August 15, 2006
Novell® Linux Point of Service 9 is based on SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 9 and is the subsequent release of SUSE Linux Retail Solution (SLRS) 8.
This Supplemental Support Pack 3 (SSP3) update requires SLES 9 SP3 and Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) 9 SP3. Follow the instructions in this Readme to install or update the software.
Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3 cannot be installed directly. You must first install the initial release of Novell Linux Point of Service 9 and then update it to SSP3.
The full installation requires the media listed in Table 1. The ISO files can be downloaded from the Novell Downloads Web site.
Table 1 Media Required to Install Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3
If you have many Novell Linux Point of Service 9 servers to install, you can set up a central installation server that can be accessed over the network. The YaST program supports HTTP, FTP, and NFS installation servers.
For general instructions for creating an installation server, see Chapter 4, “Central Software Installation and Update” in the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Administration and Installation Guide.
To set up an installation source for Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3, follow these steps on the central installation server:
Using the mkdir -p command, create the directory structure shown below:
installDir/sles9/FCS/CD1
installDir/sles9/core9/CD1
CD2
CD3
CD4
CD5
installDir/sles9/SP3/CD1
CD2
CD3
installDir/nlpos9/FCS/CD1
CD2
CD3
CD4
installDir/nlpos9/SSP3/CD1
Using the cp -a command, copy the contents of the SLES 9 CDs into the directories as follows:
Using the cp -a command, copy the contents of the remaining CDs into their respective directories.
Enter cd installDir to change to the main installation directory.
Enter the following commands to link the NLPOS 9 FCS boot files to corresponding files in the /installDir directory:
ln -s nlpos9/FCS/CD1/boot boot ln -s nlpos9/FCS/CD1/content content ln -s nlpos9/FCS/CD1/control.xml control.xml ln -s nlpos9/FCS/CD1/media.1 media.1
Enter the following commands to copy the SLES 9 and NLPOS 9 key files into the /installDir directory:
cp sles9/FCS/CD1/gpg-*.asc . cp nlpos9/FCS/CD1/gpg-*.asc .
Enter mkdir yast to create a /yast subdirectory in /installDir.
In the /yast subdirectory, create a text file named instorder that contains the following two lines:
/nlpos9/FCS/CD1 /sles9/core9/CD1
Also in the /yast subdirectory, create a text file named order that contains the following two lines (separate the entries on each line with a Tab character):
/nlpos9/FCS/CD1 /nlpos9/FCS/CD1 /sles9/FCS/CD1 /sles9/FCS/CD1
For new installations of a Novell Linux Point of Service Administration Server, Branch Server, or Image Building Server, first install the initial release of Novell Linux Point of Service 9 on the server as instructed in the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Installation Guide.
IMPORTANT:It is strongly recommended that you review the installation instructions in the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Installation Guide before starting the installation.
After you have installed the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 software, follow these steps to apply the SP3 updates to the SLES 9 operating system:
At the server console, start the YaST utility and select .
Select the module.
Add a new software source:
On the Software Source Media page, click the button, choose , then click .
Provide the requested information. Using NFS as an example, specify the name or IP address of the installation server and the path to the directory where you copied the contents of SLES 9 SP3 CD1, then click .
Make sure SUSE SLES 9 Service-Pack Version 3 is selected as the source, then click the button to move it to the top of the list.
Click the button.
On the Installation Settings page, make sure the number of affected packages is not 0 (zero), then click .
If you are installing from CD, insert the requested CDs as prompted.
After the SP3 update files have all been copied to the server, reboot the server.
After you have updated SLES 9 to SP3, follow these steps to apply the SSP3 updates to Novell Linux Point of Service 9:
If necessary, start the YaST utility and select .
Select the module.
Add a new software source:
On the Software Source Media page, click the button, choose , then click .
Provide the requested information. Using NFS as an example, specify the name or IP address of the installation server and the path to the directory where you copied the contents of NLPOS 9 SSP3 CD1, then click .
Make sure Novell-Linux-POS 9.2 is selected as the source and click the button to move it to the top of the list.
Click the button.
On the Installation Settings page, make sure the number of affected packages is not 0 (zero), then click .
After the SSP3 update files have all been copied to the server, click the button.
The final task is to generate the Distribution.xml and AdminServer.conf files on the Administration Server or the Image Building Server.
Run poscopytool.pl to copy the following CDs (the script prompts you to insert each of the CDs in turn):
Run poscopytool.pl --list to verify that all required CDs have been copied.
