CentOS

I have found a major BUG... or PROBLEM: Ever since I started using Linux I have used a STANDARD PARTITIONING scheme as it makes life easy to back things up. In CentOS 6.5 the install structure was as it has always been, however the Install structure in CentOS 7.0 is NEW and has me tearing out my hair. Everything works fine up until you reach the point where you select how you want to Partition the Drive -- I think they call it "Installation Destination". First I hit "I will Configure" Option, then I choose "Standard Partition" but here it seems CentOS 7.0 throws a hissy fit: It allows you partition the drive alright: Here are my Standard Partitions:

/ Ext4
/usr Ext4
/home Ext4
/tmp Ext4
/var Ext4
/vm2 Ext4
/backup3 Ext4

Hit DONE and here is where CentOS 7 blows up!! First it tells you do not have a boot partition or a boot target. Unlike CentOS 6.5 there is NO check box that allows you to say if you want to make this drive bootable etc. In THEORY there is in CentOS 7.0 a picture of the HD with a check-box next to it saying that the drive onto which the OS is being installed will be bootable, but that is THEORY only: IT DOES NOT WORK!!!

Thinking that this might be a strange OS I delete and remove EVERYTHING and start with an EMPTY disk I re-create ALL the above partitions plus I now add

/boot Ext4

I now have a /boot partition, so surely it will work now. WRONG!! I still get the same problem all over again.

I am currently running from CentOS 7, but the ONLY way I was able to install it was via LVM automatic install. this WAS NOT what I was trying to set up. I am probably going to play with this OS a little more but I think I'm simply going to blow this OS up and re-install my backup of CentOS 6.5, then try this non-sense again when 7.1 is released.

Im using Centos 7 with custom LVM mountpoints and had no problem.

1 strange issue :
Centos gives the maximum amount of disk space to /home (870GB)
When i set /home back to 10G i expect the extra diskspace to go back to the Volume Group.
However .. it does not.
I had to part the remaining diskspace and add it as a PV to my Volume Group

I Could resize the /home back to 10G however XFS does not let itself downsize ..(vgreduce)

Bug or (ondocumented) feature ?

One thing I did under manual creation, I used the automatic feature to make the partitions, and then modified them. For example the default makes /home the largest partition. In my case, it was 1.8 TB, I resized it to what I wanted, freeing up space for more partitions. I added /var as a mounting point and then set it up using the balance of the space available. 1.32 TB, saved and clicked on done.
That worked super for me, no bugs, crashes or hissy fits..

johnplemons wrote:One thing I did under manual creation, I used the automatic feature to make the partitions, and then modified them. For example the default makes /home the largest partition. In my case, it was 1.8 TB, I resized it to what I wanted, freeing up space for more partitions. I added /var as a mounting point and then set it up using the balance of the space available. 1.32 TB, saved and clicked on done.
That worked super for me, no bugs, crashes or hissy fits..

Not using XFS and LVM ?

I have no idea what the "standard partitioning" is (nor have I ever seen the 7's installer). However, I'd like to emphasize that a partition is a separate concept from filesystem. Filesystem can be mounted, but partition not.

What does play an important part in the realm of partitions, is the partition table. Up to 6 that was usually "DOS" / "MBR", but with 7 one presumably can easily use the GPT and UEFI boot (I have GPT and UEFI with CentOS 6). UEFI boot has its own requirements. The OP did not state which boot type and partition table was used.

CentOS 7 (and RHEL7) has a completely rubbish disk installation section. You cannot do half of what used to be possible under el6 and what you can do tends to be buggy or works in a way that is unintuitive. There is a way to make the volume group take up more space than the logical volumes inside it occupy but it took me about 97 goes to do it.

The answer to almost all of these complaints is: use a kickstart.

Hi All,

i'm currently also struggling with this new stupid partitioning GUI. I partitioning disks since more than 20 years, but never was such helpless as now!

I try to create a layout with max 3 primary and one extended partition (as maximal possible on a MSDOS based partition table), but without any success.
Do anybody know how to create an extended partition and logical partitons with the new GUI? I would like to install different OS’s on this disk and need for that such a layout.

Thank You in advanced
Achim

TrevorH wrote:CentOS 7 (and RHEL7) has a completely rubbish disk installation section. You cannot do half of what used to be possible under el6 and what you can do tends to be buggy or works in a way that is unintuitive. There is a way to make the volume group take up more space than the logical volumes inside it occupy but it took me about 97 goes to do it.

The answer to almost all of these complaints is: use a kickstart.

Perhaps in later versions this crappy disk istallation section will get an update ?? In the mean time i shall use kickstart

johnplemons wrote:One thing I did under manual creation, I used the automatic feature to make the partitions, and then modified them. For example the default makes /home the largest partition. In my case, it was 1.8 TB, I resized it to what I wanted, freeing up space for more partitions. I added /var as a mounting point and then set it up using the balance of the space available. 1.32 TB, saved and clicked on done.
That worked super for me, no bugs, crashes or hissy fits..

