Fedora Core 8 Network Install (no dvd available)

Since Redhat Fedora Core 8 (FC8) only appears to come on DVD and not on CD any more its a bit of a problem to install it on older systems with no DVD.

You can either install directly over the internet or download the iso and serve the files locally via your own http or ftp server.

Using download.fedora.redhat.com (or a mirror)

Creating your own server (skip if you are going to install over the internet)

Download the full dvd iso.

Then either burn it to a dvd and configure your web server/ftp server to allow access to the dvd or copy the files off the dvd to your web server/dvd server. Alternatively extract the files directly from the iso to a directory on your web server/ftp server (I used winrar on windows and then used windows personal web server to serve the files).

Create a boot disk

Download the Fedora Core 8 Rescue Disk iso image from (/pub/fedora/linux/releases/8/Fedora/i386/iso) and burn this on to a CD.

Boot and Install

Boot the server where you want to install FC8 from the Rescue Disk.

When it boots choose Install or upgrade an existing system from the menu.

Select the language and keyboard type from the menu.

You can then choose to install from Local CD/DVD, Hard drive, NFS directory, FTP or HTTP

Choose HTTP or FTP as appropriate and fill in the details.

In my case I used Http so I then input just the ip address of my web server and the directory containing the unpacked iso image. If you are using a service over the internet then you need to target the 'os' directory (/pub/fedora/linux/releases/8/Fedora/i386/os).

The install should then detect the 'disk' and offer the option to check the media (say no!). Proceed as normal with the install.

Notes:

You can also use boot.iso (minimal boot) or diskboot.img (usb stick) to boot and start the install (These can be found in fedora/linux/releases/8/Fedora/i386/os/images on any mirror.) but its always worth creating the rescue disk just in case you ever need to rescue your server. Leave one next to the server!