source: trunk/server/doc/install-fedora @ 1612

Last change on this file since 1612 was 1612, checked in by ezyang, 14 years ago
Instructions for installing a Fedora image on Xen.
File size: 4.8 KB
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1Installing a Scripts guest on a Xen host
2----------------------------------------
3
41. Create the LVS partitions that the Scripts guest will use.
5
6Our classic setup is 50GB for the main, root partition (/) and
710GB for our swap.  You can consult what things look like
8by using `lvdisplay`.  Our naming convention is server-name-root
9and server-name-swap.
10
11Creating new LVS partitions is done with `lvcreate`:
12
13    # Example values:
14    # SERVERNAME=whole-enchilada
15    # HOSTNAME=jay-leno
16    lvcreate -n $SERVERNAME-root $HOSTNAME --size 50.00G
17    lvcreate -n $SERVERNAME-swap $HOSTNAME --size 10.00G
18
192. Acquire the network installation media for Fedora.
20
21Normally, you would download an ISO and kick off an installation
22by burning it to a CD and booting off of that.  Since we would like
23to make as minimal a Fedora install as possible, we use a different
24method. [XXX: Why do we actually do it this way?  It seems kind
25of convoluted]
26
27First, we need to create an appropriate installation directory,
28which contains the necessary kernel images and bootstrapping code.
29Navigate to a Fedora mirrors website, and find the correct release
30from the linux/releases directory, then grab the contents of
31Fedora/x86_64/os/isolinux.  For example, getting the Fedora 13 installer
32from mirrors.mit.edu would be:
33
34    mkdir ~/f13-install
35    cd ~/f13-install
36    wget -r -nd ftp://mirrors.mit.edu/fedora/linux/releases/13/Fedora/x86_64/os/isolinux/
37
38You can then spin up a Xen image for installation with:
39
40    xm create scripts-server machine_name=$HOSTNAME install=f13
41
42Note that the -install suffix was dropped.  Get a console with `xm
43console`.
44
453. Tell Fedora where to get the real installer.
46
47You will now be in a curses installer interface.  Since you are doing
48a network install, you will need to configure your network and specify
49the URL to install.  Find the static hostname that you are planning
50to install to and get its information with:
51
52    stella $HOSTNAME
53
54Manually configure its IP, disabling IPv6 for now [XXX I don't know how
55to configure that].  The network mask is 16, and you can check
56'/etc/resolv.conf' if you don't remember what MIT's DNS servers are.
57
58It will then ask you for an installation image.  Continuing with our
59F13 mirrors.mit.edu, the URL will look something like:
60
61    ftp://mirrors.mit.edu/fedora/linux/releases/13/Fedora/x86_64/os
62
634. Use VNC
64
65At this point, Fedora will ask you whether or not you want to use VNC
66to continue the installation.  Because Scripts has an unusual disk
67image setup, you will want to answer yes. [XXX: Unfortunately, this puts
68the VNC session on MITnet, so make sure you use a good password, and
69we should figure out to make it not do that].  Grab your favorite
70VNC client and login to $HOSTNAME:1
71
725. Installation in VNC
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745.1. Disks to use
75
76We don't have any exotic devices (we did that at the host level,
77recall), so you can use normal configuration.  The scripts-server Xen
78configuration will have automatically selected the LVS partitions you
79created in Step 1, and you want both of them.
80
815.2. Host
82
83The default hostname is all caps: we use lower-case, so lower-case the
84name before proceeding.
85
865.3. Timezone
87
88Self explanatory
89
905.4. Root password
91
92Use Scripts root password for a real install, and fake password
93otherwise. [XXX: Insecure over VNC? Argh!]
94
955.5 Formatting the disks
96
97You can find out what our existing setup looks like by consulting
98'/etc/fstab'.
99
100Select Custom, and select both disks for formatting.  Setup the larger
101disk as the boot partition.  Configure the partitions as follows:
102
103    50GB
104        Standard Partition
105        Mount Point: /
106        File System Type: ext3 (the default as of F13 is ext4, which
107            cannot be mounted by the hosts and thus should not be used!)
108        Additional Size Options: Fill to maximum allowable size (the
109            Size parameter will not do anything in that case)
110        Force to be primary partition
111    10GB
112        Standard Partition
113        File System Type: swap
114        Additional Size Options: Fill to maximum allowable size
115
1165.6 Bootloader
117
118Defaults are fine.
119
1205.7 Installation
121
122Do a minimal install (we will proceed to install the packages we care
123about), and add the normal F13 repository (testing and updates will be
124added when we bring in our /etc configuration).  Similarly, we will
125install the software we want later, so there is no need to do that now.
126
1275.8 Reboot
128
129When the install finishes, it will ask you to reboot.  This is fine, but
130since we created the VM image with install, upon reboot it will ask us
131to install again.  Let it reboot, then destroy the virtual machine.
132
133    xm destroy $SERVERNAME
134
1356. New World Order
136
137Start up the VM without the install flag:
138
139    xm create scripts-server machine_name=$SERVERNAME
140
141Use xm console to get a terminal, and proceed with the official install
142instructions.
143
144    xm console $SERVERNAME
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