CentOS is undoubtedly the operating system most commonly used on web servers , as it is quite robust and highly configurable . I have personally verified this, since I have encountered CentOS as the default system in almost all dedicated server providers.
That is why I made the decision before purchasing a dedicated server, to know a little more about the CentOS system as well as some tools and functions that have attracted attention.
CentOS 7 Installation Guide
To begin the system installation, the first step is to download the system . To do this, we must go to the official website and download the system image . In my case, I obtained the minimum version, since I require it for a web server.
Now it is essential to know the system requirements , since in my case I only need the minimum version and therefore require:
- 1 ghz processor
- 64MB RAM
- 1GB disk space
- Internet connectivity
Otherwise, if you are going to have to use the system with a graphical environment, the requirements increase even more, so with a dual core processor, 2 GB of RAM and at least 15 GB in disk are on the other side.
Prepare the installation media
Windows : We can burn the ISO with Imgburn, UltraISO, Nero or any other program; even without them, Windows 7 and later gives us the option by right-clicking on the ISO.
Linux : You can use any CD image management tool, especially the one that comes with the graphical environments, such as Brasero, k3b, and Xfburn.
If you are going to occupy a USB device you can occupy the following:
Windows : You can use Universal USB Installer or LinuxLive USB Creator, both are easy to use.
Linux : We can also search for imagewriter, which is the same utility as the one in Windows, and create our bootable USB drive, or we can also use the dd command from the terminal.
dd bs = 4M if = / path / to / centos.iso of = / path / to / tu / usb sync
CentOS 7 installation step by step
The first step is to boot the system on our computer, and on the first boot screen we will select the "Install" option.
Once the system has finished loading, the "Anaconda" installation wizard will appear. The first step is to define our language, as well as our computer's keyboard layout .
We click on continue and here Anaconda installer shows us a series of options with which we will configure our installation.
We then proceed to define our time zone , in the "Date and Time" option.
Here we have the possibility to also adjust the time and date in case it does not take the data from the network well.
We click on the top left and this takes us back to the main menu.
Now we are going to select where CentOS 7 will be installed on our computer . In my case, I am running it on a virtual machine, so it will occupy the entire disk.
If you want a custom installation, you can select the option "Go configure the partitions".
Next, in “Network and Computer Name” we will activate the network connection and in the configuration window that opened, in the “General” tab, we will select the “Connect automatically” checkbox.
We also write the name of our host in the form host.domain.
Back in the menu under "Software Selection" you will find several predefined groups of packages . In my case, since I only require the minimum version, I leave it as is, but you can see what each one offers and select the one you like best.
Finally, in Security Policy there are several security profiles , each implementing certain rules on the server; I recommend using the default one, "Standard".
Once the entire configuration process is complete, we click the install button, which will finally ask us to configure the root password as well as a user for the system.
Now we just have to wait for everything selected to be installed and at the end of the installer it will indicate that we must restart the computer to start using CentOS 7.