Module 1 - Installing A Base OS¶
Historical miniclass
This lesson was recovered from the former Sandia minimega site. It is preserved for reference and may describe obsolete software, operating systems, commands, or external resources. Consult the current documentation before applying it.
Introduction¶
This guide will walk you through the process to install Ubuntu Server x64 16.04 LTS.
You can use other distributions of Linux with minimega, but your mileage may vary.
Downloading Ubuntu 16.04 LTS¶
Ubuntu is a free operating system that can be downloaded from ubuntu.com/download/server
A download manager such as downloadthemall for firefox may make this process faster.
Currently downloadthemall is only compatible with old versions of FireFox. Another command line alternative is aria2
Burning the ISO Image¶
Once the download is complete for Ubuntu Server you should have an ISO file. This file is a digital image of a DVD and if you are using bare metal this needs to be burned to a disk.
There are a variety of methods to do so, depending on your hardware it is also possible to use a USB Drive if supported. Consult google for help burning an ISO to a DVD.
Windows - Imgburn, Linux - Brasero, OSX - hdiutil
Note: DVD media is preferred over CD media because dvds can be read from and written to faster.
Nested Virtualization¶
If you are using nested virtualization you can add the iso file as a cd drive in VMware's settings.
Booting from the DVD Drive¶
Insert the newly burned DVD into your machine and turn it off and then back on.
When the machine is booting you will need to tell the bios to boot an operating system from the DVD drive. This is typically done using the keys F2/F8/F11/F12. Consult google if you are unable to do so.
Other Methods¶
Optical media is quickly becoming outdated. Here are a list of alternative methods that can be googled.
Usb dvd drive, Usb thumbdrive, Android DriveDroid, PXE Booting, Netboot, DD
Installing Ubuntu 16.04 LTS¶
Ubuntu Server has a GUI installer that walks you through the process. The steps are outlined below.
Installer Language¶
Select English and Press Enter
Boot Menu¶
Select Install Ubuntu Server and Press Enter
Installed Language¶
Select English as the language to be installed.
Location¶
Set your location so ubuntu can determine the correct timezone information
Keyboard¶
Set your keyboard to English US either using autodetection or not
Hostname¶
Give the machine a name. For ease of future work numerical values following a set name is preferred. I.E. node1,node2,node3
Username¶
Set a fullname and username
Password¶
Set a password
Disk Encryption¶
Don't encrypt your home directory
Timezone¶
Accept the timezone
Disk Partitioning¶
Use guided partitioning, select your disk, write the changes, and use the whole volume. If you install Ubuntu in future modules using LVM you will have troubles injecting files with minimega.
Installer¶
Wait for the installer to finish copying files to the hard drive.
Proxy¶
No proxy
Updates¶
No autoupdates
Software¶
Select OpenSSH Server with space bar.
Grub¶
Install grub to boot Ubuntu Server
Reboot¶
Continue to reboot
And Ubuntu Server will be installed.
Rename Network Adapters¶
Ubuntu uses a naming convention for network adapters that can be somewhat confusing. Here is what they mean
Lan-On-Motherboard interfaces: em[port number] (ethernet-on-motherboard [1,2 ..]) IE em0
PCI add-in interfaces: p[slot number]p[port number]_[virtual function instance] IE p3p1
Rename the adapters to start with the "eth" prefix to make things easier.
You can change the grub config to do so with these commands.
sudo sed -i -- 's/grub=GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""/GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"/' /etc/default/grub
sudo update-grub
Enable DHCP at Boot¶
With the renamed adapter you will need to change eth0 to start with dhcp on boot.