What about install first using VirtualBox, and then copy to HDD ?

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loopx
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What about install first using VirtualBox, and then copy to HDD ?

Post by loopx » 2012/05/06 19:46:16

Hi,


I'm a Linux user since many years now. I've got a server at home running Arch Linux ... but I'm not satisfied for a server usage ... So, I will use, for the first time, the RHEL clone : CentOS (v6).

My server is a little notebook ... and only 1 drive (old drive, IDE). So, first, to set all services required, I will want to use VirtualBox and virtualize the first installation. After that, copy the install back to a HDD and boot it with true hardware ... detect both NIC, ... and I hope that will work fine :).


Do you think it's a good idea ? What about LVM (if set by default, because drive will probably not have same size) and other hardware which will not be present at the begining ???


Thanks

pschaff
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What about install first using VirtualBox, and then copy to

Post by pschaff » 2012/05/07 17:23:35

It should be possible to do what you propose, but it seems unlikely to be worth the trouble. It would be a lot easier to just install to the real hardware if that is your final target.

Anyway, to follow the virtual-to-physical conversion path, you will need to copy the installed system to the physical partitions. I think it could be done by attaching the physical partitions to the virtual machine, formatting them, and copying over the data with a tool such as tar, but I have never done that with VirtualBox. You will need to be sure that whatever copy method you use preserves the SELinux context, and that you appropriately modify /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf to match the physical hardware, and follow [url=http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/CreateNewInitrd]Creating a New Initial RAM Disk[/url] to make it bootable. You will also have to change the graphics configuration after boot to match the physical hardware.

I'd just use a VM to practice and then do a fresh install on the real iron.

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