Linux Operations and Administration

Objectives Check your system configuration to determine whether it meets openSUSE installation requirements Describe the benefits of installing an OS on a virtual machine Summarize the installation phases in openSUSE Describe features of the GNOME desktop environment Describe features of the KDE desktop environment

Checking Your System Configuration YaST Included with OpenSUSE UI tool to customize the OS during and after installation System configuration determines how openSUSE is installed Desktop Laptop Server

Checking Your System Configuration (cont’d.) Figure 2-1 An overview of installation steps in YaST

Requirements for Installing Linux Most software installations run more smoothly if computer exceeds the minimum requirements Minimum requirements Pentium III 500 MHz or higher processor 512 MB RAM 3 GB free disk space 800 × 600 display resolution

Requirements for Installing Linux (cont’d.) Recommended requirements Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or higher, any AMD64, or an Intel EM64T processor 1 GB RAM More than 3 GB free disk space 1024 × 768 or higher display resolution

The Unified Installation Method with Virtual Machines Server farms Groups of servers networked together in a single location Virtual machine (VM) Software container with its own OS, IP address, and applications Host Physical computer where the virtual machine runs Guest Virtual machine using the host’s physical hardware resources

The Unified Installation Method with Virtual Machines (cont’d.) Benefits of virtualization: Run multiple OSs on one machine Test applications before actually installing them on a host machine Reduce costs by decreasing the physical hardware that must be purchased for a network Experiment with untested programs without infecting host machines with viruses or other malware

The Unified Installation Method with Virtual Machines (cont’d.) Table 2-1 Overview of some virtualization software packages

Table 2-1 Virtualization software packages Linux Operations and Administration

Overview of VMware Player Free application Create, configure, and run virtual machines on a Windows or Linux system Requirements for the host machine: Architecture—Standard x86-compatible or x86-64 with Intel VT or AMD-V–compatible PC Processor speed—1.3 GHz or faster

Overview of VMware Player (cont’d.) Memory—Minimum 1 GB, but 2 GB or more recommended Hard disk—At least 1 GB free disk space recommended for each guest OS Activity 2-1: Downloading VMware Player Register a VMware account Download VMware Player 3.0

Installing VMware Player on a Windows Host Use the VMware-player-xxxxxx.exe installation file xxxxxx represents the version and build numbers Activity 2-2: Installing VMware Player 3.1.5 on a Windows Host Install VMware Player, a free program for creating, configuring, and running virtual machines

Installing OpenSUSE OpenSUSE Free, open-source Linux OS Download, install, and use the software at no cost as well as view and change the source code Download International Organization for Standardization (ISO) image file http://software.openSUSE.org/112/en ISO image Archive file containing the contents of a CD or DVD “Virtual” CD or DVD is a digital replica of a physical CD or DVD

Installing OpenSUSE (cont’d.) Installation divided into three main phases: Preparation, installation, and configuration Preparation phase Interactive Select the language, time zone, desktop environment, hard disk setup, and user account and password

Installing OpenSUSE (cont’d.) Installation phase Not interactive Configuration phase Set up the network, Internet access, and hardware components Activity 2-3: Creating a Virtual Machine Create a virtual machine that can be used for installing an OS

OpenSUSE Boot Options OpenSUSE Boot Options window Additional options: Displays options for the installation procedure Table 2-2 explains the options Additional options: F1 Help Context sensitive help F2 Language Change the display language and corresponding keyboard layout F3 Video Mode Select a screen resolution, or select Text Mode

Figure 2-3 The OpenSUSE Boot Options window Linux Operations and Administration

Table 2-2 Settings in the Boot Options window Linux Operations and Administration

OpenSUSE Boot Options (cont’d.) F4 Source Select the installation source medium F5 Kernel Displays a menu of functions you can disable if you’re having problems with the regular installation F6 Driver Select if you have an optional driver update for openSUSE

The Preparation Phase Installation window System analysis Left side Overview of all the steps YaST takes to install openSUSE Top right Select a language and keyboard layout Click Next Accepts the license agreement System analysis Determine whether other OSs are installed on your system

Figure 2-4 The System Probing window Linux Operations and Administration

Installation Mode Choices for installation: Other options Installation Update Repair Installed System Other options Use Automatic Configuration option Selected by default Used when performing a new installation Include Add-On Products from Separate Media option Install add-ons from software repositories

