Performing a Kickstart
- Boot the machine from a Red Hat CD or floppy
- At the boot prompt type:
linux ks=nfs:lcs.dst.ca.boeing.com:/kickstart/kickstart-file - Or on internal Network:
linux ks=nfs:192.168.1.122:/kickstart/kickstart-file - Current Kickstart files are:
- 3-cciss
- 3-scsi
- 3-ide
- 4-cciss
- 4-scsi
- 4-ide
- 4-580-g3
- If booting from a floppy you'll need to add the dd
parameter to the boot line and have the network driver disk handy.
Post Kickstart
These are the steps that need to be performed on any machine after
it is Kickstarted:
- Login as root with password kickstart
- Change root password
- Run /root/scripts/configure_static_ip
- If you didn't let the previous script register the machine with RHN
(i.e. if it isn't a department machine), then register by hand: - Register with RHN (/root/scripts/register_with_rhn)
- Optionally, go to the RHN web site and subscribe machine to
additional channels, such as Red Hat Extras and Server Software - Patch the machine: up2date -u
- Reboot
Kickstart Server Details
Kickstart is installed on /kickstart on lcs server. Its nfs read-only exported. A config file, kickstart-file,
selects the options for the install and has the ability to run a post-install script afterwards which further customizes
your install. Our post-install scripts reside in /kickstart/post.
Image structures are CD iso, (4 distro CDs) contents copied into 1 place.
Here are the steps for updating/installing a certain image:
Download *.iso to /kickstart/iso
mount -o loop /kickstart/iso/cd_image1.iso /mnt
cp -a /mnt/* /kickstart/images/4/es/i386/
umount /mnt
Repeat until done with all 4 isos.
I've written a simple script, /kickstart/iso/makeimage.pl, to simplify installing images from isos, here's how it works:
[root@lcs iso]# ./makeimage.pl
0. rhel-3-u7-i386-as
1. RHEL4-U3-i386-ES
2. RHEL4-U3-i386-AS
3. CentOS-4.3-i386
4. RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS
----------
Which iso to write to images? 4
Where to write image? /kickstart/images/?
/kickstart/images/4/as/amd64-U4
Writing Image: RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS
Reading the following isos:
RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc1.iso
RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc2.iso
RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc3.iso
RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc4.iso
RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc5.iso
Reading: RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc1.iso
Reading: RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc2.iso
Reading: RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc3.iso
Reading: RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc4.iso
Reading: RHEL4-U4-x86_64-AS-disc5.iso
Redhat Documentation
More Redhat documentation on how kickstart works is at: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/sysadmin-guide/ch-kickstart2.html
Kickstart config file details: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/sysadmin-guide/s1-kickstart2-options.html