RE: 7.1 nfs install requires DHCP?

[Peter Matulis <PMatulis zaq com>]

Thanks for this Carl.

For myself, I was trying to store the ks.cfg file(s) on the NFS server.  You
definitely require a DHCP server to lease the client an address in order to
connect to the NFS server.  Putting the ks.cfg on the floppy provides this
instead.

Now I want to know why our Microsoft DHCP server doesn't respond to my
client's request.

Peter Matulis
ext: 392


-> -----Original Message-----
-> From: Carl Riches [mailto:riches ms washington edu]
-> Sent: November 20, 2001 5:35 PM
-> To: 'kickstart-list redhat com'
-> Subject: RE: 7.1 nfs install requires DHCP? 
-> 
-> 
-> On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Taylor, ForrestX wrote:
-> 
-> > > Subject: Re: 7.1 nfs install requires DHCP?
-> > >
-> > >
-> > > > > In syslinux.cfg we can have:
-> > > > >
-> > > > >
-> > > > > to boot without dhcp
-> > > > > --------------------
-> > > > > label ks
-> > > > >   kernel vmlinuz
-> > > > >   append initrd=initrd.img ks=floppy
-> > >
-> > > And in ks.cfg there is this line:
-> > > network --bootproto static --ip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx --netmask
-> > > 255.255.255.0 --gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.1 --nameserver 
-> xxx.xxx.yyy.yyy
-> > >
-> > > That will do it. At least we do it.
-> >
-> > Yes, that will give you a static IP address after 
-> installation, but as far
-> > as I know, 7.1 still needs a DHCP address when you first 
-> boot from the
-> > installation media.  Do you have a DHCP server?
-> >
-> 
-> Not for kickstart.  Here's the process we go through 
-> (cut-and paste from
-> our kickstart installation log file):
-> 
-> 1) In order to do a network installation using NFS, I needed 
-> to have the
-> contents of the RedHat CD on an NFS server.  I copied the 
-> contents of both
-> of the RedHat 7.1 CDs to:
-> 
->   nfsserver:/RedHat/7.1/OS_CD/
-> 
-> 2) I created a kickstart config file that had commands to 
-> configure the
-> hardware, install specific RPM packages from the Red Hat Linux 7.1
-> distribution, install other RPM packages that we want as part of the
-> default installation, and create directories, install 
-> configuration files
-> and other tasks to tailor the Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation 
-> to fit our
-> installation model.
-> 
-> Here are the steps I took to create the kickstart config file:
-> 
->   a) I installed the entire base Red Hat Linux 7.1 system on 
-> a typical PC.
-> 
->   b) I removed these RPM packages from the system:
-> 
->        openssh-askpass-gnome-2.5.2p2-5
->        openssh-askpass-2.5.2p2-5
->        openssh-clients-2.5.2p2-5
->        openssh-server-2.5.2p2-5
->        openssh-2.5.2p2-5
-> 
->   c) I ran this command to create a template config file:
-> 
->        mkkickstart > ks.cfg
-> 
->      I did this mainly to get the list of installed packages 
-> in the format
->      that a kickstart file wants.  In addition, this 
-> provides the template
->      for placing the commands that direct the OS installation, disk
->      partitioning and local configuration.
-> 
->   d) I made the following changes to the template config file:
-> 
->      - changed the installation method from "cdrom" to "nfs" 
-> and specified
->        the NFS server and directory to mount;
-> 
->      - specified the IP address, hostname, gateway and 
-> nameserver to use
->        for network access;
-> 
->      - specified the proper mouse type;
-> 
->      - specified the proper disk partitions to use and how 
-> to mount them;
-> 
->      - set up a dummy password for root rather than a real 
-> (encrypted)
->        password
-> 
->      - added lots of comments to describe what was going on 
-> in the file
-> 
->      In addition, I created a "%pre" section that had commands to the
->      "fdisk" program to erase and re-partition the disk.  I 
-> also created a
->      "%post" section that had the commands to save default 
-> configuration
