diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/cobbler.pod')
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/cobbler.pod | 80 |
1 files changed, 53 insertions, 27 deletions
diff --git a/docs/cobbler.pod b/docs/cobbler.pod index a1f174f..eb7000f 100644 --- a/docs/cobbler.pod +++ b/docs/cobbler.pod @@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ in network booting via PXE and just want to use koan to install virtual systems =head2 ADDING A DISTRIBUTION -This first step towards configurating what you want to provision is to add a distribution to the cobbler's configuration. +This first step towards configurating what you want to provision is to add a distribution to cobbler's configuration. If there is an rsync mirror, DVD, NFS, or filesystem tree available that you would rather import instead, skip down to the documentation about the "import" command. It's really a lot easier, and it only requires waiting for the mirror content to be copied and/or scanned. Imported mirrors also save time during install since they don't have to hit external install sources. @@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ arguments appropriately. Support for other types of distributions is possible The file used for the answer file, regardless of the breed setting, is the value used for --kickstart when creating the profile. +=item owners + +Users with small sites and a limited number of admins can probably ignore this option. All cobbler objects (distros, profiles, systems, and repos) can take a --owners parameter to specify what cobbler users can edit particular objects. This only applies to the Cobbler WebUI and XMLRPC interface, not the "cobbler" command line tool run from the shell. Furthermore, this is only respected by the "authz_ownership" module which must be enabled in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf. The value for --owners is a comma seperated list of users and groups as specified in /etc/cobbler/users.conf. For more information see the users.conf file as well as the Cobbler Wiki. In the default Cobbler configuration, this value is completely ignored, as is users.conf. + =back =head2 ADDING A PROFILE @@ -214,7 +218,7 @@ MAC addresses have the format AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF. If cobbler is configured to generate a DHCP configuratition (see advanced section), use this setting to define a specific IP for this system in DHCP. Leaving off this parameter will result in no DHCP management for this particular system. -Example: ---ip=192.168.1.50 +Example: --ip=192.168.1.50 Note for Itanium users: this setting is always required for IA64 regardless of whether DHCP management is enabled. @@ -276,7 +280,7 @@ on your network will result in faster, more up-to-date installations and faster are only provisioning a home setup, this will probably be overkill, though it can be very useful for larger setups (labs, datacenters, etc). -B<cobbler repo add --mirror=url --name=string [--rpmlist=list] [--creatrepo-flags=string] [--keep-updated=Y/N] [--priority=number][--arch=string]> +B<cobbler repo add --mirror=url --name=string [--rpmlist=list] [--creatrepo-flags=string] [--keep-updated=Y/N] [--priority=number] [--arch=string] [--mirror-locally=Y/N]> =over @@ -331,6 +335,10 @@ Specifies optional flags to feed into the createrepo tool, which is called when Specifies that the named repository should not be updated during a normal "cobbler reposync". The repo may still be updated by name. See "cobbler reposync" below. +=item mirror-locally + +When true, specifies that this yum repo is to be referenced directly via kickstarts and not mirrored locally on the cobbler server. Only http:// and ftp:// mirror urls are supported when using --mirror-locally=1. + =item priority Specifies the priority of the repository (the lower the number, the higher the priority), which applies to installed machines using the repositories that also have the yum priorities plugin installed. The default priority for the plugin is 99, as is that of all cobbler mirrored repositories. @@ -391,6 +399,14 @@ Objects can also be renamed, as long as other objects don't reference them. B<cobbler distro|profile|system|repo rename --name=oldname --newname=newname> +=head2 REPLICATING + +Cobbler can replicate distro and profile data from a master cobbler server. + +B<cobbler replicate --master=cobbler.example.org> + +This will bring over all distro data for which it can find data in /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror can be found. It will also bring over any default profiles for those distros. A default cobbler master can be set in the settings file. Tree data must still be rsync'd (or otherwise