Introduction
The NVIDIA® DGX™ systems are shipped with DGX™ OS which incorporates the NVIDIA DGX software stack built upon the Ubuntu Linux distribution. Instead of running the Ubuntu distribution, you can run Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the DGX system and still take advantage of the advanced DGX features.
This document explains how to install and configure the NVIDIA DGX software stack on DGX systems installed with or Rocky Linux 8.
Note
While it may be possible to use other derived Linux distributions besides Red Hat Enterprise Linux, not all have been tested and qualified by NVIDIA. Refer to the DGX Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Release Notes for the list of tested and qualified software and Linux distributions.
Prerequisites
The following are required (or recommended where indicated).
Red Hat Subscription
You need a Red Hat subscription if you plan to install and use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 on the DGX. A subscription also lets you obtain update packages and additional packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You can either purchase a subscription or obtain a free evaluation subscription from the Red Hat Software & Download Center.
Note
Of the available Red Hat Enterprise Linux platforms, only Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server is supported on DGX systems (DGX servers and DGX Station workstation). Other Red Hat Enterprise Linux platforms are not supported on any DGX system.
Access to Repositories
The repositories can be accessed from the internet.
If your installation does not allow connection to the internet, see the section Installing Software on Air-Gapped NVIDIA DGX Systems for information about updating software on “air-gapped” systems.If you are using a proxy server, then follow the instructions in the section Configuring a System Proxy to make sure the system can access the necessary URIs.
NVIDIA Repositories
After installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the DGX system, you must enable the NVIDIA DGX software repository (https://repo.download.nvidia.com). The repository includes the NVIDIA drivers and software for supporting DGX systems.
See the section Enabling the Repositories for instructions on how to enable the repository.
Red Hat Repositories
Installation of the DGX Software over Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 requires access to several additional repositories.
Red Hat Enterprise BaseOS Repository:
rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpmsRed Hat Enterprise AppStream Repository:
rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpmsRed Hat Enterprise CodeReady Linux Builder Repository:
codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-debug-rpms
Network File System
On DGX servers, the data drives are meant to be used as a cache. DGX Station users can follow the same usage, or can alternatively opt to use these drives for storage. When using the data drives as cache, a network file system (NFS) is recommended to take advantage of the cache file system provided by the DGX software stack.
BMC Password
The DGX BMC comes with default login credentials as specified in Changing the BMC Login.
Important
NVIDIA recommends disabling the default username and creating a unique BMC username and strong password as soon as possible. Refer to Changing the BMC Login for instructions.