Interactively installing RHEL over the network

Procedure

1. Install the nfs-utils package:

   # yum install nfs-utils

2. Copy the DVD ISO image to a directory on the NFS server.

3. Open the /etc/exports file using a text editor and add a line with the following syntax:

   /exported_directory/ clients

   • Replace /exported_directory/ with the full path to the directory with the ISO image.

   • Replace clients with one of the following:

     • The host name or IP address of the target system
     • The subnetwork that all target systems can use to access the ISO image
     • To allow any system with network access to the NFS server to use the ISO image, the asterisk sign (*)

     See the exports(5) man page for detailed information about the format of this field.

     For example, a basic configuration that makes the /rhel8-install/ directory available as read-only to all clients is:

     /rhel8-install *

4. Save the /etc/exports file and exit the text editor.

5. Start the nfs service:

   # systemctl start nfs-server.service

   If the service was running before you changed the /etc/exports file, reload the NFS server configuration:

   # systemctl reload nfs-server.service

   The ISO image is now accessible over NFS and ready to be used as an installation source.

Procedure

1. Copy the DVD ISO image to the HTTP(S) server.

2. Create a suitable directory for mounting the DVD ISO image, for example:

   # mkdir /mnt/rhel8-install/

3. Mount the DVD ISO image to the directory:

   # mount -o loop,ro -t iso9660 /image_directory/image.iso /mnt/rhel8-install/

   Replace /image_directory/image.iso with the path to the DVD ISO image.

4. Copy the files from the mounted image to the HTTP(S) server root.

   # cp -r /mnt/rhel8-install/ /var/www/html/

   This command creates the /var/www/html/rhel8-install/ directory with the content of the image. Note that some other copying methods might skip the .treeinfo file which is required for a valid installation source. Entering the cp command for entire directories as shown in this procedure copies .treeinfo correctly.

5. Start the httpd service:

   # systemctl start httpd.service

   The installation tree is now accessible and ready to be used as the installation source.

   Note

   When configuring the installation source, use http:// or https:// as the protocol, the server host name or IP address, and the directory that contains the files from the ISO image, relative to the HTTP server root. For example, if you use HTTP, the server host name is myserver.example.com, and you have copied the files from the image to /var/www/html/rhel8-install/, specify http://myserver.example.com/rhel8-install/ as the installation source.

Procedure

1. Open and edit the /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf configuration file in a text editor.

   1. Change the line anonymous_enable=NO to anonymous_enable=YES
   2. Change the line write_enable=YES to write_enable=NO.

   3. Add lines pasv_min_port=<min_port> and pasv_max_port=<max_port>. Replace <min_port> and <max_port> with the port number range used by FTP server in passive mode, for example, 10021 and 10031.

      This step might be necessary in network environments featuring various firewall/NAT setups.

   4. Optional: Add custom changes to your configuration. For available options, see the vsftpd.conf(5) man page. This procedure assumes that default options are used.

      Warning

      If you configured SSL/TLS security in your vsftpd.conf file, ensure that you enable only the TLSv1 protocol, and disable SSLv2 and SSLv3. This is due to the POODLE SSL vulnerability (CVE-2014-3566). See https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1234773 for details.

2. Configure the server firewall.

   1. Enable the firewall:

      # systemctl enable firewalld

   2. Start the firewall:

      # systemctl start firewalld

   3. Configure the firewall to allow the FTP port and port range from the previous step:

      # firewall-cmd --add-port min_port-max_port/tcp --permanent
      # firewall-cmd --add-service ftp --permanent

      Replace <min_port> and <max_port> with the port numbers you entered into the /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf configuration file.

   4. Reload the firewall to apply the new rules:

      # firewall-cmd --reload

3. Copy the DVD ISO image to the FTP server.

4. Create a suitable directory for mounting the DVD ISO image, for example:

   # mkdir /mnt/rhel8-install

5. Mount the DVD ISO image to the directory:

   # mount -o loop,ro -t iso9660 /image-directory/image.iso /mnt/rhel8-install

   Replace /image-directory/image.iso with the path to the DVD ISO image.

6. Copy the files from the mounted image to the FTP server root:

   # mkdir /var/ftp/rhel8-install
   # cp -r /mnt/rhel8-install/ /var/ftp/

   This command creates the /var/ftp/rhel8-install/ directory with the content of the image. Note that some copying methods can skip the .treeinfo file which is required for a valid installation source. Entering the cp command for whole directories as shown in this procedure will copy .treeinfo correctly.

7. Make sure that the correct SELinux context and access mode is set on the copied content:

   # restorecon -r /var/ftp/rhel8-install
   # find /var/ftp/rhel8-install -type f -exec chmod 444 {} \;
   # find /var/ftp/rhel8-install -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

8. Start the vsftpd service:

   # systemctl start vsftpd.service

   If the service was running before you changed the /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf file, restart the service to load the edited file:

   # systemctl restart vsftpd.service

   Enable the vsftpd service to start during the boot process:

   # systemctl enable vsftpd

   The installation tree is now accessible and ready to be used as the installation source.

