Modifying the setup process of CentOS

Question

I am working on a project that uses Squid with eCAP, Haraka and a few other applications that need to be installed every time we install CentOS. The main idea is that I need to make the setup process of CentOS to also include the setup and configuration of Squid and Haraka.

I haven't worked on anything like this before and I really need a few pointers on the matter, especially from a programmer's point of view regarding deployment. At the very least I need to make the packages install automatically with CentOS, bonus points if they can have a specified default configuration (not the official package's default one).

The ideal deployment option would be adding extra setup pages to the GUI installation .

A not so satisfying solution would be a clean installation of both the OS and the applications and to be able to practically deploy the image of the installation on different machines that have the same hardware. Although I do not know, at this time, the implications regarding this process.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

In general for this sort of thing I think you want to be looking at something like kickstart (assuming you want the CentOS native installation scripting tools). You could, of course, also look into puppet, chef, ansible, or a handful of other similar tools.

Adding pages to the CentOS installation GUI is absolutely possible but possibly not the easiest thing to do. I believe it requires writing python (and possibly C) and then building your own anaconda build and using that for installation instead of the normal CentOS version of anaconda that comes on the normal CentOS media.

Using whatever method you choose it will absolutely be possible to deploy differing configurations based on a variety of criteria (which and when they are tested will change depending on which method is being used).

Some additional kickstart links:

• http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/KickStart
• https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda

I would additionally suggest that, if at all possible, you should use CentOS 6 instead of CentOS 5 as there have been a number of major changes to the anaconda/kickstart/etc. infrastructure and your life will almost certainly be better (and less full of annoyances) for using the more modern versions of the tools.