Installing Rhel 5

Installing Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5,
Step by Step

2 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, Step by Step

Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
This appendix is straightforward. It illustrates the steps required to install Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server on your computer, using graphical and text-
based installation methods. Both are governed by the Red Hat program known as
Anaconda. I’ve kept descriptive comments in this section to a minimum; for more
information, read Chapter 2. For both graphical and text modes, I’ll assume that
you’re installing from a remote installation server, shared with NFS.
While there are a substantial number of options available when you install
RHEL, I illustrate a more generic installation. If you want to learn about some of
the options, you’ll have to experiment with the installation yourself. In fact, the
exercises in Chapter 2 are designed to help you learn the different things you can
do with an RHEL installation, on your computer and during the exam.

If you’re installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Client, the steps are the same;
however, what you see is slightly different.

Graphical Installation
To install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on your computer, take the following steps:

1. Select and insert the media that you’ll use to boot the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 installation program. It
can be the first Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 CD, a boot CD created from
the boot.iso file from the /images
directory of the first installation
CD, or a boot USB key created from
the diskboot.img file from the same
directory.
2. Power on your system. Press the appropriate key, typically ESC, F12,
or DEL, to access the boot menu shown here.
If a boot menu isn’t available, you’ll need to adjust the boot sequence in the
computer BIOS, which you can then use to boot directly from your selected
media. Set your computer’s BIOS to boot from the first installation CD or
USB drive. Details vary by PC. Make sure your BIOS saves your changes
before you reboot.
3. Type linux askmethod when you see the boot: prompt.

Graphical Installation 3

4. Choose a language and select OK.


5. Select a keyboard and select OK.

6. Set up an NFS installation method and select OK.


7. Start configuring your network, as shown. If you have a DHCP server on your
network, that is simplest—unless, of course, you’re told to enable static addressing
during your exam. For this installation, disable DHCP for both IPv4 and IPv6
addressing. If you don’t have an IPv6-capable DHCP server or router, disable
IPv6 addressing completely. Select OK. If you enable DHCP, skip the next step.

8. Add static address information for your network. Use the IP Address,
Gateway, and Name Server (DNS) addresses associated with your existing
network. Select OK.


9. Add connection information to the installation server. If you don’t have a
DNS server for the local network, you can substitute the IP address for the
NFS server name. Select OK.

10. Assuming your connection works, you’ll see the first installation screen.
Click Next.


11. You’ve already selected a language and keyboard, so the next step, if you’re
actually running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (as opposed to one of the
rebuild distributions), is to enter an installation number associated with
your purchased or trial subscription, as shown next. The subscription
configures a custom set of package groups and repositories. If you don’t have
an installation number, select the Skip Entering Installation Number radio
button. Click OK, and If you did not enter an installation number, you’ll be
given a warning. Click Skip to continue.

12. The installation program searches for existing installations. If found, you’re
prompted to either upgrade or install over the existing installation. If not
found, you won’t see the screen shown here; if the drive is unformatted,
you’ll get a warning. Otherwise, skip to the next step. Select Install Red Hat
Enterprise Server and click Next to continue.
13. You can allow Anaconda to configure an optimized partition configuration
based on your memory and available hard disk space (based on free space
after removing partitions), or choose to customize the configuration, as


shown next. For the purpose of this installation, select Review And Modify
Partitioning Layout.

If you have network attached storage (NAS) that is configured to communicate
via iSCSI (a TCP/IP protocol), click Advanced Storage Configuration. You
can also configure communication with that storage here. If that’s what
you want to do, select Add iSCSI target, and click Add Drive. This opens a
Configure iSCSI Parameters window, where you’d enter the IP address and
iSCSI Initiator Name. But that’s beyond the scope of the current Red Hat
exams. Click Cancel to return to the previous screen, and then click Next.
14. If there are existing partitions on the installed hard drives, you’ll get the chance
to confirm that you want to remove said partitions (this step isn’t final). If
you’re configuring a dual-boot with another operating system, don’t delete the
partitions! Instead, click Back and select Create A Custom Layout. However,
the Red Hat exams are Linux exams, so I believe a dual-boot configuration,
especially with Microsoft Windows, is unlikely during the exam. These options
are shown next. Choose Yes or No, as appropriate.