   Note

   When configuring the installation source, use ftp:// as the protocol, the server host name or IP address, and the directory in which you have stored the files from the ISO image, relative to the FTP server root. For example, if the server host name is myserver.example.com and you have copied the files from the image to /var/ftp/rhel8-install/, specify ftp://myserver.example.com/rhel8-install/ as the installation source.

Steps

1. Export the installation ISO image or the installation tree to an NFS, HTTPS, HTTP, or FTP server.
2. Configure the HTTP or TFTP server and DHCP server, and start the HTTP or TFTP service on the server.
3. Boot the client and start the installation.

Procedure

1. Install the DHCP server:

   yum install dhcp-server

2. Set up a DHCPv4 server. Enter the following configuration in the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file. Replace the addresses to match your network card.

   option architecture-type code 93 = unsigned integer 16;
   
   subnet 192.168.124.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
     option routers 192.168.124.1;
     option domain-name-servers 192.168.124.1;
     range 192.168.124.100 192.168.124.200;
     class "pxeclients" {
       match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
       next-server 192.168.124.2;
             if option architecture-type = 00:07 {
               filename "redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
             }
             else {
               filename "pxelinux/pxelinux.0";
             }
     }
     class "httpclients" {
       match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 10) = "HTTPClient";
       option vendor-class-identifier "HTTPClient";
       filename "http://192.168.124.2/redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
     }
   }

3. Start the DHCPv4 service:

   # systemctl enable --now dhcpd

Procedure

1. Install the DHCP server:

   yum install dhcp-server

2. Set up a DHCPv6 server. Enter the following configuration in the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd6.conf file. Replace the addresses to match your network card.

   option dhcp6.bootfile-url code 59 = string;
   option dhcp6.vendor-class code 16 = {integer 32, integer 16, string};
   
   subnet6 fd33:eb1b:9b36::/64 {
           range6 fd33:eb1b:9b36::64 fd33:eb1b:9b36::c8;
   
           class "PXEClient" {
                   match substring (option dhcp6.vendor-class, 6, 9);
           }
   
           subclass "PXEClient" "PXEClient" {
                   option dhcp6.bootfile-url "tftp://[fd33:eb1b:9b36::2]/redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
           }
   
           class "HTTPClient" {
                   match substring (option dhcp6.vendor-class, 6, 10);
           }
   
           subclass "HTTPClient" "HTTPClient" {
                   option dhcp6.bootfile-url "http://[fd33:eb1b:9b36::2]/redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
                   option dhcp6.vendor-class 0 10 "HTTPClient";
           }
   }

3. Start the DHCPv6 service:

   # systemctl enable --now dhcpd6

4. If DHCPv6 packets are dropped by the RP filter in the firewall, check its log. If the log contains the rpfilter_DROP entry, disable the filter using the following configuration in the /etc/firewalld/firewalld.conf file:

   IPv6_rpfilter=no

Procedure

1. Install the HTTP server:

   # yum install httpd

2. Create the /var/www/html/redhat/ directory:

   # mkdir -p /var/www/html/redhat/

3. Download the RHEL DVD ISO file. See All Red Hat Enterprise Linux Downloads.

4. Create a mount point for the ISO file:

   # mkdir -p /var/www/html/redhat/iso/

5. Mount the ISO file:

   # mount -o loop,ro -t iso9660 path-to-RHEL-DVD.iso /var/www/html/redhat/iso

6. Copy the boot loader, kernel, and initramfs from the mounted ISO file into your HTML directory:

   # cp -r /var/www/html/redhat/iso/images /var/www/html/redhat/
   # cp -r /var/www/html/redhat/iso/EFI /var/www/html/redhat/

7. Make the boot loader configuration editable:

   # chmod 644 /var/www/html/redhat/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg

8. Edit the /var/www/html/redhat/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg file and replace its content with the following:

   set default="1"
   
   function load_video {
     insmod efi_gop
     insmod efi_uga
     insmod video_bochs
     insmod video_cirrus
     insmod all_video
   }
   
   load_video
   set gfxpayload=keep
   insmod gzio
   insmod part_gpt
   insmod ext2
   
   set timeout=60
   # END /etc/grub.d/00_header #
   
   search --no-floppy --set=root -l 'RHEL-9-3-0-BaseOS-x86_64'
   
   # BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux #
   menuentry 'Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.3' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
       linuxefi ../../images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/redhat/iso quiet
       initrdefi ../../images/pxeboot/initrd.img
   }
   menuentry 'Test this media & install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.3' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
       linuxefi ../../images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/redhat/iso quiet
       initrdefi ../../images/pxeboot/initrd.img
   }
   submenu 'Troubleshooting -->' {
       menuentry 'Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.3 in text mode' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
      	 linuxefi ../../images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/redhat/iso inst.text quiet
      	 initrdefi ../../images/pxeboot/initrd.img
       }
       menuentry 'Rescue a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
      	 linuxefi ../../images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/redhat/iso inst.rescue quiet
      	 initrdefi ../../images/pxeboot/initrd.img
       }
   }

   In this file, replace the following strings:

   RHEL-9-3-0-BaseOS-x86_64 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.3

   Edit the version number to match the version of RHEL that you downloaded.

   192.168.124.2

   Replace with the IP address to your server.

