Install CentOS 8 (latest) with Docker

Overview

I have a few production RedHat 8 servers, but no lab. Before implementing a new configuration change on the production servers, validating correctness in the lab is a prudent idea. In a previous life, I would download the ISO images, install, and test.

11 Minutes! Who has time for that? Not to mention the 10+ minutes it will take to do the installation.

Enter Docker, the virtual machine containerizing system.

Details

I presume there is an offical CentOS 8 image:

jemurray@home-server:~$ sudo docker search centos
[sudo] password for jemurray:
NAME                               DESCRIPTION                                     STARS               OFFICIAL            AUTOMATED
centos                             The official build of CentOS.                   6276                [OK]

Download the CentOS image:

jemurray@home-server:~$ sudo docker pull centos:latest
latest: Pulling from library/centos
3c72a8ed6814: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:76d24f3ba3317fa945743bb3746fbaf3a0b752f10b10376960de01da70685fbd
Status: Downloaded newer image for centos:latest
docker.io/library/centos:latest

Connect to console:

jemurray@home-server:~$ sudo docker run -it centos /bin/bash
[root@02d6266fd971 /]#
[root@02d6266fd971 /]#

Lab built and tested in under 10 minutes. Less time then it would have taken to download the CentOS 8 image.