Redhat Linux 9.

0 Installation Guide

Bh.P.S.RAJU(System Administrator)

PRAGATI ENGINEERING COLLEGE

Basic Installation of REDHAT LINUX 9.0

A Note to the Fresh Users

Linux still lags behind windows in the hardware support. Hence, if some
sophisticated devices are not recognized, hope that they will be supported in near
future, depending on the popularity of these devices. Linux supports almost all
devices now a days including USB devices such as digital camaras, webcams, printers,
external drives etc. but only limited models.
Don't get frustrated in the first instance. You will enjoy crash-less operation and

happy nights in lieu.

If you are purchasing a new gadget, check if is supported already at the Linux site

(http://www.linux.org/hardware/index.html).
You loaded Linux to enjoy the freedom and coming out of the clutches of propriotary

software. knowing all this ... So be cool if something is not working immediately.
Consult the Gurus and web sites before finally withdraw from using it, in case of

absolute must.
 Start Installation with CD-1/3 of RH 9. The User is expected to have the basic knowledge of Drives,
BIOS Setup, Selecting an Item with Mouse etc..
Make sure that the
boot drive is
CDROM. If not, set
the BIOS options
Insert RH 9 CD-1 in
the drive and restart
the machine
This gives you the
boot: prompt
Press <Enter> to
start graphic
Installation
Click Next on the
welcome screen
You can read the
Release notes during
the installation by
clicking it
Select a language (English is Default) and click next
Select Keyboard (US Keyboard is default and OK normally) and Click Next
Select Mouse (default mouse is normally OK) and click next
Select Custom Installation (click the radio button). If you have an existing Linux version, it
also shows Upgrade Option. In that case you can select that for upgrade. Click next
Select Manually Partition with Disk Druid and Click Next
The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Partitions
• The hard Disk is the storage space for a computer. This can be split logically into various partitions.
• Each partition can be of any type like FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, HPFS and so on..
• If you plan to have more than one operating systems on the same machine, the disk should be
logically partitioned first, before installation.
• The first sector of the disk is a special sector called the boot sector, which records the information
about the various partitions and the operating systems on the disk.
• If you are planning to have Windows and Linux, then install Windows first. Otherwise, windows erases
the Linux installation by overwriting the boot sector.
• During the windows installation, it asks for the partition information. Be careful to answer properly to
set aside certain space unallocated for windows (allocate all space for one partition).
• If you have already allocated all space for windows, use disk de-fragmentation tool to collect all the
free space at the end and you can use a program called FIPS to create a new partition from the existing
partition. But be careful to take a backup before venture. Get ready with one or two new floppies to
have undo of FIPS.
• Install Windows as usual. It is out of the scope of this document.
• In a typical case of about 40GB Hard disk, the partition strategy can be

• Windows C: Windows D: Linux boot Linux root Linux Var Linux Swap Linux home (user
data)
• 10GB (hda1), 15GB (hda2), 120MB (hda3), 8GB (hda4), 4GB (hda5), 600MB (swap), Remaining (hda6)

• Please note that the partition numbers may not be the same, since some partitions will be reserved by
the partition program itself, for example, hda4 may not be available, but it may the aggregation of hda5
and hda6. In this case we simply don’t use the partition hda4 but use hda5 and hda6.
Disk Partitions, Drive Names & Recommended Partitions
Disk Druid is a partition and configuration Tool for the hard disks.
It shows all the partitions if the disk is already partitioned including free space available.
If you have windows partitions, these are also shown and you can select a mount point (directory
name) for the partitions, so that you can access them from Linux.
The Hard Disks are named as
Primary master: 'hda', Primary slave: 'hdb', Secondary master = 'hdc', Slave = 'hdd'
(If you have one hard disk and a cdrom, most likely HDD = had and CDD = hdb)
Within hda, the partitions are named sequentially as hda1, hda2 and so on
Consider hda1 , and hda2 are windows C: and D: (primary and extended partitions of Windows)
and we have a free space of 10 GB at least for Linux.

Partition Partition-type Size Mount Point

hda1 FAT-32 --- /win1 (whatever size that it has already)
hda2 FAT-31 --- /win2 (whatever size that it has already)
hda3 ext3 120MB /boot
hda4 ext3 6000MB /
hda5 ext3 1200MB /home (user data partition)
hda6 swap 600MB --- (all remaining space- no mount point)
Leave maximum space (remaining for the /home since this is the user space and need not be
formatted even if we re-install the OS. Hence, the data is not lost from this partition.
Disk Druid - Creating Partitions
Mounting Existing Partitions:
●Select any windows partition and double click (or) click on edit button

●This opens a dialog box as shown in the figure shown in next slide.

