wiki:FAQ

Version 6 (modified by thomas, 14 years ago) (diff)

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Frequently Asked Questions


  1. Installation
    1. What are the different distributions of PUIAS?
    2. Where are the boot images located and which one to choose?
    3. How do I get started with an install?
    4. How to I create DVD images of the PU_IAS Distribution?
    5. How do I create boot media?


Installation

What are the different distributions of PUIAS?

The current release of PU_IAS is based on a reimplementation of RedHat?© Enterprise Linux 5 - PU_IAS Linux 5. At the beginning of the installation of PU_IAS 5 you will have an opportunity to choose which version of PU_IAS 5 you would like to install. These are all possible options:

  • PU_IAS 5 Server - with Cluster, Cluster Storage, Virtualization and PU_IAS Addons options.
  • PU_IAS 5 Client - with Virtualization and PU_IAS Addons options.

These are older releases

  • PU_IAS-2WS is the preferred distro for Workstations. Locally maintained packages are merged into this version. This version continues to be supported but any new installations are discouraged - please use the current release instead.
  • PU_IAS-2 is the unmodified distro and is preferred for production servers. This version continues to be supported but please consider using the current release instead.
  • PU_IAS-1/1WS are based on RedHat? Enterprise Linux© 3.
  • RedHat?© 9 and older distro's are deprecated, users are encouraged to upgrade to PU_IAS-2WS for workstations and PU_IAS-2 for servers. PU_IAS-1/1WS will continue to be supported but any new installations are discouraged.

Where are the boot images located and which one to choose?

There are a couple of different install images you can choose: boot.iso - boot cdrom image, diskboot.img - VFAT filesystem image that can be written to a USB pendrive or other bootable media larger than a floppy, pxeboot - files used for pxe/network initiated installs.

Download locations for boot images for the current distribution version:

Download locations for boot images for older distribution versions:

You can more information on how to create boot media or configure pxeboot in separate faq entries.

Distribution version Download location
PU_IAS 5 for i386 (32 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/5/en/os/i386/images
PU_IAS 5 for x86_64 (64 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/5/en/os/x86_64/images
Distribution version Download location
PU_IAS 1WS for i386 (32 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/1WS/en/os/i386/images
PU_IAS 1WS for x86_64 (64 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/1WS/en/os/x86_64/images
PU_IAS 1 for i386 (32 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/1/en/os/i386/images
PU_IAS 1 for x86_64 (64 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/1/en/os/x86_64/images

Distribution version Download location
PU_IAS 2WS for i386 (32 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/2WS/en/os/i386/images
PU_IAS 2WS for x86_64 (64 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/2WS/en/os/x86_64/images
PU_IAS 2 for i386 (32 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/2/en/os/i386/images
PU_IAS 2 for x86_64 (64 bit) http://www.elders.princeton.edu/data/PU_IAS/local/2/en/os/x86_64/images

How do I get started with an install?

The default install types all depend on having network access during installation. This install is initiated by either a small boot cdrom or a usb pendrive image. After a few questions the install continues over the network and the installer fetches all the instalation material by using NFS or HTTP.

If you will be installing one of our distributions on a machine that doesn't have a high speed network access then please read the FAQ question about creating a DVD image of the distribution version that you will be installing.

You will need a boot image - please read appropriate FAQ questions on how to download and create appropriate boot media.

Once you have the boot installation media start the computer up from it (e.g. boot from the installation cdrom or from USB pendrive).

You will be prompted for install type - please choose HTTP (NFS is not recommended any more). If on IAS campus again choose HTTP installs but you will have to modify the default location of the install material in order to use the local mirror.

After choosing the install type the installer will initialize your networking and then allow you to modify the preset download location of the distribution. If you will be using the www.elders.princeton.edu download server you can accept the defaults. If you will be using IAS mirror you should modify the default server and location as follows:

Where #DistVersion? may be 2WS, 2, 1WS, 1 and #Arch might be i386 or x86_64

original change to for IAS
server: www.elders.princeton.edu www.math.ias.edu
directory: /data/PU_IAS/local/#DistVersion?/en/os/#Arch /data/PU_IAS/local/#DistVersion?/en/os/#Arch

original change to for IAS
server: elders.princeton.edu puias.math.ias.edu
directory: /data/PU_IAS/local/#DistVersion?/en/os/#Arch /data/PU_IAS/local/#DistVersion?/en/os/#Arch

How to I create DVD images of the PU_IAS Distribution?

  1. First, download everything under the architecture for which you wish to build. If your architecture is x86-64, download all the files under http://www.elders.princeton.edu/PU_IAS/data/PU_IAS/5/en/os/x86_64/
  2. IMPORTANT: Make sure you also download .discinfo file. That means you'll need to download at the minimum .discinfo and GPL files, images, isolinux and all subdirectories directories.
  3. Next change to the directory in which you downloaded these files.
  4. In order to decrease the size of the resulting image you can run "hardlink -c . ." (assuming you are in the directory with downloaded files). This should reduce the resulting DVD image by more then 2GB (this is so because the image contains both Client+Workstation and Server variants of the OS and therefore there is a lot of duplication). If you do not have hardlink installed on your system please use Yum to install it ("yum -y install hardlink"). Alternatively you could drop from the image either Client+Workstation dirs or Server - depending on which one you intend to use.
  5. Then ensure you have the dvd+rw tools package installed (you'll need growisofs).
  6. Run growisofs to build the iso image and burn it directly to your media. The command below assumes your dvdburner is symlinked to /dev/dvd
        root@anywhere root# cd /path/to/x86_64
        root@anywhere x86_64# growisofs -Z /dev/dvd -r -b isolinux/isolinux.bin \
        -c isolinux/boot.cat -cache-inodes -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 \
        -boot-info-table -R -m TRANS.TBL -graft-points /=i386 

When done you should have a fancy new install DVD.

How do I create boot media?