RHCSA – EX200

Anand Gupta

Chapter 01
Local Installation
This chapter describes the following major topics:

✓ A quick look at Linux and Open Source

✓ Linux distribution from Red Hat
✓ Recommended lab setup for RHCSA exam preparation
✓ Overview of the installer program
✓ Where are installation messages stored?
✓ What are virtual console screens?
✓ Download and install VMWare
✓ Create virtual machine
✓ Download and install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 in virtual machine
✓ Execute post-installation configuration tasks
✓ Log in and out at the graphical console
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L inux is a free operating system and it has been in existence for almost three decades. Its
source code is available to developers, amateurs, and general public for enhancements and
customization. Red Hat Inc. modifies a copy of a selected version of Linux source code and
introduces features, adds improvements, and fixes bugs. The company packages the updated
version as a Linux distribution of their own for commercial purposes. This distribution is
thoroughly tested to run smoothly and perform well on a wide range of computer hardware
platforms. It is stable, robust, feature-rich, and is ready to host workload of any size.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux may be downloaded for learning, practicing, and preparing for the
RHCSA exam. It is available as a single installable image file. A lab environment is necessary to
practice the procedures to solidify the understanding of the concepts and tools learned. The
install process requires careful planning to identify critical system configuration pieces prior to
launching the installer program. Once the operating system is installed, users can log in at the
console or over the network.

A Quick Look at Linux Development

Linux is a free computer operating system (OS) that is similar to the UNIX OS in terms of concepts,
features, functionality, and stability. It is referred to as a UNIX-like operating system.

Linux powers an extensive range of computer hardware platforms, from laptop and desktop
computers to massive mainframes and supercomputers. Linux also runs as the base OS on
networking, storage, gaming, smart television, and mobile devices. Numerous vendors, including
Red Hat, IBM, Canonical, Oracle, DXC Technology, Novell, and Dell, offer commercial support to
Linux users worldwide.

Linux is the main alternative to proprietary UNIX and Windows operating systems because of its
functionality, adaptability, portability, and cost-effectiveness. At present, over one hundred
different Linux distributions are circulating from various vendors, organizations, non-profit
groups, and individuals, though only a few of them are popular and widely recognized.

Linux is largely used in government agencies, corporate businesses, academic institutions,

scientific organizations, as well as in home computers. Linux deployment and usage are
constantly on the rise.

Linux History in a Nutshell

In 1984, Richard Stallman, an American software engineer, had a goal to create a completely free
UNIX-compatible open source (non-proprietary) operating system. The initiative was called the
GNU Project (GNU’s Not Unix) and by 1991, significant software had been developed. The only
critical piece missing was a core software component called kernel to drive and control the GNU
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software and to regulate its communication with the hardware. Around the same time, Finish
computer science student Linus Torvalds developed a kernel and proclaimed its availability. The
new kernel was named Linux, and it was gradually integrated with the GNU software to form
what is now referred to as GNU/Linux, Linux operating system, or simply Linux. Linux was
released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Initially written to run on Intel x86-based
computers, the first version (0.01) was released in September 1991 with little more than 10,000
lines of code. In 1994, the first major release (1.0.0) was introduced, followed by a series of
successive major and minor versions until the version 4.0 in 2015. Development and
enhancements continued, and version 4.0 was followed by several stable versions. At the time of
this writing, version 4.19, with its millions of lines of code, is the latest stable kernel. The Linux
kernel, and the operating system in general, has been enhanced with contributions from tens of
thousands of software programmers, amateurs, and organizations around the world into a large
and complex system under GNU GPL, which provides public access to its source code free of
charge and with full consent to amend, package, and redistribute.

Linux from Red Hat

Red Hat, Inc., founded in 1993, used the available Linux source code and created one of the first
commercial Linux operating system distribution called Red Hat Linux (RHL). The company
released the first version 1.0 in November 1994. Several versions followed until the last version
in the series, Red Hat Linux 9 (later
referred to as RHEL 3), based on kernel 2.4.20, was released in March 2003. Red Hat renamed
their Red Hat Linux brand as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) commencing 2003.