mirrored) manually. + =head2 REBUILDING CONFIGURATIONS B<cobbler sync> @@ -399,27 +415,29 @@ Cobbler sync is used to repair or rebuild the contents /tftpboot or /var/www/cob Sync should be run whenever files in /var/lib/cobbler are manually edited (which is not recommended except for the settings file) or when making changes to kickstart files. In practice, this should not happen often, though running sync too many times does not cause any adverse effects. -If using cobbler to manage a DHCP server (see the advanced section of this manpage), sync does need to be -run after systems are added to regenerate and reload the DHCP configuration. +If using cobbler to manage a DHCP and/or DNS server (see the advanced section of this manpage), sync does need to be +run after systems are added to regenerate and reload the DHCP/DNS configuration. =head1 EXAMPLES =head2 IMPORT WORKFLOW -This example shows how to create a provisioning infrastructure from a distribution mirror. +This example shows how to create a provisioning infrastructure from a distribution mirror or DVD ISO. Then a default PXE configuration is created, so that by default systems will PXE boot into a fully automated install process for that distribution. You can use a network rsync mirror, a mounted DVD location, or a tree you have available via a network filesystem. +Import knows how to autodetect the architecture of what is being imported, though to make sure things are named correctly, it's always a good idea to specify --arch. For instance, if you import a distribution named "fedora8" from an ISO, and it's an x86_64 ISO, specify --arch=x86_64 and the distro will be named "fedora8-x86_64" automatically, and the right architecture field will also be set on the distribution object. If you are batch importing an entire mirror (containing multiple distributions and arches), you don't have to do this, as cobbler will set the names for things based on the paths it finds. + B<cobbler check> -B<cobbler import --path=rsync://yourfavoritemirror.com/foo --name=anyname> +B<cobbler import --path=rsync://yourfavoritemirror.com/foo --name=rhel5 --arch=x86> # OR -B<cobbler import --path=/mnt/dvd --name=anyname> +B<cobbler import --path=/mnt/dvd --name=rhel5 --arch=x86_64> # OR (using an eternal NAS box without mirroring) @@ -531,33 +549,37 @@ Anywhere a kickstart template mentions SNIPPET::snippet_name, the file named /va To check for potential errors in kickstarts, prior to installation, use "cobbler validateks". This function will check all profile and system kickstarts for detectable errors. Since pykickstart is not future-Anaconda-version aware, there may be some false positives. It should be noted that "cobbler validateks" runs on the rendered kickstart output, not kickstart templates themselves. -=head2 DHCP CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT +=head2 DHCP MANAGEMENT -Cobbler can optionally help you manage DHCP and (depending on how used) DNS as it relates -to systems you wish to provision/control. This allows cobbler to essentially maintain a database -of all of your installed systems, and be a central point of control for aspects related to setting -up those systems. +Cobbler can optionally help you manage DHCP server. This feature is off by default. -This feature is off by default and must be turned on by setting 'manage_dhcp' to 1 in -/var/lib/cobbler/settings. Choices include ISC dhcpd (default), or DNSmasq, which can be chosen -by setting manage_dhcp_mode to 'dnsmasq'. If you choose dnsmasq and want to revert to ISC, change -the setting to 'isc'. +Choose either "management = isc_and_bind" in /etc/cobbler/dhcp.template or "management = "dnsmasq" in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf. Then set "manage_dhcp" to 1 in /var/lib/cobbler/settings. + +This allows DHCP to be managed via "cobbler system add" commands, when you specify the mac address and IP address for systems you add into cobbler. Depending on your choice, cobbler will use /etc/cobbler/dhcpd.template or /etc/cobbler/dnsmasq.template as a starting point. This file must be user edited for the user's particular networking environment. Read the file and understand how the particular app (ISC dhcpd or dnsmasq) work before proceeding. If you already have DHCP configuration data that you would like to preserve (say DHCP was manually configured earlier), insert the relevant portions of it into the template file, as running "cobbler sync" will overwrite your previous configuration. -In summary, if this manage_dhcp bit is enabled, the following features are enabled: +NOTE: Itanium systems names also need to be assigned to a distro that was created with the "--arch=ia64" parameter. If you have Itanium systems, you