Installing Red Hat Linux 7.3 Publisher’s Edition -- Instructions for ITEC 350:

The installation process for RH7.3 is fairly straightforward, and this document is a set of additional guidance to allow students in the network lab to make decisions during installation that are appropriate to the Networks Lab (DA214) environment. Read through the section “Install the Operating System” below, and then follow the material in this section.

First, you will want to insert CD 1 of the RH7.3 CDs that came with your book into the CDROM drive of one machine in your pod. If the machine is turned off, turn it on and immediately press the eject button on the CDROM. It should open and let you put in the first CD. Then push gently to close the CDROM. The Dell systems should allow sufficient time so that the machine will still boot from the CD. If the machine does not seem to boot from CD, turn the machine off and on again with the CD in the CDROM.

When asked whether graphical installation is desired, just hit enter.

Use English for language

Select the Dell 101-key keyboard

Enable Dead keys

Select the Generic 2-button mouse (PS/2)

Select Installation Type: Custom

For the remainder of the installation process, you will need to have these numbers assigned (or picked out in advance) and other facts:

1) IP address of your router on your pod’s subnet (call this number W),

2) IP subnet address of your pod (e.g., 1 thru 9 – call this number X: Your pod is 190.111.X.0),

3) IP address chosen for your linux box, (say, Y)

4) IP address of your Windows 2000 Server (say, Z)

5) A host name picked out for your linux box

With these items, you will be able to fill in the information for basic network setup.

The first installation screen will ask you what to do about partitions. Select

Installer automatically partition

Remove All Partitions (default)

Use GRUB Loader (default)

Don’t set a GRUB password (default)

Don’t configure DHCP (not the default – you must uncheck “configure using DHCP”)

This will allow you to fill in the following information:

IP address = 190.111.X.Y

Net Mask = 255.255.255.0

Network = 190.111.X.0

Broadcast = 190.111.X.255

Hostname = <name you chose, say “linuxX”>

Gateway = 190.111.X.W

Primary DNS = 190.111.X.Z

Choose defaults for all other selections until you reach the packages selection screen.

Select, in addition to those groups already checked, the groups for

KDE

Software Development

FTP Server

Web Server

DNS Server

File Server (Samba)

Partition Your Hard Disk for Dual Boot Systems (NOTE: for ITEC 350, you will not need to do this.)

If you are sharing a computer between Linux and Windows, you must make space on the hard disk for Linux before beginning the installation. You will need two blank floppy disks to complete this procedure.

NOTE: If you are not sharing a system between Linux and Windows (or another operating system), or if you will install Linux on a separate hard disk that does not contain any Windows data, then you can skip this procedure; partitioning and hard disk preparation will be done entirely by the Linux installation program.

CAUTION: You should have at least 2 GB to comfortably install the recommended components of Red Hat Linux 7.3. If you have less space available on your hard disk, you can choose to not install some parts of the operating system, as described below, but you will be unable to perform some of the projects in the book.

TIP: A commercial tool such as PartitionMagic from PowerQuest will provide a surer method for creating a Linux-ready partition than the FIPS tool, which is free and generally competent, but also old and less robust than commercial partitioning software.

1. Back up the data on your Windows system. Run the Defragmentation Utility within the Tools Tab of the Properties Windows associated with the hard disk on which you want to install Linux.

2. Boot Windows and copy the FIPS program from Red Hat Linux CD 1 to a blank floppy diskette. The program is located at DOSUTILS\FIPS.EXE.

3. Click the Start button in Windows, click Shut Down, then click Restart in MS-DOS mode. After a moment, the C:\ prompt appears.

4. Start the FIPS program using the command FIPS preceded by the drive letter for your floppy drive (for example, A:\FIPS).

FIPS must be run in MSDOS mode to avoid conflicting with other programs. Because the CD-ROM drive is normally not available in MSDOS mode, you must copy the FIPS program to a floppy disk.

5. Read the messages on screen, and then press a key to continue.

5. Using a second blank floppy disk, back up your disk information by following the instructions on screen. (Keep this disk until you have finished installing Linux and made certain that you can start both Windows and Linux.)

7. If you have multiple hard disks, select the one you want FIPS to alter.

8. The partition table for the hard disk is displayed. You can review this information, but you don’t need to do anything about it. Press a key to continue.

9. FIPS presents you with two numbers showing the size of the current Windows partition (on the left) and the size of the new Windows partition (on the right). Use the Up and Down arrow keys to adjust the space on each partition. Because you are changing the point at which the partition will be split in two, one number goes up as the other goes down. The number on the right (shown in MB) should be large enough for your Linux partition and swap partition.

