I. Partitioning
1.1. Understanding Linux Partitions usage
| Partition | Suggestion Size | Description | Mandatory |
| /boot | 500 MiB | This is where all the needed files for Linux to boot are kept | Yes |
| swap | 2 x RAM | The space on a disk that is used when the amount of physical RAM memory is full. When a Linux system runs out of RAM, inactive pages are moved from the RAM to the swap space | Yes |
| /home | 2 GiB | The /home directory is used to support disk storage needs of local users | No/Depend |
| /var | 5 GiB | The /var directory is used by daemons and other system services to temporarily store dynamic data | No/Depend |
| /var/tmp | 1 GiB | The /var/tmp directory is a world-writable directory used for temporarily storage by all users and some applications | No/Depend |
| /var/log | 2 GiB | The /var/log directory is used by system services to store log data | No/Depend |
| /var/log/audit | 2 GiB | The auditing daemon, auditd, stores log data in the /var/log/audit directory | No/Depend |
| /tmp | 1 GiB | The /tmp directory is a world-writable directory used for temporary storage by all users and some applications | No/Depend |
| / | All available | This is known as “root”, the logical beginning of the Linux file system structure. Every single file path in Linux begins from root in one way or another. “/” contains the entirely of your operating system | Yes |
1.2. References
II. Setup Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2.1. Demonstration Server Specification
| Hostname | OS | IP Address | Gateway | Disk | RAM | CPU |
| SVRLIN01 | RHEL 8.x | 192.168.100.8/24 | 192.168.100.2 | 50 GiB | 2 GiB | 2 Cores |
2.2. Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux server from ISO image (DVD)
- Power on that virtual machine
- Click inside or press Ctrl+G to direct input to virtual machine console
- Use up arrow key “↑” to select “Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x”. By default, it automatically select “Test this media & install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x”, but we do not need to test
- Optional: if you want the network interface named “ethx”, then you need to press Tab and add options “biosdevname=0 net.ifnames=0” as the following:
- Press Enter to continue
2.3. Set the “NETWORK & HOST NAME” as priority
- Click on “Network & Host Name”
- Set the “Host Name”, then click Apply
- Turn on network connection (Ethernet)
- Click on “Configure…”. As you can see the connection name is “eth0”
- Go to “General” and tick “Connect automatically with priority”
- Go to “IPv4 Settings”, change method to “Manual” then add the network addressing as below:
– Address: 192.168.100.8
– Netmask: 24 or 255.255.255.0
– Gateway: 192.168.100.2
– DNS Servers: <Set your DNS servers or use Public DNS: 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8>
- Go to “IPv6 Settings”, in case we do not use IPv6 then just change method to “Disabled”
- Click on “Save and Done” for setting “NETWORK & HOST NAME”
2.4. Set the “DATE & TIME”
- Click on “Time & Date”
- Set your respective region and city, in case my region “Asia” and City “Phnom Penh”, then click on “Done”
2.5. Set the “INSTALLATION DESTINATION”
- Click on “Installation Destination”
- Under the “Storage Configuration”, select “Custom” then click on “Done”
- Create the partition by click on the plus sign “+”
- Create “/boot” partition and set capacity “500 MiB”
– Mount Point: /boot
– Desired Capacity: 500 MiB
- Create “swap” partition
– Mount Point: swap
– Desired Capacity: 4 GiB (2 x 2 GiB of RAM)
- If there is not highly requirement, we will set all available space to “/” partition
– Mount Point: /
– Desired Capacity: <just leave the blank, then click on Add mount point>
- By default, volume group will name starting with “rhel_<hostname>”. To change volume group name, click on “Modify…”
- We can just set volume group named “vg01”, then click “Save”
- You can review the partitioning summary, then click on “Done”
- Click “Accept Changes”
2.6. Set the “SOFTWARE SELECTION”
- Click on “Software Selection”
- Under the “Base Environment”, select “Minimal Install”. For Linux Servers having better performance, we mostly use CLI or SSH remote access instead of using GUI (Graphic User Interface). Click on “Done”
2.7. Set the “ROOT PASSWORD”
- Click on “Root Password”
- Enter a password for root user twice, then click on “Done”
- Optional: you also can create additional standard user or do it later
- Finally click on “Begin Installation”
- Wait until installation finished, then click on “Reboot System”
- After reboot, you should be able to:
– Login with root and password by Virtual Machine Console
– Ping to your new setup server with IP: 192.168.100.8
– Remote SSH with root and password - Configure local repository if you need to install package from local ISO/DVD
Thanks!