Run the following scripts to generate the files:
If you have existing Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Administration Servers, Branch Servers, or Image Building Servers, follow the steps in this section to upgrade them to SSP3.
To upgrade existing servers, you will need the CDs required to install Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3 (see Table 1).
If you already have the CDs for installing a previous release of Novell Linux Point of Service 9, you only need to download and create the SLES 9 SP3, NLD 9 SP3, and NLPOS 9 SSP3 CDs. You can use your existing CDs for SLES 9 FCS, NLD 9 FCS, and NLPOS 9 FCS.
Follow these steps to apply the SP3 updates to the SLES 9 operating system:
At the server console, start the YaST utility and select .
Select the module.
Add a new software source:
On the Software Source Media page, click the button, choose , then click .
Provide the requested information. Using NFS as an example, specify the name or IP address of the installation server and the path to the directory where you copied the contents of SLES 9 SP3 CD1, then click .
Make sure SUSE SLES 9 Service-Pack Version 3 is selected as the source, then click the button to move it to the top of the list.
Click the button.
On the Installation Settings page, make sure the number of affected packages is not 0 (zero), then click .
If you are installing from CD, insert the requested CDs as prompted.
After the SP3 update files have all been copied to the server, reboot the server.
After you have updated SLES 9 to SP3, follow these steps to apply the SSP3 updates to Novell Linux Point of Service 9:
If necessary, start the YaST utility and select .
Select the module.
Add a new software source:
On the Software Source Media page, click the button, choose , then click .
Provide the requested information. Using NFS as an example, specify the name or IP address of the installation server and the path to the directory where you copied the contents of NLPOS 9 SSP3 CD1, then click .
Make sure Novell-Linux-POS 9.2 is selected as the source, then click the button to move it to the top of the list.
Click the button.
On the Installation Settings page, make sure the number of affected packages is not 0 (zero), then click .
After the SSP3 update files have all been copied to the server, click the button.
The next task is to update the Distribution.xml and AdminServer.conf files on the Administration Server or the Image Building Server. The steps vary depending on which script you used to copy and link the CDs.
Run poscopytool.pl to copy the following CDs (the script prompts you to insert each of the CDs in turn):
Run poscopytool.pl --list to verify that all required CDs have been copied.
Run the following scripts to regenerate the files:
Run poscopytool.pl to copy the following CDs (the script prompts you to insert each of the CDs in turn):
Delete the /opt/SLES/POS/dist directory.
Relink all of the CDs by entering the following command for each CD:
poscdtool.pl --link --source=source_media
Run poscopytool.pl --list to verify that all required CDs have been copied.
Run the following scripts to regenerate the files:
NOTE:Images cloned from the DiskNetboot or CDboot images must have “boot” in their image names. No other client images can have “boot” in their image names.
The final task is to update the image version number in LDAP. To do this, run the following command on the Administration Server:
posInitLdap.sh --upgrade
IMPORTANT:After you upgrade your system to Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3, you can no longer build images that have been cloned from the previous distribution. You must port your existing custom images to the new distribution.
This section lists enhancements and new features that have been introduced in Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3.
Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3 lets you perform an incremental update to an existing image so that a Point of Service terminal can load just the updated RPMs and not redownload the entire image. For more information, see Section 9.6, “Incremental Update,” in the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Administration Guide.
When a Point of Service terminal first boots, it tries to load an optimal network driver in order to download its client image. Novell Linux Point of Service 9 provides a product file that the terminal can search to find the correct drivers. If no match is found in the product file, the terminal cycles through various network drivers and uses the first one that loads. This does not always result in the optimum configuration.
In Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3, you can update the product file to include entries for additional hardware types without rebuilding the boot image. For more information, see Section 9.7, “Updating the Product File in a Boot Image,” in the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Administration Guide.
In Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3, the RSYNC service has been improved to offer better performance, compression, and optimization for WAN links.
The ATFTP service in Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3 has been enhanced to run a separate instance of ATFTP on each of the available network interfaces. Binding ATFTP to each network interface on a Branch Server eliminates checksum errors that can occur when using multicast broadcasts during large image transfers.
By default, ATFTP is bound to all available IP addresses. To configure ATFTP to bind to specific network interfaces, add the ATFTPD_BIND_ADDRESSES variable to the /etc/sysconfig/atftpd file. Enclose the list of IP addresses in quotes and separate them by the space character. For example:
ATFTP_BIND_ADDRESSES="127.0.0.2 127.0.0.3 127.0.0.4"
Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3 includes support for additional Point of Service terminal hardware from various vendors.