9. Make the EFI boot file executable:

   # chmod 755 /var/www/html/redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI

10. Open ports in the firewall to allow HTTP (80), DHCP (67, 68) and DHCPv6 (546, 547) traffic:

    # firewall-cmd --zone public \
                   --add-port={80/tcp,67/udp,68/udp,546/udp,547/udp}

    Note

    This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot. To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.

11. Reload firewall rules:

    # firewall-cmd --reload

12. Start the HTTP server:

    # systemctl enable --now httpd

13. Make the html directory and its content readable and executable:

    # chmod -cR u=rwX,g=rX,o=rX /var/www/html

14. Restore the SELinux context of the html directory:

    # restorecon -FvvR /var/www/html

Steps

1. Export the installation ISO image or the installation tree to an NFS, HTTPS, HTTP, or FTP server.
2. Configure the HTTP or TFTP server and DHCP server, and start the HTTP or TFTP service on the server.
3. Boot the client and start the installation.

Procedure

1. Install the DHCP server:

   yum install dhcp-server

2. Set up a DHCPv4 server. Enter the following configuration in the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file. Replace the addresses to match your network card.

   option architecture-type code 93 = unsigned integer 16;
   
   subnet 192.168.124.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
     option routers 192.168.124.1;
     option domain-name-servers 192.168.124.1;
     range 192.168.124.100 192.168.124.200;
     class "pxeclients" {
       match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
       next-server 192.168.124.2;
             if option architecture-type = 00:07 {
               filename "redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
             }
             else {
               filename "pxelinux/pxelinux.0";
             }
     }
     class "httpclients" {
       match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 10) = "HTTPClient";
       option vendor-class-identifier "HTTPClient";
       filename "http://192.168.124.2/redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
     }
   }

3. Start the DHCPv4 service:

   # systemctl enable --now dhcpd

Procedure

1. Install the DHCP server:

   yum install dhcp-server

2. Set up a DHCPv6 server. Enter the following configuration in the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd6.conf file. Replace the addresses to match your network card.

   option dhcp6.bootfile-url code 59 = string;
   option dhcp6.vendor-class code 16 = {integer 32, integer 16, string};
   
   subnet6 fd33:eb1b:9b36::/64 {
           range6 fd33:eb1b:9b36::64 fd33:eb1b:9b36::c8;
   
           class "PXEClient" {
                   match substring (option dhcp6.vendor-class, 6, 9);
           }
   
           subclass "PXEClient" "PXEClient" {
                   option dhcp6.bootfile-url "tftp://[fd33:eb1b:9b36::2]/redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
           }
   
           class "HTTPClient" {
                   match substring (option dhcp6.vendor-class, 6, 10);
           }
   
           subclass "HTTPClient" "HTTPClient" {
                   option dhcp6.bootfile-url "http://[fd33:eb1b:9b36::2]/redhat/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI";
                   option dhcp6.vendor-class 0 10 "HTTPClient";
           }
   }

3. Start the DHCPv6 service:

   # systemctl enable --now dhcpd6

4. If DHCPv6 packets are dropped by the RP filter in the firewall, check its log. If the log contains the rpfilter_DROP entry, disable the filter using the following configuration in the /etc/firewalld/firewalld.conf file:

   IPv6_rpfilter=no

Procedure

1. As root, install the following package.

   # yum install tftp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   Note
   • This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot. To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.
   • Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

3. Access the pxelinux.0 file from the SYSLINUX package in the DVD ISO image file, where my_local_directory is the name of the directory that you create:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_image.iso /mount_point -o loop,ro

   # cp -pr /mount_point/BaseOS/Packages/syslinux-tftpboot-version-architecture.rpm /my_local_directory

   # umount /mount_point

4. Extract the package:

   # rpm2cpio syslinux-tftpboot-version-architecture.rpm | cpio -dimv

5. Create a pxelinux/ directory in tftpboot/ and copy all the files from the directory into the pxelinux/ directory:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux

   # cp /my_local_directory/tftpboot/* /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux

6. Create the directory pxelinux.cfg/ in the pxelinux/ directory:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg

7. Create a configuration file named default and add it to the pxelinux.cfg/ directory as shown in the following example:

   default vesamenu.c32
   prompt 1
   timeout 600
   
   display boot.msg
   
   label linux
     menu label ^Install system
     menu default
     kernel images/RHEL-8/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8/initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/RHEL-8/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label vesa
     menu label Install system with ^basic video driver
     kernel images/RHEL-8/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8/initrd.img ip=dhcp inst.xdriver=vesa nomodeset inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/RHEL-8/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label rescue
     menu label ^Rescue installed system
     kernel images/RHEL-8/vmlinuz
     append initrd=images/RHEL-8/initrd.img inst.rescue
     inst.repo=http:///192.168.124.2/RHEL-8/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
   label local
     menu label Boot from ^local drive
     localboot 0xffff

   Note
   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL8 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

8. Create a subdirectory to store the boot image files in the /var/lib/tftpboot/ directory, and copy the boot image files to the directory. In this example, the directory is /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img} /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux/images/RHEL-8/

9. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

   # systemctl enable --now tftp.socket

   The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.

