Chapter 4. Customizing your installation

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Installation Destination. The Installation Destination window opens.

   1. From the Local Standard Disks section, select the storage device that you require; a white check mark indicates your selection. Disks without a white check mark are not used during the installation process; they are ignored if you choose automatic partitioning, and they are not available in manual partitioning.

      Note

      All locally available storage devices (SATA, IDE and SCSI hard drives, USB flash and external disks) are displayed under Local Standard Disks. Any storage devices connected after the installation program has started are not detected. If you use a removable drive to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux, your system is unusable if you remove the device.

   2. Optional: Click the Refresh link in the lower right-hand side of the window if you want to configure additional local storage devices to connect new hard drives. The Rescan Disks dialog box opens.

      Note

      All storage changes that you make during the installation are lost when you click Rescan Disks.

      1. Click Rescan Disks and wait until the scanning process completes.
      2. Click OK to return to the Installation Destination window. All detected disks including any new ones are displayed under the Local Standard Disks section.

2. Optional: To add a specialized storage device, click Add a disk…​.

   The Storage Device Selection window opens and lists all storage devices that the installation program has access to.

3. Optional: Under Storage Configuration, select the Automatic radio button.

   Important

   Automatic partitioning is the recommended method of partitioning your storage.

   You can also configure custom partitioning, for more details see Configuring manual partitioning

4. Optional: To reclaim space from an existing partitioning layout, select the I would like to make additional space available check box. For example, if a disk you want to use already contains a different operating system and you want to make this system’s partitions smaller to allow more room for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

5. Optional: Select Encrypt my data to encrypt all partitions except the ones needed to boot the system (such as /boot) using Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS). Encrypting your hard drive is recommended.

   1. Click Done. The Disk Encryption Passphrase dialog box opens.

      1. Type your passphrase in the Passphrase and Confirm fields.

      2. Click Save Passphrase to complete disk encryption.

         Warning

         If you lose the LUKS passphrase, any encrypted partitions and their data is completely inaccessible. There is no way to recover a lost passphrase. However, if you perform a Kickstart installation, you can save encryption passphrases and create backup encryption passphrases during the installation. See the Performing an advanced RHEL 8 installation document for information.

6. Optional: Click the Full disk summary and bootloader link in the lower left-hand side of the window to select which storage device contains the boot loader.

   For more information, see Boot loader installation.

   Note

   In most cases it is sufficient to leave the boot loader in the default location. Some configurations, for example, systems that require chain loading from another boot loader require the boot drive to be specified manually.

7. Click Done.

   1. If you selected automatic partitioning and I would like to make additional space available, or if there is not enough free space on your selected hard drives to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Reclaim Disk Space dialog box opens when you click Done, and lists all configured disk devices and all partitions on those devices. The dialog box displays information about how much space the system needs for a minimal installation and how much space you have reclaimed.

      Warning

      If you delete a partition, all data on that partition is lost. If you want to preserve your data, use the Shrink option, not the Delete option.

   2. Review the displayed list of available storage devices. The Reclaimable Space column shows how much space can be reclaimed from each entry.

   3. To reclaim space, select a disk or partition, and click either the Delete button to delete that partition, or all partitions on a selected disk, or click Shrink to use free space on a partition while preserving the existing data.

      Note

      Alternatively, you can click Delete all, this deletes all existing partitions on all disks and makes this space available to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Existing data on all disks is lost.

   4. Click Reclaim space to apply the changes and return to Graphical installations.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Destination window, click the Full disk summary and bootloader link. The Selected Disks dialog box opens.

   The boot loader is installed on the device of your choice, or on a UEFI system; the EFI system partition is created on the target device during guided partitioning.

2. To change the boot device, select a device from the list and click Set as Boot Device. You can set only one device as the boot device.
3. To disable a new boot loader installation, select the device currently marked for boot and click Do not install boot loader. This ensures GRUB2 is not installed on any device.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Kdump. The Kdump window opens.
2. Select the Enable kdump check box.

3. Select either the Automatic or Manual memory reservation setting.

   1. If you select Manual, enter the amount of memory (in megabytes) that you want to reserve in the Memory to be reserved field using the + and - buttons. The Usable System Memory readout below the reservation input field shows how much memory is accessible to your main system after reserving the amount of RAM that you select.
4. Click Done to apply the settings and return to Graphical installations.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Network and Host Name.

2. From the list in the left-hand pane, select an interface. The details are displayed in the right-hand pane.

   Note

   • There are several types of network device naming standards used to identify network devices with persistent names, for example, em1 and wl3sp0. For information about these standards, see the Configuring and managing networking document.

