Installing Debian Host - page two

We start by installing a basic Debian install on the host machine.  Because we won't be installing a lot of extras for the host, and I have an active network connection, I use the net install version of Debian. I prefer to use a 64 bit machine and 64 bit Debian for the host machine.

Download "debian-6.0.6-amd64-netinst.iso ". You can burn it to a regular cd, a credit card cd, or load it to and run it from a usb drive. I normally run it from a usb drive.

To run  Debian 6.0.6 netinstall from a usb, go to http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ and download the Universal USB Installer  or unebootin. Pendrive has a good howto for universal usb installer and unebootin. The good thing about unebootin is there is a windows and linux version.

Using Universal USB Installer
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Using Unebootin
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/using-unetbootin-to-create-a-linux-usb-from-linux/.
The unebootin home page is at; http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/.

Once you have your usb pendrive ready with the debian net install boot your machine up from the usb drive.


Installing Debian is not that hard so I am assuming you can do it without detailed instructions. There is only one point where you need to watch and that is partitioning the hard drive.

OpenVZ recommends using a separate partition for container directories so you can use OpenVZ per-container disk quota. If you are doing this so others can have their own virtual private server, absolutely, you should create separate partitions. 

However I'm doing this just for myself, so it doesn't matter. For disk partitioning I use guided - use the entire disk and put all files into one partition.

For the rest of the Debian install select the defaults. When asked what to install you really only need to select 'standard system utilities'. To make your host remotely accessible and a little more user friendly  also select ' ssh server' and ' graphical desktop environment'.

Once done, we are ready to start configuration for and installation of OpenVZ.