HP Integrity Virtual Machines 4.2: Installation, Configuration, and Administration

6 Creating Linux Guests
You can install the Linux operating system on your virtual machines. Linux guests can be managed
like a discreet Integrity server or nPartition, by either the VM Host administrator or the Linux
system administrator. This chapter includes the following topics:
• “Installing Linux Guests”
• “Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Guests from ISO Images”
• “Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Guests from a Boot Disk and Network Server”
• “Installing SUSE Linux Guests from ISO Images”
• “Installing Integrity VM Linux Guest Management Software”
• “Managing Linux Guests”
To run Linux guests, install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 5.
6.1 Installing Linux Guests
To install the Linux guest operating system, follow these basic steps:
1. Obtain installation materials and necessary site-specific information.
2. Create the virtual machine with appropriate virtual devices.
3. Boot the Linux installation (Boot) program onto the guest.
4. Use the boot program to install and configure Linux in the guest.
5. Add scripts to the installed Linux that are specific to running Linux in a guest.
Each step is described in more detail in the following sections.
6.1.1 Preparing to Install Linux Guests
Before you begin the installation process, make sure you have the following information about
the guest:
• Guest's networking information:
— Network host name assigned to the guest
— IP Address assigned to the guest (if fixed)
— Netmask
— IP address of one or more DNS servers
— IP address of the gateway machine
• Time zone of the guest
• Guest's root password
• If using a network server:
— The network name of the server
— Method by which it exports the Linux installation tree (FTP or NFS)
— Directory path to the installation tree
• The ISO image files for a supported Linux guest operating system. For more information
about specific Linux guest operating system requirements, see the HP Integrity Virtual
Machines 4.2: Release Notes.
6.1.2 Using this Procedure
The following procedure shows how to install a Linux guest with a fixed IP address. For
information about setting up the Linux operating system with a DHCP-served IP address, see
your specific operating system product documentation.
Table 6-1 describes the Linux text user interface (TUI) movement keys:
6.1 Installing Linux Guests 81