3. Installing CentOS 8 on a Clean Disk Drive

There are now two ways in which a CentOS 8 system can be deployed. One method is to either purchase new hardware or re-purpose an existing computer system on which to install and run the operating system. Another option is to create a cloud-based operating system instance using services such as Amazon AWS, Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure (to name but a few). Since cloud-based instances are typically created by selecting a pre-configured, ready to run operating system image that is already optimized for the cloud platform, and using that as the basis for the CentOS system, there is no need to perform a manual operating system installation in this situation.

If, on the other hand, you plan to install CentOS 8 on your own hardware, the first step on the path to learning about CentOS 8 involves installing the operating system.

CentOS can be installed either in a clean disk environment (where an entire disk is cleared of any existing partitions and dedicated entirely to CentOS) or in a dual boot environment where CentOS co-exists with another operating system on the disk (typically a member of the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems).

In this chapter we will be covering the clean disk approach to installation from local or remote installation media. Dual boot installation with a Windows 10 system will be covered in “Dual Booting CentOS 8 with Windows”.