Procedure

1. As root, install the following package.

   # yum install tftp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   Note
   • This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot. To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.
   • Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

3. Access the EFI boot image files from the DVD ISO image:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_image.iso /mount_point -o loop,ro

4. Copy the EFI boot images from the DVD ISO image:

   # mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat
   # cp -r /mount_point/EFI /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat/
   # umount /mount_point

5. Fix the permissions of the copied files:

   # chmod -R 755 /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat/

6. Replace the content of /var/lib/tftpboot/redhat/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg with the following example:

   set timeout=60
   menuentry 'RHEL 8' {
     linux images/RHEL-8/vmlinuz ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/RHEL-8/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
     initrd images/RHEL-8/initrd.img
   }

   Note
   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL8 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

7. Create a subdirectory to store the boot image files in the /var/lib/tftpboot/ directory, and copy the boot image files to the directory. In this example, the directory is /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8/:

   # mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8/
   # cp /path_to_x86_64_images/pxeboot/{vmlinuz,initrd.img}/var/lib/tftpboot/images/RHEL-8/

8. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

   # systemctl enable --now tftp.socket

   The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.

Procedure

1. As root, install the following packages:

   # yum install tftp-server dhcp-server

2. Allow incoming connections to the tftp service in the firewall:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=tftp

   Note
   • This command enables temporary access until the next server reboot. To enable permanent access, add the --permanent option to the command.
   • Depending on the location of the installation ISO file, you might have to allow incoming connections for HTTP or other services.

3. Create a GRUB2 network boot directory inside the TFTP root:

   # grub2-mknetdir --net-directory=/var/lib/tftpboot
   Netboot directory for powerpc-ieee1275 created. Configure your DHCP server to point to /boot/grub2/powerpc-ieee1275/core.elf

   Note

   The command output informs you of the file name that needs to be configured in your DHCP configuration, described in this procedure.

   1. If the PXE server runs on an x86 machine, the grub2-ppc64-modules must be installed before creating a GRUB2 network boot directory inside the tftp root:

      # yum install grub2-ppc64-modules

4. Create a GRUB2 configuration file: /var/lib/tftpboot/boot/grub2/grub.cfg as shown in the following example:

   set default=0
   set timeout=5
   
   echo -e "\nWelcome to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 installer!\n\n"
   
   menuentry 'Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8' {
     linux grub2-ppc64/vmlinuz ro ip=dhcp inst.repo=http://192.168.124.2/RHEL-8/x86_64/iso-contents-root/
     initrd grub2-ppc64/initrd.img
   }

   Note
   • The installation program cannot boot without its runtime image. Use the inst.stage2 boot option to specify location of the image. Alternatively, you can use the inst.repo= option to specify the image as well as the installation source.
   • The installation source location used with inst.repo must contain a valid .treeinfo file.
   • When you select the RHEL8 installation DVD as the installation source, the .treeinfo file points to the BaseOS and the AppStream repositories. You can use a single inst.repo option to load both repositories.

5. Mount the DVD ISO image using the command:

   # mount -t iso9660 /path_to_image/name_of_iso/ /mount_point -o loop,ro

6. Create a directory and copy the initrd.img and vmlinuz files from DVD ISO image into it, for example:

   # cp /mount_point/ppc/ppc64/{initrd.img,vmlinuz} /var/lib/tftpboot/grub2-ppc64/

7. Configure your DHCP server to use the boot images packaged with GRUB2 as shown in the following example. Note that if you already have a DHCP server configured, then perform this step on the DHCP server.

   subnet 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
     allow bootp;
     option routers 192.168.0.5;
     group { #BOOTP POWER clients
       filename "boot/grub2/powerpc-ieee1275/core.elf";
       host client1 {
       hardware ethernet 01:23:45:67:89:ab;
       fixed-address 192.168.0.112;
       }
     }
   }

8. Adjust the sample parameters subnet, netmask, routers, fixed-address and hardware ethernet to fit your network configuration. Note the file name parameter; this is the file name that was outputted by the grub2-mknetdir command earlier in this procedure.

9. On the DHCP server, start and enable the dhcpd service. If you have configured a DHCP server on the localhost, then start and enable the dhcpd service on the localhost.

   # systemctl enable --now dhcpd

10. Start and enable the tftp.socket service:

    # systemctl enable --now tftp.socket

    The PXE boot server is now ready to serve PXE clients. You can start the client, which is the system to which you are installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, select PXE Boot when prompted to specify a boot source, and start the network installation.

Procedure

1. Begin to enroll the Red Hat Beta public key in the system’s Machine Owner Key (MOK) list:

   # mokutil --import /usr/share/doc/kernel-keys/$(uname -r)/kernel-signing-ca.cer

   $(uname -r) is replaced by the kernel version - for example, 4.18.0-80.el8.x86_64.

2. Enter a password when prompted.
3. Reboot the system and press any key to continue the startup. The Shim UEFI key management utility starts during the system startup.
4. Select Enroll MOK.
5. Select Continue.
6. Select Yes and enter the password. The key is imported into the system’s firmware.
7. Select Reboot.
8. Enable Secure Boot on the system.

