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Install the Linux Operating
System for RAC clusters
This section provides a
summary of the screens used
to install the Linux
operating system. This guide
is designed to work with the
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
AS/ES (RHEL4) operating
environment. As an
alternative, and what I used
for this article, is CentOS
4.2: a free and stable
version of the RHEL4
operating environment.
For more
detailed installation
instructions, it is possible
to use the
manuals from Red Hat
Linux. I would suggest,
however, that the
instructions I have provided
below be used for this
configuration.
Before
installing the Linux
operating system on both
nodes, you should have the
FireWire and two NIC
interfaces (cards)
installed.
Also,
before starting the
installation, ensure that
the FireWire drive (our
shared storage drive) is
NOT connected to either
of the two servers. You may
also choose to connect both
servers to the FireWire
drive and simply turn the
power off to the drive.
Download
the following ISO images for
CentOS 4.2:
After
downloading and burning
the CentOS images (ISO
files) to CD, insert CentOS
Disk #1 into the first
server (linux1 in
this example), power it on,
and answer the installation
screen prompts as noted
below. After completing the
Linux installation on the
first node, perform the same
Linux installation on the
second node while
substituting the node name
linux1 for
linux2 and the
different IP addresses where
appropriate.
Boot Screen
The first screen is the
CentOS Enterprise Linux boot
screen. At the boot: prompt,
hit [Enter] to start the
installation process.
Media Test
When asked to test the CD
media, tab over to [Skip]
and hit [Enter]. If there
were any errors, the media
burning software would have
warned us. After several
seconds, the installer
should then detect the video
card, monitor, and mouse.
The installer then goes into
GUI mode.
Welcome to CentOS
Enterprise Linux
At the welcome screen, click
[Next] to continue.
Language / Keyboard
Selection
The next two screens prompt
you for the Language and
Keyboard settings. Make the
appropriate selections for
your configuration.
Installation Type
Choose the [Custom] option
and click [Next] to
continue.
Disk Partitioning Setup
Select [Automatically
partition] and click [Next]
continue.
If there
were a previous installation
of Linux on this machine,
the next screen will ask if
you want to "remove" or
"keep" old partitions.
Select the option to [Remove
all partitions on this
system]. Also, ensure that
the [hda] drive is selected
for this installation. I
also keep the checkbox
[Review (and modify if
needed) the partitions
created] selected. Click
[Next] to continue.
You will
then be prompted with a
dialog window asking if you
really want to remove all
partitions. Click [Yes] to
acknowledge this warning.
Partitioning
The installer will then
allow you to view (and
modify if needed) the disk
partitions it automatically
selected. In almost all
cases, the installer will
choose 100MB for /boot,
double the amount of RAM for
swap, and the rest going to
the root (/) partition. I
like to have a minimum of
1GB for swap. For the
purpose of this install, I
will accept all
automatically preferred
sizes. (Including 2GB for
swap since I have 1GB of RAM
installed.)
Starting
with RHEL 4, the installer
will create the same disk
configuration as just noted
but will create them using
the Logical Volume Manager
(LVM). For example, it will
partition the first hard
drive (/dev/hda for my
configuration) into two
partitions—one for the /boot
partition (/dev/hda1) and
the remainder of the disk
dedicate to a LVM named
VolGroup00 (/dev/hda2). The
LVM Volume Group
(VolGroup00) is then
partitioned into two LVM
partitions - one for the
root filesystem (/) and
another for swap. I
basically check that it
created at least 1GB of
swap. Since I have 1GB of
RAM installed, the installer
created 2GB of swap. Saying
that, I just accept the
default disk layout.
Boot Loader Configuration
The installer will use the
GRUB boot loader by default.
To use the GRUB boot loader,
accept all default values
and click [Next] to
continue.
Network Configuration
I made sure to install both
NIC interfaces (cards) in
each of the Linux machines
before starting the
operating system
installation. This screen
should have successfully
detected each of the network
devices.
First,
make sure that each of the
network devices are checked
to [Active on boot]. The
installer may choose to not
activate eth1.
