CentOS is a Community-based Enterprise Operating System, with a free support platform which uses the source code of Red Hat Enterprises Linux (RHEL) distribution. The advantage of using CentOS is that it is completely free to install on any 64-bit x86 system. Most of the Web Hosting companies are using this free community enterprise edition on their servers. Each version of CentOS comes with a 10-year supported life cycle, more than any other OS in the market.
Nowadays, installing Linux operating systems is not big rocket science. As most distros come with very user-friendly wizard designs. Each installation window that appears on the screen can be used in a single mouse click. However, the only portion stuck by the newbie is on creating the disk partitions. For example, the calculation methods used for each partition, (boot,swap,/home,/var,/,etc). This guide is prepared only for beginners or the first time CentOS installer.
In this article, we will see the step by step (using screenshot) installation on CentOS-8, which will help you to understand very easily. The new version of CentOS -8 brought several changes and additions. Those major changes will be, looked into in the upcoming articles.
Prerequisites :
HDD minimum : 20 GB RAM minimum : 2 GB (Recommended 4 GB) System Type : 64-bit x86 System Installation kit : Bootable DVD/USB/.iso
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For the demonstration, I will be using a virtual environment (VMware Workstation 15.5.2). This guide assumes that you have your own virtual or standard machine that is ready to install the CentOS-8.
To install OS on standard servers, we need either a bootable DVD/USB. To install the OS in a virtual environment, then use the .iso file. In our case, we are going with a virtual environment. For any difficulties creating a bootable USB, here is a step-by-step guide on how to create a bootable USB.
Step-3: Let's start the CentOS-8 Installation
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The following screen will appear when you boot the system with either ".iso or bootable media" kit for CentOS 8 for the first time. Choose either "Install CentOS Linux 8" OR "Test this media & Install CentOS Linux 8 "and hit the enter key to proceed. If you are using the CentOS 8 media kit for the first time, then I would recommend going with the 2nd option.
Step-4: Language selection screen
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On this screen you can choose your preferred language, in our case we will go with English United States and click on Continue.
Step-5: Configure Installation summary
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We need to configure the respective options to customize the installation based on our requirements on the following screen:
System (Installation Destination)
Software Selection
Kdump
Date & Time
Network & Host Name
Security Policy
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As you can see, a few options are on the above screen filled/picked by default. The rest of the above-listed options are manually configured based on our requirements. Here I am going to start with customizing the partition (Installation Destination).
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On the above screen, you can see a 20GB virtual disk is available to install CentOS 8. Here, we have two options (Automatic and Custom) to configure the disk partition. The Automatic option will create all the partitions by the system itself. To configure the partition manually, we need to select the "custom option". In our case, I will go with the custom partition based on my requirements. Click on Done to proceed.
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In the above screen, we have the choice of selecting three different mount partition schemes, which are Standard, LVM, and LVM Thin Provisioning. By default, LVM is selected, to change the scheme, click the drop-down list then select the option based on your requirement. Here, I choose the standard partition option.
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Disk partitioning is a very important task for every Linux admin. As we need to be very calculative about our requirement of using the server and configure the partition accordingly. As we know, most of the newbies or experienced Windows users who migrated to Linux, use the wrong practice of choosing the partition scheme. They generally configure only tree partitions (/boot,/, swap) maybe this combination is good with a home or a desktop machine. However, on the production servers, it is not recommended as it will affect the performance and other related issues. Hence, it is recommended to go with the following partition scheme.
/boot – 1 GB with ext4 filesystem
/ – 8 GB with xfs filesystem
/home - 7 GB with xfs filesystem
/var - 2 GB with xfs filesystem
Swap – 2 GB with swap filesystem
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Here, I go with 1GB size of (boot) partition. You can enter the desired size based on your requirement, mostly 1 or 2 GB is fair enough for the boot partition. Then click "Add mount points" to continue.
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Next, create the "/ " (parent) partition which is called "root" partition. Here, I am going to use an 8GB size for this partition. Then click "Add mount points" to continue.
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Similarly, we can use the same method to create remaining partitions (/home, /var, and Swap).
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Once you have completed the disk partition, click "Done" to proceed, as shown below:
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In this screen, we are going to click on “Accept Changes“ to fulfill the summary changes that the changes made in the disk, it will write all the partitions.
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Next, click “Software Selection“. Here you have a choice of 6 different options to install your server. In our case, I am going with the “Server with GUI” option and if you need only the minimal installation, then select “Minimal Install“. Once you have selected it, click "Done" to move to the next step.
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The next Kdump option is enabled by default if you want to disable it, just click the option and remove the tick mark, but it is recommended to always enable it, as it will help to debug in case of any crashes at the kernel level. To learn more about the kdump, click here.
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To configure “Network & Host Name” during the installation time, just click the respective option and enable the Ethernet connection "On" and it will assign the IP address automatically (DHCP) and you add the hostname as well. Click "Done" to proceed as shown below:
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If you wish to change the Date and Time settings based on your zone, click the respective icon and just select the region and city from the map as shown below:
Step-6: Click "Begin Installation"
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Once, we have customized all the respective options based on our requirement, then hit the “Begin Installation” tab from the Installation Summary screen to start the installation process as shown below:
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During the installation process, it will ask you to set the root password and the option to create a normal user.
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First set the root password as shown below
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Second, create a local user as shown below
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On the following screen, you will see the installation process is going on, once it is completed, you will be notified to reboot the system.
Step-7: System Reboot
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Once the installation is finished, it will prompt you to reboot the system. Click on Reboot.
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After the reboot, remove the installation media kit and set the boot option from the disk.
Step-8: Fresh CentOS 8 box and Accept License
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Select the first option from the grub to boot CentOS 8 as shown below
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Activate the License information on CentOS 8
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Finally, click the “Finish Configuration” to complete the initial phase of the CentOS 8 installation.
Step-9: Login Screen
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Once we have completed the initial setup, you will be redirected to the following Login Screen: Here, enter the password you assigned to the particular user that is displayed on your screen.
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On the Welcome Screen, you have the option to choose the language for your OS. Here, I go with the English United States and click Next
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On the following screen, you can select your keyboard layout, I go with the default option and click Next
Finally, click on:
Start Using CentOS Linux
Conclusion
That’s the end of the CentOS 8 installation part! Thank you for taking the time to read! I hope this article will help you to understand the CentOS 8 Installation. Drop me your feedback/comments. If you like this article, kindly share it and it may help others as well.
Thank you for your support and for being a part of my journey, I would be very grateful if you could consider buying me a coffee. The contributions you make will help me to continue to produce quality content and enhance my readers' experience.
John Britto Founder & Cheif-Editor @LinuxTeck. A Computer Geek and Linux Intellectual having more than 10+ years of experience in Linux and Open Source technologies.
