Preparing the server

Use this procedure if you are installing InfoPrint Manager for Linux for the first time on a Linux server.

  1. Log in to the Linux system as root.
  2. Check to see that the size of your swap space is adequate. It is recommended that you have at least 2 gigabytes of swap space. A rule of thumb is to use a swap space of double system memory. Consult your Linux documentation to learn how to optimize the size of your swap space. A smaller swap space does not prevent InfoPrint Manager from functioning, but does impact performance.
  3. Insert the most recent Service DVD into the DVD-ROM reader.
    Important: You should install InfoPrint Manager software using the most recent version of the InfoPrint Installer. Using an updated InfoPrint Installer lets you install and configure the latest InfoPrint Manager features. An updated InfoPrint Installer is found on the most recent Service DVD-ROM.

  4. Make sure the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) is installed and running on the system where you are about to install InfoPrint Manager for Linux.

      Note:

    • InfoPrint Manager CUPS DSS uses the Linux CUPS printing system. Make sure that you have enough space for the /var file system so as the /var/spool/cups area, where temporary job information is saved, has sufficient capacity for your workload.

    • For a more detailed configuration of the CUPS printing system, see the CUPS documentation at http://www.cups.org and the CUPS DSS and PSF-Other tuning section in the RICOH InfoPrint Manager for AIX and Linux: Configuring and Tuning Guide.

  5. InfoPrint Manager for Linux supports only LVM (Logical Volume Management) disk partitioning, which provides several advantages over the standard partitioning scheme. For more information, see The Linux Logical Volume Manager section below.

  6. Make sure that all prerequisite packages are installed previous to installation start. A complete list of rpm packages required is available in the Verifying Prerequisites chapter in the RICOH InfoPrint Manager for Linux: Planning Guide, G550-20262.

  7. If your target operating system is SUSE Enterprise Server and you plan to use the root user to run InfoPrint Manager, the Locale Settings for User root must be set to Yes before installing for InfoPrint Manager.

  8. Open a terminal window.

    If you are using the GNOME, you can open a terminal window by clicking the terminal icon contained in the task bar (the task bar appears at the bottom of the screen). By default, the terminal icon is contained in a popup menu above the text editor icon that appears on the task bar.

    To determine the name of the DVD mount point, enter: 

    ls /media/*

  9. Mount the DVD, if necessary. Enter: 
    mount /dev/cdrom /media/<mount_point>

    If you want to view a help statement showing various install options, enter this command: 

    /media/<mount_point>/setup -h

  10. Disable your antivirus software. Installing InfoPrint Manager on a system running an antivirus software is not recommended.

    If your IT department does not let you disable antivirus software, set up exceptions within your antivirus software for these paths:

    • /usr/lpp/pd
    • /var/pd
    • /var/psf

      Note:
    • If you plan to install InfoPrint Manager on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, disable the CIS SUSE Linux Enterprise Benchmark application.

The Linux Logical Volume Manager

Linux uses something called the Logical Volume Manager (LVM) to manage, at a logical level, all the file systems and directories created in a Linux system. LVM is a disk management mechanism that is significantly different from traditional UNIX partitioning schemes. The LVM maps data between logical and physical storage, allowing data to be discontiguous, span multiple disks, flexible and dynamically expanded. One advantage is the ability to allocate extra space to a file system without the need to rebuild the disk. The LVM controls physical disk resources by providing a simplified logical view of the available storage space.

The logical storage structure that is the most common is called the volume group (VG). In Linux, storage allocation is performed at the volume group level. Data cannot span volume groups. When the Linux operating system is first installed, a volume group called vg_<hostname> is created. The vg_<hostname> contains the base operating system files for Linux.

Logical Volume Manager organization

Logical Volume Manager organization
Each individual disk drive is logically represented by a physical volume (PV). Each physical volume consists of several partitions called physical partitions (PP). The physical partitions are grouped into something called a logical volume that contains logical partitions. The logical volume, in turn, belongs to a volume group. Logical volumes contain the file systems.

Detail of the Volume Group logical structure

Detail of the Volume Group logical structure
As you can see in the previous Figure, a volume group can have data that span more than one physical volume.

The logical volumes can use linear, striped, or mirrored volumes to store data. This file system uses database journaling techniques to maintain its structural consistency. This prevents damage to the file system when the system is halted abnormally. Other file systems that you might encounter on Linux might include xfs, NFS (Network File System), and AFS (Andrew File System). The term file system is also used to describe the hierarchical structure (file tree) of files and directories.

You can create new volume groups. See Linux Commands Reference for more information. You can also manually create InfoPrint directory structures in a volume group by using the allocatefs command. See RICOH InfoPrint Manager: Reference for more information about the allocatefs command.

Parent topic: Preparing to use the InfoPrint Manager Installer