This document provides customized instructions for the installation and configuration of Rocky 9.3 operating system and additional modules as recommended for using Mistika products on linux.
Important note for Mistika Ultima users planning to upgrade from CentOS systems to Rocky Linux: At the date of this document Rocky linux 9.3 is NOT compatible with Stornext cvfs/snfs storage. Do not upgrade to Rocky linux if you need to connect to pre-existing storage servers based on that software. Please contact SGO support in case of doubts.
Note: This document does not cover the Mistika installation itself, but everything that is recommended to do before that step.
As a difference to CentOS there is no Rocky Linux installation iso specific for Mistika. Instead, you need to download the official Rocky Linux 9.3-KDE iso from the official Rocky website and create an installation pen drive with it.
At the date of this document, the official iso was here:
https://dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/9/live/x86_64/Rocky-9-KDE-x86_64-latest.iso
Note: Rocky "point" releases are often moved out of the downloads section to the "vault", so if the link does not work another place to look for it could be here:
https://dl.rockylinux.org/vault/rocky/
Other posterior or earlier iso images could work or not with Mistika, but at the moment of this document the only tested version of Rocky linux for Mistika products is Rocky 9.3-KDE (so currently that it is the only one supported by SGO).
Note: This document also covers the installation of the most common components typically used on post production "Workstations" in general, even if most of those components are not strictily required for Mistika software. So in addition to hard requirements (NVIDIA driver, python, sudoers) it will also cover the installation of nfs, samba, ssh, vnc, audacity, gimp, remote desktop applications, etc.
Rocky Linux Installation:
If you see a blank screen during the installation (it depends on the hardware and GPU models) you may need to add nomodeset at the end o the linux line of the grub (also after the installation).
During the installation make sure to select the language and time zone where the system will be used. Specially because selecting the wrong language can be difficult to change later, as some folders like "Downloads", "Desktop", etc will not have those names but their regional translated names ...
Boot with the iso, then execute the Install to hard disk icon. Install it to your preferred drive. During the installation, select the option to create a new user, and for example name it "mistika" (Mistika applications can not run as root).
Everything else can be left by default (or as you wish).
Once the iso is installed we recommend to execute the next actions (most of the commands below need to be executed as root user, but not all. If you are not sure about how to do that then please contat your system administrator):
Switch the login type to KDE X11 / Plasma
In the login screen, some Rocky distros come with a setting to chose the login type (in the bottom left corner of the login screen ). Choose Plasma / X11
How to fix the "kde connect" error (only needed if you see an error like that):
rpm -e kdeconnectd kde-connect-libs kde-connect
Mistika user autologin
If you want rocky to autologin to the mistika user desktop, you can edit the file /etc/sddm.conf and make sure the next lines are uncommented:
[Autologin]
Session=plasma.desktop
User=mistika
Permit ssh access:
systemctl enable sshd
systemctl start sshd
Network stability
Install VNC server (optional)
This is only required if you want to connect to your system remotely via VNC:
yum install x11vnc
To permit connections, enable the firewall port used by x11vnc:
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5900/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload
Then, you need to set a password with the command:
x11vnc -storepasswd
And launch the vnc server. For example, login as mistika and execute this:
x11vnc --forever -display :0
Or for a more ellaborated example:
x11vnc -rfbauth /home/mistika/.vnc/passwd -forever -loop -noxdamage -repeat -shared -o /home/mistika/x11vnc.log -display :0
Make mistika user a sudoer (this is required before installing any Mistika products):
Add this line to /etc/sudoers file
mistika ALL=(ALL) ALL
Install NVIDIA driver:
First we need the compiler and the kernel sources:
dnf install gcc
dnf install kernel-*
Now blacklist the nouveau driver:
Create the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf file and add the following information to the file:
blacklist nouveau
options nouveau modeset=0
Re-generate initramfs.
sudo dracut --force
reboot
Download and install the current nvidia driver for your GPU, for example:
cd /tmp/
wget https://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/550.54.14/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-550.54.14.run
chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-550.54.14.run
Login in text only mode (for example press ctrl+alt+f2, or similar )
init 3 (to stop X server)
rmmod nouveau (in case it is loaded)
If that is not enough for going into text only mode it can be that you logged in using Wayland, in that case logout and make sure to select the Xorg login type, then login and repeat the step above.