Procedure

1. Begin to remove the Red Hat Beta public key from the system’s Machine Owner Key (MOK) list:

   # mokutil --reset

2. Enter a password when prompted.
3. Reboot the system and press any key to continue the startup. The Shim UEFI key management utility starts during the system startup.
4. Select Reset MOK.
5. Select Continue.
6. Select Yes and enter the password that you had specified in step 2. The key is removed from the system’s firmware.
7. Select Reboot.

1. Booting the installation

   • Connect to the mainframe
   • Customize the boot parameters
   • Perform an initial program load (IPL), or boot from the media containing the installation program

2. Connecting to the installation system

   • From a local machine, connect to the remote 64-bit IBM Z system using SSH, and start the installation program using Virtual Network Computing (VNC)
3. Completing the installation using the RHEL installation program

Procedure

1. Log on to the z/VM guest virtual machine chosen for the Linux installation.

   Note

   If your 3270 connection is interrupted and you cannot log in again because the previous session is still active, you can replace the old session with a new one by entering the following command on the z/VM logon screen:

   logon user here

   Replace user with the name of the z/VM guest virtual machine. Depending on whether an external security manager, for example RACF, is used, the logon command might vary.

2. If you are not already running CMS (single-user operating system shipped with z/VM) in your guest, boot it now by entering the command:

   cp ipl cms

3. Be sure not to use CMS disks such as your A disk (often device number 0191) as installation targets. To find out which disks are in use by CMS, use the following query:

   query disk

4. You can use the following CP (z/VM Control Program, which is the z/VM hypervisor) query commands to find out about the device configuration of your z/VM guest virtual machine:

   1. Query the available main memory, which is called storage in 64-bit IBM Z terminology. Your guest should have at least 1 GiB of main memory.

      cp query virtual storage

   2. Query available network devices by type:

      osa

      OSA - CHPID type OSD, real or virtual (VSWITCH or GuestLAN), both in QDIO mode

      hsi

      HiperSockets - CHPID type IQD, real or virtual (GuestLAN type Hipers)

      lcs

      LCS - CHPID type OSE

      For example, to query all of the network device types mentioned above, run:

      cp query virtual osa

   3. Query available DASDs. Only those that are flagged RW for read-write mode can be used as installation targets:

      cp query virtual dasd

   4. Query available FCP devices (vHBAs):

      cp query virtual fcp

Procedure

1. Verify that the network cable is attached. The link indicator light on the network socket should be lit, even if the computer is not switched on.

2. Turn on the system.

   Depending on your hardware, some network setup and diagnostic information can be displayed before your system connects to an HTTP boot server. When connected, a menu is displayed according to the HTTP boot server configuration.

3. Press the number key that corresponds to the option that you require.

   Note

   In some instances, boot options are not displayed. If this occurs, press the Enter key on your keyboard or wait until the boot window opens.

   The Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot window opens and displays information about a variety of available boot options.

4. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the boot option that you require, and press Enter to select the boot option. The Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux window opens and you can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using the graphical user interface.

   Note

   The installation program automatically begins if no action is performed in the boot window within 60 seconds.

5. Optional: Edit the available boot options.

   Press E to enter edit mode. Change the predefined command line to add or remove boot options. Press Enter to confirm your choice.

Procedure

1. Verify that the network cable is attached. The link indicator light on the network socket should be lit, even if the computer is not switched on.

2. Switch on the system.

   Depending on your hardware, some network setup and diagnostic information can be displayed before your system connects to a PXE server. When connected, a menu is displayed according to the PXE server configuration.

3. Press the number key that corresponds to the option that you require.

   Note

   In some instances, boot options are not displayed. If this occurs, press the Enter key on your keyboard or wait until the boot window opens.

   The Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot window opens and displays information about a variety of available boot options.

4. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the boot option that you require, and press Enter to select the boot option. The Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux window opens and you can install Red Hat Enterprise Linux using the graphical user interface.

   Note

   The installation program automatically begins if no action is performed in the boot window within 60 seconds.

5. Optional: Edit the available boot options:

   UEFI-based systems

   Press E to enter edit mode. Change the predefined command line to add or remove boot options. Press Enter to confirm your choice.

   BIOS-based systems

   Press the Tab key on your keyboard to enter edit mode. Change the predefined command line to add or remove boot options. Press Enter to confirm your choice.

Procedure

1. With the boot menu open, press the Esc key on your keyboard.
2. The boot: prompt is now accessible.
3. Press the Tab key on your keyboard to display the help commands.
4. Press the Enter key on your keyboard to start the installation with your options. To return from the boot: prompt to the boot menu, restart the system and boot from the installation media again.

Procedure

1. From the boot menu, select an option and press the Tab key on your keyboard. The > prompt is accessible and displays the available options.
2. Append the options that you require to the > prompt.
3. Press Enter to start the installation.
4. Press Esc to cancel editing and return to the boot menu.

Procedure

1. From the boot menu window, select the required option and press e.
2. On UEFI systems, the kernel command line starts with linuxefi. Move the cursor to the end of the linuxefi kernel command line.
3. Edit the parameters as required. For example, to configure one or more network interfaces, add the ip= parameter at the end of the linuxefi kernel command line, followed by the required value.
4. When you finish editing, press Ctrl+X to start the installation using the specified options.

