Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed

Performing the Installation 17If Hard drive is selected, the partition containing the installation ISOs must be selectedfrom the list, and the directory containing the ISOs must be provided. If NFS image, FTP,or HTTP is selected, the server name and shared directory containing the ISO images orthe installation source must be given. If FTP is selected, it is assumed that the serveraccepts anonymous connections for the share. If a username/password combination isnecessary, select the Use non-anonymous FTP option.1After selecting the installation method and providing the necessary information, thewelcome screen is shown. To finish the installation, follow the instructions in the“Performing the Installation” section.Starting a Kickstart or PXE InstallationTo start a kickstart installation, read the “Installing with Kickstart” section later in thischapter to learn how to create a kickstart file, make it available to the systems to beinstalled, and start the kickstart installation.To start a PXE installation, read the “Installing with PXE” section later in this chapter forinstructions on configuring the PXE server and starting the network installation.Performing the InstallationAfter starting the installation as described in the previous section, the administrator isprompted for an installation number as demonstrated in Figure 1.3. This number isprovided when the Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription is purchased and is used byRHN to control customer subscription entitlements. It also unlocks specific softwaregroups (if appropriate) within the installation media so that they can be installed duringthe installation process This unlocks specific software groups so that they can be installed.For example, an installation number might cause the installation of the software necessaryfor creating virtual machines with Virtualization or the clustering filesystem.The installation program then searches for existing installations. If one is found, thefollowing two options are displayed:. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Upgrade an existing installationIf you choose to upgrade an existing installation, also select the root partition of theexisting installation to upgrade. Refer to the “Performing an Upgrade” section later in thischapter for more details on upgrades. The rest of this section pertains to installing RedHat Enterprise Linux.Partitioning is one of the most important decisions you will make during the installationprocess (see Figure 1.4 for the start of the partitioning process). Decisions such as whichsoftware packages to install and the root password can be changed after installation, butchanging the way a filesystem is partitioned is much harder to modify after installation.Refer to the “Deciding on a Partitioning Method and Type” section later in this chapterfor details.