5. Quick Installation Guide

If you just want to install the software, without reading all of the gory details, you can just use this quick installation guide.

5.1 Minimum requirements:

The Quick Installation requires that your installation meets the following criteria:

• You are installing on a Redhat 6.0, 6.1, 6.2 or 7.0 based system, or a Mandrake 7.2 based system.
• The server will have an IP address of 192.168.0.254.
• The workstations will have addresses in the range of 192.168.0.1 through 192.168.0.253.
• Applications will run on the server, displaying output on the workstations.
• You are using DHCP.

5.2 Ready-Set-Go

For the sake of these instructions, we will assume that you have a Tulip based network card and an SVGA based video card.

1. Download the LTSP RPM packages from the ltsp download site (http://www.ltsp.org/download)
   • lts_core-2.xx-xx.i386.rpm
   • lts_kernel_tulip-2.xx-xx.i386.rpm
   • lts_xsvga-2.xx-xx.i386.rpm

2. Install the packages.
   • rpm -i lts_core-2.xx-xx.i386.rpm
   • rpm -i lts_kernel_tulip-2.xx-xx.i386.rpm
   • rpm -i lts_xsvga-2.xx-xx.i386.rpm

3. Verify that dhcpd is installed on the server. Run the following command:

   rpm -qa | grep dhcp
   

   It should report a line like:

   dhcp-2.0-5
   

   If it doesn't, then you need to load the DHCP rpm from the RedHat installation CD.
4. Once the installation of the above packages is complete, then you need to change into the /tftpboot/lts/templates directory. There are several files there that will configure the system files on your server. Each one of these files is responsible for one system file. Take a look at those files and make sure you agree with what they are going to do. They can potentially make your system vulnerable to a security hack. You may wish to make the changes to the system files manually. If you want to do it automatically, then run the ltsp_initialize command:

   cd /tftpboot/lts/templates
   ./ltsp_initialize
   

5. Copy the /etc/dhcpd.conf.example file to /etc/dhcpd.conf
6. Modify the dhcpd.conf file to include the MAC address of the network card in the workstation.
7. Add the following line to the /etc/hosts file:

   192.168.0.1    ws001
   

8. Edit the /tftpboot/lts/ltsroot/etc/lts.conf file to make sure the entries are correct for the workstation.
9. Reboot the server
10. Turn on the workstation

You should get a graphical login prompt on the workstation. You can log in using any user ID available on the server.

If the workstation fails to boot, re-read the above instructions. Pay particular attention to the list of Minimum Requirements above, to make sure your setup meets those requirements. If not, then you should read the rest of this document to gain a more clear understanding of how the LTSP works and what may be wrong with your setup.

When running a diskless workstation, keep the following in mind:

• Any programs you run are actually running on the server.
• If you do an 'uptime' command, it will tell you how long the server has been up.
• If you do a 'shutdown' command, it will shutdown the server. This may not be what you had intended.