For remote probes hopping subnet to subnet, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol can often be easier just because it lets you avoid having to edit files to change network parameters, but then again it may be more appropriate in larger networks to have a certain IP address assigned to monitors and appropriately firewalled throughout the core prior to probe deployment.

The root password should be a strong password, of course, and a second account should be created with an equally strong password. Remotely, the machine will be accessed via this second account, then "su" for root needs.

Performing tasks as root that don't need to be performed as root can be quite dangerous to the integrity of a system if a command is executed by mistake, such as rm -f (remove files, ignore nonexistent files, never prompt) without doing a pwd (print name of current/working directory) command to verify the directory that the files will be removed from.Once the installation process begins, the process can take over an hour.

Depending on the distribution and the packages selected, CDs may have to be swapped out if the packages selected are located on different CDs. After the installation is complete and the CD is removed from the tray, the machine will successfully boot into Linux for the first time.

In the next article, we'll discuss testing the system and installing and using a basic sniffer package as essential as the Phillips screwdriver: tcpdump.