path: root/docs/kickstart-docs.txt

                                   Kickstart

   Copyright (c) 2003 by Red Hat, Inc.

   Copyright ^TM 2003 by Red Hat, Inc. This material may be distributed only
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     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                            Chapter 1. Introduction

What are Kickstart Installations?

   Many system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation
   method to install Red Hat Enterprise 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
   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 Enterprise Linux on
   multiple machines, making it ideal for network and system administrators.

   Kickstart provides a way for users to automate a Red Hat Enterprise Linux
   installation.

How Do You Perform a Kickstart 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:

    1. Create a kickstart file.

    2. Create a boot diskette with the kickstart file or make the kickstart
       file available on the network.

    3. Make the installation tree available.

    4. Start the kickstart installation.

   This chapter explains these steps in detail.

Creating the Kickstart File

   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 Enterprise
   Linux Documentation CD, using the Kickstart Configurator application, or
   writing it from scratch. The Red Hat Enterprise 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).

                          Chapter 2. Kickstart Options

   The following options can be placed in a kickstart file. If you prefer to
   use a graphical interface for creating your kickstart file, you can 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.                                  

   autopart (optional)

           Automatically create partitions -- 1 GB or more root (/)
           partition, a swap partition, and an appropriate boot partition for
           the architecture. One or more of the default partition sizes can
           be redefined with the part directive.

   autostep (optional)

           Similar to interactive except it goes to the next screen for you.
           It is used mostly for debugging.

   auth or authconfig (required)

           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.

                --enablemd5

                        Use md5 encryption for user passwords.

                --enablenis

                        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.

                --nisdomain=

                        NIS domain name to use for NIS services.

                --nisserver=

                        Server to use for NIS services (broadcasts by
                        default).

                --useshadow or --enableshadow

                        Use shadow passwords.

                --enableldap

                        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=.

                --enableldapauth

                        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=.

                --ldapserver=

                        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.

                --ldapbasedn=

                        If you specified either --enableldap or
                        --enableldapauth, use this option to specify 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.

                --enableldaptls

                        Use TLS (Transport Layer Security) lookups. This
                        option allows LDAP to send encrypted usernames and
                        passwords to an LDAP server before authentication.

                --enablekrb5

                        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.

                --krb5realm=

                        The Kerberos 5 realm to which your workstation
                        belongs.

                --krb5kdc=

                        The KDC (or KDCs) that serve requests for the realm.
                        If you have multiple KDCs in your realm, separate
                        their names with commas (,).

                --krb5adminserver=

                        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.

                --enablehesiod

                        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.

                --hesiodlhs

                        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.

                --hesiodrhs

                        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 [.] put in front of them when    
                          the library determines the name for which to  
                          search, so the LHS and RHS usually begin with 
                          periods.                                      

                --enablesmbauth

                        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.

                --smbservers=

                        The name of the server(s) to use for SMB
                        authentication. To specify more than one server,
                        separate the names with commas (,).

                --smbworkgroup=

                        The name of the workgroup for the SMB servers.

                --enablecache

                        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.

   bootloader (required)

           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.

                --append=

                        Specifies kernel parameters. To specify multiple
                        parameters, separate them with spaces. For example:

                     bootloader --location=mbr --append="hdd=ide-scsi ide=nodma" 

                --driveorder

                        Specify which drive is first in the BIOS boot order.
                        For example:

                        bootloader --driveorder=sda,hda                 

                --location=

                        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).

                --password=

                        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.

                --md5pass=

                        If using GRUB, similar to --password= except the
                        password should already be encrypted.

                --useLilo

                        Use LILO instead of GRUB as the boot loader.

                --linear

                        If using LILO, use the linear LILO option; this is
                        only for backward compatibility (and linear is now
                        used by default).

                --nolinear

                        If using LILO, use the nolinear LILO option; linear
                        is the default.

                --lba32

                        If using LILO, force use of lba32 mode instead of
                        auto-detecting.

                --upgrade

                        Upgrade the existing boot loader configuration,
                        preserving the old entries. This option is only
                        available for upgrades.

   clearpart (optional)

           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.            

                --all

                        Erases all partitions from the system.

                --drives=

                        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                      

                --initlabel

                        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.

                --linux

                        Erases all Linux partitions.

                --none (default)

                        Do not remove any partitions.

   cmdline (optional)

           Perform the installation in a completely non-interactive command
           line mode. Any prompts for interaction will halt the install. This
           mode is useful on S/390 systems with the x3270 console.

   device (optional)

           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>                 

                <type>

                        Replace with either scsi or eth

                <moduleName>

                        Replace with the name of the kernel module which
                        should be installed.

