[Techtalk] Auto install of Linux and

[Conor Daly]

On Fri, Oct 25, 2002 at 03:10:27PM +1000 or so it is rumoured hereabouts, 
Malcolm Tredinnick thought:
> On Thu, Oct 24, 2002 at 09:27:27PM -0700, Nguyen D. Nguyen wrote:
> > Does anyone happen to know of a way to do an auto (without
> > user intervention) installation of Linux (RedHat in particular)?
> 
> Kickstart is your friend. It's designed for this.
> 
> > Second question is, how do I build a Linux image/kernel that
> > can be auto installed in any PC (where the PCs can have
> > different hw (one pc might have scsi drive for boot device,
> > while another might have ide,  different video card, etc) 
> > configuration?
> 
> You need a kernel that has every possibility built into it (or, at least
> avilable as modules).
> 
> > Lastly,  I would like to do the auto install to PCs via network
> > and as back up install method, use CDROM for installation.
> 
> Using kickstart, you can do an install in any of the fashions that
> normal Red Hat installs occur. In particular, you can use NFS, HTTP or
> FTP to transfer the data.
> 
> > I saw something call "kickstart"  but I haven't figure out how
> > to use it or find detail doc on it yet.
> 
> Try
> 
>    http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-8.0-Manual/custom-guide/.
> 
> In particular, have a look at chapter 6 for the kickstart instructions.

If you take some trouble to install the first client machine _just as you
want it_, you'll fine a file called anaconda-ks.cfg  This is the kickstart
config for the machine as you've just set it up.  If you make a boot
floppy (for whichever install method you use) and copy this to the floppy
as ks.cfg, you can specify "linux ks=floppy" at the installer boot screen
and it'll use that config.  If the ks.cfg *doesn't* contain the word
"interactive", it'll do an auto install.  If you edit syslinux.cfg and
create a "ks=floppy" line, set this as default, the floppy will be fully
automatic when booted.

My kickstart setup (for a 30 machine network with identical DHCP/NIS/NFS
clients) calls a set of post install scripts from the server to do the
final tweaking.  Copies available if you wish.

Conor
-- 
Conor Daly <conor.daly at oceanfree.net>

Domestic Sysadmin :-)
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