Installing on Linux systems

Complete the following steps to install Linux x86_64 on the server system.

Before you begin

The operating system is installed on the internal hard disks. Configure the internal hard disks using a hardware RAID 1 array. For example, if you are configuring a small system, the two 300 GB internal disks are mirrored in RAID 1 so that a single 300 GB disk appears available to the operating system installer.

Procedure

  1. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7.1 or later, according to the manufacturer instructions. Obtain a bootable DVD that contains Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7.1 and start your system from this DVD. See the following guidance for installation options. If an item is not mentioned in the list, leave the default selection.
    1. After you start the DVD, choose Install or upgrade an existing system from the menu.
    2. On the Welcome screen, select Test this media & install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1.
    3. Select your language and keyboard preferences.
    4. Select your location to set the correct time zone.
    5. Select Software Selection and then on the next screen, select Server with GUI.
    6. From the installation summary window, click Installation Destination and verify the following:
      • The local 300 GB disk is selected as the installation target.
      • Under Other Storage Options, Automatically configure partitioning is selected.
      Click Done.
    7. Click Begin Installation. After the installation starts, set the root password for your root user account.
    After the installation completes, restart the system and log in as the root user. Issue the df command to verify your basic partitioning. For example, on a test system, the initial partitioning appeared as follows: 
    [root@tvapp02]# df –h
Filesystem             Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/rhel-root   50G  3.0G   48G   6% /
devtmpfs                32G     0   32G   0% /dev
tmpfs                   32G   92K   32G   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs                   32G  8.8M   32G   1% /run
tmpfs                   32G     0   32G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mapper/rhel-home  220G   37M  220G   1% /home
/dev/sda1              497M  124M  373M  25% /boot
  2. Configure your TCP/IP settings according to the operating system installation instructions.

    For optimal throughput and reliability, consider bonding multiple network ports together. This can be accomplished by creating a Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) network connection that aggregates several subordinate ports into a single logical connection. Configuration recommendations include using a bond mode of 802.3ad, miimon setting of 100, and a xmit_hash_policy setting of layer3+4.

    For additional instructions on configuring bonded network connections with Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Networking_Guide/sec-Network_Bonding_Using_the_Command_Line_Interface.html#sec-Create_a_Channel_Bonding_Interface.

  3. Open the /etc/hosts file and complete the following actions:
    • Update the file to include the IP address and host name for the server. For example: 
      192.0.2.7  server.yourdomain.com  server
    • Verify that the file contains an entry for localhost with an address of 127.0.0.1. For example:
      127.0.0.1  localhost
  4. Install components that are required for Tivoli® Storage Manager server installation. Complete the following steps to create a Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM) repository and install the prerequisite packages.
    1. Mount your Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation DVD to a system directory. For example, to mount it to the /mnt directory, issue the following command: 
      mount -t iso9660 -o ro /dev/cdrom /mnt
    2. Verify that the DVD mounted by issuing the mount command. You should see output similar to the following:
      /dev/sr0 on /mnt type iso9660
    3. Change to the YUM repository directory by issuing the following command: 
      cd /etc/yum/repos.d
      If the repos.d directory does not exist, create it.
    4. List directory contents: 
      ls rhel-source.repo
    5. Rename the original repo file by issuing the mv command. For example:
      mv rhel-source.repo rhel-source.repo.orig
    6. Create a new repo file by using a text editor. For example, to use the vi editor, issue the following command:
      vi rhel71_dvd.repo
    7. Add the following lines to the new repo file. The baseurl parameter specifies your directory mount point: 
      [rhel71_dvd]
name=DVD Redhat Enterprise Linux 7.1
baseurl=file:///mnt
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
    8. Install the prerequisite package ksh.x86_64, which is required for Tivoli Storage Manager, by issuing the yum command. For example:
      yum install ksh.x86_64
      Note: You do not need to install the compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-69.el6.i686 and libstdc++.i686 libraries for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7.1.
  5. When the software installation is complete, you can restore the original YUM repository values by completing the following steps:
    1. Unmount the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation DVD by issuing the following command: 
      unmount /mnt
    2. Change to the YUM repository directory by issuing the following command: 
      cd /etc/yum/repos.d
    3. Rename the repo file that you created: 
      mv rhel71_dvd.repo rhel71_dvd.repo.orig
    4. Rename the original file to the original name: 
      mv rhel-source.repo.orig rhel-source.repo
  6. Determine if kernel parameter changes are required. Complete the following steps:
    1. Use the sysctl -a command to list the parameter values.
    2. Analyze the results by using the guidelines in Table 1 to determine if any changes are required.
    3. If changes are required, set the parameters in the /etc/sysctl.conf file. The file changes are applied when the system is started.
      Note: Kernel parameter values that are listed in Table 1 include commas for ease of reading. Do not include commas for any value that you update in the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
    Note: On Linux, DB2® might automatically increase interprocess communication (IPC) kernel parameter values to the preferred settings. If DB2 updates the values that you set, you do not need to change them back to the values that are listed in the following table.
    Table 1. Linux kernel parameter optimum settings
    Parameter Description Preferred value
    kernel.shmmni The maximum number of segments. 256 x size of RAM in GB
    Values for each system size:
    • Small: 16,384
    • Medium: 32,768
    • Large: 49,152
    kernel.shmmax The maximum size of a shared memory segment (bytes).

