detect your hardware, you may need to restart the installation in expert mode.

3.2.1.1. Additional Boot Options

If you do not wish to perform a CD-ROM GUI installation, you can start a text mode installation using the following boot command:

boot: text

For text mode installation instructions, please refer to Chapter 4. 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:

boot: linux console=



device



In the above command,deviceshould be the device you are using (such as ttyS0 or ttyS1). For example, linux console=ttyS0,115200n8.

3.2.1.2. 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, enter:

boot: linux mem=128M

After entering any options, press [Enter] to boot using those options. If you need to specify boot options to identify your hardware, please write them down. The boot

options will be needed during the boot loader conﬁguration portion of the installation (please see Section 3.14 for more information).

14 Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

3.2.1.3. Booting Without Diskettes

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD-ROM can be booted by computers that support bootable CDROMs. Not all computers support this feature, so if your system cannot boot from the CD-ROM, there is one other way to start the installation without using a boot disk. The following method is speciﬁc to x86-based computers only.

If you have MS-DOS installed on your system, youcan boot directly from the CD-ROM drive without using a boot disk. To do this (assuming your CD-ROM is drive d:), use the following commands:

C:\



D:\cd \dosutils D:\dosutilsautoboot.bat

This method will not work if run in a DOS window — the autoboot.bat ﬁle must be executed with DOS as the only operating system. In other words, Windows cannot be running.

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 ofinstallation 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 WS CD-ROM, you can use this method. You will need a boot disk or a bootable CD-ROM. PCMCIA boot and driver disks may also be used. Continue reading this chapter for further instructions.

Hard Drive

If you have copied the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS ISO images to a local hard drive, you can use this method. You will need a boot disk. PCMCIA boot and driver disks may also be used. Refer to Chapter 4, for hard drive installation instructions.

NFS Image

If you are installing from an NFS server which is exporting the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD-ROM(s) or a mirror image of *PROD;, you can use this method. You will need a network boot disk. PCMCIA boot and driver disks may also be used. Refer to Chapter 4, for network installation instructions. Please note that NFS installations may also be performed in GUI mode.

FTP

If you are installing directly from an FTP server, use this method. You will need a network boot disk. PCMCIA boot and driver disks may also be used. Refer to Chapter 4, for FTP installation instructions.

Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 15

HTTP

If you are installing directly from an HTTP (Web) server, use this method. You will need a network boot disk. PCMCIA boot and driver disks may also be used. Refer to Chapter 4, for HTTP installation instructions.

3.4. Beginning the Installation

If you are planning to install via CD-ROM using the graphical interface, please continue reading. If you would rather perform a text mode installation, reboot your system and at the boot: prompt,

type text. Refer to Chapter 4, for more information.

3.4.1. Installing from CD-ROM

Toinstall Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS from a CD-ROM, choose the CD-ROM option from the boot loader screen and select OK. When prompted, insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS CD into your CD-ROM drive (if you did not boot from the CD-ROM). Once the CD is in the CD-ROM drive, select OK, and press [Enter].

The installation program will then probe your system and attempt to identify your CD-ROM drive. It will start by looking for an IDE (also known as an ATAPI) CD-ROM drive. If found, it will continue to the next stage of the installation process (see Section 3.5).

Note

To abort the installation process at this time, reboot your machine and then eject the boot diskette or CD-ROM. You can safely cancel the installation at any point before the About to Install screen. See Section 3.23, for more information.

If a CD-ROM drive is not detected, you will be asked what type of CD-ROM drive you have. Choose from the following types:

SCSI

Select this if your CD-ROM drive is attached to a supported SCSI adapter; the installation program will then ask youto choose a SCSI driver. Choose the driver that most closely resembles your adapter. You may specify options for the driver if necessary; however, most drivers will detect your SCSI adapter automatically.

Other

If your CD-ROM drive is neither an IDE nor a SCSI, it is an "other." Sound cards with proprietary CD-ROM interfaces are good examples of CD-ROMs in the Other category. The installation program will display a list of drivers for supported CD-ROM drives — choose a driver and, if necessary, specify any driver options.

Tip

A partial list of optional parameters for CD-ROM drives can be found in the Ofﬁcial Red Hat Linux Reference Guide, in the General Parameters and Modules appendix.

