This is not shunning GUI machines, but the purpose here is to build remote probes and monitoring machines that might be placed in a communications room away from the data center to collect statistics. A GUI interface isn't necessary for the applications these machines will r un.After entering in the time zone, keyboard type and other parameters that all operating system installations seem to ask for, the installation program enters the disk preparation phase.

If there is an option to auto partition, use it. If not, it's best to create at least two partitions, one for the root system and added packages (/) and one (such as /var) for data deposit. By separating the data, there is no danger of processes such as tcpdump filling up the root partition writing trace outputs. A filled root partition will often make the machine inaccessib le.When faced with what packages to install, the applications that will run on the machine must be considered.

For example, if the machine is to be used as a traffic-type monitor that delivers its output via a Web interface (such as ntop (http://www.ntop.org/) then a Web server (such as Apache (http://httpd.apache.org/)) should be selected. In setting up a Snort (http://www.snort.org/) intrusion-detection machine, Snort requires that MySQL ()should be installed. In any case, development tools and languages should always be selected. It's a letdown to start a software compiling process and find out that a needed compiler, such as GCC (http://gcc.gnu.org/), can't be found.

Often, the package installation phase will offer "server," "desktop" or other options. This can aid in filtering the number of packages available to install. Because this machine will serve in a server-type capacity (i.e., the network administrator will use a client to access the data) selecting "server" is appropriate.

However, this does not negate the need to select individual packages. While package selection varies by need, basic network support, development and an SSH (Secure Shell) daemon are three essentials .For the onboard NIC (or NICs, often useful for out-of-band management), network information will have to be entered.