Procedure

1. From the RHEL boot menu on the target system, press the Tab key on your keyboard to edit the boot options.

2. Append the inst.vnc option to the end of the command line.

   1. If you want to restrict VNC access to the system that is being installed, add the inst.vncpassword=PASSWORD boot option to the end of the command line. Replace PASSWORD with the password you want to use for the installation. The VNC password must be between 6 and 8 characters long.

      Important

      Use a temporary password for the inst.vncpassword= option. It should not be an existing or root password.

3. Press Enter to start the installation. The target system initializes the installation program and starts the necessary services. When the system is ready, a message is displayed providing the IP address and port number of the system.
4. Open the VNC viewer on the remote system.
5. Enter the IP address and the port number into the VNC server field.
6. Click Connect.
7. Enter the VNC password and click OK. A new window opens with the VNC connection established, displaying the RHEL installation menu. From this window, you can install RHEL on the target system using the graphical user interface.

Procedure

1. Start the VNC viewer on the remote system in listening mode by running the following command:

   $ vncviewer -listen PORT

2. Replace PORT with the port number used for the connection.

3. The terminal displays a message indicating that it is waiting for an incoming connection from the target system.

   TigerVNC Viewer 64-bit v1.8.0
   Built on: 2017-10-12 09:20
   Copyright (C) 1999-2017 TigerVNC Team and many others (see README.txt)
   See http://www.tigervnc.org for information about TigerVNC.
   
   Thu Jun 27 11:30:57 2019
    main:        Listening on port 5500

4. Boot the target system from the network.
5. From the RHEL boot menu on the target system, press the Tab key on your keyboard to edit the boot options.
6. Append the inst.vnc inst.vncconnect=HOST:PORT option to the end of the command line.
7. Replace HOST with the IP address of the remote system that is running the listening VNC viewer, and PORT with the port number that the VNC viewer is listening on.
8. Press Enter to start the installation. The system initializes the installation program and starts the necessary services. When the initialization process is finished, the installation program attempts to connect to the IP address and port provided.
9. When the connection is successful, a new window opens with the VNC connection established, displaying the RHEL installation menu. From this window, you can install RHEL on the target system using the graphical user interface.

1. On the command prompt, run the following command:

   $ssh install@_my-z-system-domain-name_

   or

   $ssh install@_my-z-system-IP-address_

2. Depending on whether or not have you configured the inst.vnc parameter, the ssh session displays the following output:

   When inst.vnc parameter is configured:

   Starting installer, one moment...
   Please manually connect your vnc client to my-z-system:1 (_system-ip-address:1_) to begin the install.

   When inst.vnc parameter is not configured:

   Starting installer, one moment...
   Graphical installation is not available. Starting text mode.
   =============
   Text mode provides a limited set of installation options.
   It does not offer custom partitioning for full control
   over the disk layout. Would you like to use VNC mode instead?
   1) Start VNC
   2) Use text mode
   Please make your choice from above ['q' to quit | 'c' to continue | 'r' to refresh]:

   If you have configured the inst.vnc parameter, proceed to step 5.

3. Enter 1 to start VNC.
4. Enter a password, if you have not set the inst.vncpassword= boot option, but want to secure the server connection.

5. From a new command prompt, connect to the VNC server.

   $vncviewer _my-z-system-ip-address:display_number_

   If you have secured the connection, use the password that you have entered in the previous step or the one that you had set for inst.vncpassword= boot option.

   The RHEL installer is launched in the VNC client.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Software Selection. The Software Selection window opens.

2. From the Base Environment pane, select a base environment. You can select only one base environment, for example, Server with GUI (default), Server, Minimal Install, Workstation, Custom Operating System, Virtualization Host.

   Note

   The Server with GUI base environment is the default base environment and it launches the Initial Setup application after the installation completes and you restart the system.

   Figure 16.3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Software Selection

   
3. From the Additional Software for Selected Environment pane, select one or more options.
4. Click Done to apply the settings and return to graphical installations.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Network and Host Name.

2. From the list in the left-hand pane, select an interface. The details are displayed in the right-hand pane.

   Note

   There are several types of network device naming standards used to identify network devices with persistent names, for example, em1 and wl3sp0. For information about these standards, see the Configuring and managing networking document.

3. Toggle the ON/OFF switch to enable or disable the selected interface.

   Note

   The installation program automatically detects locally accessible interfaces, and you cannot add or remove them manually.

4. Click + to add a virtual network interface, which can be either: Team, Bond, Bridge, or VLAN.
5. Click - to remove a virtual interface.
6. Click Configure to change settings such as IP addresses, DNS servers, or routing configuration for an existing interface (both virtual and physical).

