Difference between revisions of "Kickstart"
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In this example, our build media will be stored on a local NFS share. | In this example, our build media will be stored on a local NFS share. | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Creating the media repository == | ||
| + | |||
| + | 1. Download the latest DVD ISO from your favourite mirror. | ||
| + | |||
| + | 2. Either burn the ISO to a DVD or soft mount it on a Linux/Unix server. | ||
| + | |||
| + | 3. Make a directory that you want to use as your NFS share | ||
| + | |||
| + | mkdir /export/centos | ||
| + | chmod 755 /export/centos | ||
| + | |||
| + | 4. Share this directory over NFS. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Clear here for instructions on how to [[Create an NFS share with Solaris]]. | ||
| + | |||
| + | 5. Create a directory to hold the contents of the DVD | ||
| + | |||
| + | mkdir -p /export/centos/5.5/os/x86_64 | ||
| + | chmod 755 /export/centos | ||
| + | |||
| + | 6. Copy the contents of the DVD in to this directory | ||
| + | |||
| + | cd /export/centos/5.5/os/x86_64 | ||
| + | cp -pr PATH_TO_DVD/* . | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | == Make a Kickstart configuration file == | ||
| + | |||
| + | 1. Make a directory to hold the Kickstart configuration file on the NFS server | ||
| + | |||
| + | mkdir /export/centos/kickstart | ||
| + | |||
| + | 2. Create a file in this directory called kickstart.ks. Click here to see a [[Sample Kickstart Configuration file]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | 3. Make the kickstart file world readable | ||
| + | |||
| + | chmod 644 kickstart.ks | ||
== Building the boot CD == | == Building the boot CD == | ||
| Line 21: | Line 59: | ||
5. Go into the 'isolinux' directory and edit the isolinux.cfg file with the following contents: | 5. Go into the 'isolinux' directory and edit the isolinux.cfg file with the following contents: | ||
| − | default | + | default my-ks |
prompt 5 | prompt 5 | ||
timeout 15 | timeout 15 | ||
| − | label | + | label my-ks |
kernel vmlinuz | kernel vmlinuz | ||
append ip=dhcp ks=nfs:192.168.1.1:/export/install/centos/ks/kickstart.ks initrd=initrd.img kssendmac ksdevice=eth0 lang=en_US | append ip=dhcp ks=nfs:192.168.1.1:/export/install/centos/ks/kickstart.ks initrd=initrd.img kssendmac ksdevice=eth0 lang=en_US | ||
| Line 42: | Line 80: | ||
append - | append - | ||
| − | In this example, the server will use network interface eth0, will get it's IP from DHCP and will get it's kickstart config file, kickstart.ks, from the nfs server 192.168.1.1. | + | In this example, the server will use network interface eth0, will get it's IP from DHCP and will get it's kickstart config file, kickstart.ks, from the nfs server 192.168.1.1 in the specified directory. |
If DHCP isn't available, you can specify a static IP like this: | If DHCP isn't available, you can specify a static IP like this: | ||
Latest revision as of 23:53, 15 November 2011
Kickstart is awesome for automating the building CentOS/RedHat servers. There are a number of ways that you can do it, such as PXE booting of the network etc, but the way I choose to do it requires a simple boot CD.
In this example, our build media will be stored on a local NFS share.
Creating the media repository
1. Download the latest DVD ISO from your favourite mirror.
2. Either burn the ISO to a DVD or soft mount it on a Linux/Unix server.
3. Make a directory that you want to use as your NFS share
mkdir /export/centos chmod 755 /export/centos
4. Share this directory over NFS.
Clear here for instructions on how to Create an NFS share with Solaris.
5. Create a directory to hold the contents of the DVD
mkdir -p /export/centos/5.5/os/x86_64 chmod 755 /export/centos
6. Copy the contents of the DVD in to this directory
cd /export/centos/5.5/os/x86_64 cp -pr PATH_TO_DVD/* .
Make a Kickstart configuration file
1. Make a directory to hold the Kickstart configuration file on the NFS server
mkdir /export/centos/kickstart
2. Create a file in this directory called kickstart.ks. Click here to see a Sample Kickstart Configuration file
3. Make the kickstart file world readable
chmod 644 kickstart.ks
Building the boot CD
1. Download the latest DVD ISO of the distro you wish to use. In this case it's CentOS 5.5 x86_64.
2. Either burn the DVD ISO to DVD media or soft mount it on your machine.
3. Make a directory to hold the boot image data
mkdir bootimage
4. Copy the 'images' and 'isolinux' directories from the DVD into the bootimage folder
cd bootimage cp -pr PATH_TO_DVD/images/ . cp -pr PATH_TO_DVD/isolinux/ .
5. Go into the 'isolinux' directory and edit the isolinux.cfg file with the following contents:
default my-ks prompt 5 timeout 15 label my-ks kernel vmlinuz append ip=dhcp ks=nfs:192.168.1.1:/export/install/centos/ks/kickstart.ks initrd=initrd.img kssendmac ksdevice=eth0 lang=en_US label linux kernel vmlinuz append initrd=initrd.img label text kernel vmlinuz append initrd=initrd.img text label ks kernel vmlinuz append ks initrd=initrd.img label local localboot 1 label memtest86 kernel memtest append -
In this example, the server will use network interface eth0, will get it's IP from DHCP and will get it's kickstart config file, kickstart.ks, from the nfs server 192.168.1.1 in the specified directory.
If DHCP isn't available, you can specify a static IP like this:
ip=192.168.1.2 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.1.254 nameserver=192.168.1.253
6. Make a bootable ISO image of this directory:
cd bootimage mkisofs -o ../ks.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -R -J -v -T .
7. Burn the new ISO, ks.iso, to CD using your favourite burning software.
