Linux - Distribution Choice, Installation and Configuration

Linux – distribution choice, installation and
configuration
What is a Linux distribution?
*from Wikipedia
What is a Linux distribution?
• Each distribution contains matching software elements guaranteeing compatibility and
conflict-free behaviour. It contains also a system kernel with kernel modules and
documentation.
• Most of Linux distributions are available for free, however, due to the fact that preparing such
a release requires some man power, time and energy, some organisations / institutions that
provide Linux distributions require some more or less symbolic fee for the distribution itself
or for technical support or software updates. This fee is usually much lower in comparison to
some commercial systems.
• Distributions may differ one from another in terms of standard applications or their
versions. Quite often various distributions are equipped with additional
applications / tools used for installation and system administrations. They may also
provide coherent and integrated software management tools (package managers),
for example RPM (RedHat Pakcage Manager), APT (Advanced Packaging Tool).
• There are also more ore less signifficant differences in terms of location of
configuration files, their naming, directory structure, etc.
Distributions – origins
Independent distributions :
Specialised distributions :
Educational distributions :
+LiveCD distributions (Knoppix, Monopix, etc.)…

LinuxDistributions.svg
Which distribution to choose?
• Take into account what you are going to use the
system for (is it going to be a server or rather an
alternative for Windows OS)
• Think of your system architecture (is it supported by
the chosen distro?)
• Do you think you / your company may need a
technical support for your distribution?
• Take into account default number of pre-compiled
packages, filesystem type, implemented security
mechanisms or general user friendliness
Linux Distributions - purpose
Distribution Producer First public release Base distribution Purpose
Arch Linux dev team 2002 none general
Ark Linux dev team 2003 none desktop
CentOS CentOS Project 2003 Red Hat Enterprise Linux server, workstation
(RHEL)
Debian Debian Project 1993 none general
Fedora Fedora Project 2003 Red Hat Linux general
Gentoo Linux Gentoo Foundation, Inc. 2002 none general
Knoppix dev team 2003 Debian live
Mandriva Linux Mandriva S.A. 1998 Red Hat Linux general
Novell, Inc.,
openSUSE 1994 SUSE Linux general
openSUSE Project
Red
Hat Enterprise Linux Red Hat 2002 Red Hat Linux, Fedora server, workstation
(RHEL)
Red Hat Linux Red Hat 1995 none server, workstation
Slackware dev team 1993 Softlanding Linux Syste general
m
GNU/Linux dev team 2002 Sorcerer general
*from Wikipedia
SUSE Linux Novell, Inc. dev team 1994 Slackware, Jurix workstation, server
Ubuntu Canonical Ltd. 2004 Debian general
Linux Distributions - platforms
Distribution IA-32 x86-64 IA-64 ppc ppc64 sparc32 sparc64 arm alpha
Yes
Arch Linux Yes No Yes[18] No No No Yes[19] No
(>=i686)
CentOS Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Debian[20] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[21] Yes Yes Unofficial
Fedora[22] Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes[23] No
Gentoo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[24] Yes
Knoppix Yes No No No No No No No No
Mandriva Yes Yes No No No No No No No
Linux
openSUSE[28] Yes Yes No No No No partial[29] No No
Red Hat
Enterprise Li Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
nux
[32]
SUSE Linux E
nterprise Ser Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
ver
[34]
Ubuntu/
*from WikipediaYes
Kubuntu/
Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
Xubuntu/
Lubuntu
Linux Distributions – software /
packages
Approximate
Approximate Default package Graphical
Distribution number of pre- number of management Package format Default installer installation
compiled
source packages tools process
packages
ABS: 9,835, AUR
Arch Linux 9,835[38] Pacman .pkg.tar.xz AIF No
: 38,006[39]
RPM, yum/
CentOS 1,660 up2date RPM Anaconda Yes
Debian 29,050[41] 14,975 APT .deb Debian-Installer Yes

Fedora 22,000 yum, PackageKit RPM Anaconda Yes
Gentoo 15,691 31,136[44] Portage ebuild Yes[45]
Knoppix 3,600 APT .deb No
urpmi, rpmdrake
Mandriva Linux 22,600 [49] RPM DrakX Yes
openSUSE 51,067 27,650[51] YaST, Zypper RPM YaST Yes

Red Hat 3,000 RPM, yum RPM Yes
Enterprise Linux
SUSE Linux 22,000 YaST, Zypper RPM YaST Yes
*from Wikipedia
Ubuntu,
Kubuntu, 35,784[50] APT .deb Ubiquity Yes
Xubuntu
Linux Distributions – Security
Features
Distribution Compile time Mandatory acces Software grsecurity RSBAC
buffer checks s control executable space
protection
Debian/Ubuntu Yes SELinux[60], PaX Optional Optional

AppArmor
Fedora / Centos /
RHEL Yes SELinux[61] Exec Shield[62] No No
Gentoo[63] Optional SELinux PaX Optional Optional
Mandriva Unknown AppArmor[64] Unknown Unknown Yes
Hardware NX
and other
SUSE Linux Yes AppArmor[65] methods in No No
mainline kernel
and toolchain[66]
Tor-ramdisk Unknown Unknown PaX Yes No

CentOS Linux – Requirements (not
clear)
• Processor:
– Minimum: Pentium IV 2.4GHz
• RAM:
– Minimum: 768MB
– Recommended: 2GB
– Optimal: 4GB Maximum
• Storage:
– Minimum: 2-3GB for installation without GUI (but can
be further reduced)
– Typical: 6-7GB for installation with GUI (KDE or GNOME)
– Optimal: >128MB
CentOS Linux – media installation
process
process
process
process
process
process
Windows Servers 2008 – Installation –
Full Version
process
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CentOS Linux – kickstart installation
process
• An organisation is rolling out CentOS / Fedora / Red
Hat Linux
• The same configuration is required for all Linux
machines
• Manual configuration takes very long
• Some kind of automation of the install process would
be required so that the installator would not need user
interaction during the install process
• Using alternative tools, such as Norton Ghost is fixed
and cannot be used in case of hardware changes whilst
kickstart can be easily used for any hardware
architecture
process
Kickstart installation requires special configuration file.
Luckily, if there is any pre-installed version of the Linux

system that is of the required configuration, the
installation tool (anaconda in case of CentOS, Red Hat or
Fedora) creates a special file anaconda-ks.cfg in the
/root directory.
Otherwise the file can be created from scratch. Then it

can be placed in any place that can be accessed from the
computer, i.e. USB stick or a network location (for
example WWW server).
process
process
process
process
process
process
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process

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Linux – distribution choice, installation and

+LiveCD distributions (Knoppix, Monopix, etc.)…

Debian 29,050[41] 14,975 APT .deb Debian-Installer Yes

openSUSE 51,067 27,650[51] YaST, Zypper RPM YaST Yes

Debian/Ubuntu Yes SELinux[60], PaX Optional Optional

Gentoo[63] Optional SELinux PaX Optional Optional

Mandriva Unknown AppArmor[64] Unknown Unknown Yes

Tor-ramdisk Unknown Unknown PaX Yes No

Luckily, if there is any pre-installed version of the Linux

Otherwise the file can be created from scratch. Then it

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