FIPS will not allow you to reduce the original Windows partition to a smaller size than is needed for the data residing on that Windows partition. If the number on the left for the size of the original Windows partition will not go low enough to allow space for Linux when the second Windows partition is deleted, you have not effectively moved all the data to the front of the Windows partition. Or the Windows partition may simply be too full to store Linux on the same computer.

10. Press Enter to accept your settings.

11. The partition table is displayed again as it will appear when updated by FIPS. If you are comfortable with the sizes shown, press C to confirm that you want to write this information to the hard disk. You can press Ctrl+C to exit FIPS without making any changes to your hard disk.

12. Reboot your computer immediately so that the updated hard disk information is reread into your system.

Create a Boot Disk (if necessary)

You only need to complete this task if you do not have a bootable CD-ROM drive. You can determine if you have a bootable CD-ROM drive by trying the section following this one (the installation itself); most systems built in recent years will not require a boot disk. If your system will not boot from CD-ROM, you must complete this section to create a boot disk.

To complete this activity you should have a computer with Windows installed and both a CD-ROM drive and a floppy disk drive. You should also have a Red Hat Linux CD like the one included in this book and a blank floppy disk. This project assumes that you will install Red Hat Linux from a local CD-ROM drive rather than from a network connection. This procedure also assumes that you are not installing Red Hat Linux on a laptop.

1. Start Windows.

2. Insert the Red Hat Linux CD 1 in the CD-ROM drive and a blank floppy disk in the floppy disk drive.

3. Double-click the My Computer icon on the Windows desktop. A window opens showing you the contents of your computer.

4. Double-click the icon for the CD-ROM drive within the My Computer window. A window appears showing you the contents of the Red Hat Linux CD 1.

5. Double-click the dosutils folder within the CD-ROM drive window. A window appears showing you the contents of the dosutils folder.

6. Double-click the rawritewin folder within the dosutils folder window. Then double-click the rawwritewin.exe program icon within the rawritewin folder window. (Depending on your Windows configuration, you may only see rawwritewin, without the .exe file extension.)

7. Use the Floppy drive drop-down list to select the drive letter for the floppy disk drive (this will normally be A:).

8. Within the Write tab, enter the full path of the image file you want to use in the Image file field. You can use the button labeled “…” to browse through your file system to locate the file if you choose to. As an example, if the CD–ROM drive is drive D: and you need to create the standard boot disk for Red Hat Linux, enter this in the Image file field:

D:\images\boot.img

9. Click the Write button. You can watch the progress of the disk creation as shown by the percentage in the lower left corner of the window.

10. After the process is completed, a message box appears stating “Image successfully written.” Click OK to close this message box.

11. Click Exit to close the rawwritewin program.

12. Place an appropriate label on the disk you created (for example, “Red Hat Boot Disk”) and put it in a safe place until you are ready to install Linux.

Install the Operating System

In this section you install Red Hat Linux 7.3 Publisher’s Edition from the two CD-ROMs included with this book. The retail version of Red Hat Linux 7.3 includes additional CDs that contain source code, documentation, and additional software packages. You can obtain most of this material from the Internet via a site such as ftp.redhat.com.

CAUTION: You must follow the installation instructions carefully or you may be prompted for one of the CD-ROMs that is included with the retail version of Red Hat Linux 7.3 but which is not included with this book. In addition, you may not have the packages installed which the projects in this book assume are part of your Linux system.

To complete this activity you should have the boot disk you created in the first section, or you should be working on a computer that can boot directly from your CD-ROM. (If you are not certain, try to proceed by booting from the CD-ROM; if that doesn’t work, create the boot disk as described in the previous section, then proceed with this section.)

You will also need a blank floppy disk to use during the installation (besides the boot disk, if you are using one), and a computer with sufficient resources to complete the installation. At a minimum, you should have about 2 GB of hard disk space and 64 MB of RAM. This will allow you to install all the software recommended in this procedure. The steps that follow assume that you have sufficient free space on your hard disk so that you can use the disk partitioning tool (Disk Druid--part of the installation program) to create a swap partition and a native Linux partition during the installation.

1. Verify that the Red Hat Linux 7.3 CD 1 is in the CD-ROM drive and, if your system does not boot from CD-ROM, that the boot disk that you created above is inserted into the floppy drive. Then turn the computer on. After a few moments, a screen full of text appears on a black background with the title Welcome to Red Hat Linux 7.3! at the top of the screen.

