On Wed, 2007-08-15 at 12:02 +0530, Rohit Rai wrote:

I have just finished setting up and configuring a server running CentOS 5 with 2 Xen VMs. This article describes my journey through this, including the problems I faced and there solutions. It documents the installation of CentOS 5, from a single CD, adding software, configuring squid, NFS, Xen, etc and sharing yum cache and lot more!

I request everyone to check this out and tell me what should I do to make this setup properly secured and robust.

Comments requested!!!

It will definitely help you if you are a newbie and want to set up a CentOS server.

mytechrantings: Setting up a Cent OS 5 server

Both your article and the referenced "CentOS 5: Linux for Grownups" page seem to have some misinformation about network installs.

First "CentOS 5: Linux for Grownups" comments:

The link "Secret boot options for CentOS, Fedora, and RHEL" is broken. Should probably be:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/AnacondaOptions

The secret boot incantation "linux askmethod" is not required if you download and boot from the small boot.iso in the <URL>/os/<arch>/images directory (or in CD#1 /images). A pxeboot or (undocumented/magic) local GRUB boot from the installation kernel/initrd.img install also bypasses the need for askmethod.

Complaints about the need to download 5/6 CD images for a basic install are common and well-founded; however the article doesn't mention the DVD image that at least has everything on one piece of media. A CentOS 5 Server CD should be forthcoming to address this issue. (4.4 server CD is available, 4.5 should be forthcoming real-soon-now [TM] also.)

Don't know why you couldn't get the network install to work. Have done NFS installs from local mirrors and HTTP installs from a mirror such as

http://mirror.linux.duke.edu/pub/centos/5/os/i386

The comments about the need for "/base and a /RPM[S] directory" are not correct. For CentOS5 all the RPMs are in the CentOS directory at the top level of the CD/DVD or <URL>/os/<arch> directory. FTP install should work also.

Comments on "My tech rantings: CentOS 5, SELinux, Xen, squid, yum cache sharing, gpg and more - All my experiences setting up a server . . .":

Lots of good material here, but a bit rambling as it is obviously meant to capture your experiences. Would encourage you to consider subscribing to the -docs list (http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-docs) if not already there, cleaning up and "de-personalizing", and submitting one or more "Tips and Tricks" or "HowTos" for the Wiki.

Phil