2.4. Restricting Network Connectivity During the Installation Process

When installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the installation medium represents a snapshot of the system at a particular time. Because of this, it may not be up-to-date with the latest security fixes and may be vulnerable to certain issues that were fixed only after the system provided by the installation medium was released.

When installing a potentially vulnerable operating system, always limit exposure only to the closest necessary network zone. The safest choice is the “no network” zone, which means to leave your machine disconnected during the installation process. In some cases, a LAN or intranet connection is sufficient while the Internet connection is the riskiest. To follow the best security practices, choose the closest zone with your repository while installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux from a network.

For more information about configuring network connectivity, see the Network & Hostname chapter of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Installation Guide.