A bootable CD drive is required to install the ClarkConnect software. The rest of the software is installed from the CD-ROM or directly over your high-speed Internet connection.

The contents of all your hard disks on the target computer will be completely erased.

• If necessary, change your BIOS settings to run bootable CDs
• Insert the ClarkConnect CD
• Turn on your target computer
• Follow the installation wizard

ClarkConnect now supports standalone server mode. This mode is used to create a server on a local area network (behind an existing firewall). Only one network card is required. Gateway Mode allows your system to act as a firewall and server on your local network and at least two network cards. If you have two or more network cards installed in the server and want to protect your local network against threats originating from the Internet, then select gateway mode.

If you are installing with a CD-ROM, you will need to select the type of Internet connection you have (DSL, DSL/PPPoE, Cable).

You will need to manually configure your network card settings if the installer does not automatically detect the driver. Most ISA-based network cards may also require the I/O and IRQ settings for the driver. See the Linux Ethernet HOWTO and ISA Network Cards for some tips and tricks.

Unless your Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides a static IP address, it is recommended that you use Dynamic IP Configuration. If your ISP assigns a static IP you will need to enter the individual TCP/IP settings as provided by your ISP. Make sure you have these settings available during the installation process.

ClarkConnect supports PPPoE DSL connections. Add the username and password provided by your ISP on this screen. For brain dead ISPs, you may also need to specify DNS servers.

If you are installing ClarkConnect as a gateway, you must specify the network settings for your local area network. The LAN hostname can be used instead of the IP address for many network tools. For instance, you will be able to access the web-based administration tool at https://servername:81 in your web browser.

The next few screens will ask for your system name, system password and time zone.

Selecting Your Hard Disk Partitioning Settings If you would like to specify your own partition scheme, then you should select “yes” on the “Select Partition Type” screen. The Advanced Partitioning screen will appear in the second stage of the installation process… don't panic!

Select the software components to install on your system. Not all the modules (including AppleTalk and Junkbuster) are shown here - don't panic. With the ClarkConnect web-based configuration, you can add other modules at any time.

For some installations, you may want to define a custom partition scheme instead of using the default. Typically, custom partitioning is required for:

• Software RAID
• Creating a separate /home partition
• Data redundancy with DRBD

If you do not wish to use the default partitioning scheme on your system, then select advanced partitioning in the installation wizard (see screenshot).The tool for creating partitions will appear at a later stage in the installer. Continue with the rest of the installation wizard after selecting the partition type on this screen.

When the installer displays a disk partitioning setup page, select the Disk Druid option on this screen. The documentation for this partitioning tool is available here:

• Disk Druid Documentation

Example: Software RAID 1

Using software RAID is a common way to protect against a hard disk failure. Here is a step-by-step guide to implement Software RAID 1 on regular IDE hard disks.

For software RAID 1, you need two hard disks. Since the RAID partitions on both the hard disks must be of equal size, it is a good idea to use two hard disks with (roughly) the same storage capacity. In our example, we are using two IDE disks on two different disk controllers. These hard disks are detected in Linux as:

• /dev/hda
• /dev/hdc

Some hard disks may have partitions already defined. These existing partitions (if any) must first be deleted.

• Use the tab key to move to the main window (one tab after highlighting the Back button)
• Use the up/down arrows to select a partition
• Use the tab key to highlight the Delete button and hit return
• Repeat until all partitions are deleted

After all the partitions are deleted, we can start our RAID configuration. First, we are going to start with the swap memory partitions. Putting swap memory on a software RAID partition is not recommended. For this reason, simply create swap partitions on both hard disks.

• Tab to the New button and hit return
• Tab down to File System Type and select swap
• Tab to Allowable Drives and mark only hda and take the mark off of hdc.
• Tab down to Size (MB) and type in the size of your RAM in megabytes (MB)
• Tab down to OK and hit return.

Repeat the same process, but this time mark hdc as an allowable drive and take the mark off of hda.

The boot partition (/boot) is where we are going to start with our RAID solution.

• Tab to the New button and hit return
• Tab down to File System Type and select software raid
• Tab to Allowable Drives and mark only hda and take the mark off of hdc.
• Tab down to Size (MB) and type in 100
• Tab down to OK and hit return.

Repeat the same process, but this time mark hdc as an allowable drive and take the mark off of hda. Now that we have two identical 100 MB partitions on both disks, we can create the software RAID disk:

• Tab to the RAID button and hit return
• Type in /boot in the Mount Point field
• Tab to RAID Level and select RAID1
• Tab to RAID Members and make sure the two partitions created earlier are selected

This example creates the /boot partition. Go through the same process for the root partition (/) and optionally any other partition that you want to create (/home, /var, etc.).

We are almost done with the software RAID configuration. Next, the installation wizard will ask for the boot loader settings.

• Select Grub as your boot loader
• Disable the boot password (unless you really need it)

If have trouble booting up your system with Grub, you can use the Lilo boot loader as an alternative. However, you will need to type the following on the first installation screen: linux lilo. If the secondary disk fails (/dev/hdc), then the system will still be bootable. If the primary disk fails (/dev/hda), then your system will not boot. In order to make the secondary disk bootable as well, run the following command:

# grub-install /dev/hdc     

Or:

# grub-install --recheck /dev/hdc    

Testing Software RAID If you would like to sanity check your RAID system, then:

• Power down the machine
• Unplug the data connector from the drive (just unplugging the power is going to make the BIOS unhappy and the system will not be bootable)
• Power up the machine

• Software RAID Howto
• Old Red Hat Installation Guide

There are thousands of pieces of hardware and related drivers available for use in the PC world. The advantage: consumer choice. The disadvantage: hardware compatibility issues are common. There are several debug screens in the installer that can help when an installation fails. Use the Alt-FX key combination to view:

• Alt-F1: main install screen
• Alt-F2: command line (not always available)
• Alt-F3: general log
• Alt-F4: driver log
• Alt-F5: hard disk / CD log

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