RHEL(Red Hat Enterprise Linux) Installation

Provides detailed, OS-specific deployment guides for multiple Linux distributions. Each chapter outlines prerequisites, installation methods, and post-install configuration steps to enable console and management access.

Installation via Serial Console

Serial Console

This section describes how to install RHEL 9.4 on ESN904. The procedure is to use mini-USB console connectivity and bootable USB drive to install RHEL on ESN904.

Procedure

Step-1: Prepare RHEL kickstart ISO

  • This section describes how to base on standard RHEL 9.4 to generate new kickstart ISO, which can auto start to install RHEL and includes settings which ESN904 needed.

Step-2: Make a bootable USB drive

  • This section describes how to make bootable USB drive for RHEL installation.

Step-3:Install RHEL on ESN904

  • This section describes how to use serial console to connect ESN904 and install RHEL on it.

1

Prepare RHEL kickstart ISO

  1. Prepare RHEL base build environment

  2. Install ‘mkksiso’ tool on build environment

sudo dnf install lorax -y

  1. Download RHEL ISO and upload it to build environment.

  2. Login to build environment.

  3. Edit kickstart file

vim <kickstart_file_name>

  • Edit the settings as below:

# Root Password
# This example sets the root password to ‘redhat’. Please modify it according to your requirements.
 
rootpw redhat
 
# System language  lang en_US.UTF-8 
 
# System timezone 
timezone America/New_York --utc 
 
# Use text mode install  text 
 
# Accept the license  eula --agreed 
 
# Do not configure the X Window System  skipx 
 
# Partitioning 
clearpart --all --initlabel 
autopart --type=lvm --noswap 
 
# Include kernel arguments required for booting into the installed media
bootloader --location=mbr --driveorder=sda --append="8250.nr_uarts=4  console=ttyS0,115200n8" 
 
repo --name="BaseOS" --baseurl=file:///run/install/repo/BaseOS 
repo --name="AppStream" --baseurl=file:///run/install/repo/AppStream 
 
%packages --ignoremissing 
@^server-product-environment  @core 
@base 
@Development Tools 
dnf 
openssh-server 
openssh-clients 
dhcp-client 
%end 
 
%post 
# Enable ssh login on boot 
echo 'PermitRootLogin yes' >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config  systemctl restart sshd.service 
systemctl enable [email protected] 
 
%end 
 
reboot

Modifications

(1) Password: redhat

  • It can be modified to yours.

(2) Includes kernel arguments with serial console settings

  • --append="8250.nr_uarts=4 console=ttyS0,115200n8"

(3) Enable ttyS0.service to output the serial console signal.

  • Setup「%post」section to append below settings.

systemctl enable [email protected]

  1. Querry ‘ISO volume ID’ of RHEL ISO which was downloaded in (3).

sudo isoinfo -d -i <RHEL_ISO_ name>.iso | grep "Volume id"

  1. Build new kickstart ISO with mkksiso’ tool.

sudo lorax/src/bin/mkksiso --ks <kickstart_file_name> --rm "rd.live.check" -c "8250.nr_uarts=4 console=ttyS0,115200n8 inst.ks=hd:LABEL=:/kickstart.ks" <RHEL_ISO_ name>.iso <New_KS_ISO_name >.iso

Modifications

(1) Setup serial console settings

  • 8250.nr_uarts=4 console=ttyS0,115200n8

(2) Setup ttyS0.service default enable

(3) Enable ttyS0.service to output the serial console signal.

  • -rm “rd.live.check”’

2

Make a bootable USB drive

1. Plug USB drive on build environment

2. Using DD tool to flash ISO image to USB drive.

sudo dd if=<New_KS_ISO_name >.iso of=/dev/<USB_Drive> bs=10M status=progress
3

Install RHEL on ESN904

  1. Plug bootable USB drive (which is made by step-2) on ESN904 USB port

  2. Press RESET button to trigger ESN904 power reset

  3. Setup control environment (NB/PC/Server) to connect to ESN904 mini-USB console port.

  4. Run console tool (ex: Tera-Term) on control environment, and setup console settings as below:

  5. Connect and login to BMC OS

    • Default Acc/Pwd : root / 0penBmc

    • PS: ‘0’ is zero

  6. Execute console redirect tool to redirect CPU serial output to fount panel mini-USB-console port. obmc-console-client -e “~.”

    • -e” option for setup the escape character. Console output will back to BMC's serial output when user type in it.

    • The default escape character is「~.」

  7. Press ‘ESC’ button when BIOS showing message as below to enter BIOS setup menu.

    • ESN904 boot-up will take approximately 3–5 minutes, since it has PFR(Intel Platform Firmware Resilience) features to protect firmware security, and it take sometimes to check firmware validation when system bootup.

