Red Hat Linux 8.
Red Hat Linux 8.0: The Official Red Hat Linux x86 Installation Guide Copyright © 2002 by 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 rhl-ig-x86(EN)-8.0-Print-RHI (2002-07-24T12:04-0400) Copyright © 2002 by Red Hat, Inc. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, V1.
Table of Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................................... vii 1. Document Conventions....................................................................................................... vii 2. How to Use This Manual ..................................................................................................... ix 2.1. We Need Feedback! .........................................................
3.18.4. Recommended Partitioning Scheme ............................................................... 47 3.18.5. Adding Partitions ............................................................................................ 48 3.18.6. Editing Partitions ............................................................................................ 50 3.18.7. Deleting a Partition ......................................................................................... 50 3.19. Partitioning with fdisk ........
D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux............................................................... 97 D.1. You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Linux .......................................................................... 97 D.1.1. Are You Unable to Boot from the CD-ROM? ................................................. 97 D.1.2. Are You Unable to Boot from the Local Boot Disk?....................................... 97 D.1.3. Are You Unable to Boot from PCMCIA Boot Disks? ....................
H. Additional Boot Options............................................................................................................ 129 Index................................................................................................................................................. 133 Colophon..........................................................................................................................................
Introduction Welcome to the Official Red Hat Linux x86 Installation Guide. This guide contains useful information to assist you during the installation of Red Hat Linux. 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 Linux. This manual will walk you through a typical installation using the Red Hat Linux CD-ROMs.
viii 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.
Introduction ix 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.
x Introduction 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/ 2.1.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started Note Although this manual reflects the most current information possible, you should read the Red Hat Linux Release Notes for information that may not have been available prior to our documentation being finalized. The Release Notes can be found on the Red Hat Linux CD #1 and online at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux 1.1. Do You Have the Right Components? If you have purchased the Official Red Hat Linux boxed set, you are ready to go.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 1.1.2. Registering Your Product If you have purchased the Official Red Hat Linux boxed set, 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 Linux boxed set.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 13 The disk space used by Red Hat 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. At least two partitions (/ and swap) must be dedicated to Red Hat Linux. Before you start the installation process, one of the following conditions must be met: • Your computer must have enough unpartitioned1 disk space for the installation of Red Hat Linux.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 1.4. Can You Install Using the CD-ROM? There are several methods that can be used to install Red Hat Linux. Installing from a CD-ROM requires that you have purchased a Red Hat Linux 8.0 boxed set, or you have a Red Hat Linux 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.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 15 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 Linux errata page: http://www.redhat.com/apps/support/errata/ An image file contains an exact copy (or image) of a diskette’s contents.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 1.4.2.2. Using the dd Command To make 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 mount4 the diskette).
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 17 Upgrade If you already have a version of Red Hat Linux (6.2 or greater) running on your system and you want to quickly update to the latest packages and kernel version, then an upgrade is most appropriate for you. 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.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 1.5.2.1. What a Workstation Installation Will Do If you choose automatic partitioning, a workstation installation will create the following partitions: • 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. For example, 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.
Chapter 1. Steps to Get You Started 19 1.5.4. Custom Installations The custom installation allows you the most flexibility during your installation. The workstation and server installations automatically go through the installation process for you and omit certain steps. During a custom installation, you have complete control over the packages that will be installed on your system.
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2. Hardware Information and System Requirements Tables This chapter provides instructions for learning about your hardware and a system requirements table which will help you keep a record of your current system settings and requirements. 2.1. Learning About Your Hardware with Windows If your computer is already running Windows 9x, you can use the following steps to get additional configuration information: Figure 2-1.
Chapter 2. Hardware Information and System Requirements Tables Figure 2-2. Windows 9x System Properties • Disk drives — the type (IDE or SCSI) of hard drive will be found here. (IDE drives will normally include the word "IDE," while SCSI drives will not.) • Hard disk controllers — information about your hard drive controller. • CDROM — information about any CD-ROM drives connected to your computer. Note In some cases, there may be no CD-ROM icon, yet your computer has a functioning CD-ROM drive.
Chapter 2. Hardware Information and System Requirements Tables 23 If your computer is already running Windows 2000, you can use the following steps to get additional configuration information: Figure 2-3. Windows 2000 System Properties • In Windows, click on the My Computer icon using the secondary (normally the right) mouse button. A pop-up menu should appear. • Select Properties. The System Properties window should appear.
