Copyright © 2003 by Red Hat, Inc.
kickstart(EN)-anaconda-HTML-RHI (2003-02-24T01:49)
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Many system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation method to install Red Hat Linux on their machines. To answer this need, Red Hat created the kickstart installation method. Using kickstart, a system administrator can create a single file containing the answers to all the questions that would normally be asked during a typical Red Hat Linux installation.
Kickstart files can be kept on single server system and read by individual computers during the installation. This installation method can support the use of a single kickstart file to install Red Hat Linux on multiple machines, making it ideal for network and system administrators.
Kickstart lets you automate a Red Hat Linux installation.
Kickstart installations can be performed using a local CD-ROM, a local hard drive, or via NFS, FTP, or HTTP.
To use kickstart, you must:
Create a kickstart file.
Create a boot diskette with the kickstart file or make the kickstart file available on the network.
Make the installation tree available.
Start the kickstart installation.
This chapter explains these steps in detail.
The kickstart file is a simple text file, containing a list of items, each identified by a keyword. You can create it by editing a copy of the sample.ks file found in the RH-DOCS directory of the Red Hat Linux Documentation CD, using the Kickstart Configurator application, or writing it from scratch. The Red Hat Linux installation program also creates a sample kickstart file based on the options that you selected during installation. It is written to the file /root/anaconda-ks.cfg. You should be able to edit it with any text editor or word processor that can save files as ASCII text.
First, be aware of the following issues when you are creating your kickstart file:
Sections must be specified in order. Items within the sections do not have to be in a specific order unless otherwise specified. The section order is:
Command section — Refer to Chapter 2 for a list of kickstart options. You must include the required options.
The %packages section — Refer to Chapter 3 for details.
The %pre and %post sections — These two sections can be in any order and are not required. Refer to Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 for details.
Items that are not required can be omitted.
Omitting any required item will result in the installation program prompting the user for an answer to the related item, just as the user would be prompted during a typical installation. Once the answer is given, the installation will continue unattended (unless it finds another missing item).
Lines starting with a pound sign (#) are treated as comments and are ignored.
For kickstart upgrades, the following items are required:
Language
Language support
Installation method
Device specification (if device is needed to perform installation)
Keyboard setup
The upgrade keyword
Boot loader configuration
If any other items are specified for an upgrade, those items will be ignored (note that this includes package selection).
The following options can be placed in a kickstart file. If you prefer to use a graphical interface for creating your kickstart file, use the Kickstart Configurator application.
| Note | |
|---|---|
If the option is followed by an equals mark (=), a value must be specified after it. In the example commands, options in brackets ([]) are optional arguments for the command. |
Similar to interactive except it goes to the next screen for you. It is used mostly for debugging.
Sets up the authentication options for the system. It's similar to the authconfig command, which can be run after the install. By default, passwords are normally encrypted and are not shadowed.
Use md5 encryption for user passwords.
Turns on NIS support. By default, --enablenis uses whatever domain it finds on the network. A domain should almost always be set by hand with the --nisdomain= option.
NIS domain name to use for NIS services.
Server to use for NIS services (broadcasts by default).
Use shadow passwords.
Turns on LDAP support in /etc/nsswitch.conf, allowing your system to retrieve information about users (UIDs, home directories, shells, etc.) from an LDAP directory. To use this option, you must install the nss_ldap package. You must also specify a server and a base DN with --ldapserver= and --ldapbasedn=.
Use LDAP as an authentication method. This enables the pam_ldap module for authentication and changing passwords, using an LDAP directory. To use this option, you must have the nss_ldap package installed. You must also specify a server and a base DN with --ldapserver= and --ldapbasedn=.
If you specified either --enableldap or --enableldapauth, use this option to specify the name of the LDAP server to use. This option is set in the /etc/ldap.conf file.
If you specified either --enableldap or --enableldapauth, the DN (distinguished name) in your LDAP directory tree under which user information is stored. This option is set in the /etc/ldap.conf file.
Use TLS (Transport Layer Security) lookups. This option allows LDAP to send encrypted usernames and passwords to an LDAP server before authentication.
Use Kerberos 5 for authenticating users. Kerberos itself does not know about home directories, UIDs, or shells. So if you enable Kerberos you will need to make users' accounts known to this workstation by enabling LDAP, NIS, or Hesiod or by using the /usr/sbin/useradd command to make their accounts known to this workstation. If you use this option, you must have the pam_krb5 package installed.
The Kerberos 5 realm to which your workstation belongs.
The KDC (or KDCs) that serve requests for the realm. If you have multiple KDCs in your realm, separate their names with commas (,).
