Installation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:01, 21 January 2015

The following information will assist you with the installation of Alpine Linux.

Installation Quick-Start in 3 Easy Steps

1st

Download the latest stable-release ISO.

2nd

If you have a CD drive from which you can boot, then burn the ISO onto a blank CD using your favorite CD burning software. Else create a bootable USB drive.

3rd

Boot from the CD or USB drive, login as root with no password, and voilà! Enjoy Alpine Linux!

One of the first commands you might want to use is setup-alpine.

Installation Handbook

Basics

Alpine can be used in any of three modes:

diskless mode: You'll boot from read-only medium such as the installation CD, a USB drive, or a Compact Flash card.
Tip: To prepare either a USB or Compact Flash card, you can use the setup-bootable script; see the pages linked above for details.
When you use Alpine in this mode, you need to use Alpine Local Backup (lbu) to save your modifications between reboots. That requires some writable medium, usually removable.
Note: When the setup-alpine script asks for a disk, say "none". It will then prompt whether you'd like to preserve modifications on any writable medium.
data mode: As in diskless mode, your OS is run from a read-only medium. However, here a writable partition (usually on a hard disk) is used to store the data in /var. That partition is accessed directly, rather than copied into a tmpfs; so this is better-suited to uses where large amounts of data need to be preserved between reboots.
Note: The setup-alpine script handles installing Alpine in this mode, too, when you supply a writable partition instead of "none", and request mode "data".
This mode may be used for mailspools, database and log servers, and so on.
sys mode: This is a traditional hard-disk install (see link for details). Both the boot system and your modifications are written to the hard disk, in a standard Linux hierarchy.
Note: The setup-alpine script handles installing Alpine in this mode, too, when you supply a writable partition instead of "none", and request mode "sys". By default, it will create three partions on your disk, for /boot, /, and swap; however you can also partition your disk manually.
This mode may be used for desktops, development boxes, and virtual servers.

Advanced

Bootstrapping Alpine Linux

Installing Alpine Linux in a chroot

Install Alpine on VirtualBox, VMware, coLinux, Qemu, , Amazon EC2, or RackSpace

Xen Dom0 (Setting up Alpine as a dom0 for Xen hypervisor)
Xen Dom0 on USB or SD
Create Alpine Linux PV DomU
Xen LiveCD

Setting up a basic vserver
Setting up the build environment on HDD
Setting up a compile vserver for official or for third party packages

Post-Install

Setting up Networking
Package Management (apk) (How to add/remove packages on your Alpine)
Alpine local backup (lbu) (Permanently store your modifications in case your box needs reboot)
- Back Up a Flash Memory Installation
- Manually editing a existing apkovl
Init System (OpenRC) (Configure a service to automatically boot at next reboot)
- Multiple Instances of Services

Upgrading Alpine

Setting up a ssh-server (Using ssh is a good way to administer your box remotely)
setup-acf (Configures ACF (webconfiguration) so you can manage your box through https)
Hosting services on Alpine(Links to several mail/web/ssh server setup pages)
Changing passwords

Setting the timezone (Not needed for the default musl- or uClibc-based installs)

Further Help and Information

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 <dl>
 <dt>diskless mode
-<dd>You'll boot from read-only medium such as the installation CD, a [[Create a Bootable USB|USB key]], or a [[Create a Bootable Compact Flash|Compact Flash card]]. {{Tip| To prepare either a USB or Compact Flash card, you can use the <code>[[setup-bootable]]</code> script; see the pages linked above for details.}} When you use Alpine in this mode, you need to use [[Alpine local backup|Alpine Local Backup (lbu)]] to save your modifications between reboots. That requires some writable medium, usually removable. {{Note| When the <code>[[setup-alpine]]</code> script asks for a disk, say "none". It will then prompt whether you'd like to preserve modifications on any writable medium.}}
+<dd>You'll boot from read-only medium such as the installation CD, a [[Create a Bootable USB|USB drive]], or a [[Create a Bootable Compact Flash|Compact Flash card]]. {{Tip| To prepare either a USB or Compact Flash card, you can use the <code>[[setup-bootable]]</code> script; see the pages linked above for details.}} When you use Alpine in this mode, you need to use [[Alpine local backup|Alpine Local Backup (lbu)]] to save your modifications between reboots. That requires some writable medium, usually removable. {{Note| When the <code>[[setup-alpine]]</code> script asks for a disk, say "none". It will then prompt whether you'd like to preserve modifications on any writable medium.}}
 <dt>data mode
 <dd>As in diskless mode, your OS is run from a read-only medium. However, here a writable partition (usually on a hard disk) is used to store the data in {{Path|/var}}. That partition is accessed directly, rather than copied into a tmpfs; so this is better-suited to uses where large amounts of data need to be preserved between reboots. {{Note| The <code>[[setup-alpine]]</code> script handles installing Alpine in this mode, too, when you supply a writable partition instead of "none", and request mode "data".}} This mode may be used for mailspools, database and log servers, and so on.