RHEL 5.0 Installation Overview

You can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 5.0 onto a system to support a Sun xVM Ops Center 2.1 Enterprise Controller or Proxy Controller installation. The Sun xVM Ops Center 2.1 release for Linux is currently qualified only for installation on systems running RHEL 5.0. This procedure is only required if you intend to run Sun xVM Ops Center on a system running RHEL 5.0.

Sun xVM Ops Center installation requires a full installation of RHEL 5.0. You must install all optional software components in every software category except one, the language category. One additional package that is not installed by the RHEL 5.0 installer is also required.

Sun xVM Ops Center installation also requires that you set the SELinux security setting to Disabled.

Sun xVM Ops Center Enterprise Controller or Proxy Controller installations require at least 70 GBytes of available disk space after the operating system has been installed. Sun xVM Ops Center requires at least 4 GBytes of swap space on Enterprise Controllers and Proxy Controllers.

This procedure consists of three phases:

• Using the RHEL 5.0 Installer
• Using the RHEL 5.0 Setup Agent
• Post-installation Tasks

The HA Support section provides access to information about the Sun xVM Ops Center High Availability configuration.

Using the RHEL 5.0 Installer

Use the RHEL 5.0 installer to install the RHEL 5.0 OS onto a system that meets the recommended specifications for Sun xVM Ops Center 2.1. The RHEL 5.0 installer presents the selections described here during a new installation.

1. To start the RHEL 5.0 installation, insert the DVD or CD-ROM installation media and reboot your system.
   The RHEL 5.0 installer starts automatically.
   
2. Choose to skip the media test and start the installation.
   The RHEL 5.0 installation splash screen is displayed.
   
3. Select Next to continue.
   The language selection panel is displayed.
   
4. Select the language that is appropriate for use on your system and click Next.
   The keyboard selection panel is displayed.
   
5. Select the keyboard that is appropriate for use on your system and click Next.
   The Installation Number dialog box is displayed.
   
6. Enter your installation number, or choose to skip entering an installation number, and click Ok. Confirm your selection as required. Selections to either install RHEL 5.0 or upgrade the existing installation are displayed.
   
7. Select to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server, and click Next.
   Disk drive selections and partitioning options are displayed.
   
8. Select the disks on which you intend to install RHEL 5.0. Choose the partitioning method that is appropriate for your system. Examples in this procedure assume that you have selected to remove all partitions on the selected drives and create a default layout, and that you have selected a disk that will provide more than 60 GBytes of free space after the RHEL 5.0 installation completes. Click Next and confirm your selections as required.
   The network configuration panel is displayed.
   
9. Specify network device, hostname, gateway, and DNS domain information that will allow your system to connect to the Internet and communicate with the systems that you intend to manage, and click Next.
   The geographic region panel is displayed.
   
10. Specify the geographic location that is appropriate for your system, and click Next.
    The root password panel is displayed.
    
11. Enter and confirm the root password for your system, and click Next.
    The additional tasks and software customization panel is displayed.
    
12. The RHEL 5.0 installer asks what additional tasks that you would like your system to support. Select both the Software Development and Web Server options.
    
13. In the same panel, select the Customize Now radio button, and click Next.
    The list of software categories and groups is displayed.
    
14. You must make specific selections within these lists of software to perform a complete installation of the RHEL 5.0 OS to support Sun xVM Ops Center software installation. It is critical that you install all software packages, except those for languages, that the RHEL 5.0 installer is able to install from the installation media. The RHEL 5.0 installer lists these six software categories:

    Desktop Environments
    Applications
    Development
    Servers
    Base System
    Languages

    Each of these six software categories contains multiple specific software groups. For example, the Applications category lists these nine software groups:

    Authoring and Publishing
    Editors
    Engineering And Scientific
    Games and Internet
    Graphics
    Office/Productivity
    Sound and Video
    Text-based Internet

    For every software group in every software category, except the Languages category, perform the following:
    

    1. Right-click on the software group to display the list of installation options.
    2. Select the Select all optional packages option.
    3. Verify that all optional packages have been selected. A message indicates how many of the possible optional packages within the group have been selected. Verify that the number selected matches the number possible.
       
15. Click Next to continue with the installation.
    A confirmation panel is displayed.
    
16. Click Next to continue with the installation.
17. Follow the remaining instructions that the RHEL 5.0 installer presents to complete the installation. Reboot the system when the RHEL 5.0 installer instructs you to do so.