The KDC in your realm that is also running kadmind. This server handles password changing and other administrative requests. This server must be run on the master KDC if you have more than one KDC.
Enable Hesiod support for looking up user home directories, UIDs, and shells. More information on setting up and using Hesiod on your network is in /usr/share/doc/glibc-2.x.x/README.hesiod, which is included in the glibc package. Hesiod is an extension of DNS that uses DNS records to store information about users, groups, and various other items.
The Hesiod LHS ("left-hand side") option, set in /etc/hesiod.conf. This option is used by the Hesiod library to determine the name to search DNS for when looking up information, similar to LDAP's use of a base DN.
The Hesiod RHS ("right-hand side") option, set in /etc/hesiod.conf. This option is used by the Hesiod library to determine the name to search DNS for when looking up information, similar to LDAP's use of a base DN.
| Tip | |
|---|---|
To look up user information for "jim", the Hesiod library looks up jim.passwd<LHS><RHS>, which should resolve to a TXT record that looks like what his passwd entry would look like (jim:*:501:501:Jungle Jim:/home/jim:/bin/bash). For groups, the situation is identical, except jim.group<LHS><RHS> would be used. Looking up users and groups by number is handled by
making "501.uid" a CNAME for "jim.passwd", and
"501.gid" a CNAME for "jim.group". Note that the LHS
and RHS do not have periods |
Enables authentication of users against an SMB server (typically a Samba or Windows server). SMB authentication support does not know about home directories, UIDs, or shells. So if you enable it you will need to make users' accounts known to the workstation by enabling LDAP, NIS, or Hesiod or by using the /usr/sbin/useradd command to make their accounts known to the workstation. To use this option, you must have the pam_smb package installed.
The name of the server(s) to use for SMB authentication. To specify more than one server, separate the names with commas (,).
The name of the workgroup for the SMB servers.
Enables the nscd service. The nscd service caches information about users, groups, and various other types of information. Caching is especially helpful if you choose to distribute information about users and groups over your network using NIS, LDAP, or hesiod.
Specifies how the boot loader should be installed and whether the boot loader should be LILO or GRUB. This option is required for both installations and upgrades. For upgrades, if --useLilo is not specified and LILO is the current bootloader, the bootloader will be changed to GRUB. To preserve LILO on upgrades, use bootloader --upgrade.
Specifies kernel parameters. To specify multiple parameters, separate them with spaces. For example:
bootloader --location=mbr --append="hdd=ide-scsi ide=nodma" |
Specifies where the boot record is written. Valid values are the following: mbr (the default), partition (installs the boot loader on the first sector of the partition containing the kernel), or none (do not install the boot loader).
If using GRUB, sets the GRUB boot loader password the one specified with this option. This should be used to restrict access to the GRUB shell, where arbitrary kernel options can be passed.
If using GRUB, similar to --password= except the password should already be encrypted.
Use LILO instead of GRUB as the boot loader.
If using LILO, use the linear LILO option; this is only for backward compatibility (and linear is now used by default).
If using LILO, use the nolinear LILO option; linear is the default.
If using LILO, force use of lba32 mode instead of auto-detecting.
Upgrade the existing boot loader configuration, preserving the old entries. This option is only available for upgrades.
Removes partitions from the system, prior to creation of new partitions. By default, no partitions are removed.
| Note | |
|---|---|
If the clearpart command is used, then the --onpart command cannot be used on a logical partition. |
Erases all Linux partitions.
Erases all partitions from the system.
Specifies which drives to clear partitions from. For example, the following clears the partitions on the first two drives on the primary IDE controller:
clearpart --drives hda,hdb |
Initializes the disk label to the default for your architecture (for example msdos for x86 and gpt for Itanium). It is useful so that the installation program does not ask if it should initialize the disk label if installing to a brand new hard drive.
On most PCI systems, the installation program will autoprobe for Ethernet and SCSI cards properly. On older systems and some PCI systems, however, kickstart needs a hint to find the proper devices. The device command, which tells the installation program to install extra modules, is in this format:
device <type> <moduleName> --opts=<options> |
Replace with either scsi or eth
Replace with the name of the kernel module which should be installed.
Options to pass to the kernel module. Note that multiple options may be passed if they are put in quotes. For example:
--opts="aic152x=0x340 io=11" |
Forces a probe of the PCI bus and loads modules for all the devices found if a module is available.
