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3.8. Components to Install- Package Group Selection

After your partitions have been configured and selected for formatting, you are ready to select packages for installation. By default, Linux is a powerful operating system that executes many useful services. However, many of these services are unneeded and pose potential security risks.

Ideally, each network service should be on a dedicated, single-purpose host. Many Linux operating systems are configured by default to provide a wider set of services and applications than are required to provide a particular network service, so you may need to configure the server to eliminate unneeded services. Offering only essential services on a particular host can enhance your network security in several ways:

By reducing services, the number of logs and log entries is reduced so detecting unexpected behavior becomes easier.

A proper installation of your Linux server is the first step to a stable, secure system. You first have to choose which system components you want to install. Choose the components, and then you can go through and select or deselect each individual package of each component by selecting Select individual packages option on your Red Hat setup screen. Since we are configuring a Linux Server, we don't need to install a graphical interface XFree86 on our system, a graphical interface on a server means less processes, less CPU availability, less memory, security risks, and so on. Graphical interfaces are usually used on workstations only.

Select the following packages for installation:

Networked Workstation
Network Management Workstation
Utilities

After selecting the components you wish to install, you may select or deselect packages.

Important: Select the Select individual packages options before continuing to have the option to select and deselect packages.