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<title>Cobbler -- provisioning made simple.</title>
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<div id="page-title">
<h1 id="product-name">Cobbler
<span id="blurb">Provisioning Made Simple</span></h1>
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</div>
<ul class="topnav">
<li><a href="#">About</a></li>
<li><a href="#News">News</a></li>
<li><a href="#Downloads">Downloads</a></li>
<li><a href="#FAQ">FAQ</a></li>
<li><a href="#Contact">Contact</a></li>
</ul>
<A NAME="About"></A>
<div id="content-main">
<h2>About</h2>
<p>
Cobbler is a Linux provisioning configuration tool that enables administrators to rapidly set up environments for (simultaneously) provisioning PXE, installing virtualized images, and re-provisioning existing machines. Set up of a PXE server, once a very manual process, is now greatly simplified. Cobbler also enables integrating virtualization into a PXE provisioning infrastructure and provides some interesting options to reinstall running machines as well.
</p>
<p>
Cobbler is designed for managing the provisioning datacenters with 1000's of machines or labs with just a few. Extensive documentation is provided in the accompanying manpages. Cobbler is easy to use and has an accompanying Python API. The config files are also sane and XML free.
</p>
<p>
Cobbler uses a helper tool called Koan to enable replacing <i>running</i> systems as well as installing virtualized profiles. Cobbler has a feature that allows pushing Koan out to systems automatically.
</p>
<p>
Another interesting feature of Cobbler is that it can integrate mirroring of package repositories with the provisioning process, so that a cobbler server serves as a central mirror point of contract for all of an organization's software needs. Mirrored repositories can automatically be used by provisioned systems without additional setup. On FC6 and later, these repositories can also be used within the kickstart itself. All of this is covered in the manpage documentation.
</p>
<A NAME="News"></A>
<h2>News</h2>
<p>
<B>Cobbler 0.4.5</B></br>
Vastly improved support for importing from DVDs. <A HREF="http://et.redhat.com/page/Cobbler_Import">(examples)</A>. Shorter kernel options by default. Fully templated PXE configurations mean greater customization opportunities.
</p>
<p>
<B>Cobbler 0.4.3</B></br>
Cobbler 0.4.3 is a bugfix release. Recently 0.4.2 added auto-generated PXE menus for rapid installation of machines "just off the truck". Also, cobbler now once again uses <A HREF="http://cheetahtemplate.org/learn.html">Cheetah</A> for more-powerful kickstart templating.
</p>
<B>Koan 0.2.8</B><br/>
Koan's helper program for reprovisioning and virtual installations now uses the "virtinst" library for faster, more streamlined guest provisioning.
</p>
<A NAME="Downloads"></A>
<h2>Source/Downloads</h2>
<p>
Cobbler and Koan are licensed under the GPL.
</p>
<p>
Source code (it's all Python) is available through <A HREF="http://git.or.cz/">git</A>. The source provided here will be somewhat more bleeding edge than the RPM's provided below, though in general source checkouts will be usable. If "stable" is desired, use the RPM releases instead.
<ul>
<li><A HREF="http://git.et.redhat.com/">gitweb interface</A></li>
<li>git clone git://et.redhat.com/cobbler</li>
<li>git clone git://et.redhat.com/koan</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
RPM Downloads
<ul>
<li>Fedora Core: "yum install cobbler", "yum install koan"
</li>
<li>Or: <A HREF="http://cobbler.et.redhat.com/download/">download RPMs</A>
</li>
<li>
<li><A HREF="http://people.redhat.com/~dlutter/yum/rhel4/">rhel4 cobbler & koan RPMs</A></li>
<li>Installation/Build For RHEL4:
<ul>
<li>wget http://www.python.org/pyvault/centos-4-i386/python-cheetah-0.9.18-1.el4.pyv.i386.rpm</li>
<li>wget http://www.python.org/pyvault/centos-4-i386/python23-cheetah-0.9.18-1.el4.pyv.i386.rpm</li>
<li>rpm -i python*cheetah*.rpm</li>
<li>wget http://cobbler.et.redhat.com/download/cobbler-$version.src.rpm</li>
<li>rpmbuild --rebuild cobbler-$version.src.rpm</i>
<li>rpm -i /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/noarch/cobbler-$version.src.rpm</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Installation/Build For RHEL5:
<ul>
<li>Grab python-setuputils, python-cheetah, and yum-utils from FC-6 <A HREF="ftp://mirror.linux.duke.edu/pub/fedora/linux/extras/6/SRPMS/">here</A></li>
<li>rpmbuild --rebuild those RPMs and then install them.</li>
<li>now build and install Cobbler</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
Open Office Presentation
<ul>
<li><A HREF="http://cobbler.et.redhat.com/cobbler.odp">cobbler.odp</li></A>
</ul>
<p>
User Documentation (generated from the manpages)
<ul>
<li><A HREF="http://cobbler.et.redhat.com/cobbler.html">cobbler</A></li>
<li><A HREF="http://cobbler.et.redhat.com/koan.html">koan</A></li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
Other Documentation
<ul>
<li><A HREF="http://et.redhat.com/page/Cobbler_Import">Tutorial on importing from a DVD</A></ul>
</ul>
</p>
<!-- <p><a href="#">Learn more about ... now</a></p> -->
<A NAME="FAQ"></A>
<h2>FAQ</h2>
<p>
<B>What can Cobbler do for me?</B><br/>
Cobbler can, if you let it, completely manage your provisioning infrastructure. It can keep your dhcpd.conf managed, it will manage your /tftpboot directory for PXE, and it will enable reprovisioning of existing hardware. It saves a systems administrator from needing to understand the differences between various provisioning types as they are all configured in a unified way. As an open source project, more importantly, technology advances can be shared -- which isn't possible with in-house developed provisioning solutions that are all-too-common in today's IT environment.
