Installation

Introduction

This small howto describes how one would install IDMS Linux from CD, DVD, path or network.

Preparing Your System

Before you start the installation it is recommended that you back up any important data.

The IDMS Linux installer will wipe the boot sector from the boot drive you specify and install Grub.

Starting The Installation

Starting the install process is an easy task, when booting off the install CD, login as root (no password) and run...

# ./installer

The install CD/DVD itself is a minimalistic IDMS Linux installation and can be used as a rescue/recovery disc.

There are 3 modes if installation...

Second Image
The most common mode of installation. This is what you'd use if you have an installation CD or DVD. During this mode of installation the IDMS Linux installer will look at the end of disk you specify and try find a second image which was cat'd during disk creation. This image is then mounted and used as the source for the installation.

Path
Using this mode of installation you'll specify where the IDMS Linux installer can find the files it needs for installation.

Network
This mode of installation will allow you to specify a URL which will be used to configure the installation process.

Advanced Installation

Creating your own installation media.

Image types

Second Image

This is an image that is cat'd to the end of the bootable CD ISO.

The directory structure is the same as #2 below.

Path

This is a path which is used to find installation files.

It must contain the following directories...

RPMS/*.rpm

RPMS to be installed

Network

A network path is specified, either ftp or http to the installation data file (install.dat).

This data file contains...

CONFIG_URL=

//path.to/install.data:

Bash resource file which contains the variables described in Appendix A

RPM_FILELIST=

//path.to.rpm/filelist.lst.gz:

File containing a URL list of rpms to download and install

RPM_KEYLIST=

//path.to.rpm/keys.lst:

File containing a URL list of rpm keys to import, normally ending in .asc

POST_CONFIG_TARGZ=

//path.to.rpm/configuration.tar.gz:

This is an archive which will be extracted from the new root directory, its purpose is to contain configuration data which needs to be extracted before the first boot

INSTALL_BUILD_FILE=

//path.to.rpm/info:

This is the build information file containing information on the distribution edition and build being installed

The rpm file list and rpm key list can contain the follwing types of URL specifiers, one per line...
ftp://file_path1
http://file_path2
file_path3
file_path4
...

Appendix A

LAYOUT_STRATEGY=

l - Automatic (LVM) - Allows dynamic volume resizing.
LVM_ROOT= must be specified.

t - Automatic (Traditional).
TRADITIONAL_ROOT=
must be specified.
You can also add NEED_BOOTPART=1 to force creation of a separate boot partition.

m - Manual device/path specification (ADVANCED)
BOOT_DEV=
BOOT_PATH=
SWAP_PATH=
ROOT_PATH=

ROOT_FSTYPE=

ext2
ext3
jfs
reiserfs
xfs

SKIP_DESTRUCTIVE_WARNING=1
skips the prompt that the next steps are destructive

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