Steps to Install Centos-8 with screenshots
A brief introduction about CentOS
CentOS is a Community-based Enterprises Operating System, with a free support platform which is using the source code of Red Hat Enterprises Linux (RHEL) distribution. The advantage of using CentOS is completely free to install on any 64-bit x86 systems. We can see 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 support life cycle than any other OS in the market.
Nowadays, installing Linux operating systems is not big rocket science. As most of the distros are coming with very user-friendly wizard designs. Each installation window that appeared on the screen can be used in a single mouse click. But, the only portion stuck by the newbie is on creating the disk partitions. Like, 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 coming 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
Note:
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 is ready to install the CentOS-8.
Step-1: Download the latest CentOS-8
From this following link, you can directly download the iso file from centos official site
Download CentOS 8 ISO file https://www.centos.org/download/
Step-2: Bootable DVD/USB
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To install OS in 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 to create 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 of 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. For the first time using the CentOS 8 media kit, 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 the English United States and click to Continue.
Step-5: Configure Installation summary
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In the following screen, we need to configure the respective options to customize the installation based on our requirements.
- 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 are filled/picked by default. The rest of the above-listed options are manually configure based on our requirements. Here I am going to start with customizing the partition (Installation Destination).
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In 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 requirement. Click on Done to proceed.
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In the above screen, we have a 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.
Note:
A 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. But in 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 point” 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 point” 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 we 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 click “Done” to move to the next step.
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Next Kdump option, it is enabled by default if you want to disable, just click the option and remove the tick mark, but it is recommended to enable always, as it will help to debug in case of any crashes at the kernel level. To know more about 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 as 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 the local user as shown below
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In the following screen, you can 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 to reboot the system. Click to 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, we will be redirected to the following Login Screen. Here, you enter the password you assigned to the particular user, that displayed on your screen.
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In the Welcome Screen, you have an option to choose your language for your OS. Here, I go with the English United States and click Next
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In 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!
To find all the CentOS 7 articles, https://www.linuxteck.com/linux/rhel-centos-7/
