CentOS FAQ
The Take 2 Hosting User FAQ includes answers to many frequently asked questions as well as links to valuable information you may find useful while utilizing our services.
Please note that many of the links provided in this FAQ are not directly hosted by Take 2 Hosting.
Table of Contents
Upgrade from CentOS 7
Take2Hosting does not currently have any CentOS 7 alternatives readily available, but CentOS can be upgraded to AlmaLinux 8 via the ELevate process detailed at
https://wiki.almalinux.org/elevate/ELevate-quickstart-guide.html
We can upgrade the OS to Alma or Rocky upon request at server order time. Please open a ticket listing the server and desired OS.
Note that Type 1 Servers (Intel Xeon 3200) cannot upgrade due to incompatibility with the newer kernel.
You can also upgrade yourself using the steps in the link above.
To simplify the process, here is the process in 2 steps:
Paste the following into the SSH terminal
Once this goes through and the server has rebooted, run the following:
This process will likely take an hour or more.
We can upgrade the OS to Alma or Rocky upon request at server order time. Please open a ticket listing the server and desired OS.
Note that Type 1 Servers (Intel Xeon 3200) cannot upgrade due to incompatibility with the newer kernel.
You can also upgrade yourself using the steps in the link above.
To simplify the process, here is the process in 2 steps:
Paste the following into the SSH terminal
sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo https://el7.repo.almalinux.org/centos/CentOS-Base.repo; yum -y update; yum check-update; yum clean all; reboot
Once this goes through and the server has rebooted, run the following:
sudo yum install -y http://repo.almalinux.org/elevate/elevate-release-latest-el$(rpm --eval %rhel).noarch.rpm; sudo yum install -y leapp-upgrade leapp-data-almalinux; sudo leapp preupgrade; sudo leapp answer --section remove_pam_pkcs11_module_check.confirm=True; sudo leapp upgrade; reboot
This process will likely take an hour or more.
Running updates after CentOS EoL
With the official CentOS Repository offline, you must add a 3rd party mirror of the repository.
With new server orders, we will run updates using the AlmaLinux mirror, enabled with the following line:
With new server orders, we will run updates using the AlmaLinux mirror, enabled with the following line:
sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo https://el7.repo.almalinux.org/centos/CentOS-Base.repo
Virtualization
If you would like to run virtual servers by using Xen you will have to install some packages and change your kernel boot options on your dedicated server.
After installing the Xen kernel, you must remove the word 'noapic' from your GRUB boot configuration. The configuration file can be found at /boot/grub/grub.conf . When Xen boots, it does not use the standard serial console, so you will not have normal serial console access under Xen. To gain Xen console access, you must add 'com1=38400,8n1' to the kernel line in your /boot/grub/grub.conf . After saving the configuration change, you must reboot the server. Then run
If you would like to install Microsoft Windows server under Xen we have provided a FAQ here to help you.
If you would like to run virtual servers by using KVM, you must install a few packages.
To create
To connect to your virtual server, point VNC to your server IP address. Please note that VNC is not encrypted and thus not secure.
yum -y install xen
After installing the Xen kernel, you must remove the word 'noapic' from your GRUB boot configuration. The configuration file can be found at /boot/grub/grub.conf . When Xen boots, it does not use the standard serial console, so you will not have normal serial console access under Xen. To gain Xen console access, you must add 'com1=38400,8n1' to the kernel line in your /boot/grub/grub.conf . After saving the configuration change, you must reboot the server. Then run
virt-install
If you would like to install Microsoft Windows server under Xen we have provided a FAQ here to help you.
If you would like to run virtual servers by using KVM, you must install a few packages.
yum install kvm kmod-kvm qemu modprobe -v kvm-intel
To create
mkdir /vm wgethttp://centos.take2hosting.com/5.8/os/i386/images/boot.iso -O /tmp/boot.iso qemu-img create -f qcow2 /vm/vdiskCentos5.8.img 10G qemu-system-x86_64 -hda /vm/vdiskCentos5.8.img -cdrom /tmp/boot.iso -boot d -m 512 -vnc 0:0
To connect to your virtual server, point VNC to your server IP address. Please note that VNC is not encrypted and thus not secure.
Configuring Additional IP Addresses
If you have ordered additional IP addresses then you need to configure
them on your server. Please configure all of your additional IPs at the
time they are assigned to you.