• Chapter 2. Hardware Information and System Requirements Tables Click on the Device Manager button. You will then see a graphical representation of your computer’s hardware configuration. Make sure the View devices by type radio button is selected. At this point, you can either double-click on the icons or single-click on the plus sign + to look at each entry in more detail. Look under the following icons for more information: Figure 2-5.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 2. Hardware Information and System Requirements Tables 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: Red Hat’s would be redhat.com hostname: the name of your computer; your personal choice of names; ex: cookie, southpark Table 2-1.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux This chapter explains how to install Red Hat Linux from the CD-ROM. 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, etc.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Console Keystrokes Contents 1 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F1] installation dialog 2 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F2] shell prompt 3 [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[F3] install log (messages from installation program) 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 3.2.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 29 Figure 3-2. Installation Program Widgets as seen in Disk Druid Here is a list of the most important widgets shown in Figure 3-1, and Figure 3-2: • Window — windows (usually referred to as dialogs in this manual) will 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.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux To "press" a button, position the cursor over the button (using [Tab], for example) and press [Space] or [Enter]. To select an item from a list of items, move the cursor to the item you wish to select and press [Enter]. To select an item with a checkbox, move the cursor to the checkbox and press [Space] to select an item. To deselect, press [Space] a second time.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 31 Insert the boot diskette into your computer’s first diskette drive and reboot (or boot using the CDROM, 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 boots. You will see a line of text telling you to press the [Del] or [F1] key to enter the BIOS settings.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux The installation program will prompt you to insert a CD or select an ISO image to test, and select OK to perform the checksum operation. This checksum operation can be performed on any Red Hat Linux CD and does not have to be performed in a specific order (for example, CD #1 does not have the be the first CD you verify). It is strongly recommended to perform this operation on any Red Hat Linux CD that was created from downloaded ISO images.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 33 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 auto- boot.bat), you will have to use a boot diskette to start the installation. 3.4.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux To install Red Hat Linux from a CD-ROM, choose the CD-ROM option from the boot loader screen and select OK. When prompted, insert the Red Hat Linux 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.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 35 3.6. Installing from a Hard Drive Note Hard drive installations only work from ext2, ext3, or FAT file systems. If you have a file system other than those listed here, such as reiserfs, you will not be able to perform a hard drive installation. Hard drive installations require the use of the ISO (or CD-ROM) images. An ISO image is a file containing an exact copy of a CD-ROM disk image.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Enter the device name of the partition containing the Red Hat ISO images. There is also a field labeled Directory holding images. If the ISO images are not in the root directory of that partition, enter the path to the ISO images (for example, if the ISO images are in /test/new/RedHat, you would enter /test/new). After you have identified the disk partition, you will next see the Welcome dialog. 3.7.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 37 If you are not sure how to do this, refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide and the Official Red Hat Linux Reference Guide for more information. 3.7.1.1. 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 Linux CD-ROMs) in a directory, choose to install via NFS.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Figure 3-4. NFS Setup Dialog If the NFS server is exporting the ISO images of the Red Hat Linux CD-ROMs, enter the directory which contains the ISO images. Next you will see the Welcome dialog. 3.9. Installing via FTP The FTP dialog (Figure 3-5) applies only if you are installing from an FTP server (if you selected FTP in the Installation Method dialog). This dialog allows you to identify the FTP server from which you are installing Red Hat Linux. Figure 3-5.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 39 Tip You can also install Red Hat Linux using ISO images without copying them into a single tree by loopback mounting them as: disc1/,disc2/,disc3/ 3.10. Installing via HTTP The HTTP dialog (Figure 3-6) applies only if you are installing from an HTTP server (if you selected HTTP in the Installation Method dialog). This dialog prompts you for information about the HTTP server from which you are installing Red Hat Linux.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 3.11. Welcome to Red Hat Linux 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 Linux 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.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 41 Figure 3-8. Keyboard Configuration Tip To change your keyboard layout type after you have completed the installation, use the Keyboard Configuration Tool. Type the redhat-config-keyboard command in a shell prompt to launch the Keyboard Configuration Tool. If you are not root, it will prompt you for the root password to continue. 3.14. Mouse Configuration Choose the correct mouse type for your system.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Tip If you have a scroll mouse, select the MS Intellimouse entry (with your proper mouse port) as the compatible mouse type. Figure 3-9. Mouse Configuration If you have a PS/2, USB, or 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.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 43 Figure 3-10. Choosing Install or Upgrade To perform an upgrade, please refer to Appendix A. For more information about the different installation classes, please refer to Section 1.5. 3.16. 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.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Figure 3-11. Disk Partitioning Setup 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 to download package updates. If you chose to manually partition using Disk Druid, refer to Section 3.18. If you chose to manually partition using fdisk, refer to Section 3.19. 3.17.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 45 Figure 3-12. Automatic Partitioning Using your mouse, choose the hard drive(s) on which you want Red Hat Linux to be installed. If you have two or more hard drives, you can choose which hard drive(s) should contain this installation. Unselected hard drives, and any data on them, will not be touched. To review and make any necessary changes to the partitions created by automatic partitioning, select the Review option.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Figure 3-13. Partitioning with Disk Druid 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. 3.18.1. 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 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 47 • Reset: Used to restore Disk Druid to its original state. All changes made will be lost if you Reset the partitions. • RAID: Used to provide redundancy to any or all disk partitions. It should only be used if you have experience using RAID. To read more about RAID, refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide. To make a RAID device, you must first create software RAID partitions.
• Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux A /boot partition (75 MB) — the partition mounted on /boot contains the operating system kernel (which allows your system to boot Red Hat Linux), along with files used during the bootstrap process. Due to the limitations of most PC BIOSes, creating a small partition to hold these files is a good idea. For most users, a 75 MB boot partition is sufficient. Warning Do not create your /boot partition as an LVM partition type.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 49 • File System Type: Using the pull-down menu, select the appropriate file system type for this partition. For more information on file system types, see Section 3.18.5.1. • Allowable Drives: This field contains a list of the hard disks installed on your system. If a hard disk’s box is highlighted, then a desired partition can be created on that hard disk. If the box is not checked, then the partition will never be created on that hard disk.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux • swap — Swap partitions are used to support virtual memory. In other words, data is written to a swap partition when there is not enough RAM to store the data your system is processing. • vfat — The VFAT file system is a Linux file system that is compatible with Windows 95/NT long filenames on the FAT file system. 3.18.6. Editing Partitions To edit a partition, select the Edit button or double-click on the existing partition.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 51 Note None of the changes you make take effect until you save them and exit fdisk using the w command. You can quit fdisk at any time without saving changes using the q command. After you have partitioned your drive(s), click Next. You will need to use Disk Druid to assign mount points to the partitions you just created with fdisk. You will not be able to add new partitions using Disk Druid, but you can edit mount points for the partitions you have already created.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux If you already have a boot loader that can boot Linux and do not want to overwrite your current boot loader, or if you plan to boot the system using boot diskettes, choose Do not install a boot loader by clicking on the Change boot loader button. Caution If you choose not to install GRUB or LILO for any reason, you will not be able to boot the system directly, and you will need to use another boot method (such as a boot diskette).
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 53 The master boot record (MBR) This is the recommended place to install a boot loader, unless the MBR already starts another operating system loader, such as System Commander. The MBR is a special area on your hard drive that is automatically loaded by your computer’s BIOS, and is the earliest point at which the boot loader can take control of the boot process. If you install it in the MBR, when your machine boots, GRUB (or LILO) will present a boot prompt.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux • Using the CD-ROM to boot, type linux rescue at the boot: prompt. • By booting your system from an installation boot diskette made from the boot.img image. This method requires that the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM #1 be inserted as the rescue image or that the rescue image be on the hard drive as an ISO image. Once you have booted using this diskette, type linux rescue at the boot: prompt. • By booting from a network diskette made from the bootnet.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 55 3.20.4. SMP Motherboards, GRUB, and LILO 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 will automatically create two boot loader entries.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux The installation program will automatically detect 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.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 57 3.22. Firewall Configuration Red Hat Linux offers firewall protection for enhanced system security. A firewall exists between your computer and the network, and determines which resources on your computer remote users on the network can access. A properly configured firewall can greatly increase the security of your system. Figure 3-19. Firewall Configuration Choose the appropriate security level for your system.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Medium If you choose Medium, your firewall will not allow remote machines to have access to certain resources on your system. By default, access to the following resources are not allowed: • Ports lower than 1023 — the standard reserved ports, used by most system services, such as FTP, SSH, telnet, HTTP, and NIS. • The NFS server port (2049) — NFS is disabled for both remote severs and local clients. • The local X Window System display for remote X clients.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 59 Telnet Telnet is a protocol for logging into remote machines. Telnet communications are unencrypted and provide no security from network snooping. Allowing incoming Telnet access is not recommended. If you do want to allow inbound Telnet access, you will need to install the telnet-server package. WWW (HTTP) The HTTP protocol is used by Apache (and by other Web servers) to serve webpages. If you plan on making your Web server publicly available, enable this option.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Caution If you select only one language, you will only be able to use that specified language after the installation is complete. Figure 3-20. 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 Linux system. Use the Reset button to cancel your selections.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 61 The second tab allows you to specify a UTC offset. The tab displays a list of offsets to choose from, as well as an option to set daylight saving time. Figure 3-21. Configuring the Time Zone On both tabs, you can select System Clock uses UTC. Please select this 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.