SuSE Linux 9.3 and OpenMosix

WORK IN PROGRESS

Kernel 2.6

SuSE Linux 9.3 uses kernel 2.6.11. This is a major problem at the moment as openMosix only supports, fully, the 2.4 series kernel. The 2.6 series has been officially released, but the userland tools and migration daemon are still unavailable.

RPMS

SuSE uses RPM as it's package management solution. You should download the kernel RPM and userland tools RPM from the openMosix website. To install the RPMs run:

rpm -ivh openmosix-kernel-*.rpm
rpm -Uvh openmosix-tools-*.rpm

Running the kernel install with -ivh as apposed to -Uvh prevents any existing kernels from being overwritten. This means that you will still be able to boot a previously working kernel once the openmMosix enabled kernel has been installed.

Boot Loader

Check /boot for the new kernel and initrd names, then run YaST and choose:

System -> Boot Loader Configuration

Select, from the Boot Loader Setup screen Available Sections and click Add. Select Yes when prompted to clone the existing 'SUSE LINUX 9.3' section. Edit the "Section Name" (set to something obvious, like "openMosix-<version>") and the "kernel" & "initrd" entries with the values that you worked out from checking /boot. Select OK, then either Finish, or, if you want openmosix to be the dewfault kernel used at boottime, then edit the Default Section section on the menu before choosing Finish.

Starting openMosix automatically

If you chose to have the new openMosix kernel used by default, then you'll probably want to have openMosix activated when the network comes up. Still within YaST, select

Sytstem -> System Services (Runlevel)

Choose expert mode, scroll down to the openMosix entry, and select "3" & "5" under "Service will be started in the following runlevels" and then choose finish.