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Creating a bootable USB drive from ISO image

Registering a server using Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM)

Creating a boot image that is using a remote kickstart file to install Red Hat
Modifying ISO image to include kickstart file Creating a boot ISO that is using a remote kickstart file to install Red Hat  Installing X11 and Gnome Desktop in RHEL 7   RHEL 7 install highlights RHEL 7 installation checklist
Copying config files from one RHEL server to another   Installation of Red Hat from a USB drive Creation of bootable USB with ISO for RHEL7 Kickstart Linux Disk Partitioning
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RHEL6 registration on proxy protected network RHEL5 registration on proxy protected network RHEL subscription management Burning CD and DVD on Linux Linux Swap filesystem RHEL handling of DST change
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Each flavor of Linux has its own installer with its strong and weak points.  It provides you with half-dosen option for installation media:

  1. Bootable DVD (traditional method)
  2. Bootable USB drive
  3. ISO image
  4. Using boot image and some network protocol such as NFS or HTTP (FTP is also supported). 
  5. PXE boot

In all three cases you can automate installation using kickstart.  You can also install CentOS on Windows 10.

If you installing from DVD that you burned yourself, please check media before installation: it helps to prevent many nasty problems.  It is important to understand that if you have problems with installing from one source (for example DVD) it make sense to try another source. On modern computers you can always use a USB disk instead of DVD.

Please note that it make sense to use custom label for partitions if you use LVM. Also it does not make sense to put root partition on LVM -- if you screw /etc/fstab and your root partition is on LVM you are stuck.

RHEL 6.7 and higher installer (anaconda) does a couple of stupid things that you need to aware of:

Anaconda in RHEL 7 is even less flexible and provides fewer "server templates". It is also more fragile. Partially this is due to presence of systemd, partially due to desire of Red Hat to imitate Windows, which adds complexity.  Desire to automate some tasks sometimes backfire.

Here is some information about anaconda adapted from Mark Sobell's book (Practical Guide to Red Hat® Linux®: Fedora™ Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, A, 2nd Edition  2005 edition):

The boot: Prompt  You can give many different Anaconda commands at a boot: prompt. If you are installing from DVD or CD, you can press RETURN  without entering a command to start the installation. Or you can just wait; if you do not type anything for a minute, the installation proceeds as though you pressed RETURN.

Display problems If you have problems with the display during installation, try to give the following command, which turns off video memory, in response to the boot: prompt:

   boot: linux nofb

Non-CD installations If you are installing from media other than DVD or CD and that means  using FTP, NFS, or HTTP, give the following command in response to the boot: prompt:

   boot: linux askmethod

Booting As the system boots, text scrolls on the monitor, pausing occasionally. After a while (up to a few minutes, depending on the speed of the system), the installer displays a graphical or pseudo graphical display, depending on the system you are installing and the commands you gave at the boot: prompt.

Anaconda Boot Commands

All the commands should be types at the boot: prompt like. The fist word of the command is always linux. It can be followed by one of more augments  passed to Anaconda. Arguments can be combined. For example, to install Linux in text mode using a terminal running at 115,200 baud, no parity, 8 bits, connected to the first serial device, give the following command (the ,115200n8 is optional):

   boot: linux text console=ttyS0,115200n8

The next command installs Red Hat Linux in graphical mode (by default) on a monitor with a resolution of 1024x768, and get the prompt to specify the source of the installation data (CD, FTP  site, or other).

   boot: linux resolution=1024x768 askmethod

How to specify installation source in grub

To specify an installation source, use the linux inst.repo=  option in grub. For example:

inst.repo=cdrom:device
inst.repo=ftp://username:password@URL
inst.repo=http://URL
inst.repo=hd:device
inst.repo=nfs:options:server:/path
 
In these examples, cdrom  refers to a CD or DVD drive, ftp  refers to a location accessible by FTP, http  refers to a location accessible by HTTP, hd  refers to an ISO image file accessible on a hard drive partition, nfs  refers to an expanded tree of installation files accessible by NFS. In RHEL 7 nfsiso  is not used as installer is capable to distinguish tree from iso file. 

For NFS installation which is probably the most flexible and simple see

New Page 1

 

ISO images have an SHA256 checksum embedded in them. To test the checksum integrity of an ISO image, at the installation boot prompt, type: linux mediacheck

Following are some of the commands you can give at the boot: prompt.

For more information see Anaconda Boot Options - FedoraProject

Red Hat has well defined remote installation process using Kickstart.


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[Mar 15, 2021] CentOS - RHEL 7 - How to Install GUI The Geek Diary

Mar 15, 2021 | www.thegeekdiary.com

Installing the environment group "Server with GUI"

1. Check the available environment groups :

# yum grouplist
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
There is no installed groups file.
Maybe run: yum groups mark convert (see man yum)
Available Environment Groups:
   Minimal Install
   Infrastructure Server
   File and Print Server
   Basic Web Server
   Virtualization Host
   Server with GUI
Available Groups:
   Compatibility Libraries
   Console Internet Tools
   Development Tools
   Graphical Administration Tools
   Legacy UNIX Compatibility
   Scientific Support
   Security Tools
   Smart Card Support
   System Administration Tools
   System Management
Done

2. Execute the following to install the environments for GUI.

# yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"
.......
Transaction Summary
====================================================
Install  199 Packages (+464 Dependent packages)
Upgrade               (   8 Dependent packages)

Total download size: 523 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]:

The above will install the GUI in RHEL 7, which by default get installed to text mode.