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Figure 3-22. Account Creation 3.25.1. Setting the Root Password Setting up a root account and password is one of the most important steps during your installation. Your root account is similar to the administrator account used on Windows NT machines. The root account is used to install packages, upgrade RPMs, and perform most system maintenance. Logging in as root gives you complete control over your system.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 63 The root password must be at least six characters long; the password you type is not echoed to the screen. You must enter the password twice; if the two passwords do not match, the installation program will ask you to enter them again. You should make the root password something you can remember, but not something that is easy for someone else to guess. Your name, your phone number, qwerty, password, root, 123456, and anteater are all examples of bad passwords.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Tip To change your user account configuration after you have completed the installation, use the User Manager. Type the redhat-config-users command in a shell prompt to launch the User Manager. If you are not root, it will prompt you for the root password to continue. 3.26. Authentication Configuration If you are performing a personal desktop, workstation or server installation, please skip ahead to Section 3.27.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 65 • NIS Domain — allows you to specify the domain or group of computers your system belongs to. • Use broadcast to find NIS server — allows you to broadcast a message to your local area network to find an available NIS server. • NIS Server — causes your computer to use a specific NIS server, rather than broadcasting a message to the local area network asking for any available server to host your system.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 3.27. Package Group Selection After your partitions have been selected and configured for formatting, you are ready to select packages for installation. Note Unless you choose a custom installation, the installation program will automatically choose most packages for you. You can select package groups, which group components together according to function (for example, X Window System, Editors), individual packages, or a combination of the two.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 67 Figure 3-26. Package Group Details To select packages individually, check the Select Individual Packages box at the bottom of the screen. 3.27.1. Selecting Individual Packages After selecting the components you wish to install, you can select or deselect individual packages using your mouse (see Figure 3-27). You can choose to view the individual packages in Tree View or Flat View. Tree View allows you to see the packages grouped by application type.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux To select an individual package, double-click the checkbox beside the package name. A check mark in the box means that a package has been selected. For more information about a specific package, click on the individual package name. The package information will appear at the bottom of the screen. You can also select or deselect all packages listed within a particular group, by clicking on the Select all in group or Unselect all in group buttons.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 69 If you do not wish to install packages that require other packages, select Do not install packages that have dependencies. To install only the packages you have selected and leave the dependencies unresolved, select Ignore package dependencies. Tip To install or remove packages after you have completed the installation, use the Package Management Tool. Type the redhat-config-packages command in a shell prompt to launch the Package Management Tool.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Figure 3-29. Installing Packages 3.30. Boot Disk Creation To create a boot disk, insert a blank, formatted diskette into your diskette drive (see Figure 3-30) and click Next. It is highly recommended that you create a boot disk. If, for some reason, your system were not able to boot properly using GRUB, LILO, or a third-party boot loader, a boot disk would enable you to properly boot your Red Hat Linux system.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 71 Figure 3-30. Creating Your Boot Disk 3.31. Video Card Configuration The installation program will now present a list of video cards for you to choose from. If you decided to install the X Window System packages, you now have the opportunity to configure an X server for your system. If you did not choose to install the X Window System packages, skip ahead to Section 3.28. If your video card does not appear on the list (see Figure 3-31), X may not support it.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Next, enter the amount of video memory installed on your video card. If you are not sure, please consult the documentation accompanying your video card. You will not damage your video card by choosing more memory than is available, but the X server may not start correctly if you do. If you decide that the values you have selected are incorrect, you can click the Restore original values button to return to the suggested settings.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 73 Figure 3-32. Monitor Selection The horizontal and vertical ranges that the installation program suggests for the selected monitor are also displayed below the list of monitors. If you decide that your monitor selection or the horizontal and vertical ranges are incorrect, you can click the Restore original values button to return to the original suggested settings. Click Next when you have finished configuring your monitor. 3.32.2.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux Figure 3-33. X Customization Tip To change your X configuration after you have completed the installation, use the X Configuration Tool. Type the redhat-config-xfree86 command in a shell prompt to launch the X Configuration Tool. If you are not root, it will prompt you for the root password to continue. 3.33. Installation Complete Congratulations! Your Red Hat Linux 8.
