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GalacNet FaQ and Help Archives
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How to run DirectAdmin on a Cobalt RaQ
Items you will need :
01 x Cobalt RaQ3 or RaQ4
01 x Strongbolt Installer from www.osoffice.co.uk
01 x DirectAdmin license from www.directadmin
01 x PC with CD-rom and PCI NIC
01 x Cross Ethernet Cable
An internet connection
Optional STuff :
01 x Laptop or PC
01 x Null Modem Cable
What do we hope to achieve :
Install CentOS only on a Cobalt RaQ
Install DirectAdmin
What to expect :
Your LCD controls will no longer function!
LCD will display Hostname and IP address only after install!
I achieved a 100sec to bootup timing
Also I got a 130sec to IP address display
This FaQ will also guide you through on how to maximise your storage space.
Step I ( Install CentOS ) :
First we will need to get the Strongbolt installer to install CentOS on the cobalt before we can use it for deployment. That is achieved by the good-old cobalt way of cross cabling. I would recommend that you monitor the process via a Null Modem cable.
Strongbolt is by far the easiest way to install a new OS on the cobalt. You can also do the long method by install the image first on a regular PC then porting it back to the Cobalt but its going to be really tiring....
The installer is separated into a few Phases where the initial is installation of CentOS. Phase I checks the installed CentOS and Phase II installs BlueQuartz.
BlueQuartz is very restrictive and does not like other Control Panels and thus is not desirable if you want to install DirectAdmin.
On your LCD wait until it says "Installing BlueQuartz" and unplug the Ethernet cable.
This can also be monitored via serial by waiting and unplugging when you see it running Phase I which says checking your installation. This is before Phase II : Installing BlueQuartz.
Once unplugged, turn off your Cobalt and reboot it. It will then start up with the IP address, 192.168.0.254
Step II ( Updating and Patching CentOS ) :
There are some bugs when you do this and your installation must be patched.
You may realise that the bootup takes a little longer than usual, but be patient, it will bootup! Once it is online, via SSH enter the system with the username "root" and password "admin".
Excute the following via SSH :
pwconv
This patches your /etc/shadow file as it was broken when you cut off the connection.
Then you will need to make sure the cobalt does not try to mount Strongbolt and try to install BlueQuartz again.
Edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file :
vi /etc/rc.d/rc.local
Find
mount 192.168.0.100:/KNOPPIX/nfsroot-x86/install /mnt/tmp
/mnt/tmp/part2.sh
Replace with
# mount 192.168.0.100:/KNOPPIX/nfsroot-x86/install /mnt/tmp
# /mnt/tmp/part2.sh
After this is done we will have to update the cobalt.
Execute YUM to update your system to the latest CentOS version :
yum -y update
This could take sometime as there could be hundreds of patches to apply.
Once this is completed you will have a patched CentOS to work with, but its still incomplete as Directadmin and many other programs need a compiler to run.
Execute this to install the compiler :
yum -y install gcc gcc-c++
Step III ( MORE SPACE! MWA HAHAHAHAHA! ) :
If you are using Strongbolt you will find that you only have 2gb worth of space in your /var directory....
This is sufficient in a BlueQuartz environment but for DirectAdmin you will have some problems when your Databases get huge.
We need to insert a second HDD into the system to get the MAX space possible.
You will need to power down your system o do this.
Execute a shutdown since the LCD is down :
shutdown -h now
Once you see that the Cobalt is powered off, you can now added the new HDD to your cobalt.
Plug the IDE cable to the main board and to your 2nd HDD and power up the cobalt.
When you have powered up and re-entered SSH, you will need to format the new HDD.
The number assigned to this is hdc
Excute the following to partition your disk:
fdisk /dev/hdc
On the menu enter :
d
And delete all the partitions on the disk. If there is none or have all been deleted, execute
n
and add a primary partition to the disk. Follow the default settings.