Driver disks can be used during kickstart installations. You will need to copy the driver disk's contents to the root directory of a partition on the system's hard drive. Then you will need to use the driverdisk command to tell the installation program where to look for the driver disk.
driverdisk <partition> [--type=<fstype>] |
Partition containing the driver disk.
File system type (for example, vfat or ext2).
This option corresponds to the Firewall Configuration screen in the installation program:
firewall <securitylevel> [--trust=] <incoming> [--port=] |
Replace with one of the following levels of security:
--high
--medium
--disabled
Listing a device here, such as eth0, allows all traffic coming from that device to go through the firewall. To list more than one device, use --trust eth0 --trust eth1. Do NOT use a comma-separated format such as --trust eth0, eth1.
Replace with none or more of the following to allow the specified services through the firewall.
--dhcp
--ssh
--telnet
--smtp
--http
--ftp
You can specify that ports be allowed through the firewall using the port:protocol format. For example, to allow IMAP access through your firewall, specify imap:tcp. specify numeric ports can also be specified explicitly; for example, to allow UDP packets on port 1234 through, specify 1234:udp. To specify multiple ports, separate them by commas.
Tells the system to install a fresh system rather than upgrade an existing system. This is the default mode. For installation, you must specify the type of installation from one of cdrom, harddrive, nfs, or url (for ftp or http installations). The install command and the installation method command must be on separate lines.
Install from the first CD-ROM drive on the system.
Install from a Red Hat installation tree on a local drive, which must be either vfat or ext2.
--partition=
Partition to install from (such as, sdb2).
--dir=
Directory containing the RedHat directory of the installation tree.
For example:
harddrive --partition=hdb2 --dir=/tmp/install-tree |
Install from the NFS server specified.
--server=
Server from which to install (hostname or IP).
--dir=
Directory containing the RedHat directory of the installation tree.
For example:
nfs --server=nfsserver.example.com --dir=/tmp/install-tree |
Install from an installation tree on a remote server via FTP or HTTP.
For example:
url --url http://<server>/<dir> |
or:
url --url ftp://<username>:<password>@<server>/<dir> |
Uses the information provided in the kickstart file during the installation, but allow for inspection and modification of the values given. You will be presented with each screen of the installation program with the values from the kickstart file. Either accept the values by clicking Next or change the values and click Next to continue. See also autostep.
Sets system keyboard type. Here is the list of available keyboards on i386, Itanium, and Alpha machines:
be-latin1, bg, br-abnt2, cf, cz-lat2, cz-us-qwertz, de, de-latin1, de-latin1-nodeadkeys, dk, dk-latin1, dvorak, es, et, fi, fi-latin1, fr, fr-latin0, fr-latin1, fr-pc, fr_CH, fr_CH-latin1, gr, hu, hu101, is-latin1, it, it-ibm, it2, jp106, la-latin1, mk-utf, no, no-latin1, pl, pt-latin1, ro_win, ru, ru-cp1251, ru-ms, ru1, ru2, ru_win, se-latin1, sg, sg-latin1, sk-qwerty, slovene, speakup, speakup-lt, sv-latin1, sg, sg-latin1, sk-querty, slovene, trq, ua, uk, us, us-acentos |
The file /usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/rhpl/keyboard_models.py also contains this list and is part of the rhpl package.
Sets the language to use during installation. For example, to set the language to English, the kickstart file should contain the following line:
lang en_US |
The file /usr/share/redhat-config-language/locale-list provides a list the valid language codes in the first column of each line and is part of the redhat-config-languages package.
Sets the language(s) to install on the system. The same language codes used with lang can be used with langsupport.
To install one language, specify it. For example, to install and use the French language fr_FR:
langsupport fr_FR |
If language support for more than one language is specified, a default must be identified.
For example, to install English and French and use English as the default language:
langsupport --default=en_US fr_FR |
If you use --default with only one language, all languages will be installed with the specified language set to the default.
| Warning | |
|---|---|
This option has been replaced by bootloader and is only available for backward compatibility. Refer to bootloader. |
Specifies how the boot loader should be installed on the system. By default, LILO installs on the MBR of the first disk, and installs a dual-boot system if a DOS partition is found (the DOS/Windows system will boot if the user types dos at the LILO: prompt).
Specifies kernel parameters.
Use the linear LILO option; this is only for back-wards compatibility (and linear is now used by default).
Use the nolinear LILO option; linear is now used by default.
Specifies where the LILO boot record is written. Valid values are the following: mbr (the default) or partition (installs the boot loader on the first sector of the partition containing the kernel). If no location is specified, LILO is not installed.
Forces the use of lba32 mode instead of auto-detecting.