3. Toggle the ON/OFF switch to enable or disable the selected interface.

   Note

   The installation program automatically detects locally accessible interfaces, and you cannot add or remove them manually.

4. Click + to add a virtual network interface, which can be either: Team, Bond, Bridge, or VLAN.
5. Click - to remove a virtual interface.
6. Click Configure to change settings such as IP addresses, DNS servers, or routing configuration for an existing interface (both virtual and physical).

7. Type a host name for your system in the Host Name field.

   Note

   • The host name can either be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the format hostname.domainname, or a short host name without the domain. Many networks have a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service that automatically supplies connected systems with a domain name. To allow the DHCP service to assign the domain name to this system, specify only the short host name.
   • When using static IP and host name configuration, it depends on the planned system use case whether to use a short name or FQDN. Red Hat Identity Management configures FQDN during provisioning but some 3rd party software products may require short name. In either case, to ensure availability of both forms in all situations, add an entry for the host in /etc/hosts` in the format IP FQDN short-alias.
   • The value localhost means that no specific static host name for the target system is configured, and the actual host name of the installed system is configured during the processing of the network configuration, for example, by NetworkManager using DHCP or DNS.
   • Host names can only contain alphanumeric characters and - or .. Host name should be equal to or less than 64 characters. Host names cannot start or end with - and .. To be compliant with DNS, each part of a FQDN should be equal to or less than 63 characters and the FQDN total length, including dots, should not exceed 255 characters.
8. Click Apply to apply the host name to the installer environment.
9. Alternatively, in the Network and Hostname window, you can choose the Wireless option. Click Select network in the right-hand pane to select your wifi connection, enter the password if required, and click Done.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Installation Source. The Installation Source window opens.

   1. Review the Auto-detected installation media section to verify the details. This option is selected by default if you started the installation program from media containing an installation source, for example, a DVD.
   2. Click Verify to check the media integrity.

   3. Review the Additional repositories section and note that the AppStream checkbox is selected by default.

      Important

      • No additional configuration is necessary as the BaseOS and AppStream repositories are installed as part of the full installation image.
      • Do not disable the AppStream repository check box if you want a full Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 installation.
2. Optional: Select the Red Hat CDN option to register your system, attach RHEL subscriptions, and install RHEL from the Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN). For more information, see the Registering and installing RHEL from the CDN section.

3. Optional: Select the On the network option to download and install packages from a network location instead of local media.

   Note

   • If you do not want to download and install additional repositories from a network location, proceed to Configuring software selection.
   • This option is available only when a network connection is active. See Configuring network and host name options for information about how to configure network connections in the GUI.
   1. Select the On the network drop-down menu to specify the protocol for downloading packages. This setting depends on the server that you want to use.

   2. Type the server address (without the protocol) into the address field. If you choose NFS, a second input field opens where you can specify custom NFS mount options. This field accepts options listed in the nfs(5) man page.

      Important

      When selecting an NFS installation source, you must specify the address with a colon (:) character separating the host name from the path. For example:

      server.example.com:/path/to/directory

      Note

      The following steps are optional and are only required if you use a proxy for network access.

   3. Click Proxy setup…​ to configure a proxy for an HTTP or HTTPS source.
   4. Select the Enable HTTP proxy check box and type the URL into the Proxy Host field.
   5. Select the Use Authentication check box if the proxy server requires authentication.
   6. Type in your user name and password.

   7. Click OK to finish the configuration and exit the Proxy Setup…​ dialog box.

      Note

      If your HTTP or HTTPS URL refers to a repository mirror, select the required option from the URL type drop-down list. All environments and additional software packages are available for selection when you finish configuring the sources.

4. Click + to add a repository.
5. Click - to delete a repository.
6. Click the arrow icon to revert the current entries to the setting when you opened the Installation Source window.

7. To activate or deactivate a repository, click the check box in the Enabled column for each entry in the list.

   Note

   You can name and configure your additional repository in the same way as the primary repository on the network.

8. Click Done to apply the settings and return to the Installation Summary window.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Software Selection. The Software Selection window opens.

2. From the Base Environment pane, select a base environment. You can select only one base environment, for example, Server with GUI (default), Server, Minimal Install, Workstation, Custom Operating System, Virtualization Host.

   Note

   The Server with GUI base environment is the default base environment and it launches the Initial Setup application after the installation completes and you restart the system.

   Figure 4.1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Software Selection

   
3. From the Additional Software for Selected Environment pane, select one or more options.
4. Click Done to apply the settings and return to Graphical installations.

Procedure

1. From the Installation Summary window, click Installation Destination. The Installation Destination window opens, listing all available drives.
2. Under the Specialized & Network Disks section, click Add a disk…. The storage devices selection window opens.

