Follow the Server Installation Requirements

When installing Linux on your target lab server, follow the guidelines explained in this section.


Use a Static IP Address

The NNLS installation and configuration mechanisms require that your lab server use a static IP address rather than obtaining its address through DHCP. This means you must manually change the IP address settings in the RedHat and SuSE installs, both of which use DHCP by default.


Type Only the Hostname

When prompted for a hostname during the Linux install, remember that the hostname doesn't include DNS domain information. For example, enter only mylinuxbox.

Do not include the DNS domain information with the hostname (for example, mylinuxbox.mylab.mycompany.com).

If you include the domain with the hostname, eDirectory and other NNLS components will not install correctly.


Plan Your Partitions in Advance

When partitioning your server's hard drives, you must plan for the items shown in Table 1.


Table 1. Lab Server Partition Requirements

Partition Minimum Disk Space Other Considerations Planned Allocation

/boot

*

* See the documentation for your chosen operating system.

 

/swap

*

* This should normally equal twice the RAM installed on your server up to 1 GB.

For more information, see the documentation for your chosen operating systerm.

 

/

*

* Include all remaining disk space in this partition. Space for the subpartitions (/var, /opt, /usr, /etc, /home) is automatically available as the partitions expand.

 

Check /etc/hosts Before Installing NNLS

After you install Linux, you must do the following to ensure proper resolution of the server's IP address by NNLS products.

  1. Edit the /etc/hosts file on the server.

  2. If present, remove the servername variable from the 

    127.0.0.1 servername localhost.localdomain localhost

    line so it reads

    127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

  3. Add the following line to the hosts file (if not already present):

    serverip fullyqualifiedhostname servername

    where serverip is the IP address of the NNLS server, fullyqualifiedhostname is the server's fully qualified hostname, and servername is the hostname of the lab server.

    For example, you might add the following to the /etc/hosts file: 

    10.1.1.1 mylinuxbox.mylab.mycompany.com mylinuxbox