Second,
[Edit] both eth0 and eth1 as
follows. You may choose to
use different IP addresses
for both eth0 and eth1 and
that is OK. If possible, try
to put eth1 (the
interconnect) on a different
subnet than eth0 (the public
network):
eth0:
- Check off the option to
[Configure using DHCP]
- Leave the [Activate on
boot] checked
- IP Address: 192.168.1.100
- Netmask: 255.255.255.0
eth1:
- Check off the option to
[Configure using DHCP]
- Leave the [Activate on
boot] checked
- IP Address: 192.168.2.100
- Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Continue
by setting your hostname
manually. I used "linux1"
for the first node and
"linux2" for the second one.
Finish this dialog off by
supplying your gateway and
DNS servers.
Firewall
On this screen, make sure to
select [No firewall] and
click [Next] to continue.
You may be prompted with a
warning dialog about not
setting the firewall. If
this occurs, simply hit
[Proceed] to continue.
Additional Language
Support/Time Zone
The next two screens allow
you to select additional
language support and time
zone information. In almost
all cases, you can accept
the defaults.
Set Root Password
Select a root password and
click [Next] to continue.
Package Group Selection
Scroll down to the bottom of
this screen and select
[Everything] under the
"Miscellaneous" section.
Click [Next] to continue.
Please note that the
installation of Oracle does
not require all Linux
packages to be installed. My
decision to install all
packages was for the sake of
brevity. Please see section
Section 15 ("Check RPM
Packages for Oracle 10g
Release 2") for a more
detailed look at the
critical packages required
for a successful Oracle
installation.
Note
that with some RHEL4
distributions, you will not
get the "Package Group
Selection" screen by
default. There, you are
asked to simply "Install
default software packages"
or "Customize software
packages to be installed".
Select the option to
"Customize software packages
to be installed" and click
[Next] to continue. This
will then bring up the
"Package Group Selection"
screen. Now, scroll down to
the bottom of this screen
and select [Everything]
under the "Miscellaneous"
section. Click [Next] to
continue.
About to Install
This screen is basically a
confirmation screen. Click
[Next] to start the
installation. During the
installation process, you
will be asked to switch
disks to Disk #2, Disk #3,
and then Disk #4. Click
[Continue] to start the
installation process.
Note
that with CentOS 4.2, the
installer will ask to switch
to Disk #2, Disk #3, Disk
#4, Disk #1, and then back
to Disk #4.
Graphical Interface (X)
Configuration
With most RHEL4
distributions (not the case
with CentOS 4.2), when the
installation is complete,
the installer will attempt
to detect your video
hardware. Ensure that the
installer has detected and
selected the correct video
hardware (graphics card and
monitor) to properly use the
X Windows server. You will
continue with the X
configuration in the next
serveral screens.
Congratulations
And that's it. You have
successfully installed
CentOS Enterprise Linux on
the first node (linux1). The
installer will eject the CD
from the CD-ROM drive. Take
out the CD and click [Exit]
to reboot the system.
When the
system boots into Linux for
the first time, it will
prompt you with another
Welcome screen. The
following wizard allows you
to configure the date and
time, add any additional
users, testing the sound
card, and to install any
additional CDs. The only
screen I care about is the
time and date (and if you
are using CentOS 4.x, the
monitor/display settings).
As for the others, simply
run through them as there is
nothing additional that
needs to be installed (at
this point anyways!). If
everything was successful,
you should now be presented
with the login screen.
Perform the same
installation on the second
node
After completing the Linux
installation on the first
node, repeat the above steps
for the second node
(linux2). When configuring
the machine name and
networking, ensure to
configure the proper values.
For my installation, this is
what I configured for
linux2:
First,
make sure that each of the
network devices are checked
to [Active on boot]. The
installer will choose not to
activate eth1.
Second,
[Edit] both eth0 and eth1 as
follows:
eth0:
- Check off the option to
[Configure using DHCP]
- Leave the [Activate on
boot] checked
- IP Address: 192.168.1.101
- Netmask: 255.255.255.0
eth1:
- Check off the option to
[Configure using DHCP]
- Leave the [Activate on
boot] checked
- IP Address: 192.168.2.101
- Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Continue
by setting your hostname
manually. I used "linux2"
for the second node. Finish
this dialog off by supplying
your gateway and DNS
servers. |
