InformIT: Red Hat Linux 7 Unleashed > Choosing an Installation Method

Choosing an Installation Method

There are a number of different ways in which you can install your system. They are all documented further later in the chapter. They are as follows:

CD-ROM— This method needs a boot floppy, bootable CD, or a PCMCIA boot disk. This is the most common way to install your system.
Hard Drive— This method requires you to have the Red Hat installation files on your hard drive. To install Red Hat Linux from a hard drive, you need the same startup and supplemental disks used by the FTP install. You must first create a Red Hat directory called RedHat at the top level of your directory tree. Everything you install should be placed in that directory. Copy the base subdirectory and then copy the packages you want to install to another subdirectory called RPMS (Red Hat Package Manager). Basically, these are your program installation files. You can use available space on an existing DOS partition or a Linux partition that is not required in the install procedure (for example, a partition that would be used for data storage on the installed system). With Red Hat 7 being a 3-CD install, there is going to be the overhead of having enough space free to store these files.If you are using a DOS filesystem, you might not be able to use the full Linux filenames for the RPM (Red Hat Package Manager) packages. The installation process does not care what the filesystem looks like, but it is a good idea to keep track of it so you will know what you are installing.
NFS (Network File System) Image— You can install from an NFS server that has the install files exported. This requires a network or PCMCIA boot disk. You should either have nameservices configured or know the NFS server's IP address and the path to the exported CD-ROM. This method is only advisable if the NFS server is on a local network. It will take a long time to install using this, the FTP, and the HTTP install method. There is the possibility of the connection timing out.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and HTTP— Comparable to an NFS image install. This also requires a network or PCMCIA boot disk. You must have a startup disk and a supplemental disk for an FTP install. You need to have a valid nameserver configured or the IP address of the FTP or HTTP server you will be using. You also need the root path of the Red Hat Linux directory on the site.
SMB Image— Again comparable to NFS and FTP installs. This requires a network or PCMCIA boot disk. Select this option if you want to install over a network from a disk shared by a Windows system (or a Linux system running the Samba SMB connectivity suite). This is similar to installing from a hard drive except that in this case, the hard drive is on another system.

The rest of the installation procedures presented here are for a CD-ROM installation. As you can tell from the preceding descriptions, using other methods is not much different. As a matter of fact, the installation is the same; the difference is just a matter of the installation's origin. For example, if you are installing from a shared volume on a Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT/2000 server, you have to supply the name of the server, the name of the shared volume, and the account name and password for the volume.

Because you have purchased this book, it is highly likely that you will be installing your system with the CDs provided in the back of this book. This is the simplest and generally the quickest method of installation.

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