After you are done, execute
w
The server will write and modify the disk to your specifications.
Once completed we need to format the disk, execute the following :
mke2fs -j /dev/hdc1
Wait for the process to finish. Once done we have a functional disk ready to be used.
Step IV ( Making the extra space viewable ) :
After formatting the disk we are not done yet, the server still does not know what to do to it.
Here we need to solve some issues....
/var is too small...
the new disk is not mounted yet...
To solve those issues, we will use the current /home partition to server as the /var.
Go to your /home directory
cd /home
There are some things there which you are to delete off. A normal CentOS installation does not have anything in the /home.
rm -Rf *
Once its done go to your /var directory and copy all contents to the /home.
cd /var
cp -Rp * /home
This will copy all /var contents to the /home and preserve the permissions and owners.
Nexy we need a place for the /var.
mkdir /workbin
Now we are ready to setup the mount points. edit your fstab file.
vi /etc/fstab
Change what you see into the following :
/dev/hda1 / ext3 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda6 /var ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda3 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/hda5 /tmp ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdc1 /home ext3 defaults 1 2
/dev/hda2 /workbin ext3 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
Basically change /hda2 to /hda6
rename /home to /var
rename /var to /workbin
and insert the /dev/hdc1 line as /home
Exit and save.
To make sure everything is alright run the following :
mount -a
There should NOT be any errors! If there is you modified /etc/fstab wrongly, do it again.
DO NOT REBOOT until mount -a does not generate any errors.
A df -h will show you the new mounts once it is alright.
Now reboot your server. It should be up and running in less than 2 minutes after you issue the reboot command.
Once bootup is successful, you can erase all contents of the /workbin.
rm -Rf /workbin/*
Step V ( Network Configurations ) :
DirectAdmin lock their licenses by IP address and you need to set the Cobalt to that specific IP before you can get it running.
First open and edit the /etc/resolv.conf file :
vi /etc/resolv.conf
It should look something like this
; generated by /sbin/dhclient-script
nameserver 111.222.333.444
nameserver 555.666.777.888
search localhost
Where the "nameserver" is the IP address given by your ISP or Data Center. You should have at least 2 IPs!
Second we need to modify the hostname and gateway.
Open and edit the /etc/sysconfig/network file
vi /etc/sysconfig/network
It should look something like this
NETWORKING=yes
FORWARD_IPV4=yes
HOSTNAME=what-i-want-to-call-my.cobalt.com
GATEWAY=111.222.333.1
Where "HOSTNAME" is what you want to call your cobalt and "GATEWAY" is the assigned gateway by your ISP. Usually its XXX.XXX.XXX.1
If you don't have one, please contact your ISP!
Third we need to modify your Network settings.
Open and edit the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
It should look something like this
DEVICE=eth0
IPADDR=YOUR_IP_ADDRESS
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=XXX.XXX.XXX.0
BROADCAST=255.255.255.255
GATEWAY=YOUR_GATEWAY
ONBOOT=yes
Where "IPADDR" is your assigned IP address, "NETWORK" is the C class IP with a zero at the end. eg. if your IP is 192.168.2.101 then the NETWORK is 192.168.2.0. And "GATEWAY" is your gateway IP.
Once this is completed you can shutdown your server and rack it up at your DC. Or if you are already there, do a reboot to make sure things are ok.
Step VI ( Installing DirectAdmin ) :
The final and longest step! It took me almost 2 hours on a RaQ4 with 512mb ram and a 100mbs connection....
If you followed through the installation you would have a directory called /workbin thats where we will execute Directadmin.
Now we need to get Directadmin to install.
Excute the following :
cd /workbin
wget http://www.directadmin.com/setup.sh
chmod 755 setup.sh
./setup.sh
Directadmin will now run on its own after you enter the right Client ID and License,
Once its done you will have a Cobalt, running CentOS and with Directadmin!!
I am new and still blue! Hooray!!
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