Summary

In this chapter, we took a look at how to format a hard disk and the various partitioning utilities available. We used the fdisk utility to create partitions, and we turned on the boot flag. We then took a look at the parted utility, and we saw how to create a partition. In addition, we saw how we could resize a partition. This is very useful in data center environments. We then formatted our partitions, which enabled us to start storing data. We looked at using various mkfs commands, followed by focusing on how we would mount our partitions. After saving data on our mount points, we unmounted our partitions/mount point. Finally, we saw how we could save ourselves from repetitive typing by creating entries in the /etc/fstab file; this mounted our partitions for us upon boot up.

Coming up in the next chapter, we will cover the installation of various Linux distributions. We will particularly focus on Red-Hat distributions—namely CentOS. On the flip side of things, we will cover Debian distributions, specifically Ubuntu and the best techniques used to install Linux distributions, which slightly vary among distributions. Furthermore, we will cover dual boot environments - let's face it, sooner or later, you're bound to come into contact with a Windows OS in your Linux career. You don't need to worry, though, because we slowly go through every step of the installation process in detail. You will definitely become much more sound in your approach to installing a Linux distribution across all platforms after you've completed the next chapter. The skills gained from installing a Linux distribution will help you greatly as a Linux engineer.