[CentOS] Install question

[Barry Brimer]

<snip>

> My questions are several.
>
> 1) The build hardware is only a single processor with 768MB of memory (also a 
> P3) what if anything will I need to do to enable the second processor?  (I'll 
> make provisions for a larger swap space at build time)

I believe in CentOS 5, due to the popularity of hyperthreaded and dual 
core cpus, the base kernel is smp-enabled.  Someone please correct me if 
I'm wrong

> 2) The build hardware won't have a second  disk usable for RAID, is it 
> possible to build the RAID as degraded during the install?  Or am I better 
> off building it as a non RAID system and transfer everything to a RAID disk 
> later?

I would do the latter.  I've not tried building a raid, degrading it and 
then using it only to add another disk later, although in theory it could 
be done, I believe.

> 3) The system bios will allow me to boot off the network, can I do an install 
> from that boot?  there is no CD/DVD reader in the box, nor is there a floppy 
> drive.  USB (flash?) may possible, but it is USB1.0 (1.1?) and quite slow and 
> I'm not 100% positive the BIOS will support booting from a USB device.

Yes.  Check out cobbler <http://cobbler.et.redhat.com/>

> Any other caveats to be aware of?  My experience with linux has been several 
> Fedora (core) releases some Redhad releases prior to that, and many many many 
> years ago slackware (when the install was a stack of diskettes!)

Nope.  I think you'll be fine.

Welcome to CentOS!

Barry