Chapter 3. Installing Red Hat Linux 75 Tip If you are not sure what to do next, we suggest you begin with the Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide (available online at http://www.redhat.com/docs/ if not included as part of your boxed set), which covers topics relating to the basics of your system and is an introduction to using Red Hat Linux.
Chapter 3.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System This appendix walks you through a typical Red Hat Linux 8.0 upgrade. A.1. What it Means to Upgrade The installation process for Red Hat Linux 8.0 includes the ability to upgrade from prior versions of Red Hat Linux (version 6.2 and later) which are based on RPM technology. Upgrading your system installs the modular 2.4.x kernel as well as updated versions of the packages which are currently installed on your system.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System A.3. Upgrading Your File System Note This section only pertains to users performing an upgrade from Red Hat Linux version 7.1 or earlier, or from a Red Hat Linux 7.2 or 7.3 installation where ext2 was chosen as the file system. If the installation program detects the ext2 file system on your Red Hat Linux system, you can choose to retain your current ext2 file system or migrate to the ext3 file system.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System 79 To customize your packages for this upgrade, select the Customize packages to be upgraded option and click Next (see Section A.7). A.5. Boot Loader Configuration A software boot loader is used to start Red Hat Linux on your computer. It can also start other operating systems, such as Windows. If you are using a Red Hat Linux software boot loader (GRUB or LILO), it will be detected automatically. Figure A-3.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader), which is installed by default, is a very powerful boot loader. GRUB can load a variety of free operating systems, as well as proprietary operating systems with chain-loading (the mechanism for loading unsupported operating systems by loading another boot loader, such as DOS or Windows). LILO (LInux LOader) is a versatile boot loader for Linux.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System 81 Note The Label column lists what you must enter at the boot prompt, in non-graphical boot loaders, in order to boot the desired operating system. Once you have loaded the GRUB boot screen, use the arrow keys to choose a boot label or type [e] for edit. You will be presented with a list of items in the configuration file for the boot label you have selected. At the graphical LILO screen, press [Ctrl]-[x] to exit to the boot: prompt.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System Figure A-5. Boot Loader Installation If your system will use only Red Hat Linux, you should choose the MBR. For systems with Windows 95/98, you should also install the boot loader to the MBR so that it can boot both operating systems. Click the Change Drive Order button if you would like to rearrange the drive order. Changing the drive order may be useful if you have multiple SCSI adapters or both SCSI and IDE adapters and want to boot from the SCSI device.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System 83 A.5.4. Alternative Boot Loaders If you do not wish to use a boot loader, you have several alternatives: Boot diskette You can use the boot diskette created by the installation program (if you create one). LOADLIN You can load Linux from MS-DOS. Unfortunately, this requires a copy of the Linux kernel (and an initial RAM disk, if you have a SCSI adapter) to be available on an MS-DOS partition.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System The two LILO entries will be linux and linux-up. The linux entry will boot by default. However, if you have trouble with the SMP kernel, you can elect to boot the linux-up entry instead. You will retain all the functionality as before, but you will only be operating with a single processor. A.6. Selecting Packages to Upgrade On this screen, you can choose which packages you would like to upgrade (see Figure A-6).
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System 85 A.6.1. Unresolved Dependencies If any package requires another package which you have not selected to install, the program presents a list of these unresolved dependencies and gives you the opportunity to resolve them (see Figure A-7). The Unresolved Dependencies screen appears only if you are missing packages that are needed by your customized package selection.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System Figure A-8. Installing Packages A.8. Boot Diskette Creation To create a boot diskette, insert a blank, formatted diskette into your diskette drive (see Figure A-9) and click Next. It is highly recommended that you create a boot diskette. If, for some reason, your system were not able to boot properly using GRUB, LILO, or a third-party boot loader, a boot diskette would enable you to properly boot your Red Hat Linux system.
Appendix A. Upgrading Your Current System 87 Figure A-9. Boot Diskette Creation A.9. Upgrade Complete Congratulations! Your Red Hat Linux 8.0 upgrade is now complete! You will now be prompted to prepare your system for reboot. Do not forget to remove any diskette in the floppy drive or CD in the CD-ROM drive if they are not ejected automatically upon reboot. If you do not have a boot loader installed and configured, you will need to use your boot diskette now.
Appendix A.
Appendix B. Removing Red Hat Linux To uninstall Red Hat Linux from your system, you will need to remove the GRUB or LILO information from your master boot record (MBR). In DOS, NT, and Windows 95 you can use fdisk to create a new MBR with the undocumented flag /mbr. This will ONLY rewrite the MBR to boot the primary DOS partition.
Appendix B.