RHL was originally assembled and enhanced within the Red Hat company. In 2003, Red Hat
sponsored and facilitated the Fedora Project and invited the user community to join hands in
enhancing and updating the source code. This project served as the test bed for developing and
testing new features and enabled Red Hat to include the improved code in successive versions of
RHEL. The Fedora distribution is completely free, while RHEL is commercial. RHEL 4 (based on
kernel 2.6.9 and released in February 2005), RHEL 5 (based on kernel 2.6.18 and released in
March 2007), RHEL 6 (based on kernel 2.6.32 and released in November 2010), RHEL 7 (based on
kernel 3.10 and released in June 2014), and RHEL 8 (based on kernel 4.18 and released in May
2019) have been built using Fedora distributions 3, 6, 12, 13, 19, and 28, respectively.

RHEL 8 has been tested to run on bare-metal computer hardware, virtualized platforms, high-
end graphics workstations, IBM Power little endian, IBM System Z, and in the cloud.
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Lab Infrastructure for Practice

RHEL 8 is available as a free download from Red Hat for Intel and AMD processor machines. You
will need to create a free Red Hat user account in order to download it. The downloaded image
file can then be attached to a Virtual Machine (VM) as an ISO image, burned to a DVD to support
installation on a physical computer, or placed on a remote server for network-based installations
via HTTP, FTP, or NFS protocols.

This chapter will focus on installing the operating system with an ISO image. Network-based
installation is beyond the scope of this course.

What is Needed for the Lab?

You’ll need a laptop or a desktop computer with at least a dual core processor, 8GB of physical
memory, and 50 GB of free storage space to run two virtual machines with required storage.

Here is a snapshot of what is needed and how it will be configured:

Fig 1-1. Virtual machines

You will install VMWare Workstation Pro on Windows 10 or MacOS. You may use VirtualBox or
another virtualization software as an alternative.
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The RHEL Installer Program
The RHEL installer program is called Anaconda. There are several configuration options on the
main screen that require modification before the installation process begins. Some of the
questions are compulsory and must be answered appropriately while others are optional and
may be skipped for post-installation setup.

The configuration can be done in any sequence that you prefer. You should have the minimum
mandatory configuration data handy and be ready to enter it when prompted. Some of the key
configuration items are language, keyboard type, time zone, disk partitioning, hostname/IP,
software selection, root password, user information, and kdump.

Activity 1-1: Download and Install VMWare Workstation

Software

1. Visit www.vmware.com
2. Navigate to Resources menu and choose Product Downloads. It will redirect you to a new web
page in the next tab of the browser.
3. Scroll and locate the VMWare Workstation Pro entry under Products (A-Z) category.

Fig 1-2. VMWare Products List

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Fig 1-3. VMWare Product selection

4. Click on the Download Product link. The screen will look like the below screen.

Fig 1-4. VMWare Product download

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5. Click on the GO TO DOWNLOADS link next to the product (ie. for Windows select the first link). It
will look like the below image.

Fig 1-5. VMWare Product download (continued.)

6. Click on the DOWNLOAD NOW button. It will now ask you to either log onto your VMWare account
or create an account to process, as shown in the below image.

Fig 1-6. VMWare Customer Connect (account login)

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7. Log into your account using your credentials or create account and then login by clicking on Sign
up now.

Fig 1-7. VMWare Customer Connect (account login) continued.

8. Accept the license terms by selecting the check box next to “I agree to the terms and conditions
outlined in the End User License Agreement”, and click on the ACCEPT button.

Fig 1-8. VMWare EULA page

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9. A pop-up window will appear asking you to Save File. Click on the Save file button.

Fig 1-9. VMWare Workstation product storing

10. After the download is succeeded, install the software as like the other software while following
the on-screen instructions.

Activity 1-2: Download the RHEL 8 iso image

1. Visit www.redhat.com

Fig 1-10. Red Hat Enterprise website

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2. Click on Start a trail button

Fig 1-11. Red Hat Enterprise Trail

3. Under the Red Hat Enterprise Linux, click on Try it button

Fig 1-12. Red Hat Enterprise Trail (continued.)

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4. In the next step you will see the below window. Click on the START YOUR TRAIL button.

Fig 1-13. Red Hat Enterprise Trail (continued.)