->      files, replace them with locally-modified versions, 
-> install other
->      config files, create directories needed in our local 
-> environment, and
->      turn on or off various daemons.
-> 
->      I made two different versions of this config file, one 
-> for 9GB disk
->      drives and one for 18GB disk drives.  That is because the "%pre"
->      section differs for each of these disk drives.
-> 
->      The complete kickstart configuration files can be found 
-> at the end of
->      this document.
-> 
-> 3) I created an installation boot floppy that had networking 
-> code in it.
-> The default installation boot floppy for Red Hat Linux does 
-> not have this
-> code.  Here is how I made this floppy disk:
-> 
->   a) I put this CD in the CD-ROM drive on my Linux computer:
-> 
->        Red Hat Linux 7 Operating System  CD 1  Binary CD
-> 
->      It was automatically mounted here:
-> 
->        /mnt/cdrom
-> 
->    b) I placed a blank floppy disk into the floppy disk drive on my
->       computer.
-> 
->    c) A binary image of the network-aware installation boot floppy is
->       contained on the CD.  When the CD is mounted on my 
-> Linux computer,
->       the image file appears as:
-> 
->         /mnt/cdrom/images/bootnet.img
-> 
->       Here are the commands I used to copy this image onto the blank
->       floppy disk:
-> 
->         dd if=/mnt/cdrom/images/bootnet.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k
-> 
->       This floppy disk is an MS-DOS format disk and can be 
-> manipulated
->       using a Windows PC or using the "mtools" utilities under Linux.
-> 
-> 4) I placed the kickstart config file on the "bootnet.img" 
-> installation
-> disk that I just made.  Here are the steps I took to do this:
-> 
->   a) I put a copy of the kickstart configuration file:
-> 
->        ks.cfg
-> 
->      in my home directory on my Linux computer.
-> 
->   b) I put the "bootnet.img" disk in the floppy disk drive 
-> of my Linux
->      computer.
-> 
->   c) I copied the kickstart configuration file onto the 
-> "bootnet.img" disk
->      using these commands:
-> 
->        cd ~/
->        mcopy ks.cfg a: -o
-> 
-> 5) (omitted...deals with backups of existing machines)
-> 
-> 6) I used the "bootnet.img" installation disk to boot the 
-> PC.  This booted
-> the PC into the initial RedHat installation screen.  I entered the
-> following command at this point:
-> 
->   linux ks=floppy
-> 
-> When the installation was done, a message displayed on the machine's
-> console stating that the installation was complete, to 
-> remove the boot
-> media from the drive and press the <Enter> key.  I did all of this.
-> 
-> 7) The machine rebooted to a graphical LILO screen.  I let LILO
-> automatically boot Linux and logged in as root.
-> 
-> 
-> 
-> In the ks.cfg file, I set these values:
-> 
-> # I N S T A L L A T I O N   M E T H O D
-> nfs --server aaa.bbb.ccc.xxx --dir /RedHat/7.1/OS_CD
-> 
-> # N E T W O R K   C O N F I G U R A T I O N
-> network --bootproto static --ip aaa.bbb.ccc.yyy --netmask 
-> 255.255.255.0 --gateway aaa.bbb.ccc.nnn --nameserver 
-> aaa.bbb.ccc.zzz --hostname user.desktop.linux.machine
-> 
-> # D E V I C E   S P E C I F I C A T I O N
-> device ethernet 3c59x
-> 
-> along with all of the other specs for keyboard, mouse, language, disk
-> partitioning, packages to install and pre- and post-processing.
-> 
-> An entry for the machine to be kickstarted:
->   aaa.bbb.ccc.yyy
-> goes into the /etc/exports file of the nfs server (aaa.bbb.ccc.xxx).
-> I also put entries into our DNS server for:
-> 
->   aaa.bbb.ccc.yyy       user.desktop.linux.machine
-> 
-> Things then just work.  No DHCP is involved in either kickstart or in
-> routine operation.
-> 
-> Carl G. Riches
-> Software Engineer
-> Department of Mathematics
-> Box 354350			voice:     206-543-5082 or 206-616-3636
-> University of Washington	fax:       206-543-0397
-> Seattle, WA  98195-4350		internet:  
-> riches ms washington edu
-> 
-> 
-> 
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