Appendix C. Getting Technical Support C.1. Remember to Sign Up If you have an official edition of Red Hat Linux 8.0 and/or an official Red Hat OEM partner kit, please remember to sign up for the benefits you are entitled to as a Red Hat customer. Note For more information on how Red Hat’s technical support staff can assist you, refer to the service level agreement at: http://www.redhat.
Appendix C. Getting Technical Support • Installation of Red Hat Linux from a supported CD-ROM drive • Assistance with configuring Red Hat Linux for use with certified or compatible hardware. Please see http://hardware.redhat.com for more information • Assistance with hard drive partitioning, such as recommending a partition configuration or helping to configure hard drive partition tables.
Appendix C. Getting Technical Support 93 http://www.redhat.com/support/ C.3. Scope of Red Hat Support Red Hat, Inc. can only provide installation assistance to customers who have purchased an Official Red Hat Linux boxed set and/or an official Red Hat OEM partner kit. If you have obtained Linux from any other company, you must contact that company for support.
Appendix C. Getting Technical Support 2. Using the login name and password you created during the customer profile, please log in at the Red Hat Support website at: http://www.redhat.com/support If you created a new customer profile, once you activate your product you will see a webpage that shows your registered products. There is also a button, Access Web Support, on this page that will take you to the support website. 3. Update your contact information if necessary.
Appendix C. Getting Technical Support • 95 Specific hardware devices that may be relevant to your problem (for example: If you cannot setup networking, what kind of network card do you have?) C.5.1. How to Send Support Questions Please login at http://www.redhat.com/support and open a new service request, or call the phone number for support.
Appendix C.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux This appendix discusses some common installation problems and their solutions. D.1. You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Linux D.1.1. Are You Unable to Boot from the CD-ROM? Note There are a few cases where the system BIOS will not allow the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM to boot because of the size of the boot image on the CD-ROM itself. In cases such as these, a boot disk should be made to boot Red Hat Linux.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux Check the online errata for updated diskette images (if available) and follow the instructions provided to make an updated boot disk for your system. D.1.4. Is Your System Displaying Signal 11 Errors? If you receive a fatal signal 11 error during your installation, it is probably due to a hardware error in memory on your system’s bus. A hardware error in memory can be caused by problems in executables or with the system’s hardware.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux 99 You can choose to continue with the GUI installation or use the text mode installation, which does not require using a mouse. If you choose to continue with the GUI installation, you will need to provide the installation program with your mouse configuration information (see Section 3.14). Figure D-1. Mouse Not Detected D.2.3.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux 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. D.3.3. Other Partitioning Problems If you are using Disk Druid to create partitions, but cannot move to the next screen, you probably have not created all the partitions necessary for Disk Druid’s dependencies to be satisfied.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux 101 This error occurs in some systems where links to /tmp are symbolic to other locations or have been changed since creation. These symbolic or changed links are invalid during the installation process, so the installation program cannot write information and fails. If you experience such an error, first try to download any available errata for Anaconda. Errata can be found at: http://www.redhat.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux D.4.4. Problems with Server Installations and X If you performed a server installation and you are having trouble getting X to start, you may not have installed the X Window System during your installation. If you want the X Window System, you can perform an upgrade to install X. During the upgrade, select the X Window System packages, and choose GNOME, KDE, or both. D.4.5.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux 103 Replace xx with the amount of RAM you have in megabytes. Remember that per-image append lines completely overwrite the global append line. It might be worth adding this to the per-image descriptions, as shown in this example: mem=128M append="mem=128M" In /boot/grub/grub.conf, the above example would look similar to the following: #NOTICE: You have a /boot partition.