5. This will pop-up a window to Save the file. Choose the Save file radio button and click on OK.

Fig 1-14. Red Hat Enterprise Linux iso image storing

6. Wait till the iso image is finished downloading. After it is download, you may move it any other
location or can keep in the download folder.
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Activity 1-3: Create Folder hierarchy

1. Create the following folders in your physical computer.

D:\ is the drive letter assigned to logical volume, you

D:\ may choose any other volume. i.e. E:\

VMs is a folder name

VMs RHEL is sub-folder of VMs

VM1 and VM2 are sub-folders of RHEL

RHEL

VM1 VM2
Fig 1-15. Folder hierarchy on Windows computer

Activity 1-4: Create Virtual Machines

1. Ensure that the VMWare Workstation Pro 16 is already installed on your computer. Double click
on the shortcut icon of VMWare Workstation Pro to launch the software (alternatively you can
use “vmware” run command to launch it from Run box)

Fig 1-16. VMWare Workstation Pro launching

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2. It will launch the VMWare Workstation application on the computer as shown below.

Fig 1-17. VMWare Workstation Pro window

3. Click on File menu and select “New Virtual Machine Ctrl+N” option.

Fig 1-18. Virtual Machine Creation

4. Ensure that the “Typical (recommended)” option is selected on the New Virtual Machine Wizard
window, click on the Next button.

Fig 1-19. Virtual Machine Creation (cont.)

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5. Select the radio button next to “I will install the operating system later” and click on the Next
button.

Fig 1-20. Virtual Machine guest operating system install selection

6. Select the radio button next to “Linux” under “Guest operating system” section and “Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 8 64-bit” from the “Version” drop down list, and click on the Next button to
proceed.

Fig 1-21. Virtual Machine guest operating system and version selection
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7. Type VM1 in the “Virtual machine name:” text box and type “D:\VMs\RHEL\VM1” in the text box
under “Location:”, click on the Next button to proceed. Alternatively, you can click on Browse
button and select the VM1 folder created in the Activity 1-4.

Fig 1-22. Virtual Machine name and location

8. Ensure that the “Maximum disk size (GB):” text box has “20.0” value (you may increase depending
on your requirement), select the radio button next to the “Store virtual disk as a single file”, and
click on the Next button to proceed.

Fig 1-23. Virtual Machine hard disk capacity

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9. Click on the “Customize Hardware” button in the next window. This will help you to customize
your virtual machine before you can use it.

Fig 1-24. Virtual Machine’s hardware details

10. Select the “Processors” note under Device in the “Hardware” window, and type 2 in the “Number
of cores per processor” text field.

Fig 1-25. Virtual Machine’s processors modification

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11. Select the “New CD/DVD (SATA)” under “Device” on the “Hardware” window, select the “Use ISO
image file” radio button, and click on the Browse button. Navigate your computer and select the
iso image downloaded in Activity 1-3. Click on the Open button.

Fig 1-26. ISO image mounting to VM

Alternatively, you can also type the path of the iso image in the text box below to “Use ISO image
file:” as shown in the image. Click on the Next button to proceed.

Fig 1-27. ISO image mounting to VM (cont.)

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12. We will add one more NIC for internet purpose. Click on the “Add” button to add a new hardware.
Select Network Adapter under the “Hardware types:” and click on the Finish and Close buttons
respectively. Your virtual machine is ready to play.

Fig 1-28. Network Interface Card addition

Fig 1-29. VM1 ready for play

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Virtual Network Basics:
VMware Workstation provides several ways you can configure a virtual machine for
virtual networking.

• Bridged networking configures your virtual machine as a unique identity on the network,
separate and unrelated to its host.
• Network address translation (NAT) configures your virtual machine to share the IP and MAC
addresses of the host. The virtual machine and the host share a single network identity that is not
visible outside the network. NAT can be useful when you are allowed a single IP address or MAC
address by your network administrator.
• Host-only networking configures your virtual machine to allow network access only to the host.
This can be useful when you want a secure virtual machine that is connected to the host network,
but available only through the host machine.
• Custom networking lets you configure your virtual machine's network connection manually.

If you select the Typical setup path in the New Virtual Machine Wizard when you create
a virtual machine, the wizard sets up bridged networking for the virtual machine.

The following sections describe the devices that make up a virtual network.