7. Type a host name for your system in the Host Name field.

   Note
   • The host name can either be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the format hostname.domainname, or a short host name without the domain. Many networks have a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service that automatically supplies connected systems with a domain name. To allow the DHCP service to assign the domain name to this system, specify only the short host name.
   • When using static IP and host name configuration, it depends on the planned system use case whether to use a short name or FQDN. Red Hat Identity Management configures FQDN during provisioning but some 3rd party software products may require short name. In either case, to ensure availability of both forms in all situations, add an entry for the host in /etc/hosts in the format IP FQDN short-alias.
   • The value localhost means that no specific static host name for the target system is configured, and the actual host name of the installed system is configured during the processing of the network configuration, for example, by NetworkManager using DHCP or DNS.
   • Host names can only contain alphanumeric characters and - or .. Host name should be equal to or less than 64 characters. Host names cannot start or end with - and .. To be compliant with DNS, each part of a FQDN should be equal to or less than 63 characters and the FQDN total length, including dots, should not exceed 255 characters.
8. Click Apply to apply the host name to the installer environment.
9. Alternatively, in the Network and Hostname window, you can choose the Wireless option. Click Select network in the right-hand pane to select your wifi connection, enter the password if required, and click Done.

Procedure

1. Configure keyboard settings:

   1. From the Installation Summary window, click Keyboard.

      The default layout depends on the option selected in Installing RHEL using Anaconda.

   2. Click + to open the Add a Keyboard Layout window and change to a different layout.
   3. Select a layout by browsing the list or use the Search field.
   4. Select the required layout and click Add. The new layout appears under the default layout.
   5. Click Options to optionally configure a keyboard switch that you can use to cycle between available layouts. The Layout Switching Options window opens.

   6. To configure key combinations for switching, select one or more key combinations and click OK to confirm your selection.

      Note

      When you select a layout, click the Keyboard button to open a new dialog box that displays a visual representation of the selected layout.

   7. Click Done to apply the settings and return to Graphical installations

2. Configure language settings:

   1. From the Installation Summary window, click Language Support. The Language Support window opens. The left pane lists the available language groups. If at least one language from a group is configured, a check mark is displayed and the supported language is highlighted.
   2. From the left pane, click a group to select additional languages, and from the right pane, select regional options. Repeat this process for languages that you require.
   3. Click Done to apply the settings and return to Graphical installations.

3. Configure time and date settings:

   1. From the Installation Summary window, click Time & Date. The Time & Date window opens.

      Note

      The Time & Date settings are configured by default based on the settings you selected in Installing RHEL using Anaconda.

      The list of cities and regions come from the Time Zone Database (tzdata) public domain that is maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Red Hat can not add cities or regions to this database. You can find more information at the IANA official website.

   2. From the Region drop-down menu, select a region.

      Note

      Select Etc as your region to configure a time zone relative to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) without setting your location to a specific region.

   3. From the City drop-down menu, select the city, or the city closest to your location in the same time zone.

   4. Toggle the Network Time switch to enable or disable network time synchronization using the Network Time Protocol (NTP).

      Note

      Enabling the Network Time switch keeps your system time correct as long as the system can access the internet. By default, one NTP pool is configured; you can add a new option, or disable or remove the default options by clicking the gear wheel button next to the Network Time switch.

   5. Click Done to apply the settings and return to Graphical installations.
   Note

   If you disable network time synchronization, the controls at the bottom of the window become active, allowing you to set the time and date manually.

Procedure

1. From the left-hand pane of the Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux window, select a language. Alternatively, type your preferred language into the Search field.

   Note

   A language is pre-selected by default. If network access is configured, that is, if you booted from a network server instead of local media, the pre-selected language is determined by the automatic location detection feature of the GeoIP module. If you used the inst.lang= option on the boot command line or in your PXE server configuration, then the language that you define with the boot option is selected.

2. From the right-hand pane of the Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux window, select a location specific to your region.
3. Click Continue to proceed to the Graphical installations window.

4. If you are installing a pre-release version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, a warning message is displayed about the pre-release status of the installation media.

   1. To continue with the installation, click I want to proceed, or
   2. To quit the installation and reboot the system, click I want to exit.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary screen, under Software, click Connect to Red Hat.

2. Select Account or Activation Key.

   1. If you select Account, enter your Red Hat Customer Portal username and password details.

   2. If you select Activation Key, enter your organization ID and activation key.

      You can enter more than one activation key, separated by a comma, as long as the activation keys are registered to your subscription.

3. Select the Set System Purpose check box.

   • If the account has Simple content access mode enabled, setting the system purpose values is still important for accurate reporting of consumption in the subscription services.
   • If your account is in the entitlement mode, system purpose enables the entitlement server to determine and automatically attach the most appropriate subscription to satisfy the intended use of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system.
4. Select the required Role, SLA, and Usage from the corresponding drop-down lists.
5. The Connect to Red Hat Insights check box is enabled by default. Clear the check box if you do not want to connect to Red Hat Insights.

6. Optional: Expand Options.

   1. Select the Use HTTP proxy check box if your network environment only allows external Internet access or access to content servers through an HTTP proxy. Clear the Use HTTP proxy check box if an HTTP proxy is not used.

   2. If you are running Satellite Server or performing internal testing, select the Custom Server URL and Custom base URL check boxes and enter the required details.

      Important
      • The Custom Server URL field does not require the HTTP protocol, for example nameofhost.com. However, the Custom base URL field requires the HTTP protocol.
      • To change the Custom base URL after registration, you must unregister, provide the new details, and then re-register.

