Installation

This manual describes the installation process of the IACBOX. The installation can be performed with pre-defined unattended profiles or in expert mode. For starters it is highly suggested to install the system with one of the 4 pre-defined unattended profiles.

The installation medium of the IACBOX can be downloaded from our homepage and is available as CD ISO and USB image. For more information on how to create a bootable USB stick follow the instructions on the according manual page.
A detailed description on how to use pre-defined unattended profiles can be viewed here Unattended Setup.
Also note the hardware requirements that can be found under Hardware requirements.

Basic BIOS settings

Ensure the BIOS settings are configured according to the following points:

The SATA controller must be set to AHCI
All kinds of network boot options should be disabled
Both UEFI and legacy BIOS mode are supported, however UEFI is preferred
On HP servers ILO should be disabled

DANGER

On-Board or software-based RAID solutions will not work! If a RAID solution is required, a dedicated RAID controller with battery pack like the HPE P440 or p408i has to be used.

The installation medium can be used on the new server to install the IACBOX. Note that some systems, for example with existing operating systems, might not boot from the CD/USB stick. To do so manually press the according button to open the boot menu while the hardware is booting up. Usually this works with the F9 or F10 key, then select the USB stick or the CD-drive to boot from.

Starting the Installation

When the systems boots from the installation medium, the first screen of the installation process will ask the installation mode. Depending on the system, without EFI BIOS the following screen will appear:

For any regular hardware, type g and confirm with ENTER to proceed in Graphics Mode (default).
For hardware with serial connector type s to proceed in Serial Mode and continue with ENTER.
This prompt will only show up if the Hardware/VM does not use an EFI-BIOS.

The next screen will contain different selections on how to start the installation. Proceed with the Standard Installation.

The FT-Setup will load up after this selection, during which an option to install additional drivers will appear. This is only necessary for specific setups. If unsure, leave the setting as is and press ESC to skip the screen.

WARNING

Certain KVMs (Kernel-Based Virtual Machines) require the activation of the virtio_blk driver.
Further information about this can be found in the Virtualization / KVM section.

In order to navigate in the FT-Setup use the arrow keys.
To highlight/select an entry use the SPACE bar.
Use TAB to navigate between the list entries and the save/back handlers. To proceed use the ENTER key.

Express Setup

The next step is the Unattended Setup screen. The IACBOX can be installed conveniently with a pre-defined configuration.
For starters it is recommended to start with one of the available options, for example the Express Setup with 2 NICs in English. After selecting the entry with the SPACE bar, press TAB to highlight the Start Express Setup section and then ENTER to proceed. The IACBOX will now be installed with default settings. The settings can still be changed later on.

After the installation and the automatic restart, the following options will be available. Please note that this screen will be skipped automatically after 10 seconds.

The Text Console and the Failsafe Mode are based on resolution. The Rescue Mode allows for restoration of defective file systems while the Memory test is a check of the system memory. For further information, review the according manual page for the Rescue Mode.

The IACBOX will now boot up to the following screen, the console is ready for login.

This means that the system was successfully installed. The IP address of the Office-LAN is displayed on screen and is used to access the WebAdmin. Therefore connect a workstation/notebook to the Office-LAN and open the webpage https://192.168.1.1 with a browser of choice (replace with the IP address in this example with the one configured previously). Later in this manual we will present how to enable WebAdmin access via Management-LAN or Surf-LAN.

TIP

The console enables changing of certain network settings. To login, first change the password for the default WebAdmin user sysop. The login on the console will not work with the default login data (sysop/sysop). In order to change the password for the sysop user log in into the WebAdmin (see above) and click on My Account.

Logging in with the sysop user on the console will lead back into the setup menu. This can be used to change the network settings without accessing the WebAdmin.

Expert Setup

In addition to the Express Setup, Expert Setup enables configuration of interface IP addresses, Gateway and DNS servers during the installation.

TIP

In order to navigate in the FT-Setup use the arrow keys. To highlight/select an entry use the SPACE bar. Use TAB to navigate between the list entries and the save/back handlers. To proceed use the ENTER key.

Keyboard layout and partitioning can be changed before installation. Note that the installation process requires that all important menus are entered at least once. After confirming the keyboard settings, navigate into the Partitioning menu and choose the appropriate hard drive for automatic partitioning. The installation will show a summary of the partitions which are required for the IACBOX.

Accept the summary with Continue to get back to the main menu. Now move on to Installation to start the process which copies all necessary files to the selected hard drive. This may take some time.

After the copying process is finished, the main menu of the basic configuration will appear again. Same as with the keyboard settings, first navigate into Timezone and either accept or change the configuration. Now navigate to Sys-Config. Here the used DNS Servers may be changed.

TIP

It is highly suggested to use the DNS servers of your ISP. Using local firewalls or routers as DNS servers will most likely lead to problems later on.

After configuring the DNS servers navigate into the Office LAN / WAN menu. Here the IP address of the Office-LAN can be changed along with its Subnet mask and the Default Gateway. Note that this must be done by technical staff with according network knowledge.

Next up is the Surf-LAN interface configuration.

TIP

For the Surf-LAN configuration, please note that it is highly suggested to use the default configuration. Since the Surf-LAN is an isolated network, it should not matter. The options Enable client2client protection and Disable client MAC address dependency will be explained later on.

After both interfaces have been reviewed, the text next to them will change from <edit> to <done>, which is required to proceed with the installation.

TIP

When 3 network cards are installed, an additional menu for Management-LAN will appear. In case the Management-LAN is required, enter the menu, select enable Management-LAN by using the SPACE bar. Now use the TAB key to select Accept and confirm by pressing ENTER once. This must be done before leaving the menu, otherwise the change will not be saved.

To get back to the main menu use TAB to highlight Back and confirm with ENTER. Now navigate into the menu Net-Auto. This menu allows to re-assign the installed network cards to a specific interface of the IACBOX. Even as this is not necessary, the installation process requires entering this menu in order to verify the amount of detected network cards.

Now navigate back to the main menu, enter the Activate menu and confirm. The installation will now activate the configuration. Afterwards finish by choosing End - Exit FrozentuxSetup, this installs the kernel and prepares the system for the first boot. The system reboots and loads the IACBOX. The bootup is finished as soon as the login console is reached:

TIP

Logging in with the sysop user on the console will lead back into the setup menu. This can be used to change the network settings without accessing the WebAdmin.

Installation

Basic BIOS settings #

Starting the Installation #

Express Setup #

Expert Setup #

Basic BIOS settings

Starting the Installation

Express Setup

Expert Setup