[CentOS] Most efficient way to create a CentOS 3 test VM

Tue Nov 26 20:00:48 UTC 2013
Warren Young <warren at etr-usa.com>

I'm about to create a new CentOS 3 VM for testing, since we still have a 
bunch of deployed machines running that OS.

(Don't yell at me about using old OSes.  These machines won't get 
"un-deployed" until they fall over dead of natural causes.  Until the 
last one dies, we need test and build VMs around to service them.)

I have the CentOS 3.9 *.iso files plus a local cache of RPMs against 3.9 
that is probably incomplete relative to the vault[*].

It seems wasteful to install the last published version of the OS, then 
scp over my local update RPMs, freshen from those, *then* check with the 
vault for yet more updates.

What I'm hoping for is some way to get a "CentOS 3.10", being 3.9 with 
the vault updates directory contents merged in.

Is there a straightforward way to do that, or is schlepping around 
folders full of RPMs actually the best way to go?


[*] http://vault.centos.org/3.9/updates/i386/RPMS/