I'm looking for the easiest way to perform a minimal install of RHEL5.3, with SAMBA, perl, php, apache and mysql.

According to the RH knowledgebase, a "minimal" install can be achieved with simply selecting the Base-Base group of code during the installation process. But it seems that adding/removing code after that point is a challenge (to me, relatively new to the distro).

Alternatively, I could select just the components that I'm looking for but there is the complication that I cannot find a few components to select/deselect. For example, I cannot find where to select Apache (httpd). There is a generic "web server" choice before the package selections, but it does not appear to be granular. On the other hand, there are packages that I cannot find to remove from the installation list (i.e., CUPS). The documentation says that this choice is in Environment-Daemons, but this does not exist in the graphical list to select.

I don't need X11, or a window manager, or desktop environment, so once built, what is the easiest way to install/uninstall code in a command-line environment? RHN is not going to be an option due to our firewall and we're in the process of getting a contract with RH, I'm just trying to learn a bit on my own ahead of time. Alternatively, I have set up a local Software Manager Repository, but is that accessible without the gui?

TIA,
Dave

If you want to do minimal installs RHEL/Centos is NOT the way to go. RHEL/Centos/Fedora are all highly integrate full feature distros. It is very difficult to strip RHEL down to bare bones and when you do it is essentially not RHEL.

Without direct access to the internet you have removed the major advantage of using a rpm based distro.


I use RHEL/Centos/Fedora (depending on application) and think they are great products. But every tool has it purpose. You are essentially trying to use an electric drill as a hammer. It can be done, but the drill will not really be a drill by the time you are finished.

Lazlow,
I appreciate your feedback and agree with your comments, but I have some constraints to account for in this.

"If you want to do minimal installs RHEL/Centos is NOT the way to go. RHEL/Centos/Fedora are all highly integrate full feature distros. It is very difficult to strip RHEL down to bare bones and when you do it is essentially not RHEL."

This will (eventually) be under a business/vendor agreement, so I really do not have much flexibility. However, it just seems odd that I can choose some packages to install or not but not all. If the distribution is a Red Hat distribution and is stripped down, then how is that no longer a Red Hat product? I may need some components that are specific to RH in the future.

"Without direct access to the internet you have removed the major advantage of using a rpm based distro."

We will probably set up some sort of proxy to manage updates, but direct access for each server will not be viable for a number of reasons.

"I use RHEL/Centos/Fedora (depending on application) and think they are great products. But every tool has it purpose. You are essentially trying to use an electric drill as a hammer. It can be done, but the drill will not really be a drill by the time you are finished."

I disagree with this analogy because I'm not asking to do anything that is not available in the distribution or to create something that is not uncommon. All of the packages I wish to install are available in the distro and I can (after-the-fact) uninstall those that I do not wish to install. The questions are why I cannot select/deselect them in the initial installation process, or is there a common solution to solve this issue (without reinventing the wheel). I'm not asking a drill to be a hammer, rather I'm asking an adjustable wrench to be able to adjust as advertised and am asking if others solved the same issue.

Because RH product are feature rich the components are (to a far greater degree than most) integrated and interdependent. In order to remove a significant portion of those components (strip it down) you are going to have to rebuild a significant portion of the other (that depend on those components) components. Which will in turn require rebuilding components that are dependent on the components that you just rebuilt. By the time you get through rebuilding stuff it is no longer RHEL(you will quickly get to the point you cannot use standard RHEL packages). If you have ever seen the bar trick where you span a glass (larger than any one toothpick) with three toothpicks, you will get the idea of how RH puts together their systems. Remove any one toothpick and the span collapses.


You can build your own local repo (look at the createrepo package) and use rsink(sp?) to keep those files up to date with RH's repo. Many people run each package through a test machine to verify any conflicts before putting those packages into the local repo.

Lazlow - I appreciate your feedback. Thank you.