2. Red Hat Linux provides a graphical installation option. To use it, press Enter at the Welcome screen. If you discover (by failing in your first attempt) that Red Hat Linux is unable to properly initialize your graphics hardware and begin the installation program, restart your system and enter text at the welcome screen to use the text-mode installation. This procedure refers to the graphical installation, but the steps are substantially equivalent in text-mode.

3. When you press Enter or type text and press Enter, the Linux kernel is loaded, either from CD-ROM or floppy disk. This can take up to two minutes for a boot-floppy, depending on the speed of your hardware.

4. Eventually a graphical Welcome screen appears. Choose Next to continue.

5. The Language Selection screen appears. Use your mouse to select a language if the default English is not appropriate, then choose Next.

TIP: If your mouse is not working at this point, use the Tab key to select a part of the graphical screen and press Enter to choose it.

6. The Keyboard Configuration screen appears. Your keyboard is auto-detected, so you should be able to simply click Next to continue.

7. The Mouse Configuration screen appears. Your mouse is auto-detected, so you should be able to simply click Next to continue. If your mouse does not work, use the Tab and Enter keys to select the correct mouse type, then choose Next to activate your settings and continue.

8. The Installation Type screen appears. Choose Install (rather than Upgrade Existing System) and Custom. Workstation will not install all of the software packages needed for the book; Server will not install the graphical components on which the book is based. Choose Next to continue.

9. The Disk Partitioning Setup screen appears. If you are using only Linux on your computer, use the selected the first item, Have the installer automatically partition for you. This option assumes that all data on your hard disk can be overwritten as Linux is installed.

10. If you are concerned about losing any existing data on your computer, choose the second option listed: manually partition with Disk Druid.

11. Choose Next to continue. The steps that follow assume you are manually partitioning your system. If not, skip to step 17.

12. Within the Disk Druid Disk Setup screen, read the help on the left side of the screen.

13. Select any partitions that you can delete (and erase), then choose Delete to create free space on your hard disk for Linux.

NOTE: The changes you make in this window are not implemented or written to the hard disk until you move to the next screen of the installation. If you are concerned that you have confused your partition information, choose Reset, or choose Back, or turn the computer off and start over.

14. Use the New button to create a main Linux partition. Within the dialog box that appears when you choose New, you must define the mount point of / (for the root of the filesystem) for exactly one partition. This partition should be at least 2.1 GB in size if you intend to install all of the recommended packages. Choose the buttons within the dialog box to format the root partition you are defining using the ext3 file system. Then click OK to close the dialog box. That partition will be formatted, destroying all its contents.

15. Use the New button to create a swap partition in a similar way (but choose swap instead of ext3; you don’t define a mount point for the swap partition). This partition should be at least 128 MB in size. 256 MB is preferred in most cases if you have sufficient hard disk space. Close the New Partition dialog box and then choose Next to continue.

16. Depending on the previous configuration of your hard disk, a pop-up window may appear that lists the partitions to be formatted during the installation process. If this window appears, carefully review the list of partitions to be formatted, then choose Yes to continue.

17. Review the Boot Loader Configuration screen that appears. This screen defines how Linux is booted. The GRUB boot loader is the default; don’t change this unless you have good reason. Also leave the default selection for the location of the boot loader (such as the MBR). Finally, the bottom portion shows which operating systems the boot loader recognizes. If you are using a dual boot system, both Linux and the other operating system should be listed. You can make either operating system boot by default (Linux is selected automatically unless you alter this screen). Choose Next to continue.

18. The Boot Loader Password Configuration screen appears. If you want a password to be used when booting Linux, select the checkbox and enter the password twice in the fields provided. Most users would not want to use this feature, but it provides some additional security. If you don’t want to use it, ignore the fields and choose Next.

19. The Network Configuration screen appears. If you are using networking, make certain “Activate on boot” is selected. If you have a DHCP server on your network, check the box labeled Configure using DHCP. Otherwise, uncheck that box and enter the network address and name information provided by your instructor, system administrator, or ISP. Choose Next to continue.

20. The Firewall Configuration screen appears. For the purposes of this book, we assume that you are not working with sensitive data, so high security is not imperative. You can choose whichever option you prefer, but a small number of projects will not function with High Security selected. Choose Next to continue.

21. The Additional Language Support screen appears. Choose Next to go on.

22. The Time Zone Selection screen appears. Point to your location on the map and click, or choose your time zone from the list shown. You can select smaller maps in the drop down list. Also click on the UTC checkbox if you are only running Linux on this computer. If you are using UTC, go to the UTC Offset tab, check that the offset value shown is correct, and check the Use Daylight Savings Time option if appropriate for your location. Choose Next to continue.