16 Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

3.4.1.1. 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 it 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 hdX =cdrom. Replace the X with one of the following letters, depending on the interface the unit is connected to, and whether it is conﬁgured as master or slave:

• 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.

3.5. Language Selection

Using your mouse, select the language you would prefer to use for the installation and as the system default (see Figure 3-1).

Selecting the appropriate language will also help target your time zone conﬁguration later in the installation. The installation program will try to deﬁne the appropriate time zone based on what you specify on this screen.

Once you select the appropriate language, click Next to continue.

Figure 3-1. Language Selection

Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 17

3.6. Keyboard Conﬁguration

Choose the keyboard model that best ﬁts your system (see Figure 3-2). If you cannot ﬁnd an exact match, choose the best Generic match for your keyboard type (for example, Generic 101-key PC).

Next, choose the correct layout type for your keyboard (for example, U.S. English). Creating special characters with multiple keystrokes (such as Ñ, Ô, and Ç) is done using "dead keys"

(also known as compose key sequences). Dead keys are enabled by default. If you do not wish to use them, select Disable dead keys.

Tip

The following example will help you determine if you need dead keys enabled. An example of a dead key is the backspace (^H) key on a US English 101 Standard Keyboard. Dead keys are not exclusive to non-English keyboards.

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 Next to continue.

Figure 3-2. Keyboard Conﬁguration

Tip

To change your keyboard type after you have installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS, log in as root and use the /usr/sbin/kbdconfig command. Alternatively, you can type setup at the root prompt.

18 Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

To become root, type su - at the shell prompt in a terminal window and then press [Enter]. Then, enter the root password.

Tip

To re-enable dead keys (assuming you chose to disable them during the installation), 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.

An InputDevice section, that would disable dead keys on a keyboard layout that used dead keys (for example, German), would look similar to the following:

Section "InputDevice"

EndSection

By default, the keyboard layout for various languages which use dead keys should have them enabled unless the nodeadkeys option is present.

Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "keyboard" Option "XkbRules" "xfree86" Option "XkbModel" "pc101" Option "XkbLayout" "de" Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"

3.7. Mouse Conﬁguration

Choose the correct mouse type for your system. If you cannot ﬁnd an exact match, choose a mouse type that you are sure is compatible with your system (see Figure 3-3).

To determine your mouse’s interface, follow the mouse cable back to where it plugs into your system. If the connector at the end of the mouse cable plugs into a rectangular connector, you have a serial or USB mouse; if the connector is round, you have a PS/2 mouse or mouse port.

If you are not sure if your mouse is a serial or USB mouse, check the vendor documentation. If you cannot ﬁnd a mouse that you are sure is compatible with your system, select one of the Generic

entries, based on your mouse’s number of buttons, and its interface.

Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 19

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.

The Emulate 3 Buttons checkbox allows you to use a two-button mouse as if it had three buttons. In general, the X Window System is easier to use with a three-button mouse. If you select this checkbox, you can emulate a third, "middle" button by pressing both mouse buttons simultaneously.

Tip

To change your mouse conﬁguration after you have completed the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS, become root; then use the /usr/sbin/mouseco nfig command from a shell prompt.

To conﬁgure your mouse to work as a left-handed mouse, reset the order of the mouse buttons. To do this, after you have booted your Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS system, type gpm -B 321 at the shell prompt.

3.8. Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

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

Please notice the Hide Help button at the bottom left corner of the screen. The help screen is open by default. If you do not want to view the help information, click on Hide Help to minimize the help portion of the screen.

Click on the Next button to continue.

20 Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS

3.9. Install Options

Choose the type of installation you would like to perform (see Figure 3-4). Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS allows you to choose the installation type that best ﬁts your needs. Your options are Workstation and Custom.

Note

The choices for Installation Type presented on the Install Options screen vary depending on which product you are installing.

Figure 3-4. Choosing Your Installation Type

For more information about the different installation classes, please refer to Section 1.5.

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 D for more information.

On this screen, you can choose to perform automatic partitioning, or manual partitioning using Disk Druid or fdisk (see Figure 3-5).

Automatic partitioning allows you to perform an installation without having to partition your drive(s) yourself. If you do not feel comfortable with partitioning your system, it is recommended that you do not choose to partition manually and instead let the installation program partition for you.

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Redhat ENTERPRISE LINUX WS User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual