Which packages (if any) to install prior to cPanel install?

[spaceman]

Hi All,

I'm doing a fresh install of the CentOS distro. When complete, I plan to take up the cPanel people's offer to do a free install of cPanel/WHM for me.

At at the 'Package Group Selection' stage of the install. Now I know that the idea is to do a minimum install of packages - because cPanel/WHM takes care of pretty much everything for you. Here are the package groups, by sectionm, that I'm being offered:

---------------------------------------
'Server' Section:

*Server Configuration Tools (8/8)
*Web Server (12/20)
*Mail Server (4/4)
*Windows File Server (3/3)
*DNS Name Server (3/3)
*FTP Server (1/1)
PostgreSQL Database (0/14)
MySQL Database (0/12)
Network Servers (0/1)

'System' Section:

*Administration Tools (11/12)
System Tools (0/1)
*Printing Support (6/6)

'Miscellaneous' Section:

Everything
Minimal
---------------------------------------

I've put a '*' before package groups that have been pre-selected for me (but I still have the option to de-select these)

My question: for the purpose of a cPanel/WHM install (which comes next), which package groups to select/de-select?

1. Deselect all?
2. Select only the 'Minimal' group that comes with the advisory "Choose this group to get the minimal possible set of packages. Useful for creating small router/firewall boxes, for example".


Er, one more question. In a previous conversation with the cPanel people they stated the following:

"In order for us to perform the install, all we need is root access to a server running a fresh install of any supported distribution enumerated at http://www.cpanel.net. Be sure to include all development packages and libraries with the install, as this is a common oversight which can cause many aspects of cPanel to fail if not properly configured."

I'm a little unclear as to what exactly is being referred to in relation to "all development packages and libraries". Are these the packages I'm being asked to select/deselect above? If so, what does 'include' mean? Does it just mean to check the box next 'development packages and libraries' (whatever they are), or does it mean that I have to actually copy "development package and library" software onto the server?

Apologies for my newbie question. I've been using cPanel/WHM for > 5 years now, but never on a box that I had to install myself before - great fun and a good learning curve!

[nickp666]

build it as a minimum (router) install, cpanel installs more or less everything itself, only things I had to install were quota & Mail::SPF::Query perl module both of which werent difficult to install, obviously firewall software and other things you will have to install yourself but theres a good starting article somewhere on here entitled "beginners guide to securing your server"

[chirpy]

Yup, I agree with that, just use the minimal server installation option.

Also, if you're using an OS that uses yum for updates make sure that you install the rpm key before attempting to install cPanel or it will all fail miserably. I also find it useful to ensure that you have gcc installed too before starting.

[spaceman]

Thanks guys, great advice.

Incidentally, I went around in circles for a while when I couldn't see 'Development Tools' in the Package Group Selection list. After much hair pulling I worked out that this was because I was installing off the minimum Centos 'Server CD' (as opposed to the DVD or 1 of 4 CDs), which doesn't include the 'Dev Tools' that the cPanel people were recommending I select. The 'readme' for the 'Server CD' version reads:

----------------
Single Server CD
----------------

The Single Server CD is an ISO that contains most of the items required for
basic server setup (without a GUI) on a single CD. This was created for
those who want to download 1 CD and be able to do a functional install.
Obviously, we can't fit everything from the 4 CD set onto 1 CD, but we may
not have the packages JUST right."

When I'm all done with this, I plan to share my 'newbie' experience of performing a fresh install of CentOS (for the purpose of then installing cPanel+WHM) on these forums.

[chirpy]

IIRC, I've used the CentOS Single Server CD without problems.

[spaceman]

IIRC, I've used the CentOS Single Server CD without problems.

Thanks for that feedback, however...

Given that I'm going to be asking the cPanel people to install cPanel+WHM for me (I know - probably should do-it-myself from a learning perspective ), my primary incentive is to prep the server according to what they tell me are their minimum requirements. And their 'official' word on this (from a support conversation) is:

You will need to uninstall all packages except "Development tools" and "Kernel Development Tools."

So only after I ditched the min. install 'Server' CentOS CD in favour of the 'full' version did I see 'Development tools' as an option. "Kernel Development Tools" did not appear as a 'Package Group' as implied by cPanel's statement above. Instead, when I clicked for details of the "Development Tools" package, I noticed a number of Kernel tools were already preselected. So I've made the assumption that these are what cPanel were referring to.

Furthermore...

We (my company) are making use of the services of Touch Support for 3rd party, 24 hour, sys admin support (as a reserve/additional support option for us when we can't work something out for ourselves). Touch Support have recommended that, in addition to the minimum packages suggested by cPanel, I should take this opportunity to also install the following Package Groups:

Editors
Text-Based Internet
Server Configuration Tools
X Software Development
Legacy Software Development
Administration Tools
System Tools

The reason given by Touch Support for suggesting these additional packages to install was:

"Yes; the extra packages I suggested are useful tools that are just easier to install from the disc while your already doing it. It installs things like screen and extra editors that customers like, etc, etc. cPanel is just telling you what they need as a minimum to get the system up."

I've also run that list by cPanel (still awaiting a response) to cross-check that, as far as they're concerned, if I do install all that lot on the advice of Touch Support that it won't interfere with their ability to successfully install cPanel/WHM for me.

So if anyone has an opinion they want to share on that additional package group selection list - be my guest! I don't have any reason to doubt Touch Support's advice, but at the aame time I'm not advsrse to second/third/fourth opinions, especially since I'm doing all this for the first time (with two more to do shortly after). :-)

[spaceman]

cPanel said words to the effct: "No problem - installing any of these additional packages won't affect our ability to install cPanel+WHM for you".