    This parameter must be set before automatically starting the Tivoli Storage Manager server on system startup.

    		 Size of RAM in bytes
    Values for each system size:
    • Small: 68,719,476,736
    • Medium: 137,438,953,472
    • Large: 206,158,430,208
    kernel.shmall The maximum allocation of shared memory pages (pages) 2 x size of RAM in bytes (setting is in 4 KB pages)

    Value used for all sized systems: 4,294,967,296

    Changes to the factory settings for this parameter are not required.
    kernel.sem
    You must specify four values for the kernel.sem parameter. When you update this parameter, include all values on one line in the following order: 
    kernel.sem = SEMMSL 
SEMMNS SEMOPM SEMMNI
    For example, to update the parameter for a medium system, enter the following on one line in the /etc/sysctl.conf file:
    kernel.sem = 250 
256000 32 32768
    		(SEMMSL)

    The maximum semaphores per array

    		 250
    (SEMMNS)

    The maximum semaphores per system

    		 256,000
    (SEMOPM)

    The maximum operations per semaphore call

    		 32
    (SEMMNI)

    The maximum number of arrays

    		 256 x size of RAM in GB
    Values for each system size:
    • Small: 16,384
    • Medium: 32,768
    • Large: 49,152
    kernel.msgmni The maximum number of system-wide message queues 1024 x size of RAM in GB
    Values for each system size:
    • Small: 65,536
    • Medium: 131,072
    • Large: 196,608
    kernel.msgmax The maximum size of messages (bytes) 65,536
    kernel.msgmnb The default maximum size of queue (bytes) 65,536
    kernel.randomize_va_space The kernel.randomize_va_space parameter configures the use of memory ASLR for the kernel. Disable ASLR because it can cause errors for the DB2 software. To learn more details about the Linux ASLR and DB2, see Technote 1365583 at: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21365583. 0
    vm.swappiness The vm.swappiness parameter defines whether the kernel can swap application memory out of physical random access memory (RAM). For more information about kernel parameters, see the DB2 information center. 0
    vm.overcommit_memory The vm.overcommit_memory parameter influences how much virtual memory the kernel can permit to be allocated. For more information about kernel parameters, see the DB2 information center. 0
  7. Open firewall ports that Tivoli Storage Manager will use. Complete the following steps:
    1. Determine the zone that is used by the network interface. The zone is public, by default.
      Issue the following command: 
      #  firewall-cmd --get-active-zones
public
  interfaces: ens4f0
    2. To use the default port address for communications with the Tivoli Storage Manager server, open TCP/IP port 1500 in the Linux firewall.
      Issue the following command:
      firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=1500/tcp --permanent

      If you want to use a value other than the default, you can specify a number in the range 1024 - 32767. If you open a port other than the default, you will need to specify that port when you run the configuration script.

    3. If you plan to use this system as a Tivoli Storage Manager Operations Center hub, open port 11090, which is the default port for secure (https) communications.
      Issue the following command:
      firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=11090/tcp --permanent
    4. Reload the firewall definitions for the changes to take effect.
      Issue the following command:
      firewall-cmd --reload
  8. Verify that user limits, also known as ulimits, are set according to guidelines in Table 2. If ulimit values are not set correctly, you might experience server instability or a failure of the server to respond.
    Table 2. User limits (ulimit) values
    User limit type Setting Value Command to query value
    Maximum size of core files created core Unlimited ulimit -Hc
    Maximum size of a data segment for a process data Unlimited ulimit -Hd
    Maximum file size fsize Unlimited ulimit -Hf
    Maximum number of open files nofile 65536 ulimit -Hn
    Maximum amount of processor time in seconds cpu Unlimited ulimit -Ht
    Maximum number of user processes nproc 16384 ulimit -Hu
    If you need to modify any user limit values, follow the instructions in the documentation for your operating system.