If lilocheck is present, the installation program checks for LILO on the MBR of the first hard drive, and reboots the system if it is found — in this case, no installation is performed. This can prevent kickstart from reinstalling an already installed system.
Create a logical volume for Logical Volume Management (LVM) with the syntax:
logvol mountpoint --vgname=name --size=size --name=name |
Create the partition first, create the logical volume group, and then create the logical volume. For example:
part pv.01 --size 3000 volgroup myvg pv.01 logvol / --vgname=myvg --size=2000 --name=rootvol |
Configures the mouse for the system, both in GUI and text modes. Options are:
Device the mouse is on (such as --device=ttyS0).
If present, simultaneous clicks on the left and right mouse buttons will be recognized as the middle mouse button by the X Window System. This option should be used if you have a two button mouse.
After options, the mouse type may be specified as one of the following:
alpsps/2, ascii, asciips/2, atibm, generic, generic3, genericps/2, generic3ps/2, genericwheelps/2, genericusb, generic3usb, genericwheelusb, geniusnm, geniusnmps/2, geniusprops/2, geniusscrollps/2, geniusscrollps/2+, thinking, thinkingps/2, logitech, logitechcc, logibm, logimman, logimmanps/2, logimman+, logimman+ps/2, logimmusb, microsoft, msnew, msintelli, msintellips/2, msintelliusb, msbm, mousesystems, mmseries, mmhittab, sun, none |
This list can also be found in the /usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/rhpl/mouse.py file, which is part of the rhpl package.
If the mouse command is given without any arguments, or it is omitted, the installation program will attempt to auto-detect the mouse. This procedure works for most modern mice.
Configures network information for the system. If the kickstart installation does not require networking (in other words, it is not installed over NFS, HTTP, or FTP), networking is not configured for the system. If the installation does require networking and network information is not provided in the kickstart file, the Red Hat Linux installation program assumes that the installation should be done over eth0 via a dynamic IP address (BOOTP/DHCP), and configures the final, installed system to determine its IP address dynamically. The network option configures networking information for kickstart installations via a network as well as for the installed system.
One of dhcp, bootp, or static.
It default to dhcp. bootp and dhcp are treated the same.
The DHCP method uses a DHCP server system to obtain its networking configuration. As you might guess, the BOOTP method is similar, requiring a BOOTP server to supply the networking configuration. To direct a system to use DHCP:
network --bootproto=dhcp |
To direct a machine to use BOOTP to obtain its networking configuration, use the following line in the kickstart file:
network --bootproto=bootp |
The static method requires that you enter all the required networking information in the kickstart file. As the name implies, this information is static and will be used during and after the installation. The line for static networking is more complex, as you must include all network configuration information on one line. You must specify the IP address, netmask, gateway, and nameserver. For example: (the \ indicates that it is all one line):
network --bootproto=static --ip=10.0.2.15 --netmask=255.255.255.0 \ --gateway=10.0.2.254 --nameserver=10.0.2.1 |
If you use the static method, be aware of the following two restrictions:
All static networking configuration information must be specified on one line; you cannot wrap lines using a backslash, for example.
You can only specify one nameserver here. However, you can use the kickstart file's %post section (described in Chapter 5) to add more name servers, if needed.
Used to select a specific Ethernet device for installation. Note that using --device= will not be effective unless the kickstart file is a local file (such as ks=floppy), since the installation program will configure the network to find the kickstart file. For example:
network --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0 |
IP address for the machine to be installed.
Default gateway as an IP address.
Primary nameserver, as an IP address.
Do not configure any DNS server.
Netmask for the installed system.
Hostname for the installed system.
Creates a partition on the system.
If more than one Red Hat Linux installation exists on the system on different partitions, the installation program prompts the user and asks which installation to upgrade.
| Warning | |
|---|---|
All partitions created will be formatted as part of the installation process unless --noformat and --onpart are used. |
The <mntpoint> is where the partition will be mounted and must be of one of the following forms:
/<path>
For example, /, /usr, /home
swap
The partition will be used as swap space.
To determine the size of the swap partition automatically, use the --recommended option:
swap --recommended |
The minimum size of the automatically-generated swap partition will be no smaller than the amount of RAM in the system and no bigger than twice the amount of RAM in the system.
raid.<id>
The partition will be used for software RAID (refer to raid).
pv.<id>
The partition will be used for LVM (refer to logvol).
The minimum partition size in megabytes. Specify an integer value here such as 500. Do not append the number with MB.
Tells the partition to grow to fill available space (if any), or up to the maximum size setting.