Virtual switch Network Adapter

Bridge NAT Device
Host Virtual Adapter DHCP Server

Virtual Network for virtual machines only (LAN Segment):

When you select a LAN segment, the virtual machine uses a private network that can be shared with other
virtual machines. LAN segments are useful for multitier testing, network performance analysis, and
situations where virtual machine isolation are important.

Activity 1-5: Create LAN Segment

1. Ensure that you have already created VM1 by following Activity 1-4. In VMWare Workstation Pro
ensure that VM1 is selected. Click on the Edit virtual machine settings option under the VM1

Fig 1-30. Edit virtual machine settings

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2. In the Virtual Machine Settings window, select the “Network Adapter 2” under “Device” section.
Select the “LAN segment” radio button and click on “LAN Segments…” button.

Fig 1-31. Select and Modify LAN Segments

3. Click on the Add button under “Global LAN Segments” section, click on OK. Alternatively, you can
rename the LAN Segment under the Global LAN Segment but in this activity, we are using the
default name.

Fig 1-32. Adding LAN Segment

4. Now click on the drop-down button under the LAN segment section, choose “LAN Segment 1” and
click on OK button.

Fig 1-32. LAN Segment selection

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5. Verify the changes made in previous step. “Network Adapter 2” must show “LAN Segment” as
value next to it as shown in the below image.

Fig 1-32. VM1 summary after modification

Exercise 1: Installing RHEL 8 on VM1 as Server1

1. Launch the VMWare Workstation and ensure that the VM1 is selected as shown below.
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2. Click on the Power on this virtual machine option or use Ctrl + B key combination. [to direct input
to VMs in VMWare Workstation you can click inside the virtual machine or press Ctrl + G]. You
may see similar screen on your computer if you are following along.
3. The first option, “Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4”, is usually used for installing RHEL 8 unless
you want the installation media tested for integrity before continuing, in which case you will select
the second option. Anaconda waits 60 seconds for you to alter the selection, or it proceeds and
autoboots using the second option on the list, which is also the default. The third option,
“Troubleshooting”, allows you to address some boot related issues that might occur during
installation. Use the Up or Down arrow key to select the “Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4”
entry and press Enter. The installer is launched in graphical mode.

4. The installer program shows a welcome screen with a long list of supported languages that you
could use during the installation. The default is set to English. Click Continue to accept the default
and move on.
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5. The “Installation Summary” screen appears next, as shown in below image. You have the
opportunity to make all necessary configuration changes prior to starting the installation. This
screen presents a single interface to configure localization (keyboard, language, date, time, and
time zone), software (installation source and software selection), and system (disk selection and
partitioning, network and hostname assignments, etc.)

There is no particular sequence to configure these items. If you do not wish to change a non-
highlighted item, simply leave it intact and the installation program will apply the default settings
for it.
6. Adding Support for Keyboards and Languages: Anaconda presents additional choices for
keyboard layouts and languages for use during and after the installation. This should only be done
on systems where support for multiple keyboard layouts and languages is required. The default is
the US English for both.
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7. Configuring Time & Date: Click Time & Date to set the time zone (region and city), date, and time
for the system. See below image. Click Done in the upper left corner to save the changes and
return to the Installation Summary screen.

8. Choosing an Installation Source: You can set the installation source for RHEL 8. By default,
Anaconda chooses the auto-detected local media (DVD, USB flash drive, or ISO image) that was
used to start this installation. For this demonstration, leave the installation source to the default.
Click Done to return to the Installation Summary page.
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9. Selecting Software to be Installed: You can choose the base operating environment that you want
installed. Base environments are predefined groups of software packages designed for specific
use cases. You may choose the best which fits to the requirement as describe below.

Choosing a base environment in the left pane reveals additional components on the right that
may be ticked for installation along with the selected base environment.

The installer automatically picks and installs prerequisite software components to fulfill
dependency requirements for a successful installation. The default base environment is “Server
with GUI” for this demonstration. Leave add-ons to the default as well. Click Done to return to the
Installation Summary page.
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10. Configuring Installation Destination: The Installation Destination allows you to choose an
available local or remote disk for partitioning and installing the OS on. Anaconda selects
“Automatic partitioning selected” (highlighted in red) on the Installation Summary page, which
you can change on Installation Destination. By default, the 20GB virtual disk you assigned to the
VM initially is automatically picked up by the installer.

