Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, Second Edition Chapter 7 Advanced Installation

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Objectives Describe the types and structure of SCSI devices Identify default IRQs, I/O addresses, and DMAs Explain how Plug-and-Play can be used to assign configuration to peripheral devices Explain how APM and ACPI can be used to control power to peripheral devices Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Objectives (continued) Outline the steps used to install Linux from source files on a DVD, hard disk, or network server Understand methods used to automate the Linux installation Install Red Hat Fedora Linux using a kickstart file Troubleshoot the installation process Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Advanced Hardware Configuration: SCSI Hard Disk Drive Configuration Terminator: Prevents signals from bouncing back and forth on a cable SCSI ID: Uniquely identifies devices attached to a SCSI controller Target ID Identifies priority Logical Unit Number (LUN): Unique ID for each device attached to a node in a SCSI chain Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Advanced Hardware Configuration: SCSI Hard Disk Drive Configuration (continued) Figure 7-1: Connecting SCSI devices Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Advanced Hardware Configuration: SCSI Hard Disk Drive Configuration (continued) Table 7-1: Common SCSI standards Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Advanced Hardware Configuration: SCSI Hard Disk Drive Configuration (continued) Figure 7-2: A 50-pin Centronics SCSI connector Figure 7-3: A 50-pin LPT SCSI connector Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Advanced Hardware Configuration: SCSI Hard Disk Drive Configuration (continued) Figure 7-4: A 68-pin LPT SCSI connector Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Mainboard Flow Control: IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Addresses IRQs: Method for peripheral devices to share processor time Prioritize simultaneous service requests Polling: Processor polls devices to determine tasks to be run Difficult to prioritize Interruption: Processor interrupted by devices when resources needed Prioritize via IRQ Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Mainboard Flow Control: IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Addresses (continued) Figure 7-5: IRQ priorities Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Mainboard Flow Control: IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Addresses (continued) Table 7-2: Default IRQ assignments Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Mainboard Flow Control: IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Addresses (continued) I/O address: Identifies working space in RAM for peripheral devices DMA: Allows devices direct physical memory access via unique channels Improves system performance Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Mainboard Flow Control: IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Addresses (continued) Table 7-3: Default I/O address assignments Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Mainboard Flow Control: IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Addresses (continued) Table 7-4: Default DMA assignments Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Plug-and-Play PnP: Automatically assigns configuration information to devices IRQs, I/O addresses, DMAs Uses BIOS information to avoid conflicts Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS): Memory on mainboard used to store configuration information for boot process Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e APM and ACPI APM: Shuts off power to peripheral components as needed Configured in BIOS Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI): Configures peripheral’s power setting from OS Monitor CPU temperature and battery power Standby mode and sleep mode Linux ACPI Client: Utility used to view ACPI settings Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e RAID Configuration Fault tolerant: Device exhibiting minimum downtime after failure Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID): Combines several HDDs’ storage space Hardware- or software-based Seven raid configurations Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

RAID Configuration (continued) Spanning: Two HDDs seen as one volume RAID level 0, not fault tolerant Disk striping: Write separate information to different HDDs Decreases read/write time Disk mirroring: Two identical hard disks RAID level 1, fault tolerant Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

RAID Configuration (continued) Disk striping with parity: Write separate information to HDDs and maintain parity information RAID level 5, fault tolerant Parity bits indicate what data is where Can be used to re-generate data when HDD fails Requires three HDDs minimum Most common RAID configuration Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

