Novell SLRS 8 - Manual

Red-Paper: POS/Retail Project

SUSE LINUX Retail Solution 8

(SLRS 8)

Admin Guide

F. Balzer, S. Duehr, T. Franke, R. Oertel,

G. Rieger, M. Schaefer, A. Schmidt

SUSE LINUX AG, Nuernberg

May 3, 2006

Revision: 1275

Contents

1 Introduction 7

2 Architectural Overview 9

2.1 Administration Server ....................... 9

2.2 Branch Server ............................ 14

2.3 Cash Register ............................ 16

3 Quick Start Guide 21

3.1 Installation Process ......................... 22

3.2 Installation of the Administration Server ............. 23

3.3 Installation of the Branch Server ................. 31

3.4 Test your SLRS System Environment ............... 38

4 Server Structure 43

4.1 Requirements ............................ 43

4.2 Architecture ............................. 44

4.3 LDAP Structure ........................... 44

4.4 Server Conﬁguration and Server Services ............. 47

4.5 POS Scripts ............................. 48

4.6 Cash Register Images ........................ 50

5 Setting up Administration and Branch Servers 55

5.1 Installation of the Administration Server ............. 55

5.2 Installation of the Branch Server ................. 61

5.3 Installation of the Highly Available Branch Servers ....... 65

6 Server Commands 71

6.1 posInitLdap.sh .......................... 72

6.2 posInitBranchserver.sh ..................... 73

6.3 possyncimages.pl ......................... 74

6.4 posldap2crconfig.pl ....................... 75

6.5 posleases2ldap.pl ........................ 75

6.6 posldap2dns.pl .......................... 76

6.7 posldap2dhcp.pl .......................... 77

6.8 posReadPassword.pl ........................ 77

6.9 poscheckip.pl ........................... 78

Contents

7 PosAdmin 79

7.1 Basic Command Line Options ................... 79

7.2 Basic Actions ............................ 80

7.3 Managing Hardware ........................ 92

7.4 Managing Images .......................... 95

8 The imageBuilder 99

8.1 Overview of the POS_Image Packages ............... 99

8.2 Operating System Images .....................101

8.3 Installing imageBuilder .......................101

8.4 Copying the SLRS CDs into a Central Archive ..........102

8.5 Conﬁguring the imageBuilder ...................102

8.6 Prebuilt Standard Images .....................103

9 The Boot Process of a Cash Register System 105

10 The scr tool 107

11 Creating Operating System Images 111

11.1 List All Image Descriptions .....................112

11.2 Creating a Standard Image .....................112

11.3 Creating a New Image Description Tree ..............113

11.4 Extending an Image ........................117

11.5 Manually Extending an Image ...................119

11.6 Conﬁguring an Image .......................120

11.7 Distributing New Images ......................123

12 Preparing a CD-ROM Boot Image 125

12.1 Preparing the CR CD-ROM Boot Image ..............125

12.2 Creating the CD ISO Image ....................128

12.3 Booting the CR CD-ROM Boot Image ...............129

13 Automatic Branch Server Installation 131

13.1 Server Preparation .........................131

13.2 LDAP Data for the Branch Server .................132

13.3 XML Template File .........................133

13.4 Tools .................................134

13.5 Creating the Boot Media ......................135

14 Best Practices 137

14.1 Backup and Restore .........................137

14.2 Access Control ...........................139

15 Advanced Topics 141

15.1 Operating System and Boot Image Details ............141

15.2 Standard Images ..........................142

15.3 Boot Images .............................142

15.4 Naming and Storing Images ....................143

Contents

15.5 Creating Images ...........................144

15.6 Booting the Cash Registers .....................146

15.7 Thin Client Adminstration .....................154

16 Troubleshooting 157

16.1 Server Infrastructure ........................157

16.2 Operating ..............................159

A Installation RPM Lists 163

A.1 RPM Lists for Minimal Installations ................163

A.2 RPM Lists for Default Installations ................164

Index 177

Contents

1 Introduction

The SUSE LINUX Retail Solution 8 (SLRS 8) for Point of Sale (POS) Retail

Systems is based on the SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 (SLES 8) and pro-

vides a complete SUSE LINUX operating system and management solution

for POS Cash Register Systems (CR). The SLRS architecture was designed to

use a central administration server for deployment and management and a

branch server infrastructure in each branch (ofﬁce) for preinstall or in-store

deployment.

The administration server provides the following features:

•Central LDAP directory to manage POS terminals and servers

•Global and default parameters and application conﬁguration

•POS Image creation and release management

The branch server provides the following features:

•Software transport for OS and application updates

•Multicast boot infrastructure for POS terminals

•Diskless and diskful POS clients

•AutoYaST installation and online update for server OS

•Option: Two-node high availability cluster with replicated data

Because this document comprises conceptual and user information, the fol-

lowing list of topics is provided for the reader:

•Architectural Overview — Chapter 2:The purpose of this chapter is

to provide an overview of the concept of the SLRS and the interaction of

the several components.

•Quick Start Guide — Chapter 3:Best point to start with the SLRS.

•All about Servers — Chapters 4,6, and 7:The topics of these chap-

ters are the server structure, the SLRS LDAP directory service, the POS-

related server commands, and the PosAdmin commands for manipulat-

ing the LDAP directory entries.

1 Introduction

•Building and Maintaining POS Images — Chapters 8,10,11 and

12 These chapters summarize all information about how to build and

distribute custom POS images.

•Autobuild Branch Server — Chapter 13:Description for SLRS experts

of how to prepare a CD boot media for automatic branch server installa-

tion.

•Maintaining SLRS — A View Inside SLRS — Chapters 14 and 15:

Further expert information for sysadmins can be found in these chapters.

2 Architectural Overview

Contents

2.1 Administration Server ..................... 9

2.1.1 LDAP Directory ..................... 11

2.1.2 Tools ........................... 11

2.2 Branch Server ......................... 14

2.2.1 Functionality ...................... 14

2.2.2 Operating System .................... 14

2.2.3 Administration ..................... 15

2.2.4 Clustering ........................ 15

2.2.5 Accessing the POS Terminals ............. 15

2.3 Cash Register .......................... 16

2.3.1 Requirements ...................... 16

2.3.2 Operating System .................... 16

2.3.3 SLRS Boot System ................... 17

2.3.4 Boot Process ...................... 18

2.3.5 Graphical Display Conﬁguration ............ 19

2.3.6 Hard Disk Installation ................. 19

2.3.7 CD Boot Installation .................. 19

The SLRS provides a system platform for the cash registers and in-store servers,

a scalable deployment infrastructure, and a centralized management system.

The CRs are implemented in a variety of hardware forms, with the main differ-

ence being whether they are equipped with hard drives (diskless vs. diskful).

Figure 2.1 describes the system architecture: one centralized administration

server (AS) controls a large number of branch servers (BS), which in turn pro-

vide the local infrastructure for the cash register point of sales (POS) systems.

All servers are intended to be set up as highly available two-node failover

cluster systems.

2.1 Administration Server

All system management for BS and POS systems (CR) is done on the central

administration server (AS). It provides the following services:

2 Architectural Overview

100 MBit

Ethernet

Cash

Administrator

Admin

Server (AS)

Branch

Server (BS)

WAN

100 MBit Ethernet

Router

Router Switch

Figure 2.1: System Architecture of the SUSE LINUX POS/Retail Solution

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