Minimal iso ?

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kwhite
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Joined: 2019/09/25 04:00:23

Minimal CD Image

Post by kwhite » 2019/09/25 04:07:06

I find the "-minimal" iso that exists for CentOS 6 and 7 to be extremely useful. Use case, for example: upload to the iDRAC on a Dell server and boot it to install on bare metal. The iDRAC can't handle an image greater than 4GB, and the network that we have our bare metal boxes on is pretty barren and doesn't have access to much. There's no DHCP, so doing a PXE boot isn't possible.

I was wondering if a "-minimal" is coming for CentOS 8, an ISO that could be used to get a minimal CentOS 8 installed.

If the project isn't going to produce one...well, would taking the existing DVD1 and removing the AppStream tree work? Is everything that's needed for a Minimal install located in BaseOS?

Thank you.

maloupi
Posts: 4
Joined: 2019/09/25 08:35:07

Minimal iso ?

Post by maloupi » 2019/09/25 08:40:18

Hi,

First, thanks for this new major release !

I do not see a minimal iso like for centos 7.
Is this definitely abandoned or will one arrive soon ?

Best regards

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TrevorH
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Joined: 2009/09/24 10:40:56
Location: Brighton, UK

Re: Minimal iso ?

Post by TrevorH » 2019/09/25 20:20:27

It's under discussion and will depend largely on how difficult it is.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

maloupi
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Joined: 2019/09/25 08:35:07

Re: Minimal iso ?

Post by maloupi » 2019/09/26 09:06:28

Thank you TrevorH.
Hope this will not be too difficult ;)
I used the minimal Centos7 iso for all my servers installations. It's small, easy and fast.

jmontleon
Posts: 2
Joined: 2019/09/26 18:20:33

Re: Minimal iso ?

Post by jmontleon » 2019/09/26 18:24:11

LXC has been using the minimal ISO to build images for older CentOS releases. They are not eager to start using the DVD ISO since it is quite a bit larger.

https://github.com/lxc/lxc-ci/issues/83

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jlehtone
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Location: Finland

Re: Minimal CD Image

Post by jlehtone » 2019/09/26 19:52:58

@maloupi:
kwhite has a good reason wanting small set of packages: no DHCP nor PXE. I'm sure kickstart via PXE would be used, if it were possible. Do you have the same dire situation?
kwhite wrote:
2019/09/25 04:07:06
If the project isn't going to produce one...well, would taking the existing DVD1 and removing the AppStream tree work? Is everything that's needed for a Minimal install located in BaseOS?
I don't know for sure, but I just made a test install from USB with that small boot.iso and since the installer did not find repos on its own, I had to type in URL. Being lazy, only the BaseOS's URL. Still a succee.

kwhite
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Joined: 2019/09/25 04:00:23

Re: Minimal iso ?

Post by kwhite » 2019/09/26 20:26:50

Thanks for the info about the URL. The other problem I have is that the network ports that my host servers are on are bonded, and in the past, I had no luck getting the required bond up in Anaconda. Also, as mentioned before, no DHCP. So, from where I sat, doing the initial install had to assume literally no network connectivity at all. I get the OS installed then, after it has rebooted, use the console to get networking up.

Things may have changed with CentOS 8 to make it possible to do a network install, I just don't know. The machines are also very remote to me, so I can't just make a USB key and stick it in. I'll have to experiment with making a CD image that just has the BaseOS stream on it and see if I can get the installer to use it.

gulikoza
Posts: 188
Joined: 2007/05/06 20:15:23

Re: Minimal iso ?

Post by gulikoza » 2019/09/27 08:41:03

I almost got a script ready yesterday. It pulls the Core group and all dependencies and rebuilds the repository. There are a few packages from AppStream as well so it's also needed. I got the installer to recognize the repos on the re-built ISO, but the Software Selection is empty so it does not install yet. I have to figure what I'm still missing...

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