15. Now inspect and change partitions in Disk Druid, as shown. You can also
create and then configure RAID and LVM partitions, as discussed in Chapter 2.
Make any desired changes, and then click Next.


16. Once you’ve configured your partitions, set up a boot loader. If you select
No Boot Loader Will Be Installed, you’ll need to use a third-party boot
loader such as Partition Magic or Microsoft’s NTLDR. Unless you want
to set up a Boot Loader Password or Configure Advanced Boot Loader
Options, click Next.

17. Configure your connection to the network. It should reflect the settings you
input in steps 8 and possibly 9. If you don’t want the DHCP server to assign a
hostname (or you don’t have a DHCP server), you can assign it manually, as
shown here. Click Next to move on.


18. Set the time zone for your system. If you don’t have another operating system
on this computer, keep the System Clock Uses UTC option active. Then
click Next.


19. Type in and confirm the root password for your system. Follow any instructions
on your exam carefully for this; you want to make it easy for the person grading
your exam to see what you’ve done. Yes, lost root passwords can be reset, but
what will your score be if the person grading your exam finds that you ignored
his or her instructions? Click Next.

20. There are two package customization screens available. Everyone sees the
screen shown next. (The choices are slightly different for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 Client.) You can accept the defaults, select available options, and/or
select Customize Now. It’s usually best to customize modestly (I’ve selected
the Customize Now option), based on the requirements on your particular
Installation and Configuration exam. Click Next. (If you don’t select
Customize Now, skip the next step.)


21. Select the package groups of your choice. This should conform to the
requirements of the Installation and Configuration section of your
particular exam. Click Next.


22. Once you’ve selected the package groups of your choice, you get one last
chance to go back before starting the installation process. Click Next if
you’re happy with your choices, or click Back to make changes.

23. Some configuration options associated with previous versions of RHEL are no
longer part of the installation process. Some of these options are part of the
First Boot process described in Chapter 2. Normally, you’ll see the First Boot
screens only the first time you reboot a system.
Click Next when you’re ready to start the actual installation process. Depending
on hardware and network connections, it may take a few minutes, or more.
24. The next screen congratulates you for completing the installation. The next
step is to reboot your computer into RHEL. Click Reboot.

Text Installation 15

If you had to modify your computer’s BIOS menu, change it back so it boots
from the hard drive in the future. Make sure your BIOS saves your changes
before you reboot.

Text Installation
To install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on your computer in text mode, take the
following steps:
1. Select and insert the media that you’ll use to boot the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 installation program. It can be the first Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
CD, a boot CD created from the boot.iso file from the /images directory of
the first installation CD, or a boot USB key created from the diskboot.img
file from the same directory.


2. Power on your system. Press the
appropriate key to access the boot
menu to the right, typically ESC, F12,
or DEL.
3. If a boot menu isn’t available, you’ll
need to adjust the boot sequence in
the computer BIOS, which you can
then use to boot directly from your
selected media. Set your computer’s BIOS to boot from the first installation
CD or USB drive. Details vary by PC. Make sure your BIOS saves your
changes before you reboot.

4. Type text askmethod when you see the prompt.
5. Choose a language and select OK.


6. Select a keyboard and select OK.


7. Set up an NFS installation and select OK.

8. Start configuring your network. If you have a DHCP server on your network,
that is simplest—unless, of course, you’re told to enable static addressing
during your exam. For this installation, disable DHCP and IPv6 addressing.
Select OK. If you enable DHCP, skip step 8.


9. Add static address information for your network. Use IP, Gateway, and Name
Server (DNS) addresses associated with your existing network. Select OK.

10. Add connection information to the installation server, as shown. If you don’t
have a DNS server for your local network, you can substitute the IP address
for the NFS server name. Select OK.


11. Assuming your connection works, you’ll see the first text-mode installation
screen, welcoming you to Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server. Select OK.

12. Since you’ve already selected a language and keyboard, if you’re actually
running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (as opposed to one of the rebuild
distributions), you can enter an Installation Number associated with your
purchased or trial subscription, as shown next. If you don’t have an installation
number, select the Skip Entering Installation Number option. The subscription
configures a custom set of package groups and repositories. Select OK.