RAID Configuration (continued) Figure 7-6: Organization of data on RAID level 5 Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Installation Methods International Standards Organization (ISO) image: Large file containing exact copy of contents of a CD-ROM or DVD CD-ROM is the most common and easiest method for installing Linux Other methods for installing Linux DVD Network server Local hard disk Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e DVD Installation Similar to CD-ROM installation Only one DVD required, as opposed to multiple CD-ROMs Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Hard Disk Installation May install Linux directly from ISO images on hard disk Must have sufficient free space outside partition containing ISO images Create installation startup CD-ROM or bootable USB flash memory drive Boot from this to start installation Installation will be text-based Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Hard Disk Installation (continued) Figure 7-7: Installation welcome screen Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Hard Disk Installation (continued) Figure 7-8: Language selection screen Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Hard Disk Installation (continued) Figure 7-9: Keyboard selection screen Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Hard Disk Installation (continued) Figure 7-10: Selecting an installation method Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Hard Disk Installation (continued) Figure 7-11: Specifying source file location for a hard disk-based installation Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Network-Based Installations Requires installation startup CD-ROM or bootable USB flash memory drive Contains NIC drivers and programs allowing connection to server Installation via one of following protocols: Network File System (NFS) File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Must configure network settings Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Network-Based Installations (continued) Figure 7-12: Configuring local network settings Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Network-Based Installations (continued) Figure 7-13:Specifying source file location for an NFS-based installation Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Network-Based Installations (continued) Figure 7-14: Specifying source file location for an FTP-based installation Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Network-Based Installations (continued) Figure 7-15: Specifying source file location for an HTTP-based installation Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Automating Linux Installations Deploy several Linux servers and workstations requiring same configuration Disk imaging software: Duplicates HDD contents from one computer to another e.g., Symantec Ghost Typically loaded from boot floppy disk Copy whole partitions or HDDs to other HDDs Locally or across network Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Automating Linux Installations (continued) Figure 7-16: Symantec Ghost Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Automating Linux Installations (continued) Kickstart file: Automated installation script Specifies normal OS installation choices ks.cfg Kickstart Configuration: Configure a new kickstart file To use ks.cfg: Format floppy with ext2, copy ks.cfg to it Boot from installation startup CD-ROM At welcome screen, specify ks.cfg file Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Automating Linux Installations (continued) Figure 7-17: The Kickstart Configurator Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Troubleshooting Installation Computers typically have different BIOS configurations Installing on different computers is rarely the same Problems primarily related to hardware support or configuration Typically fixed by changing hardware configuration Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems Starting the Installation Check BIOS boot order Check BIOS for reserved peripheral configurations (IRQ, I/O addresses, DMA) Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems During Installation For graphical installation, video card must be detected Appropriate drivers must be loaded Video card may not be supported by mode and resolution of graphical installation Use Linux nofb or linux lowres installation Mouse does not work Use text-based installation Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems During Installation (continued) Installation freezes Disable PnP support in BIOS prior to installation Installation ends abnormally “fatal signal 11” error displayed Could be problem with RAM Often fixed by turning off CPU cache memory or increasing number of wait states in the BIOS Could also be RAM or CPU voltage issue Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems During Installation (continued) Other failure causes include bad memory chips, an AMD K6 processor, laptop power management conflicts, overclocked CPUs Overclocked: Running a processor at a higher speed than it is rated for May lead to increased performance Produces more heat on processor May result in computer crashes Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems After Installation May have problems if installation program did not detect computer hardware properly or certain programs were not installed Installation log file: Records actions that occur or fail during installation /root/install.log: Lists packages installed /root/install.log.syslog: Lists all system events that occurred during installation Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems After Installation (continued) To verify hardware settings, examine contents of /proc directory or boot-up log files To view hardware detected at boot time, use dmesg command Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems After Installation (continued) Table 7-5: Files commonly found in the /proc directory Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Problems After Installation (continued) Table 7-5 (continued): Files commonly found in the /proc directory Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Summary SCSI HDDs are uniquely identified by a SCSI ID and attach to a controller via a terminated cable Each peripheral device must be configured with an IRQ and I/O address prior to use, and can optionally use a DMA channel Portable laptop computers typically use APM or ACPI to shut down power to peripheral devices when not in use to save battery power Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Summary (continued) Computers that require fault tolerance typically employ SCSI hard disks configured using RAID Linux can be installed using files located on DVD, hard disks, and NFS, FTP, and HTTP servers Use disk imaging software or a kickstart file to simplify the installation of Linux on several computers Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e Summary (continued) Unsupported video cards, overclocked CPUs, PnP support, and improper RAM settings can cause an installation to fail The /proc directory contains information regarding detected hardware on the system and is useful when verifying whether an installation was successful Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 2e