Mille-Xterm Installation Mandriva 2006
From Mille-Xterm
Contents |
Installation instructions:
The first stage includes the installation of Mandriva 2006 on each server.
Preparation
Note: These installation instructions are not official and are not complete yet.
Necessary hardware
To install MILLE-XTERM enviroment for test or development purposes you must meet these minimum requirements:
Quite new server
Processor 1GHz or higher
512 MB RAM
10 GB harddisk
Two network cards
On the terminal side
Network which supports PXE
48 MB of RAM is minimum (the quantity of memory necessary can vary according to screen resolution )
4 port switch and cables
Fast internet access
Overview on installation stages
1. Physical installation of the servers
2. Configuration of installation sources
3. Installation of bootserver
4. Installation of application server
5. Installation of configuration server
6. Extensive testing
Installation sources
The installation of MILLE-XTERM requires that the installation sources on Mandriva 2006 are defined.
Here are the software sources for the distribution.
urpmi.removemedia -a
urpmi.addmedia --update updates
urpmi.addmedia main_updates http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/Mandrakelinux/official/updates/2006.0/main_updates/ with media_info/synthesis.hdlist.cz
urpmi.addmedia main http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/Mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/main with media_info/synthesis.hdlist.cz
urpmi.addmedia contrib http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/distro/Mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/contrib with media_info/synthesis.hdlist.cz
It is also necessary to define installation sources for MILLE-XTERM. Carry out the following commands to define software sources.
urpmi.addmedia millexterm-devel http://gulus.usherbrooke.ca/pub/appl/mille-xterm/Mandriva/2006/stable/i586/ with hdlist.cz
urpmi.addmedia vservers http://www.revolutionlinux.com/Downloads/Vservers/Mandriva/2006/i586/RPMS/ with hdlist.cz
To use another mirror, follow the instructions on EasyUrpmi. Note that is necessary to define Mille-Xterm sources in order continue the installation.
Installation of the 2.6.14 kernel
Mille-xterm 1.0 requires 2.6.14 kernel version or more recent. After software sources have been configured, it is now possible install the kernell, if needed.
urpmi kernel-vs2.6
Then, ensure that your new kernel is working on grub or lilo and reboot your servers.
Installation of the components
The installation sources enable you to install each type of waiter by using a specific package.
Type of server Package to be installed
Bootserver mille-xterm-bootserver
Application server mille-xterm-appserver
Configuration server mille-xterm-configurator
Each package is installed by:
urpmi name-of-package
Bootserver installation
The bootserver provides terminal environment to the terminal.
To install a bootserver
urpmi mille-xterm-bootserver
And then:
urpmi.update -a
The next stage consists generating the xtermroot root and the image of starting initrd.
mille-xterm-bootserver build_all
The root that the terminals use when they start is: "/opt/xtermroot". The initrd and the kernel are available in the directory "/opt/xtermroot/updates/current".
If you have problems with starting of certain machines (Pentium 1, via, crusoe, geode), then use the kernel "linux-image" and rebuild the initrd. It acts as i386 Ubuntu kernel.
urpmi --root=/opt/xtermroot linux-image mille-xterm-bootserver build_initrd
To automatically configure application server with adequate parameters, use the option "autoconfigure".
mille-xterm-bootserver autoconfigure
Stages of auto-configuration:
1. Add a line in /etc/exports for division NFS of the root of the teminals.
/opt/xtermroot *(no_root_squash,async,insecure,ro)
Then restart nfs service /etc/init.d/nfs restart
2. Configure the parameters of NFS for the performance in /etc/sysconfig/nfs
3. Make sure that NFS server is started.
The configuration of tftp and dhcp is necessary to boot from PXE. Here are the steps for it:
To install the packages necessary
urpmi pxelinux tftp-server dhcp-server
Tftp is xinetd service. Its configuration is in the "etc/xinetd.d/tftp" file. It must have the following line so that it starts.
disable = no
DHCP-configuration DHCP
It is necessary that the images initrd and vmlinux are copied in the repertory tftpboot. Here are the commands to be carried out if the xtermroot root is on the same machine as the tftp server. It should be noted that if repertory exists at the time of creation of the root, this stage is already carries out.
cp /opt/xtermroot/updates/current/* /var/lib/tftpboot/X86PC/linux/
Now configure PXE-files in "/var/lib/tftpboot/X86PC/linux/pxelinux.cfg/default
Configure mxboot to point the bootserver (you can also put IP address of the bootserver)
PROMPT 1
DEFAULT terminal
DISPLAY messages
TIMEOUT 50
label local
LOCALBOOT 0
label terminal
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=initrd root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc panic=15 rw vga=788 menu=terminal
nfsroot=mxboot:/opt/xtermroot
label admin
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=initrd root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc panic=15 rw vga=788 menu=admin
nfsroot=mxboot:/opt/xtermroot
If you wish to have a pretty starting screen, heres a work of art, that you must place /var/lib/tftpboot/X86PC/linux/messages
---------------------------------------------------------
| MILLE-XTERM network boot menu |
| |
| terminal - normal boot (default) |
| admin - administration mode |
| local - disable network boot |
| |
| (O__ |
| (o_ (o_ (0_ //\ |
| {o_ (o_ (o_ (o_ (o_ //\ //\ //\ // ) |
| (')_ (`)_ (/)_ (/)_ (/)_ V_/_ V_/_ V_/_ V__/_ |
---------------------------------------------------------
Attention with file permissions, messages file must have 644 permission. If not, the terminal will not be able to start.
