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Bare Metal (ISO)

Overview

This guide offers step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring RLC-H on bare metal hardware using ISO installation media. It is designed to help users perform a seamless installation while ensuring all prerequisites and system requirements are met.

Prerequisites

CIQ Portal access

This guide assumes you have followed the instructions in the Getting Started guide to perform the following tasks.

  • Login to CIQ Portal and download installers file. (ISOs and checksum files)
  • ISO downloaded and checksum verified
  • Bootable media created (USB/DVD/virtual media)

Hardware requirements

This guide assumes your hardware meets the requirements

Installing RLC-Hardended 9

This section provides a detailed guide for installing the 64-bit version of the RLC-Hardened distribution on a standalone system. It focuses on performing a server-class installation and customization, following below steps.

The Installation

Tip

Before starting the installation, the system’s Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) or Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) should be preconfigured to boot from the correct medium.

If the computer is set up to boot from the media with the ISO file, we can begin the installation.

  1. Insert and boot from the installation medium (optical disk, USB flash drive, and so on).
  2. Once the computer has booted, you see the RLC-H welcome splash screen.

  3. If you do not press any key, the installation program starts a countdown, after which the installation process automatically executes the default, highlighted, option:

    Test this media & install RLC-H

    You can also press Enter at any time to start the process immediately.

  4. A quick media verification step takes place.
    This media verification step can save you the trouble of starting the installation only to find out halfway through that the installation program has to stop because of bad installation media.

  5. After the media check runs to completion and the media is successfully verified to be usable, the installation program automatically continues to the next screen.

  6. Select the language you want to use to perform the installation in this screen. For this guide, we select English (United States). Then click the continue button.

Installation Summary

The Installation Summary screen is an all-in-one area where you make important decisions about installing the system.

The screen is roughly divided into the following sections:

  • LOCALIZATION
  • SYSTEM
  • USER SETTINGS

We will delve into each of these sections next and make changes where necessary.

Localization Section

This section customizes items related to the system's geographic location. This includes – Keyboard, Language Support, Time and Date.

Keyboard

In this guide's demo system, we accept the default value (English US) and make no changes.

However, if you need to make any changes here, from the Installation Summary screen, click the keyboard option to specify the system's keyboard layout. Using the + button, you can add additional keyboard layouts if you need to in the ensuing screen and even specify your preferred order.

Click done when you are finished with this screen.

Language Support

The Language Support option on the Installation Summary screen lets you specify support for additional languages.

We will accept the default value - English (United States) and make no change, click done.

Time & Date

Click the Time & Date option on the main Installation Summary screen to bring up another screen that will allow you to select the time zone in which the machine is located. Scroll through the list of regions and cities and select the area closest to you.

Depending on your installation source, the Network Time option could be set to ON or OFF by default. Accept the default ON setting; this allows the system to automatically set the correct time using the Network Time Protocol (NTP).

Click done after making any changes.

System Section

The System section of the Installation Summary screen is used for customizing and making changes to things related to the underlying hardware of the target system. This is where you create your hard disk drive partitions or volumes, specify the file system, specify the network configuration, enable or disable KDUMP or select a Security Profile.

Installation Destination

From the Installation Summary screen, click the Installation Destination option. This takes you to the corresponding task area.

You will see a screen displaying all the candidate disk drives that you have available on the target system. If you have only one disk drive on the system, as on our sample system, you see the drive listed under Local Standard Disks with a check mark beside it. Clicking the disk icon will toggle on or off the disk selection check mark. Keep it checked to select the disk.

Under the Storage Configuration section:

  1. Select the Automatic radio button.
  2. Click done at the top of the screen.
  3. Once the installation program determines that you have a usable disk, it returns to the Installation Summary screen.
Network & Host Name

The next important task of the installation procedure under the System area deals with network configuration, where you can configure or tweak network-related settings for the system.

Note

After you click on the Network & Hostname option, all correctly detected network interface hardware (such as Ethernet, wireless network cards, and so on) will be listed in the left pane of the network configuration screen. You can configure any detected interface using DHCP or manually set the IP address. If you choose to configure manually, be sure to have all the required information ready, such as the IP address, netmask, and so on.

Clicking the Network & Hostname button in the main Installation Summary screen opens the corresponding configuration screen. Here, you can configure the system's hostname.

Note

You can easily change the system hostname later on after the OS has been installed.

The next important configuration task is related to the network interfaces on the system.

  1. Verify that the left pane lists an Ethernet card (or any network card.)
  2. Click any of the detected network devices in the left pane to select it.
    The selected network adapter's configurable properties appear in the screen's right pane. Verify the switch of the device you want to configure is flipped to the ON (blue) position in the right pane. We'll accept all the defaults in this section.
  3. Click done to return to the main Installation Summary screen.

Warning

Pay attention to the IP address of the server in this section of this installer. If you don’t have physical or easy console access to the system, this information will come in handy later on when you need to connect to the server to continue working on it after the OS installation is completed.

User Settings Section

This section can be used for creating creating new administrative or non-administrative user accounts on the server.

Note

The root or superuser account is disabled by default on a Hardened RLC system.

User Creation

To create a user:

  1. Click the User Creation field under User Settings to start the Create User task screen.
    This task area allows you to create a privileged or non-privileged (non-administrative) user account.

    Info

    Creating and using a non-privileged account for day-to-day tasks on a system is a good system administration practice.

    We’ll create a regular user that can invoke superuser (administrator) powers when needed.

  2. Complete the fields in the Create User screen with the following information:

    • Full name: testuser
    • Username: testuser
    • Make this user administrator: Checked
    • Require a password to use this account: Checked
    • Password: [ENTER A SECURE PASSWORD]
    • Confirm password: [RE-ENTER THE SECURE PASSWORD]

  3. Click Done.

Installer Phase

Once you are satisfied with your choices for the various installation tasks, the next phase of the installation process will begin.

Start the Installation

Once you are satisfied with your choices for the various installation tasks, click the Begin Installation button on the main Installation Summary screen.

The installation will begin, and the installation program will show the progress.
After the installation begins, various tasks will run in the background, such as partitioning the disk, formatting the partitions or LVM volumes, checking for and resolving software dependencies, writing the operating system to the disk, and so on.

Complete the Installation

After the installation program has completed its work, you will see a final installation progress screen with a completion message.

Finally, complete the procedure by clicking the Finish Installation button. The system will restart.

Log In

The system is now set up and ready for use. You will see the Rocky Linux console.

To log onto the system:

  1. Type testuser at the login prompt and press Enter.

  2. At the Password prompt, type the associated [SECURE PASSWORD] that you specified for the user during the user creation section of the installation (i.e. testuser’s password) and press Enter (the password will not be echoed to the screen, that is normal).

  3. Run the whoami command after login.
    This command shows the name of the currently logged in user.

Post-Install

Once installation is complete, proceed to the Post Installation Guide for enrollments and updates.