The issues listed in this section are resolved in Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3.
The SLES 9 SP3 kernel that ships with Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3 fully supports the use of USB 2.0 devices.
Numerous fixes have been made to the Novell Linux Point of Service scripts (posAdmin.pl, posInitLdap.sh, poscdtool.pl, etc.) to improve reliability and usability and to reduce the amount of extraneous information that is displayed to the user.
The image builder tools (scr and xscr) have also been updated for improved reliability and usability.
Table 2 and Table 3 list the bugs that have been fixed since the SSP2 release of Novell Linux Point of Service 9.
Table 2 POS Image Changes Since the SSP2 Release
Table 3 POS Server Changes Since SSP2
The issues listed in this section are known to exist in Novell Linux Point of Service 9 SSP3.
To change the amount of data that is logged by the LDAP service on the Administration Server, edit the /etc/openldap/slapd.conf file and add the following line:
loglevel value
For value, select the appropriate number from Table 4.
Table 4 Log Level Values for OpenLDAP
When a computer has more than one network interface card installed with different drivers, it is possible for the interface designations to change after rebooting because of the varying speeds at which the network drivers load. To prevent the default interface names (eth0, eth1, etc.) from changing when High Availability Branch Servers are rebooted, assign a persistent name to each network interface.
To do this, edit the /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth-id* file for each network interface and add a PERSISTENT_NAME entry. For more information, see the /usr/share/doc/packages/sysconfig/README file.
xterm does not launch with Unicode Best enabled. Therefore, some international characters (Chinese) do not display correctly.
Use the following command to launch xterm with Unicode Best enabled:
xterm -fn -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-18-120-100-100-c-90-iso10646-1 -fw -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-18-120-100-100-c-180-iso10646-1
If xterm is running, you can press Ctrl+Mouse Button 3 to switch xterm to Unicode Best.
When the VNC 4 Remote Control Client is deployed on a Point of Service terminal with a 4810 Trident* on-board video card in a dual display configuration, the system returns a Signal 11 error when starting X.
The problem does not occur with single display or if the Trident is disabled and two ATI* cards are used. The problem also does not occur if the VNC 4 Remote Control Client is added to the ATI cards in a Trident/ATI configuration (a configuration that allows remote control of the secondary screen).
To resolve the issue, you can do one of the following:
When using the ATI driver on the 4800-753, 4800-2xx, 4800-733, or 4800-732 with a 4820-48T display, the driver does not go into 800x600 mode. Instead, it displays in 799x600.
To resolve the issue, modify your XF86Config file as follows:
Go to the > section under depth 16.
Take out the 720x400 and 640x480 options so that 800x600 is the only option left under depth 16.
This allows your screen to display 800x600; however, the display still says 799x600.
When the power off command is used on the active node of a High Availability (HA) system, the keyboard layout might be incorrect when the node is restarted.
If this occurs, you can resolve this issue by resetting the keyboard configuration in YaST2 as follows:
Start YaST2 (not YaST).
Select the correct keyboard. (It should already be selected.)
Click .
To include the Brazilian Portuguese locale in a Point of Service image, you must include the kde3-i18n-pt_BR RPM in the Image Specification Document’s IncludeRPM element. For more information, refer to “Adding RPMs” in the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Administration Guide.
For information on adding other locales to a Point of Service image, see “Changing the Image Language” in the Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Administration Guide.
Switching from Runlevel 5 to Runlevel 3 causes the system to hang on the following Point of Service terminals:
The user is forced to use the power button to cycle the Point of Service terminal.
A possible workaround is to issue the init 3 command F3 from a text terminal session rather than the X session. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Alt+F3 to switch to Runlevel 3.
If an error occurs during a copy procedure with POSCDTool or POSCopyTool, the Abort option does not function. You must manually terminate the procedure.
POSCDTool and POSCopyTool do not recognize an incomplete copy procedure. If a copy fails or is abnormally terminated, POSCDTool and POSCopyTool do not validate the previous copy results. Instead, the utilities list all previously copied CDs in the copy list, even if one of the copy procedures was incomplete.
To restart a failed CD copy procedure, you must delete the CD that failed from the distribution directory structure and then start the copy again.
Currently, there is no output from the poscdtool.pl --verify command.
Novell Linux Point of Service 9 does not currently support token ring networks.
The Novell Linux Point of Service 9 Installation and Administration Guides and the latest Readme files are available on the Novell Documentation Web site.
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