The maximum partition size in megabytes when the partition is set to grow. Specify an integer value here, and do not append the number with MB.
Tells the installation program not to format the partition, for use with the --onpart command.
Put the partition on the already existing device. For example:
partition /home --onpart=hda1 |
will put /home on /dev/hda1, which must already exist.
Forces the partition to be created on a particular disk. For example, --ondisk=sdb will put the partition on the second SCSI disk on the system.
Forces automatic allocation of the partition as a primary partition or the partitioning will fail.
Number specified represents the number of bytes per inode on the file system when it is created. It must be given in decimal format. This option is useful for applications where you want to increase the number of inodes on the file system.
This option is no longer available. Use fstype.
Sets the file system type for the partition. Valid values are ext2, ext3, swap, and vfat.
Specifies the starting cylinder for the partition. It requires that a drive be specified with --ondisk= or ondrive=. It also requires that the ending cylinder be specified with --end= or the partition size be specified with --size=.
Specifies the ending cylinder for the partition. It requires that the starting cylinder be specified with --start=.
Specifies that the partition should be checked for bad sectors.
| Note | |
|---|---|
If partitioning fails for any reason, diagnostic messages will appear on virtual console 3. |
Assembles a software RAID device. This command is of the form:
raid <mntpoint> --level=<level> --device=<mddevice> <partitions*> |
Location where the RAID file system is mounted. If it is /, the RAID level must be 1 unless a boot partition (/boot) is present. If a boot partition is present, the /boot partition must be level 1 and the root (/) partition can be any of the available types. The <partitions*> (which denotes that multiple partitions can be listed) lists the RAID identifiers to add to the RAID array.
RAID level to use (0, 1, or 5).
Name of the RAID device to use (such as md0 or md1). RAID devices range from md0 to md7, and each may only be used once.
Specifies the number of spare drives allocated for the RAID array. Spare drives are used to rebuild the array in case of drive failure.
Sets the file system type for the RAID array. Valid values are ext2, ext3, swap, and vfat.
Do not format the RAID array.
The following example shows how to create a RAID level 1 partition for /, and a RAID level 5 for /usr, assuming there are three SCSI disks on the system. It also creates three swap partitions, one on each drive.
part raid.01 --size=60 --ondisk=sda part raid.02 --size=60 --ondisk=sdb part raid.03 --size=60 --ondisk=sdc |
part swap --size=128 --ondisk=sda part swap --size=128 --ondisk=sdb part swap --size=128 --ondisk=sdc |
part raid.11 --size=1 --grow --ondisk=sda part raid.12 --size=1 --grow --ondisk=sdb part raid.13 --size=1 --grow --ondisk=sdc |
raid / --level=1 --device=md0 raid.01 raid.02 raid.03 raid /usr --level=5 --device=md1 raid.11 raid.12 raid.13 |
Reboot after the installation is complete (no arguments). Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.
Sets the system's root password to the <password> argument.
rootpw [--iscrypted] <password> |
If this is present, the password argument is assumed to already be encrypted.
If present, X is not configured on the installed system.
Perform the kickstart installation in text mode. Kickstart installations are performed in graphical mode by default.
Sets the system time zone to <timezone> which may be any of the time zones listed by timeconfig.
timezone [--utc] <timezone> |
If present, the system assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC (Greenwich Mean) time.
Tells the system to upgrade an existing system rather than install a fresh system. You must specify one of cdrom, harddrive, nfs, or url (for ftp and http) as the location of the installation tree. Refer to install for details.
Configures the X Window System. If this option is not given, the user will need to configure X manually during the installation, if X was installed; this option should not be used if X is not installed on the final system.
Do not probe the monitor.
Use specified card; this card name should be from the list of cards in /usr/share/hwdata/Cards from the hwdata package. The list of cards can also be found on the X Configuration screen of the Kickstart Configurator. If this argument is not provided, the installation program will probe the PCI bus for the card. Since AGP is part of the PCI bus, AGP cards will be detected if supported. The probe order is determined by the PCI scan order of the motherboard.
Specify the amount of video RAM the video card has.
Use specified monitor; monitor name should be from the list of monitors in /usr/share/hwdata/MonitorsDB from the hwdata package. The list of monitors can also be found on the X Configuration screen of the Kickstart Configurator. This is ignored if --hsync or --vsync is provided. If no monitor information is provided, the installation program tries to probe for it automatically.
Specifies the horizontal sync frequency of the monitor.
Specifies the vertical sync frequency of the monitor.
Specify either GNOME or KDE to set the default desktop (assumes that GNOME Desktop Environment and/or KDE Desktop Environment has been installed through %packages).