  8. Enter BIOS menu, press ‘↑’ and ’↓’ to select ‘Boot Manager’ entry. [圖片標示似乎不太正確]

  9. Select ‘USB’ item to boot from USB

    • It is one-time settings, only active this time.

  10. System will start to install RHEL automatically.

  1. System will auto-reboot after installation is completed, then it is ready.

Installation via BMC iKVM

This guide describes how to install RHEL 9.4 on ESN904. The procedure is using BMC iKVM graphic connectivity and bootable USB drive to install RHEL on ESN904.Procedure

Procedure

Step-1: Make bootable USB drive

  • This section describes how to make bootable USB drive for RHEL installation.

Step-2: Install RHEL on ESN904 via BMC iKVM

  • The BMC of ESN904 provides graphic connectivity features which is called iKVM. This step describes how to use it to install RHEL on ESN904.

Step-3:Modify OS settings

  • Since RHEL default without console settings and disabled related service. This section describes how to setup them to enable OS output serial console signal to front panel mini-USB console port.

1

Make bootable USB drive

Follow RHEL website to make bootable USB drive https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/installation_guide/sect-making-usb-media#sect-making-usb-media

2

Install RHEL on ESN904 via BMC iKVM

  1. Plug bootable USB drive (which is made by step-1) on ESN904 USB-A port

  2. Connect RJ45 cable to ESN904’s management port and setup network

    topology as below:

    1. Default BMC IP is 192.168.1.202

    2. If you want to change BMC IP to others or DHCP, please follow <Note-1> or <Note-2> or <Note-3> to modify it.

  3. Launch web browser on Control node and login it.

    1. Current design only support https, please use URL : ‘https://<BMC_IP>’ to connect BMC web

    2. Default settings as below:

      BMC IP

      192.168.1.202

      Account

      root

      Password

      0penBmc

Note: password ‘0’ is zero, not latter O.

  1. Select ‘Option’ -> ‘KVM(Insyde)’

  2. Select ‘HTML5 iKVM Viewer’

  3. After (5), it will pop a new window, then show the host graphics output.

  4. Press REST button to trigger ESN904 power reset

  5. Press ‘ESC’ button when BIOS showing message as below to enter BIOS setup menu

    1. ESN904 bootup will take approximately 3~5 min, since it has PFR(Intel Platform Firmware Resilience) features to protect firmware security, and it needs to take some time to check firmware validity when system bootup.

  6. Enter BIOS menu, press ‘↑’ and ’↓’ to select ‘Boot Manager’ entry.

  7. Select ‘USB’ item to boot from USB

    1. It is one-time settings, only be activated this time.

  8. System will boot from USB, please select ‘Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4” and follow the instruction to install OS.

3

Modify OS settings

  1. Login to the OS using account/password in Step-2.

  2. Enable serial console output service. sudo systemctl enable [email protected]

  3. Check ttyS0 service is ‘active (running)’ sudo systemctl status [email protected]

  4. Modify GRUB settings to include console settings. sudo grubby --args “8250.nr_uarts=4” --update-kernel DEFAULT

    sudo grubby --args “console=ttyS0,115200n8” --update-kernel DEFAULT

  1. Check GRUB information included modifications sudo grubby --info DEFAULT

4

Check serial console output

  1. Setup control environment (NB/PC/Server) to connect to ESN904 min-USB console port.

  2. Run console tool (ex: Tera-Term) on control environment, and setup console settings as below:

  3. Connect and login to BMC OS.

  • Default Acc/Pwd : root / 0penBmc

  • PS: ‘0’ is zero

  1. Execute console redirect tool to redirect CPU serial output to fount panel mini-USB-console port. obmc-console-client -e “~.”

  • -e” option for setup the escape character. Console output will be back to BMC's serial output when user type in it.

  • The default escape character is「~.」

  1. Now it is showing CPU console.

Note 1: How to change BMC IP (via console)

  1. Follow <Step-4> (1) ~ (3) to connect to BMC console.

  2. Setup interface ‘eth0’ as you wish. ifconfig eth0

Note 2: How to setup BMC IP as DHCP mode (via console)

  1. Follow <Step-4> (1) ~ (3) to connect to BMC console.

  2. Setup interface ‘eth0’ as you wish. ifconfig eth0

Note 3: How to setup BMC IP as DHCP mode (via Redfish)

  1. Follow (1) ~ (2) to setup network connection.

  2. Execute curl on remote side to invoke Redfish API curl -k -H "X-Auth-Token: $token" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X PATCH https://<BMC_IP>/redfish/v1/Mnagers/bmc/EthernetInterfaces/eth0 -d '{"DHCPv4": {"DHCPEnabled": true}}'

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