Finally the much awaited CentOS 7 is out. CentOS (Community
Enterprise Operating System) is forked from RedHat Linux, a Linux Distro fine
tuned for servers.
In this article you will learn how to install CentOS 7 in a
few easy steps.
Step 1: Download The ISO Image
To get a copy of CentOS 7 download from its source mirror.
CentOS 7 is now shipping for 64 bit platforms, and currently there is no 32 bit
ISO image. This is primarily due to the fact that most servers in production
are 64 bit.
Step 2: Make A bootable Drive
After you have downloaded the ISO image, make a bootable USB
drive using Unetbootin. Alternatively you can burn a DVD drive using Brasero or
your favourite CD/DVD burning software.
Step 3: Begin Installation
To begin installation, click on the Install to Hard Drive
icon on the desktop.
Desktop Install to Hard Drive
Step 4: Select Language And Keyboard
Select your preferred language as well as the Keyboard type
you have. Take care not forget to choose the correct keyboard or else you will
end up with a few scrambled keys.
Select Language
Step 5: Change The Installation Destination
By default the Anaconda installer will choose automatic
partitioning for your hard disk. Click on the Installation Destination icon to
change this to custom partitioning.
Automatic Partitioning
Click on the hard drive you want to install CentOS 7 and
under the Other Storage Options, choose I will configure partitioning then
click Done.
Configure Partitioning
Step 6: Select The Partitioning Scheme
Next select the partitioning scheme to use for the mount
points. In this case choose Standard Partition.
Select Partitioning Scheme
Step 7: Create A Swap Space
You can create a swap space from one of the partitions and
set the desired capacity, which is dependent on the RAM you have. Choose the
File System for swap space as swap, and click on Reformat, though reformatting
is optional. You can also name your swap space to whatever name you like but a
name like swap is more descriptive.
Create Swap Space
Step 8: Create A Mount Point
The next step is to create a mount point where the root
partition will be installed. Depending on your requirements you might need to
put the boot, home and root partition on different mount points. For this case
we shall have only one mount point /.
After this set the Label and Desired Capacity to whatever
you wish. A rule of thumb is to use descriptive names for the Label especially
if the computer is to be used by different system administrators.
Choose the file system as ext4 and click on reformat.
Create a Mount Point
Step 9: Accept Changes
After completing Step 7 and Step 8 successfully click on
Done button. A prompt window will appear with a summary of changes that will
take place. If you are satisfied with them click Accept changes.
Accept Changes
Step 10: Set Date And Time
Click on the clock icon under the localization menu and
select a time zone from the map of the world, then click Done.
Set Date and Time
Step 11: Begin Installation
Now after configuring the System and Localization settings
you can click on the Begin Installation button.
Begin Installation
Installation will begin immediately and as it proceeds you
need to set up a User account as well as the root password.
configuration during installation
Step 12: Set Up Root Password
Click on the root password option and enter a password and
confirmation of the same then click Done.
Set Up Root Password
Step 13: Create a User Account
The next step is to create a user account. Enter the correct
details and if this is the administrator account, tick Make this user
administrator and Require a password to use this account for security purposes.
Create a User Account
Step 14: Complete Installation
The installer should complete installing the software and
the bootloader.
Installing Bootloader
Once complete you should get a success message, after which
you can click quit.
Logout from the Live system and login to your new
installation.
Finally once you login to your CentOS 7 accept the EULA
agreement and enjoy!
Complete Installation
New Features in CentOS 7
The following are some of the notable feature in CentOS 7:
Gnome 3 Desktop Environment
CentOS 7 comes with Gnome 3 which is very convenient when
you have a touch screen.
gnome 3 Desktop
It also comes with Gnome Classic for those that want the
look and feel of Gnome 2.
gnome classic
CentOS 7 comes with GRUB 2 which solves dual booting
problems with other Linux distros that have been using GRUB 2, like Ubuntu.
This is an improvement from CentOS 6.5 which used GRUB Legacy and was a problem
when dual booting. Now you can do your installation without concerns of GRUB
issues.
CentOS 7 has support for the xfs file system which is
suitable especially in a distributed type of environment. XFS is known for its
ability to handle parallel I/O compared to ext4.
CentOS 7 will also be shipping with MariaDB, a replacement
for MySQL.
Conclusion
CentOS 7 has greatly improved from version 6.5 and now is
easier to adopt it as a Desktop OS compared to its predecessor. For those that
probably cannot keep up with Fedora releases every 6 months, CentOS 7 is a good
consideration. Try it out today!