OPS335 Installation Lab

Installation of Fedora 17

Objectives

• Install Fedora 17
• Prepare for lab exercises.

Required materials

• Fedora 17 Live CD
• One SATA hard disk in a removable drive tray (minimum 160GB) - It is strongly advised you dedicate a drive for this course only.
• Recommended - USB drive (8 GB+) for creating and storing backups (Virtual Machines, configuration files)

Installation instructions

• Download a copy of Fedora 17 Live CD 64 bit edition from the Fedora Project web site or burn the CD using Seneca's Freedom Toaster which is located in the Open Lab on the 2nd floor of the TEL building. Note: we'll be using the 64 bit version of Fedora otherwise known as x86_64 Fedora because all of our lab computers are equiped with Intel 64 bit mainboards and CPUs. Also, we'll be using the Live CD for installation because it's much simpiler and quicker to install a basic Fedora Linux system on a hard drive. Finally, if you're going to burn your CD using the Freedom Toaster then be sure to use a blank CD-R disk. For some reason CD+R disks sometimes fail to burn successfully.

• Seneca's mirror of the Fedora project: http://belmont.senecac.on.ca/fedora/releases/17/Live/x86_64/Fedora-17-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso
  (This is very fast, but is only accessible from within Seneca's network - you can't access this from home. You can burn this disc on the machines in the Open Lab.)
  
  
• Main Fedora Repository: http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/17/
  (Accessible from any Internet connection.)
  
  

1. Insert your HDD into the docking bay of a PC in the lab and boot the computer using your Fedora Live CD. If possible try to use the same PC for this course for the rest of the semester. Some PCs may be configured with slight hardware variations from others which may cause problems when moving your HDD from one system to another.
2. Once Fedora has loaded, start Firefox and ensure the network is functioning. You will need to authenticate yourself with your LEARN user name and password before Internet access is allowed to the outside world.
3. Open a terminal window, switch to root using 'su' and use the 'ifconfig' command to view your assigned IP address.
4. Still in the terminal window use the 'fdisk -l' command to ensure your HDD is available for use.
5. If you're satisfied that your Fedora Live system is functioning properly, double click on the INSTALL icon to begin the installation of Fedora 17 onto your HDD. --#Perform your installation following these guidelines:
   • wherever possible select the default options
   • set your hostname to your learn ID.
   • set Toronto as your time zone
   • let Fedora configure your whole disk
   • set the root password
6. After completing the installation, remove the Live CD and reboot from your HDD.

Tip: Boot Menu
If you got the boot failure message, restart the computer and press [F10] to get to the boot menu, select the Hard Disk as boot device and continue.

Booting your system

1. create a user named with your learn ID
2. Login as the user you created and open a terminal window. Then use 'su' to become root and run the 'yum update' command. Logout when done. Note, you may have to reboot after all updates have completed. Now that your system is up to date, again login using your learnid and do the following:
   • Verify that your system date and time are correct. If not then set the correct system date and time.
   • Verify that your network is functioning.
   • Run and record the output of the 'df -hT' command.
   • Run and record the output of the 'cat /etc/fstab' command.
   • Run and record the output of the 'cat /etc/issue' command.
   • Run and record the output of the 'uname -a' command.

At this point you have a basic Fedora 17 installed and updated. All the rest of our labs will assume you have this basic system running. If, for any reason, your system becomes corrupted during the semester, you'll have to redo this lab to be able to continue with the remaining uncompleted labs. You are responsible for YOUR system. If you do not perform back-ups you have taken this risk on yourself. Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency for anyone else.

Completing the Lab

Record the following answers in your logbook.

1. What is the code name of this Fedora Linux system?
2. What kernel release is your system running?
3. What is the UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) of your root file system? What command was used to obtain this information?
4. What is the size and type of your /boot file system?