Clock and Time Zone Select region and time zone Hardware clock set to Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) by default Will switch from standard time to daylight savings time and back automatically

Desktop Selection Choose the environment: GNOME or KDE Other choices for desktop: XFCE Desktop Minimal X Window Minimal Server Selection (Text Mode)

Suggested Partitioning YaST checks hard disk and displays a proposed partition setup Edit Partition Setup button Change the partition setup Logical Volume Management (LVM) Creates virtual partitions that can span physical hard drives Multiboot configuration Install multiple OSs on one computer Choose which one to use when computer boots

Create New User Create a local user and set the password “Use this password for system administrator” option Allows using the same password supplied for the user to access the system administrator (root) account Receive System Mail option Allows the user to receive system service messages Automatic Login option Boot straight to your desktop instead of being prompted for a username and password

The Installation Phase After preparation phase YaST displays installation settings Alter settings by clicking the headers for each section or clicking the Change button Runlevel Operating state of the Linux OS Each runlevel offers different services Can change the runlevel system boots to

The Installation Phase (cont’d.) Table 2-3 openSUSE Linux runlevels

Performing the Installation Takes about 15 minutes Click the Details tab at any time View installation log After installation is finished Computer restarts in the configuration phase

The Configuration Phase Automatic Configuration option Configuration process is done automatically

Hostname and Domain Name Computer’s machine name in the network Domain name Name of the network the host belongs to Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Networking protocol Assigns IP addresses and other network configuration information to hosts automatically /etc/hosts file Map hostnames to IP addresses

Figure 2-5 The Network Configuration window Linux Operations and Administration

Test Internet Connection Test network configuration Select “Yes, Test Connection to the Internet” option If test fails Go back to Network Configuration window to correct the problem

Online Update YaST can perform online updates Select Run Update, and then click Next Click Accept to install the patches Click Next to continue with the system configuration Activity 2-4: Installing OpenSUSE as a Guest OS Install openSUSE as a guest OS on your Windows computer

The GNOME Desktop Environment Easy-to-use graphical desktop environment Gives you quick access to applications

The GNOME Desktop Environment (cont’d.) Figure 2-6 The GNOME desktop environment

Features of GNOME GNOME desktop has two icons: Folder represents home directory Trashcan represents deleted files If CD installed, also shows CD/DVD drive icon Double-click icons to open them Right-click icons to display a menu of options Panel at the bottom Compared with the taskbar in Windows Contains only two items: computer menu and Tomboy Notes applet

Features of GNOME (cont’d.) GNOME applets Small programs available on the GNOME Panel Designed to give you quick access to useful applications Workspace switcher Workspace Virtual screen on the Linux desktop for displaying open applications Web browser GNOME includes Firefox as the default Web browser

Features of GNOME (cont’d.) File manager Nautilus is used to organize and access folders, files, and applications Word processing OpenOffice.org Writer Open-source word-processing program for creating documents and incorporating charts, tables, and graphics

Features of GNOME (cont’d.) E-mail Evolution is the e-mail software included with GNOME Activity 2-5: Working with the GNOME Desktop Environment Get hands-on practice in working with GNOME

The KDE Desktop Environment K Desktop Environment (KDE) Gives you quick access to applications, such as word- processing programs, Web browsers, e-mail, and a file manager

The KDE Desktop Environment (cont’d.) Figure 2-7 The KDE desktop environment

Features of KDE Folder View widget Desktop Folder widget Called Desktop Folder Contains the contents of your Desktop directory Desktop Folder widget Shows the contents of the ~/Desktop directory Default icons Firefox, My Computer, Office, Online Help, and openSUSE

Features of KDE (cont’d.) Quick Launch area Part of KDE Panel Reserved for shortcuts to often used applications KDE panel Located at the bottom of the desktop Consists of the Quick Launch area, taskbar, and system tray System tray Contains the system clock, a volume control icon, and the Lock and Leave icons

Features of KDE (cont’d.) Activity 2-6: Working with KDE Get hands-on practice in working with KDE

Summary YaST Virtualization VMware player GUI tool used to customize OS settings during and after installation Virtualization Run multiple OSs on one machine VMware player Free virtualization software package Used to create, configure, and run virtual machines on Windows or Linux PCs

Summary (cont’d.) OpenSUSE installation is divided into three phases: Preparation, installation, and configuration Desktop environments used most often with openSUSE: GNOME and KDE