102 LINUX INSTALLATION AND PACKAGE MANAGEMENT

• 102.1 Design hard disk layout
• 102.2 Install a boot manager
• 102.3 Manage shared libraries
• 102.4 Use Debian package management
• 102.5 Use RPM and YUM package management

102.1 DESIGN HARD DISK LAYOUT

• Allocate filesystems and swap space to separate partitions or disks
• Tailor the design to the intended use of the system
• Ensure the /boot partition conforms to the hardware architecture requirements for booting
• Knowledge of basic features of LVM
• The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
  • / (root) filesystem
  • /var filesystem
  • /home filesystem
  • /boot filesystem
  • swap space
  • mount points
  • partitions

ALLOCATE FILESYSTEMS AND SWAP SPACE TO SEPARATE PARTITIONS OR DISKS

• Filesystems exist within mass storage devices
  • Designed to store data, retrieve data, organize and manage files and directories
  • Maintains information about files and directories
    • Creation date and time
    • Modification date and time
    • File size
    • File type
    • File and directory permissions
• Single partition layout
  • Very convenient
  • Could be dangerous…
  • If /boot or root / is full, system may not boot
  • If /home is not maintained, user files may fill the root / partition
• Multiple partition layout
  • More administrative tasks
    • Should include /boot and /home
  • More flexibility to make changes
  • Supports multiple filesystem types
• Multiple disk configuration
  • Most administrative tasks
  • Most flexibility to make changes
  • Best performance
• Swap space
  • Extended memory partition used when physical RAM is full
  • Usually equal to twice the physical RAM size
  • Could be created on separate disk for best performance
  • Created during install or managed with mkswap, swapon, and swapoff

TAILOR THE DESIGN TO THE INTENDED USE OF THE SYSTEM

BASE ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS

• Minimal Install
• Infrastructure Server
• File and Print server
• Basic Web Server
• Virtualization Host
• Server with GUI
• GNOME Desktop
• KDE Plasma Workspace
• Development and Creative Workstation

ADD-ONS

• Separate menus for each Base Environment option (i.e. Server with GUI)
  • High Availability
  • Identity Management Server
  • Infiniband Support
  • Java Platform
  • KDE
  • Large Systems Performance
  • Load Balancer
  • Mainframe Access

ENSURE THE /BOOT PARTITION CONFORMS TO THE HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE REQUIREMENTS FOR BOOTING

• The Master Boot Record (MBR) is contained in the first sector of the boot disk
• Primary Partitions
  • Primary partitions limited to four (1-4)
  • Max disk size 2.2TB
• Extended Partitions
  • Logical partitions are created inside the Extended container
  • Numbered (5-7)
• GUID Partition Table (GPT)
  • Supports 128 primary partitions
  • Max disk size 8ZiB (9.2 Billion TBs!)
  • No need for extended or logical partitions

KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC FEATURES OF LVM

• The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) utilities allow greater control over storage and disk management
  • Supports dynamic volume creation, including resizing
  • pvcreate (The Physical Volume Create utility prepares physical disks to be used as logical volumes)
  • pvdisplay (List Physical Volumes)
  • vgcreate (The Volume Group Create utility allows creation and naming of volume groups)
  • vgdisplay (List Volume Groups)
  • Ivcreate (The Logical Volume Create utility allows the creation of logical volumes)
  • Ivdisplay (List Logical Volumes)