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Installing a Linux operating system

The wizard provides a step by step guidance for installing an operating system. Follow the instructions on the screen and the tips listed below to install a Linux operating system.

Note

The CentOS Linux operating systems can be installed on the server successfully. However, Lenovo servers provide only hardware-level support for CentOS. For more information about CentOS compatibility with Lenovo servers, go to: https://lenovopress.com/osig

For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 and 15.1 operating system, two image files are included: Installer DVD and Packages DVD. For example, if your operating system is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, the image files are: SLE-15-Installer-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso and SLE-15-Packages-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso.

If Core Installation is selected, only the Installer DVD image file is required. If Full Installation is selected, both image files are required at the same time. To prepare two image files, you can use one of the following forms:

  • Two discs (physical or virtual)

  • Two USB storage drives

  • One disc (physical or virtual) and one USB storage drive

  • One USB storage drive including both image files

    To create a USB storage device including both image files, do the following:

    1. Prepare a USB storage drive with an FAT32 partition and a minimum of 8 GB of free storage space.

    2. Extract the Installer DVD image file to the root folder of the USB storage drive.

    3. Create a packages sub folder in the root folder.

    4. Extract the Package DVD image file to the packages sub folder.

  1. Drive Selection

    Figure 1. Drive Selection step (for Linux)
    Drive Selection step (for Linux)

    Attention
    The selected drive will be formatted during the installation. Back up all data on it before the installation.
    Note
    The drivers will be installed automatically after the OS installation. It is recommended to restart your server to ensure that all installed drivers take effect.

  2. OS Selection

    Figure 2. OS Selection step (for Linux)
    OS Selection step (for Linux)

    The IP address is made up of four parts separated by dots. The following table lists the valid value range for each part.

    IP AddressPart 1Part 2Part 3Part 4
    Valid values1 – 2230 – 2550 – 2550 – 255

  3. Installation Settings

    Figure 3. Installation Settings step – 1 (for Linux)
    Installation Settings step – 1 (for Linux)

    Root Password: You can change your root password later from the operating system.

    If you want to do advanced configurations, expand the list by clicking the arrow icon next to Advanced.

    Figure 4. Installation Settings step – 2 (for Linux)
    Installation Setting step – 2 (for Linux)

    Refer to the following table for the valid values when you type the required address information.

    AddressPart 1Part 2Part 3Part 4
    IP Address1 – 126; 128 – 2230 – 2550 – 2551 – 254
    Subnet Mask0 – 2550 – 2550 – 2550 – 255
    Default Gateway0 – 2550 – 2550 – 2550 – 255
    Preferred DNS Server1 – 126; 128 – 2230 – 2550 – 2550 – 255
    Alternate DNS Server1 – 126; 128 – 2230 – 2550 – 2550 – 255

  4. Partition Options

    Figure 5. Partition Options step (for Linux)
    Partition Options step (for Linux)

    If no existing partition is detected on the drive, select Repartition the drive during installation.

    Root Partition: The root partition size depends on the space required for the operating system and applications.

    Boot Partition: This partition contains files required to start the operating system.

    Swap Partition: Swap partition is the virtual memory in Linux. When the Random Access Memory (RAM) is full, data will be stored on the swap partition temporarily. Although swap partition can be used to store data, it should not be considered as a replacement for RAM. It is located on hard disk drives, and has slower access speed than RAM.

  5. Summary

    Figure 6. Summary step (for Linux)
    Summary step (for Linux)

    If you want to change some settings, click Previous button until you return to the page where you can make the changes.

    If you want to export the operating system installation settings to a response file, refer to Exporting an operating-system-installation response file.

    Click Next button. The installation process starts. Wait until the installation finishes.