Help with CentOS 4.4 please

[brokenhalo]

Hey guys,
I have just been hired as a systems administrator for this company which provides web hosting amongst many other things... Here is where my problem lies...

I have no experience with linux AT ALL, and they are running their web servers, dns, email, ftp and everything from 3 CentOS 4.4 servers with no GUI, all command line.

So I am at home and tried installing it on my server here, and it doesn't recognize either of my hard drives... I tried searching through the list of devcices and neither of mine were listed.

My first hard drive (C:\) (Maxtor 6E030L0) has windows XP Pro and my second hd (samsung SV4002H) is partitioned in half, first half (D:\) has windows server 2003 Enterprise and the second half (E:\)is a basic unformatted partition. Ideally, I would like install CentOS on the E:\ drive, but I'm not sure if this is possible as I have not gotten that far in the installation yet. So Heres my questions...

1) Do I only need the drivers for my samsung HD or is there something I'm missing?
2) Is it even possible to install CentOS on the E:\ drive once I get that far? This whole Linux this is confusing me, and I'm usually hard to confuse. Any help would be appreciated

Brad L. - MCP

"If the doctors told me I had 5 minutes to live, I would type faster.

 

[RhythmAce]

When you start the install, the installer will ask if you want it to configure the drive(s) for you. Select yes then it will give you some options on what to do with the existing partitions and so on. There is an option to only use available/unused space. Since you have two other operating systems on the computer, you will want to setup the boot loader (grub) to present a menu asking which to load and also a default for reboots when you are not around. Linux does not name the drives as windows does. It doesn't use C:\ or D:\. It uses something like hda, hdb and so on. These represent physical drives. Partitions on that drive are signified with a number appended to the drive like hda1, hda2 and so on. So if I understand the way you have it now, linux will use hdb2 for the installation. It will create a few partitions, /swap which is like windows' virtual memory, / (called root) and /boot. You shouldn't have to worry if you don't get it all right now. Linux's installer will set it all up for you. Just make sure you tell it to only use available space so it doesn't right over you other partitions.

 

[brokenhalo]

Thanks for that information, but the problem is is that it doesn't recognize the hard drives or any devices in which to install on. Im not sure if for some reason it doesnt have the drivers for my hard drives or where the problem lies... I just can't install the OS

Brad L. - MCP

"If the doctors told me I had 5 minutes to live, I would type faster.

 

[IRudebwoy]

The installer doesn't have drivers for your HD controller. Hence, no drives recognized. If you have a newer PC the hardware may not be supported by CentOS 3, may be 4 or 5 might work. What are you running?

My advice (if ya want it):

Find an (older, circa 2002) PC to dedicate to the CentOS 3 install. If this is your first experience this will immerse you in the linux world. And save you numerous headaches if something goes wrong. Especially with a dual-boot set up and accidentally delete a partition as a for instance..

If you can't find a dedicated PC try VMware Server 1.0.6 (2.0 is almost out). Register for your free serial numbers, download and install. Once VMware is running you can install CentOS within . Requires a bit more effort. Since your a windows guy I'm sure you don't mind.

Have Fun!

 

[brokenhalo]

Thanks IRudebwoy for the help... The thing is, I have CentOS 4.4 at my work, and I wanted to do my best to try and replicate the network at work from my home to learn from... But as I said earlier, I have no idea what Linux is all about so I'll take any advise I can get... What is this VMware all about? What is it? It sounds interesting and I'd like to learn more about it. If anyone has anymore suggestions that could help me with the original post, it would be of great help. Thanks,

Brad L. - MCP

"If the doctors told me I had 5 minutes to live, I would type faster.

 

[RhythmAce]

Are you getting an error message? How do you know it doesn't recognize the drives? What's it saying? Fill us in on all the dirt. ;-)

 

[brokenhalo]

Yeah I'm sorry I should have been a little more specific... I'll do it again when I get off work and fill you in as little better. Thanks

Brad L. - MCP

"If the doctors told me I had 5 minutes to live, I would type faster.

 

[IRudebwoy]

VMware server and other virtualization technologies are a great tools in a sysadmin's toolkit. The website is a URL away if you're curious.

BTW, all we need are more details.

For me, more details on your hardware may help.