Chapter 15. Starting a remote installation by using VNC
15.1. Performing a remote RHEL installation in VNC Direct mode
Use this procedure to perform a remote RHEL installation in VNC Direct mode. Direct mode expects the VNC viewer to initiate a connection to the target system that is being installed with RHEL. In this procedure, the system with the VNC viewer is called the remote system. You are prompted by the RHEL installation program to initiate the connection from the VNC viewer on the remote system to the target system.
This procedure uses TigerVNC as the VNC viewer. Specific instructions for other viewers might differ, but the general principles apply.
Prerequisites
- You have installed a VNC viewer on a remote system as a root user.
- You have set up a network boot server and booted the installation on the target system.
Procedure
-
From the RHEL boot menu on the target system, press the
Tab
key on your keyboard to edit the boot options. Append the
inst.vnc
option to the end of the command line.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.
-
This is a temporary password for the
inst.vncpassword=
option and it should not be an existing or root password.
- 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.
- Open the VNC viewer on the remote system.
- Enter the IP address and the port number into the VNC server field.
- Click Connect.
- 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.
15.2. Performing a remote RHEL installation in VNC Connect mode
Use this procedure to perform a remote RHEL installation in VNC Connect mode. In Connect mode, the target system that is being installed with RHEL initiates a connect to the VNC viewer that is installed on another system. In this procedure, the system with the VNC viewer is called the remote system.
This procedure uses TigerVNC as the VNC viewer. Specific instructions for other viewers might differ, but the general principles apply.
Prerequisites
- You have installed a VNC viewer on a remote system as a root user.
- You have set up a network boot server to start the installation on the target system.
- You have configured the target system to use the boot options for a VNC Connect installation.
- You have verified that the remote system with the VNC viewer is configured to accept an incoming connection on the required port. Verification is dependent on your network and system configuration. For more information, see Security hardening and Securing networks.
Procedure
Start the VNC viewer on the remote system in listening mode by running the following command:
$ vncviewer -listen PORT
- Replace PORT with the port number used for the connection.
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
- Boot the target system from the network.
-
From the RHEL boot menu on the target system, press the
Tab
key on your keyboard to edit the boot options. -
Append the
inst.vnc inst.vncconnect=HOST:PORT
option to the end of the command line. - 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.
- 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.
- 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.
15.3. Performing a remote RHEL installation by using VNC on IBM Z
After the Initial Program Load (IPL) of the Anaconda installation program is complete, connect to the 64-bit IBM Z system from a local machine, as an install
user, using an ssh connection.
You need to connect to the installation system to continue the installation process. Use a VNC mode to run a GUI-based installation or use the established connection to run a text mode installation.
Prerequisite
You booted the installation media as described in Booting the installation on IBM Z to install RHEL in an LPAR.
The initial program boot is complete on the 64-bit IBM Z system, and the command prompt displays:
Starting installer, one moment... Please ssh install@my-z-system (system ip address) to begin the install.
-
If you want to restrict VNC access to the installation system, then ensure
inst.vncpassword=PASSWORD
boot parameter is configured.
Procedure
From a local machine, run the steps below to set up a remote connection with the 64-bit IBM Z system.
On the command prompt, run the following command:
$ssh install@_my-z-system-domain-name_
or
$ssh install@_my-z-system-IP-address_
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.- Enter 1 to start VNC.
-
Enter a password, if you have not set the
inst.vncpassword=
boot option, but want to secure the server connection. 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.