Appendix D. Troubleshooting Your Installation of Red Hat Linux D.4.7. Your Printer Will 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 redhat-config-printer command in a shell prompt to launch the Printer Configuration Tool. If you are not root, it will prompt you for the root password to continue. D.4.8.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 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. This chapter attempts to explain the reasons for and use of disk partitions so your Red Hat Linux installation will be as simple and painless as possible.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions Figure E-2. Disk Drive with a File System As Figure E-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 E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 107 Figure E-4. Disk Drive with Data Written to It As Figure E-4, shows, 14 of the previously-empty blocks are now holding data. However, by simply looking at this picture, we cannot determine exactly how many files reside on this drive. There may be as few as one or as many as 14 files, as all files use at least one block and some files use multiple blocks.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions As Figure E-5, shows, the partition table is divided into four sections. Each section can hold the information necessary to define a single partition, meaning that the partition table can define no more than four partitions.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 109 Table E-1. Partition Types By this point, you might be wondering how all this additional complexity is normally used. See Figure E-6, for an example. Figure E-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.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions However, due to the way in which partitions are accessed in Linux, you should avoid defining more than 12 logical paritions on a single disk drive. Now that we have discussed partitions in general, let us see how to use this knowledge to install Red Hat Linux. E.1.4.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 111 E.1.4.2. Using Space from an Unused Partition In this case, maybe you have one or more partitions that you do not use any longer. Perhaps you have dabbled with another operating system in the past, and the partition(s) you dedicated to it never seem to be used anymore. Figure E-9, illustrates such a situation. Figure E-9. Disk Drive With an Unused Partition If you find yourself in this situation, you can use the space allocated to the unused partition.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions Figure E-10. Disk Drive Being Destructively Repartitioned Caution As Figure E-10, shows, any data present in the original partition will be lost without proper backup! Non-Destructive Repartitioning Here, you run a program that does the seemingly impossible: it makes a big partition smaller without losing any of the files stored in that partition. Many people have found this method to be reliable and trouble-free.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 113 E.1.4.3.2. Resize the existing partition Figure E-12, shows the actual resizing process. While the actual result of the resizing operation varies depending on the software used, in most cases the newly freed space is used to create an unformatted partition of the same type as the original partition. Figure E-12.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions configurations under which it must run, Red Hat cannot guarantee that fips will work properly on your system. Therefore, no installation support is available for fips. Use it at your own risk. That said, if you decide to repartition your hard drive with fips, it is vital that you do two things: • Perform a backup — Make two copies of all the important data on your computer.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 115 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 E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions /usr/local, meaning that /usr/local/man/whatis would then reside on /dev/hda7 rather than /dev/hda5. E.1.8. How Many Partitions? At this point in the process of preparing to install Red Hat Linux, you will need to give some consideration to the number and size of the partitions to be used by your new operating system.
Appendix E. An Introduction to Disk Partitions 117 may reside in the root partition (/). In either case, the partition in which /boot resides must conform to the following guidelines if you are going to use GRUB or LILO to boot your Red Hat Linux system: On First Two IDE Drives If you have 2 IDE (or EIDE) drives, /boot must be located on one of them. Note that this twodrive limit also includes any IDE CD-ROM drives on your primary IDE controller.
Appendix E.
Appendix F. Driver Disks F.1. Why Do I Need a Driver Disk? While the Red Hat Linux installation program is loading, you may see a screen that asks you for a driver disk. The driver disk screen is most often seen in three scenarios: • If you run the installation program in expert mode • If you run the installation program by entering linux dd at the boot: prompt • If you run the installation program on a computer which does not have any PCI devices F.1.1.
Appendix F. Driver Disks F.1.2.1. Creating a Driver Disk from an Image File If you have a driver disk image that you need to write to a floppy disk, this can be done from within DOS or Red Hat Linux. To create a driver disk from a driver disk image using Red Hat Linux: 1. Insert a blank, formatted floppy disk into the first floppy drive. 2. From the same directory containing the driver disk image, such as drvnet.img , type dd if=drvnet.img of=/dev/fd0 as root.
Appendix G. Configuring a Dual-Boot System Sharing a computer between two operating systems requires dual booting. You can use either operating system on the computer, but not both at once. Each operating system boots from and uses its own hard drives or disk partitions. This chapter explains how to configure your system to boot into both Red Hat Linux and another operating system. For clarity, we will assume that the other operating system is Microsoft Windows™.
• Appendix G. Configuring a Dual-Boot System Do you want to install Red Hat Linux and then have the option of booting either Red Hat Linux or your other operating system? A Red Hat Linux installation can be performed so that Red Hat Linux is installed on your system, but the other operating system is not affected. Since you already have Windows installed, you need to allocate disk space for Linux. Refer to Section G.1, and then refer to Section G.2. G.1.
Appendix G. Configuring a Dual-Boot System 123 This choice available to you only if the computer has two or more hard drives or disk partitions. If a local Windows partition is available in which you want to install Linux, complete the following steps: 1. Copy all data you want to save from the selected hard drive or partition (D: in this example) to another location. 2.
Appendix G. Configuring a Dual-Boot System • Automatic partitioning — Choose Keep all partitions and use existing free space. This option will leave your Windows partitions on the hard drive and partition the free space or additional hard drive for Red Hat Linux. • Manual partitioning with Disk Druid — Do not delete the existing Windows partitions (they are the partitions of type vfat).