Use a graphical login on the installed system.
Specify the default resolution for the X Window System on the installed system. Valid values are 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024, 1400x1050, 1600x1200. Be sure to specify a resolution that is compatible with the video card and monitor.
Specify the default color depth for the X Window System on the installed system. Valid values are 8, 16, 24, and 32. Be sure to specify a color depth that is compatible with the video card and monitor.
Use to create a Logical Volume Management (LVM) group with the syntax:
volgroup name partition |
Create the partition first, create the logical volume group, and then create the logical volume. For example:
part pv.01 --size 3000 volgroup myvg pv.01 logvol / --vgname=myvg --size=2000 --name=rootvol |
If zerombr is specified, and yes is its sole argument, any invalid partition tables found on disks are initialized. This will destroy all of the contents of disks with invalid partition tables. This command should be in the following format:
zerombr yes |
No other format is effective.
Use the %include /path/to/file command to include the contents of another file in the kickstart file as though the contents were at the location of the %include command in the kickstart file.
Use the %packages command to begin a kickstart file section that lists the packages you would like to install (this is for installations only, as package selection during upgrades is not supported).
Packages can be specified by group or by individual package name. The installation program defines several groups that contain related packages. See the RedHat/base/comps.xml file on the first Red Hat Linux CD-ROM for a list of groups. Each group has an id, user visibility value, name, description, and package list. In the package list, the packages marked as mandatory are always installed if the group is selected, the packages marked default are selected by default if the group is selected, and the packages marked optional must be specifically selected even if the group is selected to be installed.
In most cases, it is only necessary to list the desired groups and not individual packages. Note that the Core and Base groups are always selected by default, so it is not necessary to specify them in the %packages section.
Here is an example %packages selection:
%packages @ X Window System @ GNOME Desktop Environment @ Graphical Internet @ Sound and Video galeon |
As you can see, groups are specified, one to a line, starting with an @ symbol, a space, and then the full group name as given in the comps.xml file. Specify individual packages with no additional characters (the galeon line in the example above is an individual package).
You can also specify which packages not to install from the default package list:
@ Games and Entertainment -kdegames |
Two options are available for the %packages option.
Install the listed packages and automatically resolve package dependencies. If this option is not specified and there are package dependencies, the automated installation will pause and prompt the user. For example:
%packages --resolvedeps |
Ignore the unresolved dependencies and install the listed packages without the dependencies. For example:
%packages --ignoredeps |
Ignore the missing packages and groups instead of halting the installation to ask if the installation should be aborted or continued. For example:
%packages --ignoremissing |
You can add commands to run on the system immediately after the ks.cfg has been parsed. This section must be at the end of the kickstart file (after the commands) and must start with the %pre command. You can access the network in the %pre section; however, name service has not been configured at this point, so only IP addresses will work.
| Note | |
|---|---|
Note that the pre-install script is not run in the change root environment. |
Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of your choice.
Here is an example %pre section:
%pre
#!/bin/sh
hds=""
mymedia=""
for file in /proc/ide/h*
do
mymedia=`cat $file/media`
if [ $mymedia == "disk" ] ; then
hds="$hds `basename $file`"
fi
done
set $hds
numhd=`echo $#`
drive1=`echo $hds | cut -d' ' -f1`
drive2=`echo $hds | cut -d' ' -f2`
#Write out partition scheme based on whether there are 1 or 2 hard drives
if [ $numhd == "2" ] ; then
#2 drives
echo "#partitioning scheme generated in %pre for 2 drives" > /tmp/part-include
echo "clearpart --all" >> /tmp/part-include
echo "part /boot --fstype ext3 --size 75 --ondisk hda" >> /tmp/part-include
echo "part / --fstype ext3 --size 1 --grow --ondisk hda" >> /tmp/part-include
echo "part swap --recommended --ondisk $drive1" >> /tmp/part-include
echo "part /home --fstype ext3 --size 1 --grow --ondisk hdb" >> /tmp/part-include
else
#1 drive
echo "#partitioning scheme generated in %pre for 1 drive" > /tmp/part-include
echo "clearpart --all" >> /tmp/part-include
echo "part /boot --fstype ext3 --size 75" >> /tmp/part-includ
echo "part swap --recommended" >> /tmp/part-include
echo "part / --fstype ext3 --size 2048" >> /tmp/part-include
echo "part /home --fstype ext3 --size 2048 --grow" >> /tmp/part-include
fi
|
This script determines the number of hard drives in the system and writes a text file with a different partitioning scheme depending on whether it has one or two drives. Instead of having a set of partitioning commands in the kickstart file, include the line:
%include /tmp/part-include |
The partitioning commands selected in the script will be used.