Syncronization of xtermroot between bootserver
Synchronization is needed between the bootservers when there are more than one bootservers. To do this, it is suggested to use rsync, which uses low bandwight.
Configure /etc/rsync.conf in the following way on the primary bootserver:
[ millexterm ] uid = nobody gid = nogroup use chroot = yes path = /opt/xtermroot how = mille-xterm bootserver xtermroot read only = yes auth users = millexterm secrecies slips by = /etc/rsyncd.secrets hosts allow = mxboot02 mxboot03 hosts deny = *
Edit file /etc/rsync.secrets and enter username and a password
millexterm:cleartextpassword
Now, it is possible on the other bootservers to use customer rsync.
Configurator installation
Installation of the configuration server
Install this component with urpmi:
urpmi mille-xterm-configurator
If the database server postgresql resides on the same server than the configurator, then install it with the following order. (If not, it will be necessary to configure the database server so that it accepts connections from other host than the localhost).
urpmi postgresql-server postgresql-plpgsql /etc/init.d/postgresql start
Then, it is necessary to initialize the database with following script
cd /usr/share/mille-xterm-configurator/DB ./init_db.sh
Start apache again:
/etc/init.d/httpd restart
And finally go to the following page in order to configure you configuration server. Make sure you enter good password for the user of the database. Start psql as a user postgres to carry out this task.
http://name_of_the_server/mille-configurator/Admin
To tell the terminals to use this configurator, it should be indicated in the file "/opt/xtermroot/etc/config-server" in the following way:
http://name_of_the_server/mille-configurator/Terminal/
The terminal will then use the parameters of the configuration server.
If you need lts.conf, use this configuration for 17" LCD screen, resolution 1280x1024:
SOUND='Y'
XSERVER='auto'
X_MOUSE_PROTOCOL='auto'
X_MOUSE_DEVICE='/dev/psaux'
X_MOUSE_RESOLUTION='400'
X_MOUSE_BUTTONS='3'
X_MOUSE_EMULATE3BTN='Y'
USE_XFS='Y'
XkbModel='pc105'
XkbLayout='ca_enhanced'
SCREEN_01='startx'
SCREEN_02='shell'
SCREEN_10='sshd'
X_MODE_0='1280x1024'
X_MODE_1='1024x768'
X_MODE_2='800x600'
X4_MODULE_01='drm'
X4_MODULE_02='glx'
X_COLOR_DEPTH='16'
X_HORZSYNC='31-79'
X_VERTREFRESH='56-75'
Troubleshooting of postgresql-service
If you get this kind of error message:
root@localhost ~]# /etc/init.d/postgresql start Initializing database: [FAILED]
Then, try to remove the database and initialize them again:
rm - RF /var/lib/pgsql/data/*
When postgresql is restarted, the databases will be re-initialized correctly.
Application server installation
Install the package mille-xterm-appserver on each application server.
Then, carry out the auto-configuration of the application server with the following order:
mille-xterm-appserver autoconfigure
Thereafter, it is necessary to restart display manager so that changes are applied.
nohup /etc/init.d/dm restart
Attention: All graphic sessions in progress will be lost.
To activate the sound or use of usb-sticks on the terminals, it is necessary to add attributes SOUND and LOCAL_MEDIA in the configurator or on the bootserver, in the file "/opt/xtermroot/etc/lts.conf" if the configurator is not used.
SOUND = "Y" LOCAL_MEDIA = "Y"
To test if sound is activated on a terminal, use this command:
esdplay /usr/share/sounds/KDE_Startup.wav
For the management of USB-sticks, if a key is connected to the terminal, it goes up automatically in:
~/Cle_usb/
Load distributor
The advantage of using mille-xterm comes knowing the fact that several application servers can be put to answer the load of the users. To divide the users in an optimal way, a load distributor is used. It is installed automatically with mille-xterm
The load distriburor includes two components. 1. lbagent: transmits information of application servers 2. lbserver: recieves the information of lbagents
The application server must have the service "lbagent" running. To start it:
/etc/init.d/lbagent start
Now you should have a working mille-xterm installation.
More coming soon..