must (for now) choose 'dhcp_isc' for /etc/cobbler/modules.conf and manage_dhcp in the /var/lib/cobbler/settings file, and are required to use --ip when creating the system object in order for those systems to PXE. This is due to an elilo limitation. + +By default, the DHCP configuration file will be updated each time "cobbler sync" is run, and not until then, so it is important to remember to use "cobbler sync" when using this feature. + +If omapi_enabled is set to 1 in /var/lib/cobbler/settings, the need to sync when adding new system records can be eliminated. + +=head2 DNS CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT -(A) pinning dhcp hostnames to MAC addresses automatically. -(B) relatively seamless mixing of Itanium and x86/x86_64 machines in a PXE environment (ISC only) -(C) assigning hostnames to MAC addresses using DNS (dnsmasq only). +Cobbler can optionally manage DNS configuration using BIND and dnsmasq. -These options are all enabled by using the --hostname and --ip options when using the "cobbler system add" command. +Choose either "management = isc_and_bind" or "management = dnsmasq" in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf and then enable manage_dns in /var/lib/cobbler/settings. -Itanium systems names also need to be assigned to a distro that was created with the "--arch=ia64" parameter. If you have Itanium systems, you must (for now) choose 'isc' for 'manage_dhcp_mode' in the /var/lib/cobbler/settings file, and are required to use --ip when creating the system object in order for those systems to PXE. +This feature is off by default. If using BIND, you must define the zones to be managed with the options 'manage_forward_zones' and 'manage_reverse_zones'. (See the Wiki for more information on this). -The dhcpd.conf file will be updated each time "cobbler sync" is run, and not until then, so it is important to remember to use "cobbler sync" when using this feature. +If using BIND, Cobbler will use /etc/cobbler/bind.template and /etc/cobbler/zone.template as a starting point for the named.conf and individual zone files, respectively. You may drop zone-specific template files in /etc/cobbler/zone_templates/name-of-zone which will override the default. These files must be user edited for the user's particular networking environment. Read the file and understand how BIND works before proceeding. + +If using dnsmasq, the template is /etc/cobbler/dnsmasq.template. Read this file and understand how dnsmasq works before proceeding. + +All managed files (whether zone files and named.conf for BIND, or dnsmasq.conf for dnsmasq) will be updated each time ``cobbler sync'' is run, and not until then, so it is important to remember to use ``cobbler sync'' when using this feature. =head2 SERVICE DISCOVERY (AVAHI) @@ -572,11 +594,11 @@ After an import is run, cobbler will try to detect the distribution type and aut Mirrored content is saved automatically in /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror. -Example: B<cobbler import --mirror=rsync://mirrorserver.example.com/path/ --name=fedora> +Example: B<cobbler import --mirror=rsync://mirrorserver.example.com/path/ --name=fedora --arch=x86> Example2: B<cobbler import --mirror=root@192.168.1.10:/stuff --name=bar> -Example3: B<cobbler import --mirror=/mnt/dvd --name=baz> +Example3: B<cobbler import --mirror=/mnt/dvd --name=baz --arch=x86_64> Example4: B<cobbler import --mirror=/path/to/stuff --name=glorp> @@ -590,7 +612,7 @@ Note that all of the import commands will mirror install tree content into /var/ For import methods using rsync, additional flags can be passed to rsync with the option --rsync-flags. -Should you want to force the usage of a specific cobbler kickstart template for all profiles created by an import, you can feed the option --kicksart to import, to bypass the built-in kickstart autodetection. +Should you want to force the usage of a specific cobbler kickstart template for all profiles created by an import, you can feed the option --kickstart to import, to bypass the built-in kickstart auto-detection. =head2 DEFAULT PXE BOOT BEHAVIOR @@ -668,6 +690,10 @@ Most of the day-to-day actions in cobbler's command line can be performed in Cob https://hosted.fedoraproject.org/projects/cobbler/wiki/CobblerWebUi +=head2 BOOT CD + +Cobbler can build all of it's profiles into a bootable CD image using the "cobbler buildiso" command. This allows for PXE-menu like bringup of bare metal in evnvironments where PXE is not possible. Another more advanced method is described in the koan manpage, though this method is easier and sufficient for most applications. + =head1 EXIT_STATUS cobbler's command line returns a zero for success and non-zero for failure. |