You have the option of adding commands to run on the system once the installation is complete. This section must be at the end of the kickstart file and must start with the %post command. This section is useful for functions such as installing additional software and configuring an additional nameserver.
| Note | |
|---|---|
If you configured the network with static IP information, including a nameserver, you can access the network and resolve IP addresses in the %post section. If you configured the network for DHCP, the /etc/resolv.conf file has not been completed when the installation executes the %post section. You can access the network, but you can not resolve IP addresses. Thus, if you are using DHCP, you must specify IP addresses in the %post section. |
| Note | |
|---|---|
The post-install script is run in a chroot environment; therefore, performing tasks such as copying scripts or RPMs from the installation media will not work. |
Allows you to specify commands that you would like to run outside of the chroot environment.
The following example copies the file /etc/resolv.conf to the file system that was just installed.
%post --nochroot cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/sysimage/etc/resolv.conf |
Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of your choice.
Turn services on and off:
/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 telnet off /sbin/chkconfig --level 345 finger off /sbin/chkconfig --level 345 lpd off /sbin/chkconfig --level 345 httpd on |
Run a script named runme from an NFS share:
mkdir /mnt/temp mount 10.10.0.2:/usr/new-machines /mnt/temp open -s -w -- /mnt/temp/runme umount /mnt/temp |
Add a user to the system:
/usr/sbin/useradd bob /usr/bin/chfn -f "Bob Smith" bob /usr/sbin/usermod -p 'kjdf$04930FTH/ ' bob |
A kickstart file must be placed in one of the following locations:
On a boot diskette
On a boot CD-ROM
On a network
Normally a kickstart file is copied to the boot diskette, or made available on the network. The network-based approach is most commonly used, as most kickstart installations tend to be performed on networked computers.
Let us take a more in-depth look at where the kickstart file may be placed.
To perform a diskette-based kickstart installation, the kickstart file must be named ks.cfg and must be located in the boot diskette's top-level directory. Refer to the section Making an Installation Boot Diskette in the Red Hat Linux Installation Guide for instruction on creating a boot diskette. Because the Red Hat Linux boot diskettes are in MS-DOS format, it is easy to copy the kickstart file under Linux using the mcopy command:
mcopy ks.cfg a: |
Alternatively, you can use Windows to copy the file. You can also mount the MS-DOS boot diskette in Red Hat Linux with the file system type vfat and use the cp command to copy the file on the diskette.
To perform a CD-ROM-based kickstart installation, the kickstart file must be named ks.cfg and must be located in the boot CD-ROM's top-level directory. Since a CD-ROM is read-only, the file must be added to the directory used to create the image that is written to the CD-ROM. Refer to the Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM section in the Red Hat Linux Installation Guide for instruction on creating a boot CD-ROM; however, before making the file.iso image file, copy the ks.cfg kickstart file to the isolinux/ directory.
Network installations using kickstart are quite common, because system administrators can easily automate the installation on many networked computers quickly and painlessly. In general, the approach most commonly used is for the administrator to have both a BOOTP/DHCP server and an NFS server on the local network. The BOOTP/DHCP server is used to give the client system its networking information, while the actual files used during the installation are served by the NFS server. Often, these two servers run on the same physical machine, but they are not required to.
To perform a network-based kickstart installation, you must have a BOOTP/DHCP server on your network, and it must include configuration information for the machine on which you are attempting to install Red Hat Linux. The BOOTP/DHCP server will provide the client with its networking information as well as the location of the kickstart file.
If a kickstart file is specified by the BOOTP/DHCP server, the client system will attempt an NFS mount of the file's path, and will copy the specified file to the client, using it as the kickstart file. The exact settings required vary depending on the BOOTP/DHCP server you use.
Here is an example of a line from the dhcpd.conf file for the DHCP server shipped with Red Hat Linux:
filename "/usr/new-machine/kickstart/"; next-server blarg.redhat.com; |
Note that you should replace the value after filename with the name of the kickstart file (or the directory in which the kickstart file resides) and the value after next-server with the NFS server name.
If the filename returned by the BOOTP/DHCP server ends with a slash ("/"), then it is interpreted as a path only. In this case, the client system mounts that path using NFS, and searches for a particular file. The filename the client searches for is:
<ip-addr>-kickstart |
The <ip-addr> section of the filename should be replaced with the client's IP address in dotted decimal notation. For example, the filename for a computer with an IP address of 10.10.0.1 would be 10.10.0.1-kickstart.
