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[shadowmac]

Here are some instructions on how to build your very own Webhost Server.  I am recording this here more as a reference when I do this again but it may be helpful to you as well.

This is a basic installation tutorial for the CentOS operating system for dedicated server duties !  According to the attached picture, this would be the bare bones, core server.

CentOS is a free whitelabel distro of RedHat Enterprise with all the bells and whistles, and is the OS of choice for many web hosting companies

Assumptions:

• 250GB Harddrive
  
• 512MB RAM

Installing the OS using ‘Text Mode’ :

• Insert the first Linux installation CD-ROM (disc 1) in the CD-ROM drive of your server and restart the server.
  
• At the boot: prompt, type linux text and press the Enter key. This starts the installation process.
  
• On the Language Selection screen, select English as the language that you want to run the installation program in, then click OK.
  
• On the Keyboard Selection screen, select the keyboard attached to your server, then click OK.
  
• On the Mouse Selection screen, select the mouse attached to your server, then click OK.
  
• On the Welcome screen, review the installation information, then click OK.
  
• On the Partitioning Type screen, select Create Custom, then click OK.
  
• On the Disk Partitioning Setup screen, select Disk Druid. Quote: - If your disk has existing partitions, select each partition and click Delete.
  
• Create the following disk partitions:

(The following partitions are recommended prior to installing cPanel)

• 15 GB /
  
• 500 MB /boot (No seperate /boot for FreeBSD)
  
• 2 GB /tmp
  
• 40 GB /usr
  
• 40 GB /var
  
• 1 GB swap (swap should be 2x RAM)
  
• Remaining space to /home

To create the / partition ‘root’:
* On the Partitioning screen (see step 8 ) , click New.
* In the Mount Point field, type / .
* For the Filesystem type select ext3.
* In the Size (MB) field, type 15360, then click OK.

To create the /boot partition:
* On the Partitioning screen (see step 8 ) , click New.
* In the Mount Point field, type /boot.
* For the Filesystem type select ext3.
* In the Size (MB) field, type 500, then click OK.

To create the /tmp partition
* On the Partitioning screen (see step 8 ) , click New.
* In the Mount Point field, type /tmp .
* For the Filesystem type select ext3.
* In the Size (MB) field, type 2048, then click OK.

To create the /usr partition
* On the Partitioning screen (see step 8 ) , click New.
* In the Mount Point field, type /usr .
* For the Filesystem type select ext3.
* In the Size (MB) field, type 40960, then click OK.

To create the /var partition
* On the Partitioning screen (see step 8 ) , click New.
* In the Mount Point field, type /var .
* For the Filesystem type select ext3.
* In the Size (MB) field, type 40960, then click OK.

To create the swap partition
* On the Partitioning screen (see step , click New.
* For the Filesystem type field, select swap.
* In the Size (MB) field, enter a number that is twice the current RAM (1024 If you are using 512MB Ram), then click OK.

To create the /home partition
* On the Partitioning screen (see step , click New.
* In the Mount Point field, type /home.
* For the Filesystem type select ext3.
* In the Size (MB) field, select Fill all available space, then click OK.

10 – When finished, Click OK.
11 – On the Boot Loader Configuration screen, select LILO Boot Loader, then click OK.
12 – On each of the following three screens, click OK.
13 – On the Network Configuration screen, clear Use bootp/dhcp, enter your server network configuration, then click OK.
14 – On the Hostname Configuration screen, enter the fully qualified host name of your server, then click OK.
15 – On the Firewall Configuration screen, select No firewall, then click OK.
16 – On the Language Support screen, select English (USA), then click OK.
17 – On the Time Zone Selection screen, select the location, then click OK.
18 – On the Root Password screen, enter in the root password for your server, re-enter the password to confirm it, then click OK.
19 – If you want to create an account that you can use to remotely log on to your server using SSH or FTP, click Add.
*** Provide the login name and password, then click OK.
20 – Review the information on the User Account Setup screen, then click OK.
21 – Review the information on the Authentication Configuration screen, then click OK.
22 – On the Package Group Selection screen, verify that only the following packages are selected. Clear all other check boxes.

Quote

. OPTION1
. Network Support
. Messaging and Web Tools
. DNS Name Server
. Network Managed Workstation
. Software Development
OPTION2:
. Base Package
. Development Libraries
. DNS Name Server
. Editors
. FTP Server
PREFERRED OPTION FOR CORE WITH VPS's:
. nothing selected

23 – Click OK.
24 – Review the Installation to begin screen, then click OK.
25 – Insert the second/third installation CD-ROM when notified to, then click OK.
26 – To create a boot disk, click Yes. Otherwise, click No.
27 – When done, the installation complete screen displays.
28 – Click OK, then press Enter to restart.
[2] Checking the host name and network settings :
After your first boot, you must check your system’s host name and network configuration to ensure that they are correct. To check your system’s host name and network configuration:
- Log on to the system as the root user.
- Type vi /etc/hosts to open the host file and modify the contents.
- Verify that the file is in the following format:

- Verify that the loopback entry (127.0.0.1) appears in the file. A correctly configured file should look like this: Note : The IP addresses used here are for illustration purposes only; they are not valid values.

Quote

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1               localhost.localdomain localhost
10.0.1.100           server1.example.com server1
::1             localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6

- Type :wq to close the file.
- Type vi /etc/sysconfig/network to open the network sysconfig file and modify the contents.
- Verify the host name. A correctly configured file should look like this: Note : The IP addresses used here are for illustration purposes only; they are not valid values.

Quote

NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=myserver.mydomain.com
GATEWAY=10.100.0.1 – Modify the file as needed.

- Type :wq to close the file.
- Type vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 to open the network scripts file and modify the contents.
- Verify that network information. A correctly configured file should look like this: Note : The IP addresses used here are for illustration purposes only; they are not valid values.

Quote

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
BROADCAST=10.1.1.1
IPADDR=10.1.1.1
NETMASK=255.255.0.0
NETWORK=10.1.0.0
ONBOOT=yes – Modify the file as needed.

Some finishing touches. Type the following

[root@localhost]#yum install irqbalance

[root@localhost]#yum install readahead

[root@localhost]#yum install nano

[root@localhost]#yum update

Also run

[root@localhost]#system-config-securitylevel

Set both Security Level and SELinux to Disabled and hit OK:
Note: This isn't working for me right now so I am missing a pre-req (will figure it out)

Make these changes active, restart the system by typing:

shutdown -r now [3]

If you happen to be running CentOS in a VMware session, now is the time to install vmware-tools
Click Install VMware Tools

[root@localhost]#mount /dev/hdc /media

[root@localhost]#ls /media

[root@localhost]#tar -C /tmp -zxvf /media/VMwareTools-7.9.6-173382.tar.gz

[root@localhost]#umount /media

[root@localhost]#yum install perl

[root@localhost]#yum -y install libX11-devel libXtst

[root@localhost]#yum -y install gcc

[root@localhost]#yum -y install kernel-headers kernel-devel

[root@localhost]#/tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl

[root@localhost]#/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox

[root@localhost]#shutdown -r now [3]