                --opts=

                        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"                    

   driverdisk (optional)

           Driver diskettes can be used during kickstart installations. You
           need to copy the driver diskettes's contents to the root directory
           of a partition on the system's hard drive. Then you need to use
           the driverdisk command to tell the installation program where to
           look for the driver disk.

           driverdisk <partition> [--type=<fstype>]                    

           Alternatively, a network location can be specified for the driver
           diskette:

           driverdisk --source=ftp://path/to/dd.img                    
           driverdisk --source=http://path/to/dd.img                   
           driverdisk --source=nfs:host:/path/to/img                   

                <partition>

                        Partition containing the driver disk.

                --type=

                        File system type (for example, vfat or ext2).

   firewall (optional)

           This option corresponds to the Firewall Configuration screen in
           the installation program:

           firewall --enabled|--disabled [--trust=] <device> [--port=] 

                --enabled

                        Reject incoming connections that are not in response
                        to outbound requests, such as DNS replies or DHCP
                        requests. If access to services running on this
                        machine is needed, you can choose to allow specific
                        services through the firewall.

                --disabled

                        Do not configure any iptables rules.

                --trust=

                        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.

                <incoming>

                        Replace with none or more of the following to allow
                        the specified services through the firewall.

                           * --ssh

                           * --telnet

                           * --smtp

                           * --http

                           * --ftp

                --port=

                        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. 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.

   firstboot (optional)

           Determine whether the Setup Agent starts the first time the system
           is booted. If enabled, the firstboot package must be installed. If
           not specified, this option is disabled by default.

                --enable

                        The Setup Agent is started the first time the system
                        boots.

                --disable

                        The Setup Agent is not started the first time the
                        system boots.

                --reconfig

                        Enable the Setup Agent to start at boot time in
                        reconfiguration mode. This mode enables the language,
                        mouse, keyboard, root password, security level, time
                        zone, and networking configuration options in
                        addition to the default ones.

   install (optional)

           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.

                cdrom

                        Install from the first CD-ROM drive on the system.

                harddrive

                        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 

                nfs

                        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 

                url

                        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> 

   interactive (optional)

           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.

   keyboard (required)

           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.

   lang (required)

           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.

   langsupport (required)

           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                                           

                --default=

                        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.

   logvol (optional)

           Create a logical volume for Logical Volume Management (LVM) with
           the syntax:

         logvol <mntpoint> --vgname=<name> --size=<size> --name=<name> <options> 

           The options are as follows:

                --noformat

                        Use an existing logical volume and do not format it.

                --useexisting

                        Use an existing logical volume and reformat it.

           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           

   mouse (required)

           Configures the mouse for the system, both in GUI and text modes.
           Options are:

                --device=

                        Device the mouse is on (such as --device=ttyS0).

                --emulthree

                        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.

   network (optional)

           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 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.

                --bootproto=

                        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.

                --device=

                        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=

                        IP address for the machine to be installed.

                --gateway=

                        Default gateway as an IP address.

                --nameserver=

                        Primary nameserver, as an IP address.

                --nodns

                        Do not configure any DNS server.

                --netmask=

                        Netmask for the installed system.

                --hostname=

                        Hostname for the installed system.

   part or partition (required for installs, ignored for upgrades)

           Creates a partition on the system.

           If more than one Red Hat Enterprise 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.                                                     

                <mntpoint>

                        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).

                --size=

                        The minimum partition size in megabytes. Specify an
                        integer value here such as 500. Do not append the
                        number with MB.

                --grow

                        Tells the partition to grow to fill available space
                        (if any), or up to the maximum size setting.

                --maxsize=

                        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.

                --noformat

                        Tells the installation program not to format the
                        partition, for use with the --onpart command.

                --onpart= or --usepart=

                        Put the partition on the already existing device. For
                        example:

                        partition /home --onpart=hda1                   

                        will put /home on /dev/hda1, which must already
                        exist.

                --ondisk= or --ondrive=

                        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.

                --asprimary

                        Forces automatic allocation of the partition as a
                        primary partition or the partitioning will fail.

                --type= (replaced by fstype)

                        This option is no longer available. Use fstype.

                --fstype=

                        Sets the file system type for the partition. Valid
                        values are ext2, ext3, swap, and vfat.

                --start=

                        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=.

                --end=

                        Specifies the ending cylinder for the partition. It
                        requires that the starting cylinder be specified with
                        --start=.

             Note                                                      
             If partitioning fails for any reason, diagnostic messages 
             will appear on virtual console 3.                         

   raid (optional)

           Assembles a software RAID device. This command is of the form:

           raid <mntpoint> --level=<level> --device=<mddevice> <partitions*> 

                <mntpoint>

                        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.

                --level=

                        RAID level to use (0, 1, or 5).

                --device=

                        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.

                --spares=

                        Specifies the number of spare drives allocated for
                        the RAID array. Spare drives are used to rebuild the
                        array in case of drive failure.

                --fstype=

                        Sets the file system type for the RAID array. Valid
                        values are ext2, ext3, swap, and vfat.

                --noformat

                        Use an existing RAID device and do not format the
                        RAID array.