Appendix G. Configuring a Dual-Boot System 125 Note Many people have successfully used FIPS to repartition their hard drives. However, because of the nature of the operations carried out by FIPS, and the wide variety of hardware and software configurations under which it must run, Red Hat cannot guarantee that FIPS will work properly on your system. Therefore, no installation support whatsoever is available for FIPS; use it at your own risk.
Appendix G. Configuring a Dual-Boot System When FIPS begins, you’ll find a welcome screen similar to the following: FIPS version 2.0, Copyright (C) 1993/4 Arno Schaefer FAT32 Support, Copyright (C) 1997 Gordon Chaffee DO NOT use FIPS in a multitasking environment like Windows, OS/2, Desqview, Novell Task manager or the Linux DOS emulator; boot from a DOS boot disk first. If you use OS/2 or a disk compressor, read the relevant sections in FIPS.DOC.
Appendix G. Configuring a Dual-Boot System 127 The initial values allocate all free space on the disk to the new partition. This is not what you want, because this setting would leave no free space on your Windows partition. Press the [right arrow] to increase the size of the Windows partition and decrease the size of the new (Linux) partition; press the [left arrow] to decrease the size of the Windows partition and increase the size of the Linux partition. When the sizes are what you want, press [Enter].
Appendix G.
Appendix H. Additional Boot Options This appendix discusses additional boot and kernel boot options available for the Red Hat Linux installation program. To use any of the boot options presented here, type the command you wish to invoke at the installation boot: prompt. For example: boot: text 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 Linux CD-ROM.
Appendix H. Additional Boot Options 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 will also prompt you to use a driver disk during the installation of Red Hat Linux.
Appendix H. Additional Boot Options 131 nomount This command disables automatic mounting of any installed Linux partitions in rescue mode. nopass This command disables the passing of keyboard and mouse information to stage 2 of the installation program. This is good for testing 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.
Appendix H. Additional Boot Options updates This command will prompt you to insert a floppy diskette containing updates (bug fixes). This is not needed if you are performing a network installation and have already placed the updates image contents in RHupdates/ on the server.
Index Symbols /boot, 47 /boot partition (See partition, /boot) /root/install.
server, 18 workstation, 17 diskette boot, creating, 15 making under Linux-like OS, 16 making with MS-DOS, 15 network boot, creating, 15 PCMCIA support, creating, 15 documentation other manuals, 11 driver disk, 119 creating from image, 120 produced by others, 119 produced by Red Hat, 119 using, 120 driver diskette, 14, 30 dual-boot allocating disk space, 122 FIPS partitioning tool, 124 installing Red Hat Linux, 123 making room for adding a new hard drive, 122 creating new partitions, 123 using current p
keyboard navigation, 29 mediacheck, 31 method CD-ROM, 33 FTP, 33 hard drive, 33 HTTP, 33 NFS image, 33 selecting, 33 network, 36 NFS, 37 NFS server information, 38 no boxed set, 12 partitioning, 45 personal desktop, 17 problems IDE CD-ROM related, 34 program booting, 30 booting without a diskette, 32 graphical user interface, 27 starting, 30 text mode user interface, 28 virtual consoles, 27 registering your product, 12 serial mode, 32 server, 18 starting, 33 text mode, 31 online help, 30 type, 42 upgra
P packages groups, 66 selecting, 66 individual, 67 installing, 66 selecting, 66 partition /boot, 116 extended, 109 root, 116 swap, 116 Partition Magic, 54, 83 partitioning, 45 automatic, 43, 44 basic concepts, 105 creating new, 48 file system type, 49 destructive, 111 extended partitions, 109 GRUB issues related to, 116 how many partitions, 116 introduction to, 107 LILO issues related to, 116 making room for partitions, 110 mount points and, 115 naming partitions, 114 non-destructive, 112 numbering par
graphical GRUB screen, 101 graphical LILO screen, 101 logging in, 102 printers, 104 RAM not recognized, 102 Sendmail hangs during startup, 104 server installations and X, 102 sound configuration, 104 beginning the installation, 98 GUI installation method unavailable, 99 mouse not detected, 98 PCMCIA boot disk options, 98 booting, 97 boot disk, 97 CD-ROM, 97 network boot disk, 98 PCMCIA boot disks, 97 signal 11 error, 98 CD-ROM failure CD-ROM verification, 31 during the installation, 99 completing partitions
Colophon The Official Red Hat Linux 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. Marianne Pecci created the admonition graphics (note, tip, important, caution, and warning). They may be redistributed with written permission from Marianne Pecci and Red Hat, Inc.. The Red Hat Linux Product Documentation Team consists of the following people: Sandra A.
