Next Previous Contents

4. Installation

We assume the server is already installed. The installation is done with the following steps:

4.1 Installing the xtermkit package

The kit is now an RPM package. To install it or to upgrade it you do

        rpm -Uvh xtermkit-x.y-1.i386.rpm
        

x.y is the package version. The latest (as I write this), is 2.4. This package should install without problem on RedHat 6.2, 7.0 and Mandrake 7.x. This is what we are testing.

4.2 Installing the runtime environment

You run the xtermadmin command and select the first

        /usr/sbin/xtermadmin
        
        X terminal administration
        Pick an option

        1-setup            : Installation of the terminals runtime
        2-post-setup       : Complete or update terminals runtime
        3-server-setup     : Setup of server services
        4-fillname         : Preload /etc/hosts with dummy names
        5-makeboot         : Create a terminal boot floppy Linux format
        6-makeboot-dos     : Create a terminal boot floppy DOS format
        7-lock-terminals   : Lock terminals configuration
        8-unlock-terminals : Allow re-configuration of terminals
        q=quit

        Choice :  1
        

You are presented with a list of RedHat version used to install the runtime environment. You can use RedHat 6.2 or 7.0. Note that RedHat 7.0 is using RPM version 4, so at this point, you won't be able to install those package on anything else than RedHat 7.0. If you plan to install on a Mandrake 7.x, pick a RedHat 6.2 CD.

                Linux based X terminals
                Server side installation

                1=Redhat 5.0 CD
                2=Redhat 5.1 CD
                3=Redhat 5.2 CD
                4=Redhat 6.0 CD
                5=Redhat 6.1 CD
                6=Redhat 6.2 CD
                7=Redhat 7.0 CD

                Choice ? 6
        

This will take few minutes. Then you will get to the main menu. This time, you pick the post-setup option. This option does not ask any question. It adds few more packages in /xterminals/root.

If you upgrade from a previous version of the kit, you do not need to reinstall the runtime. The RPM update will run the post-setup for you (and will clearly state so).

4.3 Server setup

By default, a Linux server won't serve X terminals. You need to configure few services to enable this. You can do it two ways. You can either follow this document, or you can use the xterminals Linuxconf module. This is what we are doing and testing most. You can find some information and screen shots about the module at http://www.solucorp.qc.ca/linuxconf/module.hc?module=xterminals.

The xterminals module goes behond the basic installation and configuration. It focus on X terminals administration as well.

You can also use the third option of the main menu to perform some of this job. The rest explains what is going on.

4.4 NFS server configuration

In /etc/exports, you will need the following lines

        /xterminals/root (ro)
        /var/xterminals (rw,no_root_squash)
        

Once the X terminals are configured, you can change that to

        /xterminals/root (ro)
        /var/xterminals (ro)
        

4.5 On the server, you do

The kernel supplied (2.0) contain ethernet drivers for ne2000 and 3c509. The kernel configuration is supplied so you can recompile a kernel with the proper driver sets. Some work has to be done to support "initial ramdisk", allowing the usage of modular kernel for the x terminal boot disk.

A larger kernel (2.2) is also supplied with more drivers. It supports the following adaptors.

4.6 Note aboute the NFS server

Some NFS server won't provide access to a machine without a corresponding name in either the DNS or /etc/hosts. If you get an error 13 from the NFS server (when booting the PC), make sure that for each IP number allocated in the DHCP server, you have a corresponding name in the DNS. If you are not familier with DNS you may work around this by filling the name and IP number of every X terminals in the /etc/hosts file of the server.

A script "fillname.sh" is provided just for that. The script is interactive. You run it, you answer the 3 questions and it will write a bunch of lines in /etc/hosts (append). It will name the X terminal T1 to TN as the exact name is unimportant.

For example, if you have allocated the following IP number range:

        192.168.1.50 -> 192.168.1.70
        

you enter

        Enter the IP network prefix (ex: 192.168.1) : 192.168.1
        Enter the start of the range : 50
        Enter the end of the range   : 70
        

You may have to restart the NFS server after having done that as it caches a little bit.

4.7 Configuring the DHCP server

Linuxconf has a module to do just that (dhcpd). Or you can do it by hand. Here is a template you can use to setup a proper /etc/dhcpd.conf

        server-identifier plastic;
        # Put your domain here
        option domain-name      "solucorp.qc.ca";
        # Enter your DNS here
        option domain-name-servers      192.168.3.6;
        # Enter your default gateway here
        option routers  192.168.3.6;
        # Enter the netmask of the network here
        option subnet-mask      255.255.255.0;
        # Enter the network you wish to manage using DHCP
        subnet 192.168.3.0 netmask 255.255.255.0{
            # Enter the range you wish to allocate using DHCP
            range dynamic-bootp 192.168.3.100 192.168.3.150;
        }
        


Next Previous Contents