Debian Installation Tutorial

This tutorial guides you through the process of installing Debian operating system, which is a prerequisite for installing ARO Client software image installer.

The tutorial also guides you through the multi-disk configuration. Please do make sure you have followed the tutorial if you have multiple data disks for your ARO Client (which is usually the case).

Note: Debian 11 and above versions are supported.

If you already have a required operating system running on your machine, you can skip this tutorial.

1. Pre-Installation Preparation

Note: Ensure the computer is connected to the internet before proceeding.

1.1 Download the System Imaging Software Rufus

Rufus 4.9 Download link: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v4.9/rufus-4.9.exe

1.2 Download the Official Debian Image

Debian 12.11.0 amd64 Image URL:https://get.debian.org/images/archive/12.11.0/amd64/iso-dvd/debian-12.11.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso

After downloading the image, use an md5sum verification tool to compare the file's checksum with the official md5sum value to ensure the download is complete and intact.

1.3 Prepare a USB Drive

Prepare a USB drive with at least 8GB capacity.

1.4 Prepare Hardware

Prepare a physical host, monitor, and keyboard.

2. Creating a Bootable USB Drive on Windows

2.1 Launch the Rufus Application

Double-click rufus-4.9.exe to start the Rufus application.

2.2 Burn the System Image

In the "Device" dropdown, select the USB drive to be used for the system installation. For the boot selection, click the "Select" button and choose the downloaded system image debian-12.11.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso. Other settings can remain as shown in the default configuration below.

Warning: The imaging process will erase all data on the USB drive. If the USB contains important data, please back it up before proceeding.

Select "Write in ISO Image mode" and click "OK" to start the imaging process.

After the imaging process is complete, safely eject the USB drive.

3. Debian System Installation

Warning: The physical host for the installation must be connected to the internet via an Ethernet cable.

3.1 Configure USB Boot and Boot Mode

Enter the BIOS setup interface to configure the boot settings. The method to access the BIOS varies slightly depending on the x86 device (check the boot screen for prompts; common keys include F2, F12, ESC, Enter, or Delete). In this guide, press DEL or ESC to enter the setup interface.

3.1.1 Set Boot Mode

Set the Boot Mode to UEFI + LEGACY.

3.1.2 Set USB as the First Boot Device

3.1.3 Save Settings and Exit

3.2 Image Installation

3.2.1 Enter the Installation Interface

After completing the BIOS setup, the system will restart and enter the installation interface. Select Graphical install and press Enter to begin the system installation.

3.2.2 Select Language

3.2.3 Select Your Location

3.2.4 Configure the Keyboard

3.2.5 Configure the Network

3.2.6 Set Up Users and Passwords

Set the root user password:

Add a new user:

Set the new user password:

3.2.7 Select Disk

During installation, select a smaller disk as the system disk and leave other disks unconfigured for now.

Create a boot partition on the system disk with a size of 256MB:

Automatically partition the remaining capacity of the system disk:

3.2.8 Configure the Package Manager

3.2.9 Software Selection

Select Debian desktop environment, SSH server, and Standard system utilities.

3.2.10 Installation Completion

Select Continue to automatically restart the system.

After rebooting, the system will display the login screen.

4. Multiple Data Disk Configuration

Note: You can choose either the LVM approach or the Raid approach.

4.1 Approach 1 - LVM Configuration

Log in using the created user, switch to the root user in the terminal, and run the following command to view the disk list:

As shown above, there may be multiple data disks. This example uses the data disk /dev/nvme0n1.

Edit the apt source file /etc/apt/sources.list (you can choose other Debian apt sources):

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 12.11.0 _Bookworm_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 with firmware 20250517-09:52]/ bookworm contrib main non-free-firmware
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

After configuring the sources, execute the following commands:

export PATH=$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin
apt update
apt install lvm2 -y
mkdir /data

Create a physical volume:

# Create physical volume
sudo pvcreate /dev/nvme0n1

Create a volume group:

vgcreate vg0 /dev/nvme0n1

Create a logical volume:

lvcreate -l 100%FREE -n lv_data vg0

Format the logical volume and add it to /etc/fstab:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/vg0/lv_data
UUID=$(blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/vg0/lv_data)
echo "UUID=$UUID  /data  ext4  defaults  0 2" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
systemctl daemon-reload
mount -a

As shown above, the data disk is successfully managed with LVM and mounted to the /data directory.

4.2 Approach 2 - RAID Configuration

Configure the disk as a single-disk RAID 0.

The following steps demonstrate RAID 0 configuration on a Dell server. The process may vary slightly for servers from other brands.

1. Power on the computer and repeatedly press F12 when the Dell logo appears to access the boot menu.

2. Use the arrow keys to select Device Configuration.

   

3. In the Intel RAID menu, select Create RAID.

   

4. Assign a name to your RAID volume. Use the arrow keys to move to the next item.

   

5. Select the desired RAID level.

   

6. Select the disks for the RAID volume. Highlight a disk, press Space or Enter, and select X.

   

7. Choose the disk volume and stripe size, then select Create Volume to complete. The RAID volume will now appear on the main screen.

   Note: For RAID 0, select a stripe size closest to the average file size to be stored on the RAID volume. If unknown, use the default stripe size of 128 KB.