Start by creating the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:0 and the contents will read:
Then, as root, run
Repeat that process for each additional IP address you have to configure, incrementing the :0 number each time. For instance, your second additional IP would be in the "ifcfg-eth0:1" file and the DEVICE= line would read "DEVICE=eth0:1". Your third additional IP would be eth0:2 and so on.
Start by creating the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:0 and the contents will read:
DEVICE=eth0:0 BOOTPROTO=static IPADDR=YOUR NEW IP ADDRESS NETMASK=255.255.255.255 ONBOOT=yes
Then, as root, run
/sbin/ifup eth0:0
Repeat that process for each additional IP address you have to configure, incrementing the :0 number each time. For instance, your second additional IP would be in the "ifcfg-eth0:1" file and the DEVICE= line would read "DEVICE=eth0:1". Your third additional IP would be eth0:2 and so on.
Installing the Webmin Control Panel
If you would like to administer your server using a browser-based control panel you may install Webmin, as a free alternative to cPanel or Plesk.
To install webmin using the yum repoisotory system, log in to your system via SSH as the 'root' user and run the following commands:
---- echo "[Webmin]" > /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo echo "name=Webmin Distribution Neutral" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo echo "#baseurl=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo echo "mirrorlist=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum/mirrorlist" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo echo "enabled=1" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo cd /tmp wget http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc rpm --import jcameron-key.asc yum -y install webmin ----After that you may then connect to port 10000 on your server: http://YOUR_IP_ADDRESS:10000/ and log in with the root user and your root password.
Additional IPs for VPS Use
When additional IP addresses are ordered after your server has been provisioned, the new IP addresses are routed directly to the primary IP on your server. There is no additional gateway interface added to the network.
If you wish to use your additional IP addresses as primary IPs for VPSes then you must first use the new IPs to create
The first IP and last IP of the block require no configuration. The second IP will be used as your gateway interface and will be bound as a virtual interface on the host OS.
By way of example; let's assume you just ordered 16 additional IP addresses (CIDR /28 network) and were given the 10.0.0.16 - 10.0.0.31 IP address range. Your first IP (10.0.0.16) would be your "network address". Your last IP (10.0.0.31) would be your "broadcast address".
Your second IP (10.0.0.17) will be your gateway address for your VPSes. You will need to bind that IP to your host OS. Instructions for binding an additional IP to the host OS can be found at the Configuring Additional IP Addresses link.
There is one change you need to make in those instructions and that is the value used for the netmask.
If you ordered 4 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.252 as the netmask.
If you ordered 8 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.248 as the netmask.
If you ordered 16 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.240 as the netmask.
If you ordered 32 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.224 as the netmask.
Once you configure the gateway address it should be pingable. You may use the other available IP addresses (10.0.0.18 - 10.0.0.30 in our example) for your VPSes. Each VPS will use the second IP (10.0.0.17) as it's gateway address and the appropriate netmask (255.255.255.240 in our example of 16 IPs).
If you wish to use your additional IP addresses as primary IPs for VPSes then you must first use the new IPs to create
The first IP and last IP of the block require no configuration. The second IP will be used as your gateway interface and will be bound as a virtual interface on the host OS.
By way of example; let's assume you just ordered 16 additional IP addresses (CIDR /28 network) and were given the 10.0.0.16 - 10.0.0.31 IP address range. Your first IP (10.0.0.16) would be your "network address". Your last IP (10.0.0.31) would be your "broadcast address".
Your second IP (10.0.0.17) will be your gateway address for your VPSes. You will need to bind that IP to your host OS. Instructions for binding an additional IP to the host OS can be found at the Configuring Additional IP Addresses link.
There is one change you need to make in those instructions and that is the value used for the netmask.
If you ordered 4 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.252 as the netmask.
If you ordered 8 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.248 as the netmask.
If you ordered 16 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.240 as the netmask.
If you ordered 32 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.224 as the netmask.
Once you configure the gateway address it should be pingable. You may use the other available IP addresses (10.0.0.18 - 10.0.0.30 in our example) for your VPSes. Each VPS will use the second IP (10.0.0.17) as it's gateway address and the appropriate netmask (255.255.255.240 in our example of 16 IPs).
Using YUM for Updates to Software
We highly recommend using YUM for software updates and ease of use.
To update
Some YUM resources
To update
yum -y -c http://centos.take2hosting.com/take2hosting.repo update
Some YUM resources