3. Click the Search by tab to search by port, target, LUN, or WWID.

   Searching by WWID or LUN requires additional values in the corresponding input text fields.

4. Select the option that you require from the Search drop-down menu.
5. Click Find to start the search. Each device is presented on a separate row with a corresponding check box.

6. Select the check box to enable the device that you require during the installation process.

   Later in the installation process you can choose to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on any of the selected devices, and you can choose to mount any of the other selected devices as part of the installed system automatically.

   Note

   • Selected devices are not automatically erased by the installation process and selecting a device does not put the data stored on the device at risk.
   • You can add devices to the system after installation by modifying the /etc/fstab file.
7. Click Done to return to the Installation Destination window.

Procedure

1. Select disks for installation:

   1. Click Installation Destination to open the Installation Destination window.
   2. Select the disks that you require for installation by clicking the corresponding icon. A selected disk has a check-mark displayed on it.
   3. Under Storage Configuration, select the Custom radio-button.
   4. Optional: To enable storage encryption with LUKS, select the Encrypt my data check box.
   5. Click Done.

2. If you selected to encrypt the storage, a dialog box for entering a disk encryption passphrase opens. Type in the LUKS passphrase:

   1. Enter the passphrase in the two text fields. To switch keyboard layout, use the keyboard icon.

      Warning

      In the dialog box for entering the passphrase, you cannot change the keyboard layout. Select the English keyboard layout to enter the passphrase in the installation program.

   2. Click Save Passphrase. The Manual Partitioning window opens.

3. Detected mount points are listed in the left-hand pane. The mount points are organized by detected operating system installations. As a result, some file systems may be displayed multiple times if a partition is shared among several installations.

   1. Select the mount points in the left pane; the options that can be customized are displayed in the right pane.

      Note

      • If your system contains existing file systems, ensure that enough space is available for the installation. To remove any partitions, select them in the list and click the - button.

        The dialog has a check box that you can use to remove all other partitions used by the system to which the deleted partition belongs.

      • If there are no existing partitions and you want to create the recommended set of partitions as a starting point, select your preferred partitioning scheme from the left pane (default for Red Hat Enterprise Linux is LVM) and click the Click here to create them automatically link.

        A /boot partition, a / (root) volume, and a swap volume proportionate to the size of the available storage are created and listed in the left pane. These are the recommended file systems for a typical installation, but you can add additional file systems and mount points.

   2. Click Done to confirm any changes and return to the Installation Summary window.

Procedure

1. Click + to create a new mount point file system. The Add a New Mount Point dialog opens.
2. Select one of the preset paths from the Mount Point drop-down menu or type your own; for example, select / for the root partition or /boot for the boot partition.

3. Enter the size of the file system in to the Desired Capacity field; for example, 2GiB.

   Warning

   If you do not specify a value in the Desired Capacity field, or if you specify a size bigger than available space, then all remaining free space is used.

4. Click Add mount point to create the partition and return to the Manual Partitioning window.

Procedure

1. To change the devices that a single non-LVM mount point should be located on, select the required mount point from the left-hand pane.
2. Under the Device(s) heading, click Modify…​. The Configure Mount Point dialog opens.
3. Select one or more devices and click Select to confirm your selection and return to the Manual Partitioning window.
4. Click Update Settings to apply the changes.

5. In the lower left-hand side of the Manual Partitioning window, click the storage device selected link to open the Selected Disks dialog and review disk information.

   Note

   Click the Rescan button (circular arrow button) to refresh all local disks and partitions; this is only required after performing advanced partition configuration outside the installation program. Clicking the Rescan Disks button resets all configuration changes made in the installation program.

Procedure

1. From the left pane, select the mount point.

   Figure 4.2. Customizing Partitions

   

2. From the right-hand pane, you can customize the following options:

   1. Enter the file system mount point into the Mount Point field. For example, if a file system is the root file system, enter /; enter /boot for the /boot file system, and so on. For a swap file system, do not set the mount point as setting the file system type to swap is sufficient.
   2. Enter the size of the file system in the Desired Capacity field. You can use common size units such as KiB or GiB. The default is MiB if you do not set any other unit.

   3. Select the device type that you require from the drop-down Device Type menu: Standard Partition, LVM, or LVM Thin Provisioning.

      Warning

      The installation program does not support overprovisioned LVM thin pools.

      Note

      RAID is available only if two or more disks are selected for partitioning. If you choose RAID, you can also set the RAID Level. Similarly, if you select LVM, you can specify the Volume Group.

   4. Select the Encrypt check box to encrypt the partition or volume. You must set a password later in the installation program. The LUKS Version drop-down menu is displayed.
   5. Select the LUKS version that you require from the drop-down menu.

