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virtualeyes
Asked: 2012-09-03 10:08:45 +0800 CST

CentOS 6 Kickstart Minimal Install: for JVM, MySQL, and Apache VMs

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Trying to put together a kickstart as per this file for "true" minimal installations of CentOS 6 to run on an ESXi (v4.1u2) virtualization server (lives behind a Cisco ASA)

Ideally the OS footprint will be fairly small since I plan on running several JVM instances, each in their own CentOS VM.

The virtual stack will be:

1) Apache 2.4 web server/load balancer VM
2) MySQL 5.5 VMs (master/slave)
3) 5 JVM VMs running Java 7

I have never rolled with a near package-less install (i.e. --nobase), so am looking for advice on what the essential packages are for a minimal functional installation of CentOS 6 (note: Apache, MySQL, and Java 7 will be installed from source; i.e. not via yum/rpm).

If it's not worth the bother (i.e. CentOS minimal ISO isn't too bloated), let me know (I do have sufficient disk space, CPU cycles and RAM, but in the interest of working from a streamlined base OS, am asking the question).

Otherwise, a list of the must-have packages would be much appreciated.

Thanks

vmware-esxi

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I'd say that this may not be worth the effort. If disk space isn't an issue and you're not running any extraneous services, there's no real impact or need to create a minimal installation. If anything, it becomes an annoyance when you need certain tools (nmap, lsof, a compiler, etc.)

    In the end, my kickstarts are either minimal+packages installed via Puppet or a base+selected package groups:

    # Kickstart snippet...

%packages

@ base
@ core
@ compat-libraries
@ mail-server
@ network-server
@ network-file-system-client
@ system-management
@ web-server 
screen
wget

%post
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  2. nobase is fine, but you will want to add the acpid package so that the hypervisor can cleanly shutdown and reboot the virtual machine. That's about all I can think of.

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