Last modified: Fri Feb 21 09:30:49 MET 2003
	Automated Linux Installation at DESY

Before Installing a New PC

• Your PC must have an IP address and hostname registered in the DESY name server. Contact your subnet administrator and ask him to create an entry for you. Since the DNS update can take a day or so, you should do this well in advance to avoid delays.
• Your PC must be registered in an appropriate netgroup (for NFS mounting the installation server) and in the equipment database (for bootp). Currently, this must be done manually by IT staff members. Use this template to provide the required information via e-mail. This is normally done by the group administrator.

Before Upgrading an Existing Linux PC

Boot Floppy

   cd /net/linux/disks
   dd if=desyboot.desk.SuSE63 of=/dev/fd0

Installation Procedure

1. Insert boot floppy disk (see above) and boot.

2. After loading the kernel, linuxrc will try to do a bootp lookup. If this fails (very likely in early SuSE 6.3 installations), you will have to enter your IP address and gateway manually. Check the troubleshooting section below for assistance.

3. If you are asked about a partitioning scheme, choose 'Automatic' on new PCs. If you are upgrading, you will be asked whether you want to preserve the existing partitioning scheme. Please check the partitioning considerations before proceeding. Be cautious since all data on local disks (not in AFS) can be lost! Normally, the /data partition is preserved. While the hard disk is being partitioned, remove the boot floppy from the drive. If you do not do this now, the procedure will hang after package installation instead of rebooting.

4. After package installation, there may be a blue window with an OK prompt waiting to be confirmed for the commissioning of the installation. Press RETURN.

5. After a few more packages have been installed, there will be a message 'Installation completed'. Press the tabulator key to continue. The system will reboot. If you see a mount error message afterwards, contact unix@desy.de. There may be a typo in the boot configuration information or DNS entry which breaks your access to the installation server.

6. Normally, the system will enter the DESY postinstallation script during reboot which installs AFS, mail, printing, kerberised login binaries like ssh, and configures device permissions so that you can use floppy and cdrom. Don't lose patience! The postinstallation may take 15 to 20 minutes. After the first start of the AFS daemon, you will see nothing happen for several minutes while the AFS cache partition is initialised. Do not interrupt this procedure by rebooting, or you will have to start from scratch. After the postinstallation, the system may go through another reboot to update AFS.

7. When the X11 login appears a few minutes later, you are done.

User Specific Post-Installation

1. Change keyboard layout and X-server resolution if needed using the chxlocal tool.
2. Change permissions on the /data partition to make it writeable for local users. Note that this is scratch space, i.e. there is no backup!

Bootp Fails

1. Your MAC address has not been registered correctly (due to a typo or an exchanged network board). Check the equipment database.
2. The bootp server does not respond temporarily. Give it one more try.
3. Bootp does not work on your subnet. This is a consequence of the ongoing network restructuring at DESY. As a last resort, you can enter the setup information manually

Hostname Lookup Fails

1. Use nslookup <your_IP_address> to verify that your DNS entry is correct. The IP address must be known to the nameserver and your hostname must be written in lowercase letters.
2. If bootp did not work either, make sure that your network connection is working and that you are plugged into the correct wall outlet. If necessary, use an other device to verify that it is working.

Mount to Installation Server Fails