23. The Account Configuration screen appears. Enter the root password you have selected twice in the fields provided. You should create at least one regular user account as well. Choose Add, then enter the information requested in the Add a New User dialog box that appears. Choose OK to close that dialog box. The user account is listed on the main screen. Choose Add again if you wish, or choose Next to go on.

24. The Authentication Configuration screen appears. Unless you specifically see something you want to change to fit your organization’s network, leave this screen as it appears by default and choose Next to continue.

25. The Package Group Selection screen appears (because you selected Custom as your installation method in step 8). Several items are selected by default. You will need to select a few additional packages. The list of packages that should be selected is shown here:

q Printing Support

q Classic X Window System

q X Window System

q Laptop Support (if installing on a laptop)

q GNOME

q KDE

q Sound and Multimedia Support

q Network Support

q Dialup Support

q Graphics and Image Manipulation

q Kernel Development (This is optional but is used in later chapters—Requires 600 MB)

q Messaging and Web Tools

q Utilities

NOTE: The Publisher’s Edition of Red Hat Linux 7.3 that is included with this book does not include all packages that are part of the commercial Red Hat Linux product. You will not be able to install everything listed in the Custom installation screen until you have obtained the third CD from your instructor.

26. Make certain the “Select individual packages” checkbox is not checked. Choose Next to continue.

27. The Graphical Interface (X) Configuration screen appears, with your video card highlighted (as auto-detected by the installation program). Choose Next to continue. (It would be highly unusual for your video card not to be correctly detected, since you would probably not be able to use the graphical installation program if detection were incorrect.)

28. The About to Install screen appears. Click Next to begin the installation. A screen appears that shows you the progress of the installation, tracking the number of packages installed and remaining, time, and disk space, with graphical indicators. This process takes from 15-50 minutes depending on the speed of your system.

29. During the installation, you will be asked to insert CD 2 and click OK to continue the installation.

30. Once the installation is complete, the Boot Disk Creation screen appears. Insert another blank floppy disk and choose Next to create the disk. You can use this disk to boot your system in case of problems with your boot loader.

31. The Monitor Configuration screen appears next. The installation program attempts to determine your monitor brand and model automatically. If your brand and model are not selected when this screen appears, select them from the hundreds in the list, then choose Next to continue. (If your model is not included, choose a similar model or enter the specifications of the monitor in the fields below the list of models—refer to your monitor documentation for this information.)

32. The Customize Graphics Configuration screen appears. Select the color depth (number of colors supported), the screen resolution, default login style (graphical or text), and default desktop. Make certain GNOME is selected as the default desktop. You can use either text or graphical login, as you prefer. The Test Setting button below the Screen Resolution field lets you test the graphical settings you have selected (this is a good idea). Choose Next to continue.

33. The Congratulations screen appears. Choose Exit to exit the installation program. The Red Hat CD 2 is ejected during reboot. You should also eject the boot disk you created so the system will boot normally from the hard disk.

34. Proceed to the next section to learn about logging in to your new Red Hat Linux system.

Begin Using Red Hat Linux

In this section you begin to use the new Linux system that you just installed.

1. Remove any CDs and floppy disks from the computer.

2. Restart the computer. (If you have just completed the installation, the computer was restarted for you at the end of the installation process.)

3. When you see a prompt listing the available operating systems, press Enter. (Red Hat Linux should be selected by default unless you altered the settings within the installation program. If you do not press Enter, Red Hat will start automatically after a few seconds’ delay.)

Note: The Red Hat Linux new hardware detection program, Kudzu, may appear briefly on your screen at this point. Take no action. The system will continue booting normally after a few moments.

4. Either a text-mode login prompt or a graphical login screen will appear after a few moments. Log in using either root and the root password or the regular username and password you created during the installation.

5. If you used text mode to log in, you can start the graphical desktop after logging in using the command startx.

6. Within the GNOME graphical environment (the Desktop), a row of buttons appears at the bottom of the screen. The button on the far left is a footprint—this is the GNOME logo. Click this button for the main menu. The button to the right of the footprint will open a command line window. The red monster is Mozilla—this button opens a Web browser (Netscape is available by clicking on the footprint button and then clicking Programs, then Internet.)

7. When you are ready to stop using Linux, choose Log out on the main menu.

8. In the dialog box that appears, make certain Logout is selected so you will return to the graphical login screen or to text mode. Or select Shut down or Reboot to shut down Linux. Click the Yes button to complete this step.