[CentOS] Converting an installed and configured system into live-cd/dvd

Mon Nov 4 16:04:50 UTC 2013
Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com>

On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 7:19 AM, Rajagopal Swaminathan
<raju.rajsand at gmail.com> wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 7:53 AM, Darr247 <darr247 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Seems pretty-clear to me... the OP requests links to instructions to
>> turn an installed and configured CentOS system into a Live CD or DVD.
>>
>
> Thanks for your understanding.
>
> I have already created an custom install CD so I am fairly aware of kickstart.
>
>>
>> Though I'm tempted to just post
>> http://lmgtfy.com/?q=create+Live+CD+CentOS
>>
>> This wiki looks appropriate -
>> https://projects.centos.org/trac/livecd/wiki/CreateImage
>
> I have followed this method and have failed to make live CD boot on a
> KVM based VM.

If the goal is to make something that will re-install a copy of a
configured/working system instead of actually running from the
read-only iso, look at ReaR or Clonezilla.   Clonezilla requires a
shutdown and reboot from the clonezilla-live iso to save the image and
then has to install on approximately the same kind of hardware,
including the disk size, but the same technique will work with Windows
images.   ReaR is linux-only and doesn't require a shutdown to make
the image.   It uses your native system tools (across several Linux
distributions) to create a bootable iso that includes a script to
re-create the filesystem layout (with the layout stored in file that
you could edit, if necessary) and then restore a backup onto it.
Backup methods are pluggable with tar to an nfs target and rsync
included.  The whole system is a set of shell scripts.  I'm not sure
ReaR would be the best starting point to create a bootable/runnable
custom iso, but the tools would all be there, including an easy way to
specify additional things you want included.  In any case, it will get
you a bootable iso with your installed kernel with just a few minutes
of work.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
     lesmikesell at gmail.com