HP PL Class 450/500/550/600/650/700/750 Manual

HP VISUALIZE Linux Setup and
Recovery Guide
XL- and PL-Class Workstations
Printed in USA
Manufacturing Part Number: A1297-90011
Edition E1299
© Copyright 1999 Hewlett-Packard Company

ii
Legal Notices
The information contained in this document is subject to change without
notice.
Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this
material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard
shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or
consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance,
or use of this material.
Hewlett-Packard assumes no responsibility for the use or reliability of its
software on equipment that is not furnished by Hewlett-Packard.
This document contains proprietary information that is protected by
copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be
photocopied, reproduced or translated to another language without the
prior written consent of Hewlett-Packard Company.
Trade Mark Acknowledgements
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RPM logo, Linux Library, PowerTools, Linux Undercover, RHmember,
RHmember More, Rough Cuts, Rawhide and all Red Hat-based
trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of
RedHat, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
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3404 E. Harmony Road
Fort Collins, CO 80528-9599
USA

iii
IMPORTANT HP Linux Warranty Informatio
HP has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of our
product testing. However, because each customer’s
environment is different from HP’s laboratory test
environment, it is the customer’s responsibility to validate the
Year 2000 readiness of these products in their own
environment. Therefore, information about the Year 2000
status of HP products is provided "as is" without warranties of
any kind and is subject to change without notice. The
information provided here constitutes a Year 2000 Readiness
Disclosure for purposes of the Year 2000 Information and
Readiness Disclosure Act.
Hewlett-Packard makes no representation or warranty about
the Year 2000 readiness of non-HP products including
pre-installed operating systems or application software. Such
information, if any, was provided by the manufacturers of
those products and customers are urged to contact the
manufacturer directly to verify Year 2000 readiness.
ATTENTION: DUE TO THE NATURE OF LINUX
SOFTWARE, HP PROVIDES LINUX SOFTWARE "AS IS"
AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY WITH RESPECT TO
YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE. LINUX MAY REQUIRE
CUSTOMER INSTALLATION OF SOFTWARE PATCHES
FOR YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE AND MAY REQUIRE
ADDITIONAL PATCHES IN THE FUTURE. FOR RED HAT
LINUX, CUSTOMER IS URGED TO FREQUENTLY
REVIEW THE RED HAT WEB SITE FOR THE LATEST
YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AT:
http:\\www.redhat.com

iv

v
Contents

vi
System Setup.................................................................................................................... 1
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation......................................................... 3
Static Network Parameters................................................................................... 4
DNS Configuration.............................................................................................. 4
Network Information Service ........................................................................ 5
Miscellaneous Parameters.................................................................................... 5
System time and date..................................................................................... 6
Time Zone...................................................................................................... 6
Root Password ............................................................................................... 7
XServer.......................................................................................................... 8
Summary........................................................................................................ 9
System Recovery ........................................................................................................... 11
The Linux Rescue Mode.......................................................................................... 13
Creating a Rescue Disk Set................................................................................ 13
Making the boot disk ................................................................................... 14
Making the rescue disk ................................................................................ 14
Using the Rescue Disk Set................................................................................. 15
Disaster Recovery.................................................................................................... 17

1
1 System Setup

2Chapter1
System Setup
The HP VISUALIZE Linux Personal Workstation Owner’s Guide tells you
how to set up your Linux Personal Workstation and connect the display,
keyboard, mouse, audio accessories and a network.
After you have made these connections, follow the procedures described
in this book to configure your Linux Personal Workstation and prepare to
use it.
We recommend that you read these instructions before beginning the
process, and write down the information you will need to enter.

Chapter 1 3
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
Be sure that no disks are in the 3.5-inch floppy drive or the CD-ROM
drive, then turn on the power switch. As the workstation starts up
(boots), it describes what is happening with messages on the screen. You
do not need to respond to any messages you see. The start-up process is
completely automatic.
After a few minutes, the process ends and the monitor screen displays
important information about Year 2000 readiness of the HP VISUALIZE
Linux Workstation and the software installed on it. When you have read
this information, click OK at the bottom of the screen. The Linux Setup
Tool window, shown below, appears.
Choose the Boot Protocol appropriate for your system. If you do not know
which protocol to choose, ask your system administrator. The following
instructions assume you are using the “Static” protocol.

4Chapter1
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
Static Network Parameters
You need to enter the Static Network Parameters. Your system
administrator can tell you your Personal Workstation’s IP Address and
Hostname and your network’s Gateway and Netmask addresses. The
system administrator can also suggest an appropriate Domain Name.
After typing this information in the appropriate spaces, click on the
button called Additional Network Services. A smaller window, shown
below, appears within the Linux Setup Tool window.
DNS Configuration
If the window does not look like this, click the DNS Configuration tab at
the top of the window. The window contains two smaller windows, called
DNS Servers (IP Address) and DNS Search Domains. Below the left
window, in the “Server:” box, type the network Domain Name Server
address. Click the Add button above the small window to place this
address in the window. If there is more than one domain name server,
you may keep adding addresses until you have added them all. The first
one will be your primary DNS. Below the right window, in the “Domain:”
box, type the domain name and click the Add button above that window.
If there is more than one, enter them all.

Chapter 1 5
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
To change or remove an address, click on it to select it, and click on the
Modify or Remove button above it.
Network Information Service
When you have entered all DNS information, click the Authentication
tab at the top of the window. This changes the window to the following
form:
If your workstation will use Network Information Service (NIS), click the
square next to “Enable NIS”. You will need to enter the NIS Domain
Name where indicated. Below that, “Request via Broadcast” is selected.
If you unselect it, you need to type the Server IP Address in the box
below it. Ask your system administrator whether you should unselect
“Use Shadow Passwords” or “Enable MD5 Passwords”.
When you have finished with this window, click OK. The window closes.
Miscellaneous Parameters
The bottom section of the Linux Setup Tool window is called
“Miscellaneous Parameters:”. You can set these parameters in any order.