I finally got the mess installed. BTW the the method by which I did it was MESSY:

[Having installed CentOS 7.0 for the nth time]

1) Install CentOS 6.5 DELETE EVERYTHING (CentOS 7.0 creats so may partions I did not know where to start)
2) Create NEW CentOS 6.5 Standard Partitions [ /, /usr, /home, /var, /tmp, /vm2, /backup3, swap)
3) Do a limited install (why waste time we are going to blow these thing up later )
4) Reboot with CentOS 7.0 (from thumbdrive)
5) Software Selection: I selected a minimal Install but selected all option, Added Server with GUI, and all options, Added the KDE Desktop all options.
6) Now comes the FUN part: Choose "System" Installation Destination
7) Click on it and you should see an iconifoed representation of yours Hard Drive. There SHOULD BE A CHECK MARK INSIDE IT. The "check mark" means -- I think -- that the drive is to be made bootable. If not select it make make sure the Hard drive is "checked".
8) The next step is important: The DEFAULT is to create LVM partitions. Change it to read "Standard Partitions".
9) Under "New CentOS 7 Installation you will something that says "Click here to create them automatically You need to click on this (no way around it. Unlike CentOS 6.5 there is NO BOX THAT ALLOWS YOU CHOOSE -- OR NOT -- you want to make the disk bootable, or if you want to use the MBR, or where the bootable partition can be found.
10) It will now create the following new Standard Partitions: /boot; /boot/efi; /; swap.
11) You will not that your entire bloody disk has been used. You now have to EDIT. I started with "/" and shrank it down to 15GB, I then edited swap and changed it from, 7.xx GB to 32 GB. The DEFAULT File System is .xfs, not ext4. You will notice that "/" is slated to be formated as an xfs file system. If you try to format "/" in CentOS 6.5 you will be told that "/" CAN NOT be formated as a xfs format and to choose another. I of course kept choosing ext4, if you choose ext4 you will see an ORANGE BAR along the bottom telling you are in ERROR, change it back to xfs and the orange bar GOES AWAY. Also DO NOT change the suggested file system structures for either "/boot" or "/boot/efi". Accept whatever file systems CentOS 7 suggests
12) Now using the "+" button add "/usr", "/home", "/var", "/tmp" (and in my case) "/vm2", "/backup3". Make sure you assign them how much space you want them to use. ( In my case it was 20 GB, 35 GB, 1.5 GB, 2.5 GB, 55 GB, and 60 GB respectively).
13) I made all these partitions ext4
14) We are not done yet: Under New CentOS 7 Installation you will see CentOS 6.5. Click on this and and it will reveal all the partitions. Select one. and hit the "--" button to prepare to DELETE it, how ever there will be a small check box that asks if you want to DELETE ALL THE FILES. Check mark this box and say DELETE. All the files in CentOS 6.5 will now be history leaving you will a CLEAN INSTALL for CentOS 7.0.
15) Say "Done". You should now be back at the main install page. The ORANGE BAR that use to be under the "System" Installation Destination should be ABSENT.
16) Click on "Network and Hostname ", fill this out. Click on Done
17) Click on "Begin Installation", and you will be on your Merry Way
18) Also unlike CentOS 6.5 where you have already created a User and User Password and a Root and Root Password long before you start installing the software, in CentOS 7.0 you actually create these files AS THE VARIOUS PROGRAMS ARE BEING INSTALLED.

Like the one gentleman who has been installing LINUX for 20+ years, while I can't claim 20+ I have been do this since 1998.This is a HORRIBLE INSTALLER. If they wanted to introduce a "NEW" Installer they should have done it through tweaks and making sure they a) WORKED (to start with) and b) to get FEEDBACK. You would think whoever decided to go to this "New" Installer, they would have learned something from the debacle of KDE when they jumped from KDE 3.x to KDE 4.x -- BTW I just learned just as users are starting to get use to that abomination called KDE 4.x, KDE will soon, if it has not already, release KDE 5.x. I just hope they learned their lessons from their rollout of KDE 4. Somehow I doubt it. IF we are LUCKY maybe it KDE 5.x will be more of a tweak of KDE 4.x that will make 4.x more user friendly and does not require whole scale relearning how to use a GUI.

If CentOS had any sense they would part company with RHEL when it comes to the Installer and go back to the "Classic" Installer, rather than this buggy piece of garbage. There is absolutely NO REASON CentOS had to copy RHEL's Installer. It should NOT have taken me the best part of 2 DAYS just to install an OS using a "Classic" Standard Partitioning Scheme.

As my buddy said to me today, "Welcome back to the Bleeding Edge". Part of my reason for migrating over to CentOS was to get away from the "Bleeding Edge". Whoever invented this "New" Installer should be shot and strung up by their thumbs. At the very least they should:

1) Have a box that asks you if you want to boot from the MBR, or where to look for the boot partition.
2) One should NOT need a /boot partition nor a /boot/efi partition.
3) I have a modern mobo -- an ASUS M5A97-R2.0 which does have a efi BIOS however CentOS 6.5 did not require either a /boot or a /boot/efi partition. I should have the choice to set up a Standard Partition Scheme and have neither a /boot or a /boot/efi partitions just to boot the bloody OS. My experiences with CentOS 7.0 so far -- both from an installer's perspective as well as a user's perspective so far has left me rather unimpressed. Most *.0 releases are usually buggy, but RHEL and CentOS rush to get the OS out the door clearly shows up in the buggyness of this release clearly they should have better thought this one out starting with the Garbage of an Installer.