Execute the nvidia installer a first time:
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-550.54.14.run
If asked, accept to modify the xconfig file
If asked, accept to blacklist the nouveau driver, and then accept to create initramfs
reboot
After the reboot, if you were asked to re-create the initramfs then install the nvidia driver a second time:
cd to_your_nvidia_driver_location
./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-550.54.14.run
reboot
Check that nvidia-smi and nvidia-settings are working
nvidia-smi (it should output your GPU model)
Additional steps BEFORE installing any mistika applications:
To make the license server to work you need to disable selinux, by changing the SELINUX variable in the /etc/selinux/config to disabled:
SELINUX=disabled
For more information about managing SELINUX you can consult this link
Install libGLU:
dnf install libGLU
And you also need to Install additional packages:
yum -y install xterm
yum -y install g++
yum -y install xfsprogs-devel
yum -y install libxslt-devel
yum -y install openssl-devel
yum -y install glib2-devel
yum -y install lbzip2.x86_64
yum -y install grsync
yum -y install ksysguard
yum -y install xcb-util-devel.x86_64
yum -y install glew-devel.x86_64
yum -y install python
yum -y install python-devel
yum -y install gimp
yum -y install audacity
Link the bz12 library:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib64/libbz2.so.1.0.6 /usr/lib64/libbz2.so
KDE adjustments recommended for Mistika
Deactivate screen saver and sleep mode, as they can interfere with render proceseses:
Settings -> System settings -> Power Management -> Energy Saving:
Suspend = OFF
Screen Energy saving = OFF (and configure your energy saving preferences directly in your monitor)
Activate Linux bar (contextual menu) -> Enter Edit mode -> more Options -> Auto Hide = ON
Deactivate Settings -> System settings -> Workspace Behaviour -> Screen Locking - > Lock screen automatically = OFF
Install Python version required for Mistika (BEFORE installing Mistika Workflows):
Just execute the script attached to this document (as mistika user, not root), before installing Mistika Workflows:
chmod 777 InstallPython311_Rocky93.sh
./InstallPython311_Rocky93.sh
For more details about what does this script do you can visit this other document.
Install samba, nfs, and ntfs filesystem:
dnf install ntfs* nfs* samba*
Rocky 9.3 comes with a Firewalll activated by default, which will prevent the network servers such as nfs and samba to work until opening the corresponding ports. The trivial way to solve this is to deactivate the firewall (thus making the system unsecure...)
su
systemctl stop firewalld
systemctl disable firewalld
For more fine control and more security, google how to do adjust security for your particular use case ...
Install Mistika Ultima (optional)
Download and install the latest version of Mistika Ultima. It should be not earlier than 23 July 2024, previous versions were known to have problems on Rocky linux.
After installing, open mConfig and:
- change the hostname to a meaningful name, with no dots (".") in the middle (as they are not compatible with BatchManager)
- Change the File Paths -> Projects, Media, and shared paths to match your storage
- Activate BatchManager->UseBatchManager
- Activate BatchManager->Start BatchManager at boot time
- If you plan to configure a collaborative environment, make sure the BatchManager queues folder is in a shared storage, and also the shared folder, projects path and media path.
Install Mistika Workflows
Reminder: Before installing Workflows the attached script (python installation) needs to be executed (this is just a reminder, it was already asked in a previous point...).
Install Mistika Workflows, open it and go to the script editor panel. There must be no errors (messages in red color) in there. Otherwise something went wrong (ask for support ...)
Install remote desktop applications (optional, if you need to work from home...):
Explained here:
History of an example installation:
dnf update -y
dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/
dnf config-manager --add-repo http://developer.download.
/cuda-rhel9.repo
dnf module install nvidia-driver:latest-dkms
reboot
cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/AnyDesk-
[anydesk]
name=AnyDesk CentOS - stable
baseurl=http://rpm.anydesk.
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://keys.anydesk.
EOF
yum update
dnf makecache
dnf install -y redhat-lsb-core
yum install ncurses-compat-libs
dnf install anydesk
teamviewer:
In order to install teamviewer, you need to install the minizip1.2 package first, as it is a dependence, you can do it with yum:
yum install minizip1.2
Then, download the latest version of teamviewer for x86_64, for example from the next link:
https://download.teamviewer.com/download/linux/teamviewer.x86_64.rpm
And finally, install with rpm:
rpm -i teamviewer_XXX.rpm
You can run it from a shell, of from the graphical "internet" menu.