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Rocky Linux from CIQ Installation Guide | ISO

Overview

Installing Linux distributions via ISO files is a common method for setting up a Linux operating system on a server. Here's a general overview of the procedure covered in detail in this guide showing how to install the RLC distribution via an ISO.

  • Login to Depot portal and download installer file
  • Download needed ISOs and checksum files
  • Verify downloaded ISOs
  • Create Bootable installation media
  • Boot system and start RLC installation

A bootable installer ISO file is an archive image of an optical disc, such as a CD or DVD, that contains all the necessary installation files. This method allows for easy installation and customization of the operating system.

To install a Linux distro like RLC using an ISO file, you typically need to create bootable media, such as a USB flash drive or DVD, and then boot your computer from that media.

Downloading and verifying RLC ISOs

  1. Follow the instructions in the Getting Started Guide to access the Depot service

  2. Navigate to the Rocky Linux 9 from CIQ page of the Depot portal. Locate the needed ISO installer - rlc-9.5-x86_64-dvd.iso.

  3. After locating the ISO file, you can download the file using curl, wget or your web browser.
    For example to use the curl utility to download the file, click on the copy link helper within Depot and pass the copied link as an argument to curl like so:

curl -O https://depot.ciq.com/download/rlc-9/rlc-9-images/rlc-9.5-x86_64-dvd.iso
4. Similarly, download the file needed to verify the checksum of RLC related files downloaded from Depot. For example to use curl to download the corresponding SHA256 checksum file:

curl -O https://depot.ciq.com/download/rlc-9/rlc-9-images/rlc-9.5-x86_64-dvd.sha256sum
5. Run the following command to verify the downloaded files:

sha256sum -c rlc-9.5-x86_64-dvd.sha256sum

Expected Output:

rlc-9.5-x86_64-dvd.iso: OK

Creating Bootable Media

Creating bootable media from downloaded ISOs onto USB devices on Linux systems allows you to install operating systems, run live environments, or access recovery tools.

The process involves using a tool like dd to write the ISO image directly onto the USB device, ensuring the device is recognized as a bootable medium.

Remember to back up any important data on the USB device before proceeding, as the process will erase its contents.

  1. Make sure the ISO file has been downloaded to your local system.
  2. To avoid data loss, you'll need to correctly identify the target USB drive that you want to overwrite. On a Linux based system you can use the lsblk utility: 
    lsblk

Caution

Ensure you correctly identify your USB drive (e.g., /dev/sdx) as the next command will overwrite the device entirely.

  1. Write the ISO to the USB drive: 
    sudo dd if=/path/to/rlc-9.5-x86_64-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=4M status=progress && sync
  2. Safely eject USB drive: 
    sudo eject /dev/sdx

Tip

Rufus is a free and open-source tool for Windows that can be used to create bootable USB flash drives or DVDs from ISO files. It is a straightforward and user-friendly tool that can be used to create bootable media for a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. To use Rufus to create a bootable USB flash drive, follow these steps:

  1. Download Rufus from the official website.
  2. Insert a USB flash drive into your computer.
  3. Open Rufus and select the USB flash drive from the "Device" drop-down menu.
  4. Select the ISO file that you want to use to create the bootable media.
  5. Click the "Start" button to begin the process of creating the bootable media.

Once Rufus has finished creating the bootable media, you can use it to install the operating system of your choice on your computer.

Installing Rocky Linux from CIQ 9

This section covers a detailed guide for installing a 64-bit version of the RLC distribution on a standalone system. We will be performing a server class install. We will step through the installation and customization steps in the following sections.

The Installation

Tip

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

Once 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 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

    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

Figure 1: Rocky Linux from CIQ - installation summary screen

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.

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.

  1. 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 new administrative or non-administrative user accounts on the server.

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.

  1. Complete the fields in the Create User screen with the following information:
VALUE
Full name ciq
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]
  1. 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 the installation proper.

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 of the installation.
After the installation begins, various tasks will begin running 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 complete message.

Finally, complete the entire procedure by clicking the Reboot System button. The system restarts.

Log in

The system is now set up and ready for use. You will see the RLC console.
To log onto the system

  1. Type ciq 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. ciq'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.

Getting Started with RLC (First boot)

This section covers some simple house-keeping tasks that need to be completed after booting up your newly installed or deployed RLC system.

Depot login and system enrollment

  1. Use the username/password that you created during the system installation/deployment to Login to your new RLC server.

  2. Your RLC system should already have the depot utility installed. Use the RPM command to verify this by running:

$ rpm -q depot

depot-v1.*
3. Use the depot login command to authenticate and authorize the system to use CIQ's Depot service. Type: 
$ sudo depot login -u <DEPOT_USERNAME> -t <TOKEN>

Enrolled to https://depot.ciq.com

  1. Run the depot list command to view the CIQ products that your system is authorized and enabled to access. Type:
$ sudo depot list

PRODUCT_ID | PRODUCT_NAME           | ENABLED
rlc-9      | Rocky Linux 9 from CIQ | no

Enable entitlements

  1. Next run the depot enable command to configure and enable your system to access specific product entitlements. Type:
# depot enable
Created DNF configuration: /etc/yum.repos.d/depot-rlc-9.repo
  1. Run the depot list command again to verify successful enablement. Type:
# depot list

PRODUCT_ID | PRODUCT_NAME           | ENABLED
rlc-9      | Rocky Linux 9 from CIQ | yes