HOWTO: Configure a ubuntu client

Installing Ubuntu

From live disc-

-Manually partition disc

16384MB Ext3 /root

4096MB Swap

59542MB xfs /storage

-name the computer

When ubuntu is first installed first change the root password and make a new admin name with the home directory as /ahome instead of /home. The /home folder will be replaced with the home directory of the server with all the user /home directories.

-Log out and log back into the new admin name, all changes will now be made from this name.

Configure the network drivers

in system > administration > network

-Click on the wired connection and then properties

-configure the static IP addresses. Consult another computer to get the correct gateway address.

-on the hosts tab replace the computer name with the server ip + name

run the following commands:

-sudo apt-get update

-sudo apt-get upgrade

install any updates

-sudo apt-get install build-essential

-sudo apt-get install ssh

NIS

-edit /etc/apt/sources.list

enable all lines that start with “deb” by taking away the “#” in the beginning of the line

-sudo apt-get install nis portmap

edit the following files:

/etc/passwd (add +:::::: to end of file)

/etc/group (add +::: to end of file)

/etc/shadow (add +:::::::: to end of file)

/etc/yp.conf (configure the domain and server like so: domain 'domain.com' server 'name')

/etc/hosts (add the server URL to the top of the document)

NFS

-sudo apt-get install nfs-common

-edit /etc/fstab (add a line to the bottom that is something like

domain.com:/home /home nfs rw,hard,intr 0 0

Restart the programs

-sudo /etc/init.d/portmap restart

-sudo /etc/init.d/nis restart

-sudo /etc/init.d/nfs restart

On the server run the following commands:

-sudo make -C /var/yp

-sudo exportfs -arv