Topic

• Preparing for Linux Installation
  • Determining Computer Use

    Some common software across all machines includes: ssh

    • Web Server
      • Hardware
        • Beefy hard drives: perhaps consider a RAID
        • Plenty of RAM - At least 512 MB
        • Medium processor - maybe a PIII-800 (more power for ASP, cgi, etc)
        • NIC: consider gig ethernet for really busy servers
      • Software
        • Apache is common for web serving
        • Some others include IBM Websphere, ...

          Trying to think of more examples.. :)

        • Definitely want some scripting languages for cgi such as perl, python, php
        • Security? Add ssl capabilities to your webserver.
        • Compilers - gcc, make, binutils
    • Email Server
      • Hardware
        • Large drives, even consider a RAID
        • Medium RAM - 256 is prolly ok (unless a *really* busy server)
        • Medium processor (a plain PIII-500 would be more than enough)
        • NIC: once again, consider gig eth for a busy mail server
      • Software
        • Plenty of MTA's (Mail Transfer Agent) - qmail, postfix, sendmail

          In general, qmail has proven to be an extremely secure mail server, but with nightmares to configure and maintain. Postfix is best known for ease of configurability and maintenance. Sendmail is the oldest and best known MTA, but also the least secure (can we say Internet Worm?) and perhaps hardest to configure.

        • Perhaps some scripting tools like python or perl to ease maintenance.
        • procmail for powerful mail filtering
        • Maybe some SPAM and virus filtering software
    • Workstation
      • Hardware

        You're going to find that on workstations, hardware is very flexible depending on what the user needs to do.

        • Some decent space is expected. Maybe in the neighborhood of 20-40 GB (depends on user requirements)
        • RAM - I would suggest at least 512 if possible, more depending
        • Processor - For a regular use machine, a PIII-500. More for modeling and compiling
        • NIC: a regular 10/100 should suffice
      • Software
        • A large compliment of software is expected. Definitely X windows with either GNOME or KDE.
        • Full fleet of compilers and scripting languages
        • The standard suite of tools, such as grep, pine, and many more.

          Usually, you won't need to specifically pick all of these packages. This has been done for you by the distribution maintainers. Still, it's good to remember.

        • Any special tools needed for the user - software such as modeling tools, data analysis tools, etc.
    • Backup Server
      • Hardware
        • You're gonna want some huge drives, and a RAID if you can. Depending on needs, 80GB - multi-terabyte.
        • Also, depending on how you backup and what you're data recovery needs are, a tape drive or tape library.
        • Video card optional (can administer through console and ssh)
        • Medium Processor - PIII-500 probably fine
        • NIC: gig eth if possible. Minimum of 100 Mb.
      • Software
        • If you're really getting into it, perhaps some backup suite. For personal and small business use, tar should suffice.
        • Standard compliment of compilers and scripting languages to automate a lot of your backup tasks
        • Don't forget any special drivers you might need for the RAID or tape library.
    • File Server
      • Hardware
        • Obviously, you're gonna want as big of drives as you can afford. Maybe even a RAID.
        • A good bit of RAM to handle all of these requests, and perhaps perform some caching. ~512
        • Medium Processor - PIII-500
        • NIC - gig eth if possible. 100 Mb minimum
      • Software
        • Depending on how you're sharing files, at minimum you'll need NFS
        • Anything else is pretty optional
  • Gathering Hardware Information

    This phase is for gathering all of the information about the hardware you have. This is useful in case you run into problems during install, and the linux installer can not automagically detect everything.

    • Windows
      • You can use the Device Manager and various other tools to gather the hardware information
    • Linux
      • Hmm.. So you're re-installing? Well, gather the info from the special /proc files. Also, try tools
    • New System
      • This is a little more complicated. Try looking in BIOS. Also, note all of the important numbers from the various devices.
• Performing the Installation
  • Final Preparations
    • For a Local Install - you must boot the computer in a special way
      • CDROM
        • This is the easiest, if your computer supports it.
        • Just insert the CD in the drive, and reboot.
        • Note: You may need to configure BIOS to put the CD in the list of drives checked at startup
      • Floppy
        • This way is slightly less convenient, but probably the best supported
        • A lot of times, there are two floppies involved, called a boot disk and a ram disk.

          The boot disk goes in first and performs the boot strapping process. After a minute or two, it will prompt for the ram disk. Once the access light goes out, go ahead and swap the disk, and press enter.

        • Make sure to have the install cd in the drive already. Many boot floppies will automatically try to mount and run the installer
    • Network Install
      • This is a tricky installation option which we will not cover in this class.

        But for those of you who are dying to know, this particular installation method will allow you to install linux over a network connection, with some server providing all of the data, and the local machine pulling it down for install.

  • The Process

    The actual process varies greatly between distributions and configurations. I will list the common steps in an order that seems logical to me. =)

    • Formatting and Partitioning
      • Probably one of the more complicated processes
      • Many times, you will find partitioning and formatting as the same process. Here, I will discuss them separately for clarity.
      • Partitioning
        • Partitioning is the process of slicing up the hard drive into distinct chunks.
        • As stated, a partition is just a specific slice of the hard drive.
        • Partitions are divided into two categories
          • Primary
            • Primary Partitions are hardware supported partitions, and each IDE drive can support up to 4 per disk
          • Extended
            • Extended Partitions are "fake" partitions located within Primary Partitions.
            • These are supported by the OS to allow more flexibility.
        • Standard Partitioning Schemes

          It should be noted that there is no "Standard" layout. Each machine has it's own needs and resources. You determine how to use them as efficiently as possible. In general, double ram for swap amount is a good rule of thumb. Also, giving a lot of space to / makes administration easier in the long run. Extra space can be put under a /spare or /extra directory, to be allocated for use later with symlinks.

          • / - This is the root filesystem. You can give this one maybe 20% of the drive
          • /home - This is the home directory. This is probably one of your largest partitions. ~40%
          • swap - This is swap space. You want to have at least twice as much swap space as you have RAM.
          • /tmp - This is the temp directory. A scratchpad if you will. You want at least a gig here.
          • /usr - Sometimes, this directory is a separate fs. Make it as big as you can, if it is.
      • Formatting
        • Formatting is the process of getting the drive ready to store information in an organized manner.
        • You can think of formatting as painting parking stripes on a huge parking lot.
          • These stripes allow the information to be organized for easy storage and retrieval.
          • Consider: without parking stripes at the mall, how would you find a parking space? Think of the pandemonium!
        • This process can take a while, if it's a full format. Quick formats are faster, but don't detect bad sectors.
    • Choosing Software and Installing
      • This is quite straightforward. Basically, pick all the software you want, and click install
      • Now all of the information is being copied to the hard drive
    • Configuring Networking
      • This is where you set up all of your network parameters
      • Specifying DHCP or manual addresses, subnets, gateways and DNS
      • We will cover this in more detail later
    • Configuring Other Devices
      • This is where you might configure extra devices like sound cards, RAIDs, and other special hardware
    • Adding Users
      • This is where you will set the root password
      • Further, you have the option of configuring other users
    • Configuring X Windows
      • This part can be tricky.
      • You have to correctly configure the video card, mouse, and keyboard.
      • There are tools to help with this, so go with those first.
      • If all else fails, you can fall back to trial and error.