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Physical hardware
Other (really anything
that’ll run CentOS 7
should be fine)
Other Linux (you don’t
actually have to run
CentOS)
Pros
Up and running in minutes. Inexpensive to
operate. Doesn’t require any resources on your
local system. Accessible from anywhere. Can be
used in a production environment. Fantastic for
quick prototyping projects.
Free to use. No external exposure. Excellent for
small lab projects.
Inexpensive to operate. Doesn’t require any
resources on your local system. Accessible from
anywhere. Can be used in a production
environment. Scales to enormous sizes.
Dedicated platform. Can be shipped and
installed anywhere. Complete control over all
aspects of environment, hardware, network,
and so forth.
You can use an environment that you’re
familiar with.
Cons
You pay as long as it’s running. The IP address
is only yours for as long as the system is
running. Requires some DevOps skills if you
want to deploy in production. No firewall in
place by default.
Requires more horsepower on your system.
Requires storage space on your local system.
Not easy to deploy into a production
environment.
You pay as long as it’s running. Somewhat
more skills required to gather all the resources
you need.
Risk of component failure. Power consumption.
Noise. Potential costs for hosting. No inherent
redundancy.
You’re on your own.
You can run the exact environment you want.
You need to have strong Linux admin skills.
For the purposes of learning, we recommend one of two simple ways to get going:
• If you are running Windows as your desktop: Download VirtualBox, then down‐
load the CentOS 7 Minimal ISO, and install on your local machine.
• If you are comfortable working with SSH-based, keyed connections to remote sys‐
tems: Create a hosted system (for example, a DigitalOcean CentOS droplet).
This book was developed and tested using both VirtualBox and DigitalOcean.
VirtualBox Steps
Grab a copy of VirtualBox from the platform’s website and install it.
Download the Minimal ISO from the Centos website.
Linux Installation
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Get yourself a copy of PuTTY if you’re using Windows.
Create a new virtual machine with the following characteristics:
• Type: Linux
• Version: Red Hat (64-bit)
• Memory size: 2048 MB
• Hard disk: Create a virtual hard disk now
• File location: Pick a good spot for storing your virtual machine images
• File size: 16 GB is fine for what we’re doing here, but something larger would be
needed for production
Once the basic machine has been defined, you’ll need to tweak it as follows:
• Storage: Under Storage, Controller: IDE ...
1. You should see the CD/DVD has a tiny disc icon labeled Empty.