View source for IRIDIA cluster installing an OS on the servers

You should install a Linux distribution on the servers. Debian has proved itself appropriate and the documentation here is based on Debian. So unless you are a very adventureous spirit with too much time on your hands, you should stick to Debian.

=== Install Debian in a minimal version ===
You can get a network installation ISO from for instance: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Notice that polyphemus has two NICs while majorana has three. The 100 Mbit NICs connects the servers to the world, so configure those if you do a network install.

Install a new kernel (version 2.6.x SMP) on majorana. A kernel from a binary image is fine.

On majorana install X and GNOME:
<pre>
apt-get install gdm gmome-desktop xserver-xfree86 x-window-system
</pre>

=== Post installation ===
Enable the Gigabit Ethernet NICs in:
<pre>
/etc/network/interfaces
</pre>

Copy the files that you backup to majorana:
<pre>
/root/bin
</pre>
and add that path to .bashrc so that scripts in that directory can be executed without typing in your life story.

After Debian has been installed move on to [[IRIDIA cluster server daemons | install the cluster server daemons]].