6. Copy AlmaLinux Distribution Data

1. Download ISO

   The AlmaLinux ISO image can be downloaded from one of many mirrors listed on https://mirrors.almalinux.org/. Download with wget to the master node.

   [root@master ~]# yum install wget
   [root@master ~]# wget https://mirror.usi.edu/pub/almalinux/8.10/isos/x86_64/AlmaLinux-8.10-x86_64-dvd.iso
   

   Warning

   In MHPC Hardware please use http://172.16.0.1/repo/iso/alma/AlmaLinux-8.10-x86_64-dvd.iso to download the iso image into the scratch folder.

   [root@master ~]# yum install wget
   [root@master ~]# cd /scratch
   [root@master scratch]# wget -P /scratch http://172.16.0.1/repo/iso/alma/AlmaLinux-8.10-x86_64-dvd.iso
   

2. Mount ISO

   We need to extract the contents of that ISO image to a folder. Mount the ISO as loopback device into a folder, e.g. /mnt/iso.

   # mount ISO image
   [root@master ~]# mkdir -p /mnt/iso
   [root@master ~]# mount AlmaLinux-8.10-x86_64-dvd.iso /mnt/iso
   

3. Copy contents to folder

   Copy the contents of your mounted directory to a folder hosted by HTTP server, such as /var/www/html/AlmaLinux-8-10-x86_64.

   [root@master ~]# cp -r /mnt/iso /var/www/html/AlmaLinux-8-10-x86_64
   

4. Copy AlmaLinux installer kernel and initrd file for PXE boot

   The ISO includes a kernel and initrd file which can be used for PXE booting via network. Copy these files into a almalinux8 folder in the TFTP root directory /var/lib/tftpboot/.

   [root@master ~]# mkdir -p /var/lib/tftpboot/almalinux8/
   [root@master ~]# cp /mnt/iso/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz /var/lib/tftpboot/almalinux8/
   [root@master ~]# cp /mnt/iso/images/pxeboot/initrd.img /var/lib/tftpboot/almalinux8/
   

5. Unmount ISO

   Finally unmount the ISO image.

   [root@master ~]# umount /mnt/iso