Using the RHEL 5.0 Setup Agent

After the RHEL 5.0 installer completes and the system reboots, the Setup Agent runs automatically. Use the Setup Agent to configure various aspects of RHEL 5.0 operation before rebooting the system and placing it into service.

1. The Setup Agent first displays the Welcome panel. Click Forward.
   The License Agreement panel is displayed.
   
2. Select Yes to agree to the license agreement, and click Forward.
   The Firewall panel is displayed.
   
3. Select either to disable the firewall, or to enable the firewall and configure it to allow the following services and ports:

   From	To	Protocol/Port	Purpose
   Server	Sun.com	HTTPS (direct or proxy)	SOA authentication, metadata, data download
   Browser	Server	HTTPS/9443	Web User Interface (UI)
   Browser	Server	HTTP/80	Port forwarding to HTTPS Web UI
   Proxies	Server	HTTPS/443	Pull of jobs, push of status/monitored data, download of OS images and updates (patches and packages)
   Proxies	Systems	Various (IPMI, SNMP, SSH, Telnet)	Discovery, bare metal provisioning, system management and monitoring
   Agents	Proxies	HTTPS/21165	Pull of jobs, push of status/monitored data
   Agents	Proxies	HTTPS/8002	Download of updates (patches and packages)

4. When your firewall selections are complete, click Forward. Confirm your selections as required.
   The SELinux panel is displayed.
   
5. Set the SELinux Setting to the Disabled value, and click Forward. Confirm your selection as required. Sun xVM Ops Center installation requires that you select the Disabled value.
   The Kdump panel is displayed.
   
6. Choose to enable or disable Kdump as you wish for your system, and click Forward.
   The Date and Time panel is displayed.
   
7. Set the date, time, and Network Time Protocol information as appropriate for your system, and click Forward.
   The Set Up Software Updates panel is displayed.
   
8. Choose to register now or to register later. If you choose to register now, additional panels display that allow you to select a server and specify Red Hat login information. This procedure assumes that you have selected to register later. Click Forward and confirm your selection.
   The Create User panel is displayed.
   
9. Sun xVM Ops Center installation does not require that you set up a new user. Click Forward and confirm that you do not want to set up a new user.
   The Sound Card panel is displayed.
   
10. Configure sound cards as necessary for your system and click Forward.
    The Additional CDs panel is displayed.
    
11. No additional CDs are required. Click Finish to complete your work in the Setup Agent.
    
12. Click Ok to reboot your system.

Post-installation Tasks

Installing the ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm package is currently the only post-installation task required before you install Sun xVM Ops Center 2.1 software.

How to Install the ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm Package

Sun xVM Ops Center 2.1 Enterprise Controller or Proxy Controller installations on RHEL 5.0 systems require the ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm package. The RHEL 5.0 installer does not install this package. The ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm package resides in the Server directory on the RHEL 5.0 installation DVD, and on the third disk of the RHEL 5.0 installation CD-ROM set.

To install the ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm package, perform the following steps:

1. Log in as the root user, and insert the required delivery media into the DVD or CD-ROM drive.
2. If the DVD or CD mounts automatically, change to the Server directory on the installation media.
3. If the DVD or CD does not mount automatically, use the mount command to manually mount the installation media, then change to the Server directory on the installation media. For example:
   

   # mount -r /dev/cdrom /mnt
   # cd /mnt/Server
   

4. Use the rpm command to install the ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm package, and then verify that it was successfully installed. For example:
   

   # rpm -i ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm
   warning: ncompress-4.2.4-47.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 37017186
   # rpm -q ncompress
   ncompress-4.2.4-47
   #
   

5. Change to the root (/) directory, and unmount the installation media. For example:
   

   # cd /
   # umount /mnt
   #
   

HA Support

Consider if you want to establish a high availability configuration for Sun xVM Ops Center. This configuration involves configuring a transferable storage device to hold the /var/opt/sun/xvm directory structure, and installing two systems with Sun xVM Ops Center software.

If you want to establish this configuration, you must configure your storage device after you have installed the RHEL 5.0 OS, and before you install Sun xVM Ops Center software.

Refer to About High Availability in Sun xVM Ops Center and Configuring Storage for High Availability for information about configuring storage for the high availability configuration in Sun xVM Ops Center.