Note that if you do not specify a server name, then the client system will attempt to use the server that answered the BOOTP/DHCP request as its NFS server. If you do not specify a path or filename, the client system will try to mount /kickstart from the BOOTP/DHCP server and will try to find the kickstart file using the same <ip-addr>-kickstart filename as described above.
The kickstart installation needs to access an installation tree. An installation tree is a copy of the binary Red Hat Linux CD-ROMs with the same directory structure.
If you are performing a CD-based installation, insert the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM #1 into the computer before starting the kickstart installation.
If you are performing a hard-drive installation, make sure the ISO images of the binary Red Hat Linux CD-ROMs are on a hard drive in the computer.
If you are performing a network-based (NFS, FTP, or HTTP) installation, you must make the installation tree available over the network. Refer to the Preparing for a Network Installation section of the Red Hat Linux Installation Guide for details.
To begin a kickstart installation, you must boot the system from a Red Hat Linux boot diskette, Red Hat Linux boot CD-ROM, or the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM #1 and enter a special boot command at the boot prompt. The installation program looks for a kickstart file if the ks command line argument is passed to the kernel.
If the kickstart file is located on a boot diskette as described in the Section called Creating a Kickstart Boot Diskette in Chapter 6, boot the system with the diskette in the drive, and enter the following command at the boot: prompt:
linux ks=floppy |
The linux ks=floppy command also works if the ks.cfg file is located on a vfat or ext2 file system on a diskette and you boot from the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM #1.
An alternate boot command is to boot off the Red Hat Linux CD-ROM #1 and have the kickstart file on a vfat or ext2 file system on a diskette. To do so, enter the following command at the boot: prompt:
linux ks=hd:fd0:/ks.cfg |
If you need to use a driver disk with kickstart, specify the dd option as well. For example, to boot off a boot diskette and use a driver disk, enter the following command at the boot: prompt:
linux ks=floppy dd |
If the kickstart file is on a boot CD-ROM as described in the Section called Creating a Kickstart Boot CD-ROM in Chapter 6, insert the CD-ROM into the system, boot the system, and enter the following command at the boot: prompt (where ks.cfg is the name of the kickstart file):
linux ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg |
Other options to start a kickstart installation are as follows:
The installation program will look for the kickstart file on the NFS server <server>, as file <path>. The installation program will use DHCP to configure the Ethernet card. For example, if your NFS server is server.example.com and the kickstart file is in the NFS share /mydir/ks.cfg, the correct boot command would be ks=nfs:server.example.com:/mydir/ks.cfg.
The installation program will look for the kickstart file on the HTTP server <server>, as file <path>. The installation program will use DHCP to configure the Ethernet card. For example, if your HTTP server is server.example.com and the kickstart file is in the HTTP directory /mydir/ks.cfg, the correct boot command would be ks=http://server.example.com/mydir/ks.cfg.
The installation program looks for the file ks.cfg on a vfat or ext2 file system on the diskette in /dev/fd0.
The installation program will look for the kickstart file on the diskette in /dev/fd0, as file <path>.
The installation program will mount the file system on <device> (which must be vfat or ext2), and look for the kickstart configuration file as <file> in that file system (for example, ks=hd:sda3:/mydir/ks.cfg).
| Note | |
|---|---|
The second colon is a syntax change for Red Hat Linux 9. |
The installation program will try to read the file <file> from the file system; no mounts will be done. This is normally used if the kickstart file is already on the initrd image.
The installation program will look for the kickstart file on CD-ROM, as file <path>.
If ks is used alone, the installation program will configure the Ethernet card in the system using DHCP. The system will use the "bootServer" from the DHCP response as an NFS server to read the kickstart file from (by default, this is the same as the DHCP server). The name of the kickstart file is one of the following:
If DHCP is specified and the bootfile begins with a /, the bootfile provided by DHCP is looked for on the NFS server.
If DHCP is specified and the bootfile begins with something other then a /, the bootfile provided by DHCP is looked for in the /kickstart directory on the NFS server.
If DHCP did not specify a bootfile, then the installation program tries to read the file /kickstart/1.2.3.4-kickstart, where 1.2.3.4 is the numeric IP address of the machine being installed.
The installation program will use this network device to connect to the network. For example, to start a kickstart installation with the kickstart file on an NFS server that is connected to the system through the eth1 device, use the command ks=nfs:<server>:/<path> ksdevice=eth1 at the boot: prompt.
| [1] | This option is new to Red Hat Linux 9. |