Install CentOS Enterprise Linux

Install CentOS Enterprise Linux

Now that we have our new virtual machine, the only step remaining is to install CentOS Enterprise Linux to this virtual machine. CentOS Enterprise Linux comes on four CDs. To start, insert Disk #1 of CentOS Enterprise Linux into the physical CD-ROM drive and then power up the new virtual machine. There are several ways to power up the virtual machine:

• Click “Start this virtual machine”
• Click the power on button in the toolbar.

As I did in the previous section for creating the new virtual machine, I provide all screen shots for installing CentOS Enterprise Linux to our new virtual machine.

Screen 1: – Boot Screen

The first screen is the boot screen. At this point, you can add any type of boot options, but in most cases, all you need to do is press [Enter] to continue.

Screen 2: – Test CD Media

You can choose to verify the CD media in this screen. I know that the ISOs that I burnt to CD were OK, so I typically choose to [Skip] the media check.

After checking your media CDs (or if you are like me and Skip this process), the installer then starts to probe for your video device, monitor and mouse. The installer should determine that the video drive to use is VMware. It will detect the monitor as Unknown (which is OK). It then probes and finds the mouse. Once this process is done, it will start the X Server.

Screen 3: – Welcome

After the installer starts the X Server, you should have the Welcome screen. Click [Next] to continue.

Screen 4: – Language Selection

The installer should choose the correct language by default. Click [Next] to continue.

Screen 5: – Keyboard

The installer should choose the correct keyboard by default. Click [Next] to continue.

Screen 6: – Installation Type

The installer is now asking for the type of Linux install to perform. The best choice here is [Custom]. This will allow us to (later on in the install process) to choose the packages we need for Oracle. When I am going to install Oracle on Linux, I generally choose to install All packages. Choose Custom and click [Next] to continue.

Screen 7: – Disk Partitioning Setup

You now need to select the method to use for partitioning the disk. For virtual machines, I typically choose to perform an Automatic Partitioning method. Click [Next] to continue.

You will be prompted with a dialog asking, “Would you like to Initialize this drive, erasing ALL DATA”. Answer [Yes] to this dialog.

Screen 8: – Automatic Partitioning

This is a new virtual machine and there is no data to loose on this drive. Keep the default selection “Remove all Linux partitions on this system” and click [Next] to continue.

You will be prompted with a warning dialog asking to confirm the delete operation. Answer [Yes] to this dialog.

Screen 9: – Partitioning

For most automatic layouts, the defaults should be fine. For example, the space allocated for /boot is always OK at 100MB. The installer will make the Swap space equal to twice the amount of RAM configured for this virtual machine. For my example, this would be 612MB x 2 = 1,224MB. This is more than enough for the Oracle install. The remainder is left for the root file system. So for me, this is a nice layout and I will accept the defaults. Click [Next] to continue.

Starting with RHEL 4, the installer will create the same disk configuration as just noted but will create them using the Logical Volume Manager (LVM). For example, it will partition the first hard drive (/dev/sda for my configuration) into two partitions – one for the /boot partition (/dev/sda1) and the remainder of the disk dedicate to a LVM named VolGroup00 (/dev/sda2). The LVM Volume Group (VolGroup00) is then partitioned into two LVM partitions – one for the root file system (/) and another for swap. I basically check that it created at least 1GB of swap. Since I configured the virtual machine to take 612MB of RAM, the installer created 1,224MB of swap.

Screen 10: – Boot Loader Configuration

The installer will use the GRUB boot loader by default. Nothing needs to be changed here. Click [Next] to continue.

Screen 11: – Network Configuration

You will be making several changes for the network. Most of the settings you make here will, of course, depend on your network configuration. The key point to make here is that the virtual machine should never be configured with DHCP since we will be using this as an Oracle server. You will need to configure the virtual machine with a static IP address. You will also need to configure the virtual machine with a real host name. To start, click on the [Edit] button for the Network Devices. Click off the option for DHCP and configure a static IP address and Netmask for your configuration:

After completing the above dialog, complete all other network settings and click [Next] to continue.

Screen 12: – Firewall Configuration

On this screen, make sure to select [No firewall] and click [Next] to continue. You may be prompted with a warning dialog about not setting the firewall. If this occurs, simply hit [Proceed] to continue.

Screen 13: – Additional Language Support

Nothing should need to be changed here. Click [Next] to continue.

Screen 14: – Time Zone Selection

Select your time zone and click [Next] to continue.

Screen 15: – Set Root Password

Set your root password and click [Next] to continue.

Screen 16: – Package Group Selection

NOTE: With some RHEL 4 distributions, you will not get the [Package Group Selection] screen by default. There, you are asked to simply [Install default software packages] or [Customize software packages to be installed]. Select the option to [Customize software packages to be installed] and click [Next] to continue. This will then bring up the [Package Group Selection] screen.

This is where you pick the packages to install. If you wanted to simply scroll down to the “Miscellaneous” section and select “Everything“, this will install all packages. To simplify the installation, this is the option I typically choose. Doing this, you will get everything required for Oracle, but you will also get many packages that are not necessary for Oracle to install. Having these unwanted packages does not keep me up at night.

If you don’t want to install everything, you can choose just those packages that are needed for Oracle. First, ensure that the “Kernel Development Libraries” and the “Development Tools” package are selected. You must have these packages for Oracle to install.

If you will be installing Oracle9i or Oracle10g, then you will need to select the “Legacy Software Development Libraries“. Oracle9i and Oracle10g needs the older versions of gcc to compile and it included in the legacy package.

Screen 17: – About to Install

We are now ready to start the installation process. Click the [Next] button to start the installation.

During the installation process, you will be asked to switch disks to Disk #2, Disk #3, and then Disk #4. Click [Continue] to start the installation process.

Note that with CentOS 4.2, the installer will ask to switch to Disk #2, Disk #3, Disk #4, Disk #1, and then back to Disk #4.

Screen 18: – Installation Complete

At this point, the installation is complete. The CD will be ejected from the CD-ROM and you are asked to [Exit] and reboot the system.

Screen 19: – Post Installation Wizard

After the virtual machine is rebooted, you will be presented with a post installation wizard that allows you to make final configuration settings. Nothing really exciting here other then setting the Date/Time and Display settings.