Installing CentOS 7 on a Different Hardware Machine

Issues related to hardware problems
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medk
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Joined: 2019/03/21 11:37:22

Installing CentOS 7 on a Different Hardware Machine

Post by medk » 2019/03/21 11:39:34

Hello,

I want to install CentOS 7 on a local server. The problem is that the server is in production now. Can I install it on another machine with different hardware then just put the disk in the other machine (which has different hardware)? Is there any drivers compatibility issues that will affect the new server? If yes, is there any solution to do it without stopping the production server for a whole day?

Thanks.

hunter86_bg
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Re: Installing CentOS 7 on a Different Hardware Machine

Post by hunter86_bg » 2019/03/24 06:44:49

You can do it, but there is a catch.
You MUST boot the last boot menu (which is at the bottom of grub and was created on install).

You must not boot any other kernel, as dracut detects local hardware (which will be different from the machine got installed ) and removes support for anything missing.

Once the machine boots, run a 'dracut -f --regenerate-all' (check the man, as I might have typos) and once successfully regenerated the initramfs - reboot and get into latest kernel.

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TrevorH
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Re: Installing CentOS 7 on a Different Hardware Machine

Post by TrevorH » 2019/03/24 12:17:44

Using --regenerate-all might not be the best idea as that will kill support for the machine that it was originally built on. Using --kver=3.10.0-957.10.1.el7.x86_64 would probably be better and just rebuild the one initramfs file for the specificed kernel version.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

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