Linux_D0software

D0race

Linux Operating System

D0 (and the Fermilab computing division) have adopted Red Hat as the preferred flavor of Linux. Among the options for obtaining a copy of the OS:

'FermiLinux' -- a version of Red Hat customized by the computing division
Purchase a copy of Red Hat
Download the CD images directly from Red Hat

For offsite Linux installations the FermiLinux modifications are less relevant, but it will work fine nonetheless. Contact Connie Sieh to request a set of CD's. If someone opts to use 'plain' (i.e., non-FNAL) Red Hat Linux it will be necessary to first install UPS/UPD (see below) before proceeding with D0/FNAL software downloads.

A few things to be aware of before installing Red Hat Linux. D0 is currently a mix of v6.1/6.2 and v7.1 Red Hat -- the Monte Carlo farms still use v6.x, while the clued0 Linux user cluster at D0 is running v7.1. For most remote sites v7.1 will be the better choice for a new, up-to-date installation. Note, however, that several Linux configuration procedures changed significantly between v6.x & v7.1. Always take care to run only those services (httpd, telnet, ftp, etc.) that are required. Turn off any unused services to increase the security of a system.

'Bootstrapping' UPS/UPD on a non-FermiLinux machine

UPS/UPD(UNIX Product Support/UNIX Product Distribution) is a Fermilab computing division system for obtaining software and maintaining a history of those products installed on a given machine. Each remote machine that will use UPS/UPD must be registered. Fill out this form and wait for an acknowledgment. One your machine is registered you can proceed to setting up UPS/UPD:

See this page for a description of the procedure
Obtain the script stage1.sh and configuration file generic
create the directory /fnal/ups (this can be a link that points to the actual directory)
as root, execute the script:

sh stage1.sh generic

If the script executes correctly you'll see messages like
....
0% complete
(several minutes pass, the percentage updates...)
100% complete
Bootstrap succeeded
....

In addition to installing the software, the script creates an account with username 'products' whose home directory is /fnal/ups. Hence the use of commands like ". ~products/etc/...." in the instructions below.

At this point you can test that UPS/UPD is installed by doing:
>
> . ~products/etc/setups.sh (for bash shell)
> source ~products/etc/setups.csh (for c-shell)
> setup upd
> upd list -aK+ cern | grep -i linux

(This last command was suggested by Alan Jonckheere -- thanks! It checks for versions of cern for Linux machines by using 'grep -i linux' (-i means case-insensitive). -a & K+ specify all versions and one line outputs, respectively. Alan also pointed out that 'egrep -i "linux|null" ' will also search for non-flavor specific (i.e., "null") versions of a package.)

If UPS/UPD is working correctly you are now ready to install other packages as needed (ROOT, D0 releases, etc.). IMPORTANT! Verify that you have the latest versions of ups/upd & perl. If you used the bootstrap procedure above you should already have the latest versions, but a quick check is still worthwhile:

(The first three commands check version availability at FNAL, the last three indicate what is installed on your local system.) As of early February 2002 the current versions were v4_6 for ups & upd, and v5_006_1 for perl. If you need to update any of these packages you can proceed as follows:

> upd install ups v4_6 -G'-c'
> upd install upd v4_6 -G'-c'
> upd install perl v5_006_1 -G'-c'

(In the future update the versions as necessary.)

Questions/comments? Contact Mark Sosebee
Last updated June 22, 2002