Configuring a Server After Installing an ISO image (CentOS 7)

For Cloud Servers

This guide describes how to configure networking and install SSH after installing a CentOS 7 ISO image. In addition, you will learn how to install open-vm-tools after installing a custom ISO image or an older version of an installation.

By default, the IONOS images include VMware Tools. The VMware Tools consist of a set of utilities. These are needed to ensure the proper operation of your server. In the ISO images offered by IONOS, the open-vm-tools are already pre-installed. The open-vm-tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools.

Configuring the Network

CentOS 7 configures the network interface correctly via DHCP, but automatically sets the parameter ONBOOT=no if you do not activate the network interface Ethernet (ens192) under NETWORK & NAME during the installation. If the parameter ONBOOT=no is set, then the network will not be activated after the subsequent reboot. In this case, server access is only possible using the KVM console. To change the onboot parameter after the installation is complete, do the following:

Click Actions > Start KVM Console, and then click OK in the KVM Console window.

The KVM Console opens in a new tab.
Log in to the server as an administrator.
Open the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ens192 using the vi editor. Enter the following command:
[root@localhost ~]# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ens192

Notes

When you are presented with the CentOS 7 graphical interface, you must open the terminal to access vi. To do this, click Applications > System Tools > Terminal.
The vi editor has an insert mode and a command mode. You can enter the insert mode by pressing the i key. In this mode, the characters you type are immediately inserted into the text. To enter the command mode, press the ESC key afterwards. When you use command mode, your keyboard input is interpreted as a command.

Change the ONBOOT=no parameter as follows:
ONBOOT=yes
Press the ESC key.
To exit vi and save the file, type the following command, then press Enter:
:wq
To enable the interface, type the following command:
[root@localhost ~]# ifup ens192

Installing open-vm-tools

By default, the open-vm-tools are already pre-installed in the ISO images offered by IONOS. If you use your own ISO image or an older version of an installation, the open-vm-tools may not be included. In this case, follow these steps to install the open-vm-tools:

Perform an update:
yum update
If your server does not have a graphical interface installed, install open-vm-tools. To do this, enter the following command:
yum install open-vm-tools
If your server's operating system has a graphical interface, install open-vm-tools-desktop. To do this, enter the following command:
yum install open-vm-tools-desktop

Please Note

If your Linux distribution does not offer the open-vm-tools package, you can download the VMWare Tools Linux DVD from the Cloud Panel and then install VMWare Tools. Please note that this is not the method recommended by VMWare.

For more information about open-vm-tools, click here:

VMware Support for open-vm-tools (2073803)

Installing the SSH Server

SSH is installed by default in the IONOS images. If you are using an ISO image, you can install SSH during the operating system installation process. If SSH was not installed during the installation of the ISO image, you can install this service later. To do this, follow these steps:

Perform an update. To do this, enter the following command:
yum update
To install the OpenSSH software package, enter the following command:
yum install -y openssh openssh-server openssh-clients openssl-libs
To start the sshd deamon, enter the following command:
systemctl start sshd.service
Check if the installation was successful. To do this, type the following command:
systemctl status sshd.service
If the SSH service is active, type q to return to the command prompt.

If the SSH service is not active, type the following command to restart the service:
systemctl restart sshd.service
To start the SSH service with every boot, enter the following command:
systemctl enable sshd