Tech Learning: How to Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

How to Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

I am going to demonstrate a typical RHEL 5 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5) installation in this article. I usually do this kind of installation to host oracle test databases. It should be a good start for you and off course you can customize this process a little bit to suite your environment. I will use a DVD media for RHEL 5.

1. You need to put the DVD in your computer and boot the computer from that DVD.

· Install Options

2. Next the installer will offer you if you want to check the DVD media before installation. Choose skip here.

· Disk Check

3. Next you will see the first page of the Installation wizard. Press Next.

· Welcome Page

4. Select the Language that will be used in the rest of the installation.

· Installation Language

5. Select the keyboard type.

· Keyboard Type

6. Next you will be asked to put your installation number. You may skip entering this number if you don't have one.

· Installation Number

7. Now you need to tell what do you want to do with your disk. I usually choose "Create custom layout" and create the partitions I need on the disk.

· Hard Drive Partitioning

8. Here is our disk all free space if this is a fresh disk. This is a 30gb disk. Click "New" to create a partition.

· Create New Partitions

9. First partition will be boot partition size 100m. This will allow the OS to keep the boot record on a separate partition.

· Create Boot Partition

10. The second partition will be /tmp. The size of /tmp depends upon the oracle database I am going to install e.g. Oracle 10g requires 400mb of space in /tmp and Oracle 11g requires at least 1gb. I will create /tmp with a size of 1.5gb.

· Create Tmp Partition

11. Then comes the swap partition. The swap's size is dependent on the amount of physical RAM you have. I have 2G of RAM so the swap should be 1.5 times of 2G i.e. 3G. (This formula works for both Oracle 10g and 11g.)

· Create Swap Partition

12. The fourth partition will be /u01, a partition that will be used specifically for oracle software and database files. I am setting the size to 15gb.

· Create Partition for Oracle

13. The fifth partition is the "/" which is the root mount point for the operating system. We give it all the space left on the disk.

· Create root "/" Partition

14. This is how your partitioning scheme should look like when you are done.

· Review Partitions

15. This screen will ask you if you want to keep the boot record on the disk or not. Keep the defaults and press next.

· Boot Loader Options

16. Here we will configure the network. Provide a hostname manually. Then click the Edit Button against Network Devices, disable the ipv6 and provide a static IP Address for IPv4. NO DHCP.

· Network Configuration

17. Click on the map to choose a region for your Time Zone.

· Time Zone Settings

18. Provide the password for the root (Administrator User in Linux) user.

· Root Password

19. Select the OS packages that you need. Mostly leaving it as default should be okay. But it is a nice idea to install some development packages which oracle may need while installation. Select "Customize now" and press Next.

· Install Packages

20. All packages are listed. Right click on the package category and press "Select all optional packages" to install every thing in that category.

· Custom Packages

21. Press next here, to start the installation.

· Start Installation

22. This will take several minutes, before the installation is complete. Once the installation is complete the system will reboot. Remove any media from DVD before the system restarts.

· Installation Progress

23. After rebooting you will have to do some setup tasks. This is the Welcome page of the setup wizard. Press Next.

· Welcome to Post Installation setup

24. Accept the license agreement and pres Next.

· License Agreement

25. Disable the firewall and press Next.

· Firewall Settings

26. Set SELinux "Disabled". If you leave it at "enforcing" you are gonna have trouble with oracle later for example you may not be able to start "sqlplus".

· SELinux Settings

27. Leave kdump disabled.

· kdump Settings

28. Set the date and time.

· Date and Time Settings

29. Select to register at a later time.

· Product Registration

30. If you have chosen not to register then this page shows that your system is not setup for Updates.

· Registration Status

31. Use this page to create any additional users other then root.

· Additional Users

32. Setup your sound card.