Installation of the server with the operating-system Linux with Fedora Core 3

This document is outdated and no longer maintained.

For an up-to-date version please refer to Installation of the Server with the operating-system Linux Fedora Core 5.

==> Linux** with Fedora-Core-3 requieres a monitor with a resolution of at least 800 x 600 pixels to run the administration-tools under the GUI.
Drivers for older VGA-adapters (particularly all cards for the ISA-bus, but also less known cards for the PCI-bus) are no longer shipped on the Installation-CDs. Therefore it is advisable to have a machine with VGA-adapter for the AGP-port or a widespread model for the PCI-bus.
If you just want to use the server as a file- and print-server, there is an installation-instruction for RedHat**-Linux** 9; for the installation-instruction please follow this link.
For pretty weak machines (with Pentium I processors), there is an installation-instruction for RedHat**-Linux** 7.1; for the installation-instruction please follow this link.

This computer is the central 'working-horse' of the enterprise.
It is file-server and hosts the server-part of client/server-applications (e.g. supply-chain-management).

All following instructions are for installing Fedora Core 3 - Linux.

Select Graphic Mode for the installation:

Shortly after the boot-process from diskette or CD beginns, a selection for text-based or graphical-installation can be done.
As configuration-utilities need a graphic-user-interface, a suitable video-graphic-adapter has to be installed.
Therefore the following installation-instructions are for Graphic Mode.

Language Selection, Keyboard Configuration and Mouse Configuration:

Please select the appropriate values according to your configuration.

Installation Type:

This computer is powerful - particularly the RAM (random-access-memory) and the hard-disk-system are fast and of best quality.
To utilise all capabilities an avoid to waste capacity with not used functions, Linux** will be installed as Custom System..

Disk Partitioning:

Select Manually partition with Disk Druid

Boot Loader Configuration:

Do not change the default values.

Network Configuration:
This option is not shown if the NIC (network interface card) is not detected during the installation-process.
In that case the instruction for 'Configure the Network Interface Card' apply after finishing the stardard-installation.

Activate on boot: Yes (check)

Then click the 'Edit'-Button and modify the following values:
Configure using DHCP: No (do not check)
Activate on boot: Yes (check)
IP Adress: 192.168.0.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0

Set the hostname: manually (check this selection) to the hostname (server)

Gateway: leave blank (as this machine is the gateway)

• Primary DNS, Secondary DNS and Tertiary DNS:
  The TCP/IP-Addresses of the Domain-Name-Servers (DNS) are provided by the used Internet-Service-Provider (ISP) .
  Here is a list of some Austrian ISP:
  A-ON: 195.3.96.67, 195.3.96.68
  UTA: 195.70.224.61, 195.70.224.62

Firewall Configuration:

No firewall (check)

Do not change all other values.

N.B.: The protection of the internal network is done with a script. The description follows under Linux - Firewall and Masquerading .

Additional Language Support:

English(USA) (check)

N.B.: If necessary more than one language can be chosen.

Time Zone Selection:

System clock uses UTC: Yes (check)

Europe/Vienna (check) - or wherever the server is located ;-)

Set Root Password:

Choose a Root Password (for Administrator-functions).

N.B.: Passwords are case sensitive; so check if 'caps-lock' is enabled when you enter the Root Password.
My recomendation is, to use only lower case character for passwords.

Selecting Package Groups:

The following list comprises only those packages which have to be installed.

• X Window System
  all detail-packages

• GNOME Desktop Environment
  all detail-packages

• Editors
  all detail-packages

• Graphical Internet
  firefox
  gftp

• Server Configuration Tools
  all detail-packages

• Web Server
  default detail-packages

• Windows File Server
  all detail-packages

• Administration Tools
  all detail-packages

• System Tools
  default detail-packages

• Printing Support
  all detail-packages

After the completion of the copy-process, the PC restarts and the following configuration has to be done:

License Agreement:

Yes, I agree to the license agreement (check).

Date and Time:

Verify Date and Time and correct if neccessary.

Display:

Select the Monitor (if not auto-detected).
Select the Resolution.
Select the Color Depth.

System User:

Standard Users are defined by a script (); so leave the fields blank.

Sound Card:

Verify if the Sound Card was detected correctly.

Additional CDs:

Additional applications are not installed now.

The instructions for the standard-installation end here.
Installation-steps which have to be done manually are described in the following steps.

Define the TCP/IP-address and the symbolic Name of the Router:

Under certain circumstances the TCP-/IP-address defined during standard-installation is not put to the configuration-file /etc/hosts.
If you do not find a line starting with the chosen TCP/IP-address (192.168.0.254 in this example), please insert the missing line.
Here is an example how the configuration-file /etc/hosts should look like :
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that requiere network functionality will fail
127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain  localhost
192.168.0.1   server.g2t.office.at   server

The above example assumes, that the TCP/IP--Hostname as described under NetBIOS- and TCP/IP-Setup of a workstation was server.g2t.office.at .

Configure the Network-Interface-Card, setting the TCP/IP-Adresses and the Domain-Name-Services:

If the Network-Interface-Card (NIC) was not detected during the installation-process, a comfortable setup of the network-hardware and -configuration can be done by a graphical tool. This tool is started by selecting Applications - System Settings - Network .

Special procedure for notebooks (pc-card).

NIC-function is available after starting pc-card-services.
For this reason, NICs can not be detected during installation but are available after a restart of Linux.

Checking for a correct installation of the network:

If the drivers where installed correctly is shown during startup in the step
'Bringing up interface eth0' ([OK])

or
can be checked after a restart with the following command:.

modprobe eth0
dmesg | tail

There are shown the last lines of the log.
Unfortunately each driver logs its special message; but if the Hardware-ID of the Network-Interface-Card is shown (e.g. 0060 97 72 b0 93) it is a good sign.

Then correct setup of the own TCP/IP-Address can be checked with the following command.

ping 192.168.0.1 (where the TCP/IP-Address of the just installed machine must be used - if you did not take the one from the examples)

shows the result:

PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) from 192.168.0.1 : 56(84) bytes of data
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=2.0 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1.3 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=1.1 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=0.9 ms

The 'Pinging' can be interrupted with the key-combination CTRL-C and thereafter a statistic is shown (example):

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.9/1.2/2.0 ms

If the computer is already connected to a local area network (LAN), then the correct connection can be tested by 'Pinging' a known TCP/IP-Address of another computer connected to the LAN.

ping 192.168.0.254 (where the Operatins-System of the pinged computer must be running - of course)

shows the result:

PING 192.168.0.254 (192.168.0.254) from 192.168.0.1 : 56(84) bytes of data
64 bytes from 192.168.0.254: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=3.2 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.254: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1.4 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.254: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=1.3 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.254: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=1.3 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.254: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=1.3 ms

The 'Pinging' can be interrupted with the key-combination CTRL-C and thereafter a statistic is shown (example):

--- 192.168.0.254 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 1.3/1.7/3.2 ms

Further steps of installation:

Further steps of installation of a Router with RedHat**-Linux** 9 are lined out in the following documents:

• Linux-workstation - file-structure and users.
  This is not absolutely neccessary as the programs to set up a dial-up-connection or a tunneling-protocol are small enough to be transferred with a diskette.
  But together with Mounting of directories on a remote computer this allows a later logon to the router to transfer downloaded programs to this machine.
  This step has to be done later if you installed the fax-server hylafax and users on workstations should be able to send faxes out from this machine.

• Printer Setup under RedHat-Linux 9 or Fedora Core 3 - Setup of a local printer under GNOME

• Service-applications for the server