7. Click Register to register the system. When the system is successfully registered and subscriptions are attached, the Connect to Red Hat window displays the attached subscription details.

   Depending on the amount of subscriptions, the registration and attachment process might take up to a minute to complete.

8. Click Done to return to the Installation Summary window.

   A Registered message is displayed under Connect to Red Hat.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Installation Source. The Installation Source window opens.

   1. Review the Auto-detected installation media section to verify the details. This option is selected by default if you started the installation program from media containing an installation source, for example, a DVD.
   2. Click Verify to check the media integrity.

   3. Review the Additional repositories section and note that the AppStream checkbox is selected by default.

      Important
      • No additional configuration is necessary as the BaseOS and AppStream repositories are installed as part of the full installation image.
      • Do not disable the AppStream repository check box if you want a full Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 installation.
2. Optional: Select the Red Hat CDN option to register your system, attach RHEL subscriptions, and install RHEL from the Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN).

3. Optional: Select the On the network option to download and install packages from a network location instead of local media.

   Note
   • If you do not want to download and install additional repositories from a network location, proceed to Configuring software selection.
   • This option is available only when a network connection is active. See Configuring network and host name options for information about how to configure network connections in the GUI.
   1. Select the On the network drop-down menu to specify the protocol for downloading packages. This setting depends on the server that you want to use.

   2. Type the server address (without the protocol) into the address field. If you choose NFS, a second input field opens where you can specify custom NFS mount options. This field accepts options listed in the nfs(5) man page.

      Important

      When selecting an NFS installation source, you must specify the address with a colon (:) character separating the host name from the path. For example:

      server.example.com:/path/to/directory

      Note

      The following steps are optional and are only required if you use a proxy for network access.

   3. Click Proxy setup…​ to configure a proxy for an HTTP or HTTPS source.
   4. Select the Enable HTTP proxy check box and type the URL into the Proxy Host field.
   5. Select the Use Authentication check box if the proxy server requires authentication.
   6. Type in your user name and password.

   7. Click OK to finish the configuration and exit the Proxy Setup…​ dialog box.

      Note

      If your HTTP or HTTPS URL refers to a repository mirror, select the required option from the URL type drop-down list. All environments and additional software packages are available for selection when you finish configuring the sources.

4. Click + to add a repository.
5. Click - to delete a repository.
6. Click the arrow icon to revert the current entries to the setting when you opened the Installation Source window.

7. To activate or deactivate a repository, click the check box in the Enabled column for each entry in the list.

   Note

   You can name and configure your additional repository in the same way as the primary repository on the network.

8. Click Done to apply the settings and return to the Installation Summary window.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Kdump. The Kdump window opens.
2. Select the Enable kdump check box.

3. Select either the Automatic or Manual memory reservation setting.

   • If you select Manual, enter the amount of memory (in megabytes) that you want to reserve in the Memory to be reserved field using the + and - buttons. The Usable System Memory readout below the reservation input field shows how much memory is accessible to your main system after reserving the amount of RAM that you select.
4. Click Done to apply the settings and return to Graphical installations.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary screen, under Software, click Connect to Red Hat.
2. Authenticate your Red Hat account using the Account or Activation Key option.

3. Optional: In the Set System Purpose field select the Role, SLA, and Usage attribute that you want to set from the drop-down menu.

   At this point, your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system has been successfully registered.

Procedure

1. Open a terminal window as a root user.

2. Register your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system by using the activation key:

   # subscription-manager register --activationkey=<activation_key_name> --org=<organization_ID>

   When the system is successfully registered, an output similar to the following is displayed:

   The system has been registered with id:
   62edc0f8-855b-4184-b1b8-72a9dc793b96

Procedure

1. Use the cio_ignore utility to remove the DASD from the list of ignored devices and make it visible to Linux:

   # cio_ignore -r device_number

   Replace device_number with the device number of the DASD. For example:

   # cio_ignore -r 4b2e

2. Set the device online. Use a command of the following form:

   # chccwdev -e device_number

   Replace device_number with the device number of the DASD. For example:

   # chccwdev -e 4b2e

   As an alternative, you can set the device online using sysfs attributes:

   1. Use the cd command to change to the /sys/ directory that represents that volume:

      # cd /sys/bus/ccw/drivers/dasd-eckd/0.0.4b2e/
      # ls -l
      total 0
      -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 availability
      -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 cmb_enable
      -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 cutype
      -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 detach_state
      -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 devtype
      -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 discipline
      -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 online
      -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 readonly
      -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 use_diag

   2. Check to see if the device is already online:

      # cat online
      0

   3. If it is not online, enter the following command to bring it online:

      # echo 1 > online
      # cat online
      1

3. Verify which block devnode it is being accessed as:

   # ls -l
   total 0
   -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 availability
   lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    0 Aug 25 17:07 block -> ../../../../block/dasdb
   -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 cmb_enable
   -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 cutype
   -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 detach_state
   -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 devtype
   -r--r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 discipline
   -rw-r--r--  1 root root    0 Aug 25 17:04 online
   -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 readonly
   -rw-r--r--  1 root root 4096 Aug 25 17:04 use_diag

   As shown in this example, device 4B2E is being accessed as /dev/dasdb.