If you did not enter an installation number, you’ll be given a warning. Select
Skip to continue.

13. The installation program now searches for existing installations. If found,
you’re prompted to either upgrade or install over the existing installation.
If you see this screen, select Reinstall System and select OK to continue.
Otherwise, you won’t even see these options and are taken to the next
step. You can allow Anaconda to configure an optimized installation based
on your system’s RAM and available hard disk space (based on free space


after removing partitions). This corresponds to the “default layout” options
described in Chapter 2. Alternatively, you can choose to customize the
configuration, as shown next. Select OK.

14. If one of the “default layout” options was selected, you’ll be asked to confirm
the changes to existing hard drive partitions. For the purpose of this section,
select Yes.
15. You’re prompted whether you want to Review And Modify Partitioning
Layout. Select Yes for the purpose of this appendix. If there are existing
partitions on the installed hard drives, you’ll be given the opportunity to
remove these partitions. If you’re configuring a dual-boot with another
operating system, don’t delete the partitions! However, on the exam, you’ll
be working with Linux, so I believe a dual-boot configuration, especially with
Microsoft Windows, is unlikely.


Now you can inspect and change partitions in Disk Druid, as shown. You
can also create and then configure RAID partitions. However, text-mode
installations do not allow you to create logical volumes unless there’s already
an existing volume group; text mode does not support the creation of a new
volume group. Select OK.


16. Once you’ve configured your partitions, choose a boot loader. If you select
No Boot Loader, you’ll need to use a third-party boot loader such as Partition
Magic or Microsoft’s NTLDR. Select OK.

17. Assuming you stick with the default GRUB boot loader, you can pass special
options to the kernel. If you don’t need Security Enhanced Linux, you might
add selinux=0 as shown next. Select OK.


18. You can also configure GRUB with a password. Select OK.

19. If more than one operating system is installed on this computer, you can
configure the default operating system and labels, as shown next. Select an
entry and click Edit. This opens the Edit Boot Label window that allows you
to change what you see in the GRUB menu.


20. Finally, you can choose to install the boot loader on the MBR or on the first
sector of the RHEL /boot partition. Select OK.

21. Configure your connection to the network, as shown next. It should reflect
the settings you input in steps 7 and 8. If you don’t want the DHCP server
to assign a hostname (or you don’t have a DHCP server), you can assign it
manually. Select OK.


22. Assuming you’ve set up a static configuration, you’ll see a screen where you
can set up Gateway and DNS (name server) IP address information. Fill in
this information and select OK.

23. You can also add the hostname of your choice, as shown. If you have more than
one network adapter, you’ll return to step 18 as often as needed. Select OK.


24. Next, set the time zone for your system. If you don’t have other operating
systems on this computer, keep the System Clock Uses UTC option active.

25. Now type in and confirm a root password for this system. Follow any instructions
on your exam carefully for this; you want to make it easy for the person grading
your exam to see what you’ve done. Select OK.


26. There are two package customization screens available. Everyone sees the screen
shown next. You can accept the defaults, select available options, and/or select
Customize Software Selection. It’s usually best to customize modestly (I’ve
selected the Customize Software Selection option), based on the requirements
on your particular Installation and Configuration exam. Select OK.

27. Select the package groups of your choice. Your selections should conform
to the requirements of the Installation and Configuration section of your
particular exam. Select OK.


28. Once you’ve selected the package groups of your choice, you get one last
chance to go back before starting the installation process. Select OK to start
the installation process.

29. Once your installation process starts, a screen will show the progress of the
installation.


Some configuration options associated with previous versions of RHEL are no
longer part of the installation process. Some of these options are part of the
First Boot process described in Chapter 2. Normally, you’ll see the First Boot
process only the first time you reboot a system.
30. When the Complete screen appears, you’ll know that installation is just
about complete. Select Reboot to reboot your computer into RHEL.

31. If you had to modify your computer’s BIOS menu, change it back so it boots
from the hard drive in the future. Make sure your BIOS saves your changes
before you reboot.

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