With each installation of a new version of an operating system, you are always looking forward to what novelties you will have, what changes will be applied and in general how you will behave with our traditional applications, as well as your versatility in a productive environment. The expectation grows much more when it comes to a server-level operating system such as CentOS ..
After several years checking the reliability, performance and versatility of CentOS 7, the time has come to learn about the new version of the operating system for companies in its version 8 which has been developed as a stable, simple management platform which is derived from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) sources.
CentOS 8.0 8.0 is able to provide its millions of users with a reliable system, which is in line with hybrid cloud implementations so that it can support workloads that can be quite large, but without losing Your known performance..
CentOS 8 is a change that may not be radical, but rather broad than what we knew about CentOS 7
Modified packages in CentOS 8
Just to give us a global idea, the following packages have been modified in CentOS 8:
Packages removed
Also, some packages were eliminated such as:
- subscription-manager-migration
- subscription-manager-migration-data
New packages
Additionally, new packages have been added such as:
CentOS 8 has been defined with version 8.0-1905 and one of the novelties that have been announced by the CentOS project is the development of an exclusive version for developers which is called CentOS Stream.
CentOS Stream is basically a cataloged Linux distribution of continuous release (rolling-release) which acts between upstream development in Fedora and development for Red Hat (RHEL). CentOS Stream will manage the code to be developed for the next RHEL release, hence its focus is development..
The download of CentOS 8 is available in the following links:
CentOS 8
CentOS 8 Stream
TechnoWikis will now talk about the news that we will find in CentOS 8 so that we are ready to use this new operating system of the Linux family.
CentOS 8 news and improvements
Some of these developments are:
- Integration of a firewall interface to the web console from where we can execute all security tasks.
- The web console will be available by default since it is installed automatically and all the firewall ports that will be used by the console are automatically opened in the installation.
- The web console will be compatible with most modern web browsers.
- The CentOS 8 installer supports the LUKS2 disk encryption format which allows you to partition the disk personally using the autopart, logvol, part, and RAID commands.
- Anaconda now supports System Purpose.
- CentOS 8 now allows installation from a repository on the local hard drive.
- Now we can create system images using Image Builder with which it will be possible to use and create ISO disk image in real time, create qcow2 files which we use with a virtual machine, file system image files and more.
- 52-bit ARM physical addressing is available in CentOS 8.
- Physical memory management supports 5-level page tables.
- NUMA now supports more nodes.
- YUM improvements for modular content management.
- New features in RPM such as support for Boolean dependencies, support for packaging files larger than 4 GB in size and support for file triggers.
- Java 8 and Java 11 are now compatible and native to the platform.
- A new tool for storage management called Stratis is integrated.
- Python 3 is the default version.
- The possibility of Session Recording is integrated thanks to which we can record all user actions in the system for better administration and support.
- We will have the MySQL 8.0, MariaDB 10.3, PostgreSQL 9.6 and PostgreSQL 10, Redis 4 databases in CentOS 8.
- New Virtual Data Optimizer thanks to which it is possible to execute the deduplication of native storage in the Linux kernel increasing its life and performance.
- In CentOS 8 the root file system has been encrypted to offer greater security.
- Offers the GNOME 3.28 environment
Without more words, let's see how to install CentOS 8 from scratch and then we'll see how to upgrade from CentOS 7 to this new version.
1. How to install CentOS 8 in Core mode
Step 1
Once we download the CentOS 8 ISO file which weighs 6.6 GB, we proceed to burn it to a bootable USB or to a DVD. Then we configure the equipment startup as follows:
- If we have chosen to use a DVD, we select the CD-ROM Drive line.
- If we will use a bootable USB we select Removable Devices.
Step 2
Once we start the installation we will see the following:
Step 3
There we have the following options:
- “Install CentOS Linux 8.0.1905†allows you to directly access the system installation.
- "Test this media & Install CentOS Linux 8.0.1905" allows you to perform a previous analysis of the hardware conditions of the equipment before proceeding with the installation.
Note
To install CentOS 8 correctly the following is required:
- Minimum 2 GB (recommended 4 GB) of RAM
- 10 GB space (recommended 20 GB) on hard disk
Step 3
The “Trubleshooting†option is responsible for correcting problems before installing CentOS 8. Press Enter and the system installer will start:
Step 4
Once finished we proceed to select the CentOS 8 installation language:
Step 5
Once we define the language, we click on Continue and we will see the following. As we see at the bottom, a warning is issued to complete the fields that are marked, by default it will always be the option “Installation destinationâ€,
Step 6
By clicking there we will see the following. At the bottom we find details of the selected disc and confirm it by clicking on the "Done" button.