3. Enable GUI on system start up. In RHEL 7, systemd uses 'targets' instead of runlevels. The file /etc/inittab is no more used to change run levels. Issue the following command to enable the GUI on system start.

To set a default target :

# systemctl set-default graphical.target

To change the current target to graphical without reboot :

# systemctl start graphical.target

Verify the default target :

# systemctl get-default
graphical.target

4. Reboot the machine to verify that it boots into GUI directly.

# systemctl reboot
Installing core GNOME packages

"Server with GUI" installs the default GUI which is GNOME. In case if you want to install only core GNOME packages use :

# yum groupinstall 'X Window System' 'GNOME'
....
Transaction Summary
===========================================================
Install  104 Packages (+427 Dependent packages)
Upgrade               (   8 Dependent packages)

Total download size: 318 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]:


[Mar 15, 2021] Install-Convert A Minimal Installation Into GUI on CentOS-RHEL 6-7

Mar 15, 2021 | kapendra.com

Step 1: Install Gnome GUI

Run the following command to install GUI

For CentOS 7:

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# yum group install "GNOME Desktop" "Graphical Administration Tools"
For RHEL 7:
# yum groupinstall "Server with GUI"
... ... ... Step 2: Make GUI Default Mode For Every Reboot

With the upgrade of Centos/RHEL 7 from CentOS/RHEL 6 concept of runlevel has been changed to systemd so run following command

For RHEL/CentOS 7:
ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/runlevel5.target /etc/systemd/system/default.targ

... ... ...

Step 3: Reboot the Server
# reboot
Few Short Cut Commands

GUI to CLI : Ctrl + Alt + F6
CLI to GUI : Ctrl + Alt + F1


Kapendra http://kapendra.com Love to write technical stuff with personal experience as I am working as a Sr. Linux Admin. and every day is a learning day and Trust me being tech geek is really cool.

[May 21, 2011] TipsAndTricks-InstallOnExt4 - CentOS Wiki

This tip allows to use Ext4 on RHEL 5.6 and derivatives.

To allow anaconda to manipulate ext4 filesystems, it is enough to start the installer using the "ext4" parameter on the command line:

linux ext4

[*] Of course, any other additional options can be added to the command line.

Subsequently the ext4 filesystem will be presented by Disk Druid among all other filesystems. Mind that because of GRUB limitations, it is mandatory to use a separate /boot partition formatted as ext2 or ext3 if your root ( / ) partition is ext4.

For kickstart based installations, just use ext4 instead of ext3 as filesystem. No other change is necessary.

[May 20, 2005] Red Hat Linux Step-by-Step Installation by Mark G. Sobell

May 20, 2005 | InformIT

This chapter steps through the process of installing either Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora Core. Frequently, the installation is quite simple, especially if you have done a good job of planning. Sometimes you may run into a problem or have a special circumstance; this chapter gives you the tools to use in these cases.

IN THIS CHAPTER

Chapter 2 covered planning the installation: requirements, an upgrade versus a clean installation, classes of installations, planning the layout of the hard disk, how to obtain the files you need for the installation including how to download and burn ISO (CD) images, and collecting the information about the system you will need during installation. This chapter steps through the process of installing either Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora Core. Frequently, the installation is quite simple, especially if you have done a good job of planning. Sometimes you may run into a problem or have a special circumstance; this chapter gives you the tools to use in these cases.

[Jan 7, 2000] Linux Article -- Kickstart

  • Your company just bought 30 new machines, and it’s your job to install Linux on them. If you’re using Red Hat Linux, the kickstart install process can save you a lot of time.

    Kickstart automates the install process, so that it becomes as simple as putting the floppy in, turning the machine on, and coming back 15 minutes later. Kickstart is especially useful if you have a number of machines with similar configurations. In the simplest case, all you need is an up-to-date boot floppy, a kickstart config file, and an installation CD-ROM. For trickier installs, you might also need a DHCP or bootp server, an NFS server, and a DNS server.

    A kickstart installation requires that you predefine all necessary installation data in a kickstart config file. The kickstart config file can be split into three parts — the preinstall, the packages, and the post-install.

    The preinstall section of the config file is used to answer the questions that are usually asked before the install starts. The options, which will be described below, are: lang, network, {nfs|cdrom|url|harddrive}, {device|noprobe}, keyboard, zerombr, clearpart, part, {install|upgrade}, mouse, timezone, {xconfig|skipx}, rootpw, auth, lilo. See “Configuration Options” for a description of the preinstall section options.

    http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/KickStart-HOWTO.html

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    Last modified: March 15, 2021