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How to setup CentOS: Bare Install

Hello,

Today I will be showing you folks how to do a Bare CentOS install for use in installing a custom Apache, PHP and MySQL setup (or maybe even changing out CentOS for nginx or lighttpd, which will be covered in some later tutorials.)

Please note that I am showing this as a how-to guide and data may be permanently deleted from your hard drive, please use caution when selecting options. If you are unsure on something Google it or leave a comment and I will help you ASAP.

The first step is to download the CentOS image, since you will be doing a base image you can use the NetInstall DVD (32-bit or 64-bit [Please note these must be burned to a CD-Rom to be used with a proper ISO program]) and also note this tutorial was created using the DVD, but the NetInstall process is similar.

Ok once you have the ISO image above burned to a disk, you’ll want to pop it into the PC your going to use’s CD/DVD drive and reboot the PC, make sure that the CD/DVD Drive is set to boot before the hard drive otherwise it might not boot from the CD/DVD Drive (on some computers, you can press ESC for a boot loader menu and select the drive manually.) Once you get that far, you’ll get the following screen.

From here it’s as easy as pressing the ENTER key and letting it do it’s thing.

Next you will be prompted for a media check, if you download the DVD or CDs I recommend you check them before the install, but if your using the NetInstall image don’t worry about it as any files will be downloaded over the internet.

If you want to check your install media now is the time to press Ok, if not press Skip.

Then press Test.

Now the check is running, this may take a few minutes depending on the computer you are using.

Once that is done it will let you know whether the disk passed or not. If the disk did not pass, you could have a bad download or you could have burned it too fast. Try buring the disks at 16x if CD or 8x if DVD. Here the media has passed.

Next press Ok and then press Done again, it will start to load the setup wizard which will bring you to this following screen.

From there press next and select the language you want to use during the install process.

Now select the correct keyboard layout for your computer (if you are unsure on this you should just leave it alone).

Next you might get a popup saying the disk layout needs to be initialized, press yes on this. (Please note this tutorial does not cover dual-boot system, if you are unsure on this please don’t continue further, research some more data.)

Next you will be brought to a screen talking about partitions, select the top box and press the first option as outlined in the screen shot below (This will take your entire hard drive and repartition it.)

Press Next and a popup confirming that you want all data deleted on your drive, press yes to continue.

Next you will be configuring your network devices. Highlight your primary interference and press Edit and set a static IP address; and unless your network is IPv6 ready, please discheck the IPv6 box. You will also have to set your resolvers (aka DNS Servers) and primary gateway. You can set this now (for resolvers I usually use Google’s, which are 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4).

Next you will confirm your time zone.

And now you will be setting your root password, this is like the ‘Administrator’ account to your CentOS box, please make sure you set it to something strong.

Next will be the packages selection, I left some notes in the image so please review them on how to make your decision.

Now you will be brought to a page that shows lists on the left and right. Everything should be unchecked except for the following groups.

Applications -> Editors, Text-based Internet
Base System -> Base

Then press yes, it will check for dependencies and go to the next step.

The next screen is the last screen before the install, please take a second to review it and then press Next, your almost there.

Now your hard drives will start to format.

And now the system will start to install, this may take a few minutes so go do a load of laundry or grab a cup of coffee and come back.

Once it’s done you’ll get a screen confirming the install and it’ll ask you to remove the disk, remove the CD from the drive and press Reboot.

Now the computer will reboot, and once it POSTs BIOS it’ll go into the Grub bootloader; wait three seconds and it will start too boot.

Once it’s booted you’ll get a screen like below (this is only for the first boot); I like to disable SELinux as I find it a pain so if you want to too go into Firewall Configuration -> and next to SELinux highlight disabled. Once done press Ok and it’ll disable SELinux. Then go ahead and press Exit on the mainscreen and you will be brought into a login prompt…which we will continue the next tutorial.