Actions
In this section it is possible:
- Select the hard disk (which is mandatory) where CentOS 8 is to be installed.
- Configure partitioning automatically or select "Custom" and then add the way the disk will be distributed.
Step 7
Now we can see that this option has been validated. Once this step is complete we click on “Start installationâ€
Step 8
In addition to this we have the following:
Keyboard
It allows us to set the CentOS 8 keyboard language
Language support
We can add more use languages
Date and Time
There we can define the time zone of our location
Installation source
It allows to establish from where CentOS 8 will be installed
Software selection
Add the utilities and environments available for CentOS 8
KDUMP
It allows to enable the KDUMP function which is a mechanism of memory dump damage in the system kernel
Network and team name
There we can activate the network and name the team if we wish
Security policy
It allows to establish new general security policies in CentOS 8
Note
Later we analyze the software selection options in CentOS 8.
Step 9
We will see the following where we must confirm the root password, as well as assign the administrator user:
Step 10
We click on “Root password†and proceed to assign it:
Step 11
We click on Done and now we click on “User Creation†and proceed to register its data:
Step 12
Click on Done and the CentOS 8 installation process will continue:
Step 13
Once this process is finished we will see the following and click on Restart.
Step 14
We remove the disk or USB and see the CentOS 8 kernel:
Step 15
We select the first line to proceed with the system startup and then we will see the following. We click on “License Information†to accept the CentOS 8 license:
Step 16
We click Done and see that the license has been accepted:
Step 17
We click on “Finish configuration†to continue with the process and proceed to log in to CentOS 8:
Step 18
The license that we have installed CentOS 8 Core which has a default GNOME interface:
Step 19
There we define the language and then we can configure the writing:
Step 20
We configure privacy:
Step 21
We can associate accounts online:
Step 22
We have configured CentOS 8:
Step 23
Now we can validate the version of Centos installed by running:
lsb_release -a
We can see that it is the new version of CentOS 8.
2. How to install CentOS 8 Server
The next option is to install CentOS 8 as a server without GUI interface which helps optimize access speed, obviously depends on the hardware components, and is one of the most common ways of using CentOS.
Step 1
For this method, we repeat the process of inserting the disk to the point where we configure the hard disk, there we must go to the option "Software selection" where we will see the following. There we activate the Server box and click on Done to continue with the installation
Step 2
Then we must configure user and root password as we have seen:
Step 3
Once the process is finished and the system is restarted, we will access it using the registered credentials:
Step 4
Now we can check the version of CentOS by running:
cat / etc / redhat-release
There we verify that it is CentOS 8.
3. How to upgrade from CentOS 7 to CentOS 8
Now this is one of the most vital steps for thousands of users since they are currently using CentOS 7 and want to upgrade their system to this new version CentOS 8 and TechnoWikis will explain the process for it.
Step 1
The first step to take will be to access the computer with CentOS 7 and update its packages by running:
yum update
Step 2
If there are updates we will see the following:
Step 3
Enter the letter to confirm the download and installation.
Step 4
We proceed to check the current version of CentOS on the computer by running:
cat etc / redhat-release
Step 5
If we want to see the kernel version we run:
join me -mrs
Step 6
The next step we will take will be to go to the / etc directory and there locate the yum.repos.d path, we will see the following content:
Step 7
Using some editor we access the CentOS-Base.repo file:
nano CentOS-Base.repo
There we will add the following:
[upgrade] name = upgradebaseurl = http: //dev.centos.org/centos/8/upg/x86_64/enabled=1gpgcheck=0
Step 8
We save the changes with the Ctrl + O keys and exit the editor with the Ctrl + X keys.
Now we execute the following line:
yum install preupgrade-assistant-contents
Step 9
This is in order to install the update wizard and once installed you proceed to run yum ugrade to search and install updates available on the system including CentOS 8:
Step 10
There we proceed with the list and we must accept the download of them:
Step 11
Once we enter the letter S the download will continue:
Step 12
Then we will be asked if we want to import the GPG key:
Step 13
Once all this is finished it will be necessary to restart the system with the reboot command and then check that it has been updated correctly by executing:
cat etc / redhat-release
With TechnoWikis you have learned to install or upgrade to the new version of CentOS 8 which will undoubtedly be of great support for all administrators and users of this great system.