- Install a system (virtual or physical) with the default CentOS installation that you wish to package. This could be a minimal distro or the default distro or even something custom.
- Once the OS has been installed, you need to tar the contents of the OS.
- First, create a file called /tmp/exclude and add the following lines to it:
.bash_history
lost+found
/dev/*
/mnt/*
/tmp/*
/proc/*
/sys/*
/usr/src/*
- Now, tar the OS file up by typing:
tar –czvf /tmp/centos-5.0-<ARCH>-<DISTRO>-image.tar.gz / –X /tmp/exclude
where <ARCH> represents the system architecture (i386 or x86_64) and <DISTRO> represents the distribution (default, minimal, etc.).
- Now transfer the file over to the OpenVZ server into /vz/template/cache folder.
- On the OpenVZ server create a “dummy” VPS by creating a folder called /vz/private/50 and copying the /etc/vz/conf/ve-vps.basic.conf-sample to /etc/vz/conf/50.conf.
NOTE:
50 is the VEID for the VPS. You can choose any unused VEID on the OpenVZ server.
- Now create a new folder called /vz/template/centos/5.0/<ARCH>/config again where <ARCH> represents the system architecture.
- Create a file in the folder called rpm and add the following line:
43
- Create a file called yum.conf in the folder and add the following lines:
[main]
cachedir=/vz/template/centos/5.0/<ARCH>/yum-cache/
reposdir=/dev/null
installonlypkgs=
[centos5-base]
name=CentOS 5 - <ARCH> - Base
baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5/os/<ARCH>/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
[centos5-updates-released]
name=CentOS 5 - <ARCH> - Released Updates
baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5/updates/<ARCH>/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
- Copy /etc/vz/dists/centos-4.conf to /etc/vz/dists/centos-5.0.conf.
- Change to the /vz/private/50 folder and then run the command gunzip –dc /vz/template/cache/centos-5.0-<ARCH>-<DISTRO>-image.tar.gz | tar –xvf – to unpack the base image to the folder.
- Make sure you are in the /vz/private/50 folder.
- Edit etc/shadow and remove the replace the root password with !! instead of the hashed value.
- Edit the etc/inittab file and comment out the lines that respawn /sbin/mingetty on tty1 through tty6. Just put a # at the beginning of the line.
- Remove the etc/mtab file and then create a symbolic link by typing ln –s /proc/mounts etc/mtab.
- Remove all of the lines from etc/fstab except for the line that mounts /dev/pts.
- Edit etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit and comment out the line that starts /sbin/start_udev by placing a # at the beginning of the line.
- Now create device nodes by typing:
mknod dev/ptmx c 5 2
mkdir dev/pts
/sbin/MAKEDEV –d /vz/private/50/dev ttyp ptyp
mknod dev/null c 1 3
mknod dev/urandom c 1 9
- Create the var/lock/rpm folder.
- If you wish to disable IPv6, do the following:
- Edit etc/sysconfig/network and set NETWORKING_IPV6 to no.
- Add the following lines to etc/modprobe.d/blacklist:
blacklist ipv6
blacklist net-pf-10
- Disable any physical NICs by modifying the etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX files (where X is the interface number starting from 0) and setting ONBOOT to no.
- Now you’re ready to start the template. Type vzctl start 50 and wait for it to start.
- You can install additional packages into the VPS by typing vzyum 50 install <package> at the prompt where <package> represents the name of the software package you wish to install.
- Finally, you should turn off unnecessary services.
- Enter the VPS by typing vzctl enter 50.
- View the services that are set to run at startup by typing chkconfig --list | grep 5:on.
- Disable any unwanted service by typing chkconfig --levels 2345 <service> off where <service> represents the service to disable.
Services that you can (and should) turn off without harm are acpid, apmd, kudzu, and microcode_ctl.
- Exit the VPS by typing exit at the prompt.
- Stop the VPS by typing vzctl stop 50.
- Finally, package up the new template by typing tar –czvf /vz/template/cache/centos-5.0-<ARCH>-<DISTRO>.tar.gz .
- The template is ready for use.