11. Configuring Network and Hostname: Assigning appropriate IP and hostname are essential for
system functionality in a network environment. Click Network & Hostname on the Installation
Summary page. Anaconda detects all attached network interfaces, but it does not automatically
assign them IPs. Also, the default hostname is set to localhost.localdomain. You need to modify
these assignments so that your system is able to communicate with other systems on the
network. Change the hostname to server1.example.com in the Hostname field. For IP
assignments, there are a couple of options. You can obtain them automatically from an available
DHCP server by simply sliding the ON/OFF switch located in the top right-hand corner. Please refer
the below images.
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12. Setting root Password: Click on the Root Password to set the administrative account password.
Type and retype the root password and click on Done.
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13. Beginning the installation: You’re now on the Installation Summary page. You still have the
opportunity to go back and configure or reconfigure any items you’ve missed. Once you are
satisfied, click Begin Installation at the bottom right to initiate the installation based on the
configuration entered in the previous steps. Anaconda will now partition the selected disk and
install the software. Any data previously stored on the disk will be erased and unrecoverable.
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14. Concluding Installation: When the required setup is complete and all software packages are
installed, a Reboot button will appear at the bottom right on the Configuration screen. Click this
button to reboot the new system. After the system reboots we need to perform the post-
installation task.

15. Performing Post-Installation Tasks: The system initiates the Initial Setup application upon restart
so that you can complete certain post-installation tasks.
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Click on the License information link under LICENSING, and in the next screen check the box next
to “I accept the license agreement”, click on the Done button.

The second item on the Initial Setup screen helps you register this system with Red Hat’s
subscription management service to enable it to receive automatic software updates and perform
certain other management tasks. You can register your virtual machine using the account
credentials of Red Hat or can leave this item intact.
The third item on the Initial Setup screen helps you to Create user account. Click on the User
Creation. Type Full name, User name, choose account type, specify and confirm user password,
and click on the Done button to create the user. Click on the Finish Configuration button. This
brings the installation and initial configuration of RHEL 8 to a successful completion.
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Logging In and Out
Now that the installation is complete, you can log on to the system. You selected the Server with GUI base
environment, which includes graphical desktop support to interact with the system. You can now use the
account created in previous step to log in.

Logging In for the First Time

When you sign in with a new user account for the first time, several screens appear in succession to allow
you to configure a few basic items for the user. Follow the steps below to go through this process. You
will not be prompted again for this configuration upon next logon.

1. On the graphical logon screen, click the user account and enter the password when prompted
and click on Sign
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The login process continues, and a Welcome screen pops up that shows the language that you
had selected at the beginning of the installation. You can change it to a different language if you
so desire. Click Next.

2. Add an Input Source to be used on the next screen. The default is the US English keyboard type
that you had selected earlier. Click Next.
3. Enable the geographical location of this system to be automatically determined for applications
to use. The default is set to on. Click Next.
4. You can connect one of your online user accounts such as Google, Nextcloud, Microsoft, or
Facebook in order to access your email, contact, and other information and services. Click Skip for
this demonstration.
5. Click “Start using Red Hat Enterprise Linux” on the final “Ready to Go” screen as shown below.
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6. A Getting Started help screen pops up (Figure 1-41). Here, you can watch videos on how to launch
applications, switch tasks, and use windows and workspaces in the Graphical User Interface (GUI).
The help is available in text format as well. You can close this window by clicking the X (exit)
button at the top right.

Logging Out:
Logging out of the system is easy. Click on the down arrow (top right), expand user1 (the name of the
logged-in user), and click Log Out. The user will be signed out and the main login screen will reappear.
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Task 1-1:
1. Configure your computer as per the lab setup discussion in this chapter.
2. Create VM1 and VM2 virtual machines and install RHEL 8 on them.
3. Create LAN Segment named as “Local” and ensure both VMs are connected to LAN Segment.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we started by looking at Linux history and exploring available versions of Linux from Red
Hat. We examined various pre-installation items for our lab environment to prepare for a smooth
installation in order to practice the exercises. We demonstrated downloading the images for VMWare
Workstation software and RHEL 8. We built a virtual machine and installed RHEL 8 in it. We completed
post installation tasks to conclude the demonstration. Finally, we logged in to the new system at the
console to verify the installation.