Install from SSH
Contents
1 Intro
This article is intended to show users how to install Parabola remotely via an SSH connection. Consider this approach over the standard one in scenarios such the following:
Setting up Parabola on...
- HTPC without a proper monitor (i.e. an SDTV).
- A PC located in another city, state, country (friend's house, parent's house, etc.)
- A PC that you would rather setup remotely, for example from the comfort of one's own workstation with copy/paste abilities from the Parabola Wiki.
2 Boot from Media
Boot into a live Arch environment via the live CD/USB image and log in as root.
3 Setup the Live Environment to use SSH
One should be presented with the root prompt [root@libreiso ~]# at this point.
Firstly, setup the network on the target machine:
aif -p partial-configure-network
It will present you with a list of known interface; type in the interface you would like to use (eg: eth0 for wired Ethernet interface)
Secondly, sync the live environment to a mirror, install the openssh package, and start it:
pacman -Syy openssh rc.d start sshd
Finally, setup a root password which is needed for an ssh connection; the default arch password for root is empty.
passwd
4 Connect to the Target PC via SSH
Connect to the target machine via the following command:
$ ssh root@ip.address.of.target
From here one is presented with live environment's the welcome message and is able to administer the target machine as-if sitting at the physical keyboard.
ssh root@10.1.10.105 root@10.1.10.105's password: Last login: Thu Dec 23 08:33:02 2010 from 10.1.10.200 ************************************************************** * To begin installation, run /libre/setup * * You can find documentation at * * /usr/share/aif/docs/official_installation_guide_en * * * * i18n: Use the 'km' utility to change your keyboard layout * * and console font. * * * * If you are looking to install Parabola on something more * * exotic, such as your kerosene-powered cheese grater, * * please consult https://wiki.parabolagnulinux.org. * * * ************************************************************** [root@libreiso ~]#
4.1 Notes
- If the target machine is behind a firewall/router, the default ssh port of 22 will obviously need to be forward to the target machine's LAN IP address. The use of port forwarding is not covered in this guide.
- One can edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config on the live environment prior to starting the daemon for example to run on a non-standard port if desired.
5 Next Steps
The sky is the limit. If the intent is to simply install Parabola from the live media, run /libre/setup. If the intent is to edit an existing GNU/Linux install that got broken, follow the Install from Existing GNU/Linux wiki article.
Want grub2 or the ability to use GPT hardrives?
- Manually partition the target HDD/SDD using the gptfdisk utility installed via pacman -S gptfdisk before starting the parabola installer and when presented with the option to install a boot loader in the installation framework, simply answer no and drop back to the live environment's root prompt.
- Installation of grub2 is trivial at this point. Simply chroot into the fresh Parabola install (default pre-mounted if coming out of the installer) then install and setup grub2:
cd /mnt rm console ; mknod -m 600 console c 5 1 rm null ; mknod -m 666 null c 1 3 rm zero ; mknod -m 666 zero c 1 5 mount -t proc none /mnt/proc mount --rbind /dev /mnt/dev mount --rbind /sys /mnt/sys chroot /mnt /bin/bash
Now inside the fresh Parabola chroot:
pacman -S grub2 grep -v rootfs /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab
Edit /etc/default/grub to your liking. Install grub and generate a grub.cfg
grub-install /dev/sdX --no-floppy grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
When ready to reboot into the new Parabola install, exit the chroot and unmount the partitions prior to a reboot of the system.
exit umount /mnt/boot # if mounted this or any other separate partitions umount /mnt/dev/shm umount /mnt/dev/pts umount /mnt/dev umount /mnt/sys umount /mnt/proc umount /mnt