●Type '/win1' or '/win2' ..

●Ensure that the “leave Unchanged (Preserve data)” is selected (default) and Click Ok

●Do the same for all the existing partitions, selecting the proper mount point

Creating New Partitions:

●Click 'new' to create new partition and fill the details that we decided earlier

●Select proper mount point from the list menu (or) directly enter the path

●You must specify the root directory at least (/). Though others can be mounted later it

is recommended to give mount points to all at this time

●Select format the partition for the root

●Select ext3 for file system type for all the types.

●If you have more than one hard disk, choose the drive you wish to allocate space

●Select Fixed size for all but the last partition, normally the swap, for which we will

allocate all the remaining space in that hard disk by selecting “fill to maximum
allowable space” button.
●Click OK

●Create all partitions like this. If necessary, delete a partition and re-create
Create all the partitions and ensure that mount points are set to all the partitions
including the windows partitions. Swap will not have mount point
Partitioning with Disk Druid – See the explanation given
Review the Partition information and click Next
If you have Windows also, Select a default OS. You can edit the label if required.
Leave the other Fields unchanged. Click Next
Network Configuration

If you wish to have

Automatic IP Assigned to
you on your LAN, or on
Internet, click edit and check
both configure using DHCP
and Activate on Boot check
boxes.
If you wish to have an IP
assigned by yourself,
uncheck configure using
DHCP and enter IP address
and net-mask. For example,
192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0
Click OK
Click Manual mode and
then enter your host name
(host.domain) and IP
Address of DNS Servers
Click OK
Fill IP Address and Net-mask and click OK and finally click next
Click next after filling all the fields

The Entry for

IP: 192.168.1.1
Net mask: 255.255.255.0
Network: 192.168.1.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Primary DNS:
192.168.1.1
Secondary DNS:
202.54.96.1
Machine Name: svl
Domain: svl.edu
Select Firewall Rules (omit telnet and FTP if you don't use them). You can specify
any other port which you wish to allow (Ex: 8080 for Tomcat) and click Next
Select Default Language and Other Languages (if required) and click next
Select Asia/Calcutta (or point to it in map as shown by the small green arrow in
the figure) and click Next
Select a difficult to guess root password and type it in both text boxes and click
next. If the passwords don’t match, re-type them
 Tick Enable MD5 Password and Enable Shadow Passwords and Un-check Others (This is important
because, you may not be able to login otherwise). Click Next

If you forget or intentionally check

enable NIS or LDAP or Kerberos
or SMB, you can not boot with the
passwd given.
In such case reboot with the first
CD and at boot prompt type
'' linux rescue'' and hit enter
This will ask some questions and
finally boots with the file system
root mounted on /mnt/sysimage.
Issue the command at root prompt:
# chroot /mnt/sysimage
# passwd root
Give password now
# setup
This brings the setup menu
Select Authentication and uncheck
all leaving only MD5 and Shadow
Password checked.
Issue the command 'exit' twice to
reboot the machine. Remove
CDROM and let it boot with HD.
Select the packages required by checking the group and by selecting the details.
Otherwise, you can select install everything at the end of the window (Scroll down to the
end) and click next
Tick “Everything” if you are not sure what to select (around 5GB required)
Say Yes for any additional packages that are required to fulfil our selection (shown
as separate dialog by the installer) and click next (If no dependency is there we
don’t get the dialog box)
The Installation begins and takes about an hour even on a faster machine (for install
everything).
Insert Disk 2 and Disk 3 when asked
Insert a fresh floppy in the drive and click next. If you don't need a boot disk, select
No and proceed (In most cases you don’t need a boot disk if you have the install
CDROM, though it is recommended normally)
Click next for Graphical Interface since, in most cases it properly identifies the
hardware
Again click next as in many cases the hardware is found properly
Select the resolution and color depth, and select a login type. If text is selected,
you must start Graphical Windows by issuing ''startx'' command after login
Congratulations, you have installed Linux :-) Press exit and remove the CD in the drive
(cd-3) to reboot the system with the new Linux!!
Post Installation and a piece of advise

After the Linux System started for the first time, it checks the configuration and
setting of the desktop.
It asks for other disks if you have (like Documentation etc.). If you have
documentation CD insert it in the drive and continue. Otherwise simply skip the
steps. This brings the Linux machine into usable mode.
Normally you shouldn't have any trouble loading the OS. In case of failure, consult
any book on Redhat Linux (There are a number of wonderful books in the market.
Redhat Linux 9 Bible is one such book with 3 CD set).