There are both ``Quick Start'' and detailed installation sections in this guide. Due to the complicated nature of putting together a high-performance cluster, it is strongly suggested that you read this document through, without skipping any sections, and then use the detailed installation procedure to install your OSCAR cluster. Novice users will be comforted to know that anyone who has installed and used Linux can successfully navigate through the OSCAR cluster install. If you are too impatient to read manuals, and your cluster meets certain requirements, feel free to try your luck with the ``Quick Start'' installation.
The rest of this document is organized as follows. First, Section 2 tells how to obtain an OSCAR version 2.0b1 distribution package. Next, a ``Release Notes'' section (Section 3) that applies to OSCAR version 2.0b1 contains some requirements and update issues that need to be resolved before the install. Section 4 provides a ``Quick Start'' installation guide, which gives a brief overview of the entire installation process. It is intended for experienced users who do not need the step-by-step instructions for a complete install. The ``Quick Start'' section is not for the Linux or clustering novice. Section 5 provides an overview for the System Installation Suite software package used in OSCAR to perform the bulk of the cluster installation. An outline is provided in Section 6 of the entire cluster install procedure, so that users have a general understanding of what they will be doing. Section 7 details the cluster installation procedure. The level of detail lies somewhere between ``the install will now update some files'' and ``the install will now replace the string `xyz' with `abc' in file some_file.'' The reasoning behind providing this level of detail is to allow users to fully understand what it takes to put together a cluster, as well as to allow them to help troubleshoot any problems that may occur. Finally, Section 8 contains system administration notes about several of the individual packages that are installed by OSCAR. This section is a ``must read'' for all OSCAR system administrators.
Appendix A covers the topic of network booting client nodes, which is so important that it deserved its own section. Appendix B provides curious users an overview of what really happens during a client install. Appendix D covers a primer of some security aspects of a Linux cluster. Although not intended to be a comprehensive description of cluster security, it is a good overview for those who know relatively little about system administration and security. Finally, Appendix E is a screen-by-screen walk through of a typical OSCAR installation.
More information is available on the OSCAR web site and archives of the various OSCAR mailing lists. If you have a question that cannot be answered by this document (including answers to common installation problems), be sure to visit the OSCAR web site:
root 2002-11-08