CS458/558 - Network Management - Lab 7

The following assignment is intended to provide you with experience in working with the installation of a UNIX server. This assignment requires the diagrams of the Administration Building used in the earlier Labs. You may do this assignment in groups of 2 students.

1. Contact a local computer dealer or use the Internet to find out the cost of upgrading from Windows '95 to Linux. Be sure to consider the cost to upgrade any hardware.

2. Why would you want to upgrade from Windows '95 to Linux?

3. Assume that the computers in the Administration building are currently Pentium 133's with 16 MB of RAM and a 750 MB Hard drive running Linux. What would the cost be to upgrade all of the computers from Windows '95 to Linux.

4. On one of the servers in the SH109 lab, record hardware information about the computer to have ready for a Linux installation.

5. Install Linux Server on the computer in the SH109 lab that you used to answer question #3. Answer the following questions. (Have paper ready to write down your answers during the installation.)
   • How did you initially boot the computer to start the installation?
   • What mass storage devices did Setup detect?
   • Did you need to specify additional mass storage devices that were not detected?
   • What hardware and software components were identified by Setup? Did it identify all components successfully?
   • Did you install Linux on an existing partition or did you create a new one?
   • How much disk space is available for the installation?
   • Did the examination of the hard drives find any problems? If so, what were the problems?
   • What software components did you install? Why? How much disk space did they require?
   • Did Setup correctly identify the NIC and NIC settings?
   • What protocols did you select? Why?
   • What network services did you select? Why?
   • What bindings were selected? Why?
   • Did you choose to make an Linux Boot Disk? At what point did Setup make the disk?
   • Did the server boot successfully after the installation? If it didn't, why not?

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written by Wayne Summers wsummers@nmhu.edu