                --useexisting

                        Use an existing RAID device and reformat it.

           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 (optional)

           Reboot after the installation is complete (no arguments).
           Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to
           press a key before rebooting.

   rootpw (required)

           Sets the system's root password to the <password> argument.

           rootpw [--iscrypted] <password>                             

                --iscrypted

                        If this is present, the password argument is assumed
                        to already be encrypted.

   skipx (optional)

           If present, X is not configured on the installed system.

   text (optional)

           Perform the kickstart installation in text mode. Kickstart
           installations are performed in graphical mode by default.

   timezone (required)

           Sets the system time zone to <timezone> which may be any of the
           time zones listed by timeconfig.

           timezone [--utc] <timezone>                                 

                --utc

                        If present, the system assumes the hardware clock is
                        set to UTC (Greenwich Mean) time.

   upgrade (optional)

           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.

   xconfig (optional)

           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.

                --noprobe

                        Do not probe the monitor.

                --card=

                        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.

                --videoram=

                        Specify the amount of video RAM the video card has.

                --monitor=

                        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.

                --hsync=

                        Specifies the horizontal sync frequency of the
                        monitor.

                --vsync=

                        Specifies the vertical sync frequency of the monitor.

                --defaultdesktop=

                        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).

                --startxonboot

                        Use a graphical login on the installed system.

                --resolution=

                        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.

                --depth=

                        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.

   volgroup (optional)

           Use to create a Logical Volume Management (LVM) group with the
           syntax:

           volgroup <name> <partition> <options>                       

           The options are as follows:

                --noformat

                        Use an existing volume group and do not format it.

                --useexisting

                        Use an existing volume group and reformat it.

           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           

   zerombr (optional)

           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.

   %include

           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.

                          Chapter 3. Package Selection

   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.
   Refer to the RedHat/base/comps.xml file on the first Red Hat Enterprise
   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                                                          
   dhcp                                                                       

   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. Groups can also be specified using the id for the group, such as
   gnome-desktop. Specify individual packages with no additional characters
   (the dhcp line in the example above is an individual package).

   You can also specify which packages not to install from the default
   package list:

   -autofs                                                                    

   The following options are available for the %packages option:

   --resolvedeps

           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                                     

   --ignoredeps

           Ignore the unresolved dependencies and install the listed packages
           without the dependencies. For example:

           %packages --ignoredeps                                      

   --ignoremissing

           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                                   

                       Chapter 4. Pre-installation Script

   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.                                                             

   --interpreter /usr/bin/python

           Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as
           Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of
           your choice.

Example

   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.

                      Chapter 5. Post-installation Script

   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.                                                     

   --nochroot

           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           

   --interpreter /usr/bin/python

           Allows you to specify a different scripting language, such as
           Python. Replace /usr/bin/python with the scripting language of
           your choice.

Examples

   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                                 

                 Chapter 6. Making the Kickstart File Available

   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.

Creating a Kickstart Boot Diskette

   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 Enterprise Linux Installation Guide for instruction on
   creating a boot diskette. Because the 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 Enterprise Linux with the file system
   type vfat and use the cp command to copy the file on the diskette.

Creating a Kickstart Boot CD-ROM

   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 Enterprise
   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.

Making the Kickstart File Available on the Network

   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
   Enterprise 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:

   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.

               Chapter 7. Making the Installation Tree Available

   The kickstart installation needs to access an installation tree. An
   installation tree is a copy of the binary Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROMs
   with the same directory structure.

   If you are performing a CD-based installation, insert the Red Hat
   Enterprise 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 Enterprise 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 Enterprise
   Linux Installation Guide for details.

                  Chapter 8. Starting a Kickstart Installation

   To begin a kickstart installation, you must boot the system from a Red Hat
   Enterprise Linux boot diskette, Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot CD-ROM, or
   the Red Hat Enterprise 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.

   Boot Diskette

           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                                             

   CD-ROM #1 and Diskette

           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 Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1.

           An alternate boot command is to boot off the Red Hat Enterprise
           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                                     

   With Driver Disk

           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                                          

   Boot CD-ROM

           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:

   ks=nfs:<server>:/<path>

           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.

   ks=http://<server>/<path>

           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.

   ks=floppy

           The installation program looks for the file ks.cfg on a vfat or
           ext2 file system on the diskette in /dev/fd0.

   ks=floppy:/<path>

           The installation program will look for the kickstart file on the
           diskette in /dev/fd0, as file <path>.

   ks=hd:<device>:/<file>

           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).

   ks=file:/<file>

           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.

   ks=cdrom:/<path>

           The installation program will look for the kickstart file on
           CD-ROM, as file <path>.

   ks

           If ks is used alone, the installation program will configure the
           Ethernet card to use DHCP. The kickstart file is read from the
           "bootServer" from the DHCP response as if it is an NFS server
           sharing the kickstart file. By default, the bootServer 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.

   ksdevice=<device>

           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.