</p>
<p>
<B>Who is the intended audience?</B><br/>
Anyone, really. We want to make provisioning infrastructure just as easy to set up for someone who has a lab of 10 machines as for a corporation that has a thousand or more. Cobbler does not try to be "enterprise software". It's just software.
</p>
<p>
<B>How is cobbler used?</B><br/>
Cobbler can be used in one of three ways, currently. There's a fully featured command line application, a Python API (for advanced users), and there are cobbler's configuration files itself (also for advanced users). It's recommended that users start with the command line.
</p>
<p>
<B>So no Graphical or Web User Interface?</B><br/>
We're thinking about that.
</p>
<p>
<B>How customizable is cobbler?</B><br/>
Most features -- like dhcp.conf templating and kickstart templating -- are optional. In general, only kernel and initrd names, plus kickstart files, are required to set up a provisioning infrastructure. This makes things fairly simple. When more customization is needed, such as supporting IA64 PXE, customizing kernel parameters for a specific system, or templating kickstarts -- those features are there. The manpages do a good job of detailing optional vs. required parameters. Cobbler is essentially designed to keep provisioning easy to manage -- but to allow complicated cases to be dealt with when needed.
</p>
<p>
<B>Are there any daemons involved?</B><br/>
Cobbler configures and uses tftp-server and httpd, and (optionally) dhcpd. It configures these various apps as well as the file system tree to enable provisioning without <i>requiring</i> cobbler-specific daemons. One small syslog monitoring daemon (cobbler_syslogd) is included in 0.3.7 and later, which will enable better remote status tracking of kickstarts, though it's optional, and can be turned off with only a small degradation in kickstart tracking accuracy. If you want to remotely administer cobbler, SSH is your friend.
</p>
<p>
<B>Is Cobbler tied to a particular Koan version?</B><br/>
Not currently. Cobbler and koan tend to be very flexible. New metadata fields added to cobbler are ignored by older koan versions. Major architectural changes could affect things, though none are in plan. A best effort will be made to preserve cobbler settings across upgrades. Koan may be able to detect downlevel versions of cobbler in the future.</p>
<p>
<B>Does dhcpd have to run on the same box?</B><br/>
No. In the case where you're not in control of your dhcp (which is likely), but still want a provisioning infrastructure, cobbler still works -- by default, it doesn't try to manage dhcpd.conf. Should you want to do PXE, you'll have to have your IT administrator configure DHCP a bit to add the "next-server" and "filename" records, though cobbler can point you in the right direction. Futhermore, if you're just using reprovisioning and virtualization features, then you don't need a dhcp server anyway.
</p>
<p>
<B>What's the deal with the names?</B><br/>
A cobbler is a person who makes boots. "Koan" stands for "kickstart over a network", and is kind of a play on "Xen", a Linux virtualization technology. Those responsible for naming these applications have been sacked.
</p>
<p>
<B>What operating systems are supported?</B><br/>
Cobbler and koan are intended to be used on systems that support kickstart. Cobbler currently enjoys being installed on FC-5, FC-6, RHEL-4, RHEL-5, and Centos 4 (you'll want to "rpmbuild --rebuild" the source RPM's yourself if not running Fedora). Koan (which is the helper application for non-PXE provisioning modes) works everywhere cobbler does, plus RHEL 3. Curently any Linux system can be rolled out with cobbler/koan, though there are a lot of kickstart specific features -- so distributions that do kickstart have some advantages. Patches, expertise, and suggestions on how to adapt cobbler to support other free operating systems are definitely welcome.
</p>
<p>
<B>What architectures are supported?</B><br/>
Cobbler currently can PXE-provision x86, x86_64, and (depending on how friendly your EFI is) IA64. Cobbler and koan are both noarch packages, so for provisioning modes other than PXE (such as using koan to replace a running box), there are no restrictions.
</p>
<p>
<B>How can I contribute?</B><br/>
Send in bug reports, patches, ideas, or comments. We're interested in hearing about real-world provisioning problems and how we can solve them for system administrators everywhere.
</p>
<A NAME="Contact"></A>
<h2>Contact</h2>
<p>Cobbler and Koan are written and maintained by <A HREF="mailto:mdehaan (AT) redhat /dot/ COM">Michael DeHaan</A>.
</p>
<p>
Bug reports can be filled in <A HREF="http://bugzilla.redhat.com">Bugzilla</A> under "Fedora Extras". Both cobbler and koan have components.
</p>
<p>
Send comments, questions, patches, and suggestions to the <A HREF="https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/et-mgmt-tools">et-mgmt-tools</A> list. You can send mail even if you aren't a list member. If you are on IRC, you can also stop by #cobbler on irc.freenode.net.
</p>
<p>
<hr/>
</div>
<div class="content-right">
<div class="callout-1">
<h2>Simplicity.</h2>
<p>
Cobbler configures provisioning for bare metal, existing machines, and virtualization -- all at once, all in one place.
</p>
</div>
<div class="callout-2">
<h2>Power.</h2>
<p>
Advanced features include kickstart templating, dhcpd.conf generation, kernel parameter customization, kickstart tree imports, yum mirroring, kickstart status tracking, PXE menu generation, and reinstallation of remote systems. There's a lot here.
</p>
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