6Chapter1
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
System time and date
The first row at the top of the window is for setting your system time and
date. In the “Time:” box, type the current time using the 24-hour clock. In
the “Day:” box, type the current day of the month. Click the box after
“Month:” to select the current month. In the “Year:” box, type the current
year.
Time Zone
Click on the “Set Time Zone..” box to bring up the window shown below:
Click the “Geographical Location” button at the top of the window to
select your location, if it is not “US”. Use the scroll bar to show your time
zone, then click on it. Click OK to use these selections and close this
window.

Chapter 1 7
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
Root Password
By default, the root user has no password. This is a serious security risk.
We strongly recommend that you set one now by clicking on the “Set Root
Password..” box. This brings up the window shown below:
Choose a password, according to the directions in the window, and type it
in the “Enter root password” box. Asterisks appear in the box, instead of
what you type. Press Tab. Type your password again in the “Enter
password again” box, and press Enter. Click OK. If you typed the same
characters both times, that becomes your root password and the window
closes. If not, you are asked to try again.
NOTE Write your password down and keep it in a secure place. If you forget it,
you will not be able to log in to your workstation.

8Chapter1
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
X Server
The next parameter button is “Configure X Server:”. Click this button to
bring up the window shown below:
Click the small button at the top left of the window if you want your
workstation to boot up to an X-Windows login. Click the “Default
Window Manager” button to see a list of available window managers.
Click on one to choose it.
The rest of the window information applies to your monitor screen
specifications. Your monitor documentation should contain information
that helps you choose the specifications right for you. If it does not, check
with your system administrator. Your video card can support all the
video modes shown, but your monitor may not support all resolutions.
X-windows will start with the highest resolution selected in the largest
depth. Click OK to accept the default selections or the selections you
made.
The default resolution and monitor settings are for low resolution VGA
(640x480). Change both of these if you use higher resolution graphics. A
resolution of 1280x1024x32 is probably optimal.

Chapter 1 9
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
Summary
This completes the miscellaneous parameters you can set from the Linux
Setup Tool window. If you want to erase the changes you have made and
keep the current configuration settings, click on the “Reset
Configuration” button. To see the parameters you have chosen, click on
the Show Summary button.
The “Show Summary” window, shown below, contains all the information
you entered. To change any choices, click OK to close the Show summary
window, and click the appropriate parameter box in the Linux Setup Tool
window.

10 Chapter1
System Setup
Configuring Your Linux Personal Workstation
Click OK to close this window. If you are satisfied with the information
you have entered, click “Save” at the bottom of the Linux Setup Tool
window to save this configuration.
A message appears with instructions to press Enter to reboot your
system.

11
2 System Recovery

12 Chapter2
System Recovery
This chapter describes two methods for recovering from damage to your
system hardware or software. The Linux Rescue Mode may allow you to
recover important files or solve the problem when you are unable to boot
the operating system. The Disaster Recovery procedure will reinstall the
original software that was installed on your workstation at the factory.

Chapter 2 13
System Recovery
The Linux Rescue Mode
The Linux Rescue Mode
The Linux rescue mode is a Linux environment that lets you access files
on your HP VISUALIZE Linux Personal Workstation when you cannot
actually run Linux. You may be unable to run Linux because it will not
boot or you have had a hardware or software failure.
Linux may not boot if you have installed another operating system. Some
operating systems assume that you have no other operating systems on
your computer. When such an operating system is installed, it overwrites
the Master Boot Record that contained the Linux LILO bootloader. If this
happens, Linux will not boot.
Any computer can experience a hardware or software failure for many
reasons. With the HP VISUALIZE Linux Personal Workstation, it might
happen because of problems with a hard drive or because LILO was not
run after building a new kernel.
Rescue mode can give you access to the system so you can try to solve the
problem or, at least, make copies of important files.
NOTE Create a rescue disk set immediately after completing the Linux Setup
Tool window. You may not be able to create one when you need it. You
may not be able to access the necessary files and commands in these
instructions.
Creating a Rescue Disk Set
A rescue set consists of two diskettes that contain files necessary to boot
into rescue mode. One is a boot disk, the other is a rescue disk. The
following instructions tell you how to make the disks. Have two
formatted 3.5” floppy disks ready.
NOTE You must be logged in as root.

14 Chapter2
System Recovery
The Linux Rescue Mode
Making the boot disk
To make a boot disk, you need to know the version of the Linux kernel
your system is running.
Type the command:
uname -r
and press Return.
This command returns a version number, for example, 2.2.5.
Enter the command:
mkbootdisk <version>
For <version> substitute the above number.
The computer asks you to insert a diskette in the first disk drive. When
you have done this, press Return.
The system creates the boot disk.
When the prompt reappears, remove the disk and label it. Since this boot
disk only works on the workstation on which it was created, you might
identify this workstation on the label. Write protect it and keep it in a
safe place.
Making the rescue disk
You need the first Red Hat Linux CD-ROM disk to make the rescue disk.
Insert it in the CD-ROM drive.
Enter the following command to mount the CD-ROM:
mkdir /mnt/cdrom
You may see an error message saying that the file exists. Ignore the
message if it appears.
Enter the following command:
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
(Note the space between the first “cdrom” and the slash following it.)
You see a message that /dev/cdrom is being mounted read-only.
Change directories by entering the following command:
cd /mnt/cdrom/images