   6. Select the appropriate file system type for this partition or volume from the File system drop-down menu.

      Note

      Support for VFAT file system is not available for Linux system partitions. For example, /, /var, /usr, and so on.

   7. Select the Reformat check box to format an existing partition, or clear the Reformat check box to retain your data. The newly-created partitions and volumes must be reformatted, and the check box cannot be cleared.
   8. Type a label for the partition in the Label field. Use labels to easily recognize and address individual partitions.

   9. Type a name in the Name field.

      Note

      Note that standard partitions are named automatically when they are created and you cannot edit the names of standard partitions. For example, you cannot edit the /boot name sda1.

3. Click Update Settings to apply your changes and if required, select another partition to customize. Changes are not applied until you click Begin Installation from the Installation Summary window.

   Note

   Click Reset All to discard your partition changes.

4. Click Done when you have created and customized all file systems and mount points. If you choose to encrypt a file system, you are prompted to create a passphrase.

   A Summary of Changes dialog box opens, displaying a summary of all storage actions for the installation program.

5. Click Accept Changes to apply the changes and return to the Installation Summary window.

Procedure

1. Click Installation Destination to open the Installation Destination window.
2. Under Storage Configuration, select the Custom radio button. Click Done.
3. Click Done, the Manual Partitioning window opens.

4. Choose the /home partition, fill in /home under Mount Point: and clear the Reformat check box.

   Figure 4.3. Ensuring that /home is not formatted

   
5. Optional: You can also customize various aspects of the /home partition required for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system as described in Customizing a mount point file system. However, to preserve /home from your RHEL 7 system, it is necessary to clear the Reformat check box.
6. After you customized all partitions according to your requirements, click Done. The Summary of changes dialog box opens.
7. Verify that the Summary of changes dialog box does not show any change for /home. This means that the /home partition is preserved.
8. Click Accept Changes to apply the changes, and return to the Installation Summary window.

Procedure

1. From the left pane of the Manual Partitioning window, select the required partition.
2. Under the Device(s) section, click Modify. The Configure Mount Point dialog box opens.
3. Select the disks that you want to include in the RAID device and click Select.
4. Click the Device Type drop-down menu and select RAID.
5. Click the File System drop-down menu and select your preferred file system type.
6. Click the RAID Level drop-down menu and select your preferred level of RAID.
7. Click Update Settings to save your changes.
8. Click Done to apply the settings to return to the Installation Summary window.

Procedure

1. From the left-hand pane of the Manual Partitioning window, select the mount point.

2. Click the Device Type drop-down menu and select LVM. The Volume Group drop-down menu is displayed with the newly-created volume group name.

   Note

   You cannot specify the size of the volume group’s physical extents in the configuration dialog. The size is always set to the default value of 4 MiB. If you want to create a volume group with different physical extents, you must create it manually by switching to an interactive shell and using the vgcreate command, or use a Kickstart file with the volgroup --pesize=size command. See the Performing an advanced RHEL 8 installation document for more information about Kickstart.

Procedure

1. From the left-hand pane of the Manual Partitioning window, select the mount point.
2. Click the Device Type drop-down menu and select LVM. The Volume Group drop-down menu is displayed with the newly-created volume group name.

3. Click Modify to configure the newly-created volume group.

   The Configure Volume Group dialog box opens.

   Note

   You cannot specify the size of the volume group’s physical extents in the configuration dialog. The size is always set to the default value of 4 MiB. If you want to create a volume group with different physical extents, you must create it manually by switching to an interactive shell and using the vgcreate command, or use a Kickstart file with the volgroup --pesize=size command. See the Performing an advanced RHEL 8 installation document for more information about Kickstart.

4. From the RAID Level drop-down menu, select the RAID level that you require.

   The available RAID levels are the same as with actual RAID devices.

5. Select the Encrypt check box to mark the volume group for encryption.

6. From the Size policy drop-down menu, select the size policy for the volume group.

   The available policy options are:

   • Automatic: The size of the volume group is set automatically so that it is large enough to contain the configured logical volumes. This is optimal if you do not need free space within the volume group.
   • As large as possible: The volume group is created with maximum size, regardless of the size of the configured logical volumes it contains. This is optimal if you plan to keep most of your data on LVM and later need to increase the size of some existing logical volumes, or if you need to create additional logical volumes within this group.
   • Fixed: You can set an exact size of the volume group. Any configured logical volumes must then fit within this fixed size. This is useful if you know exactly how large you need the volume group to be.
7. Click Save to apply the settings and return to the Manual Partitioning window.
8. Click Update Settings to save your changes.
9. Click Done to return to the Installation Summary window.