We keep the installation tree for the latest version of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux AS (Advanced Server) for network installs with a
generic kickstart file that sets keyboard language, network install
URL, basic server packages, and other local settings. Kickstart
installs are usually much faster than CD installs since you can specify
settings beforehand and do not need to switch CDs. Since we are
academic users, we almost always install AS since it includes both the
necessary server and desktop software; see http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/faq/#5 for more information.
If you can boot linux from the system, the easiest way to start a kickstart install is from your bootloader. Copy the files from images/pxeboot/ and put them in /boot; here is an example grub section:
title kickstart install
root (hd0,0)
kernel /pxeboot/vmlinuz ks=http://your-host/rhel/ks.cfg ksdevice=link ramdisk=32768
initrd /pxeboot/initrd.img
To perform a kickstart install from CD, burn the installation CD (CD#1) and boot from it. At the boot: prompt, type "linux http://your-host/rhel/ks.cfg"
to use the generic kickstart file. The installer will prompt you for
other necessary information such as partition sizes, ethernet
configuration, and so on.
Alternatively, before instaling you may copy the generic file to
something like servername.cfg, add in your specific preferences, and
point the installer to that file. For more information about the
kickstart files, see the Red Hat manual section about Kickstart Installations.
Upgrades
To upgrade an installation, you can use the copy the generic kickstart file and change the install line to upgrade. You can even directly boot the installer using GRUB. Of course, you probably want to remove all the extra post-installation stuff.
Non-Kickstart Network Installations and Upgrades
Unfortunately, sometimes kickstart installations don't work, for example because of a driver or setup problem in anaconda (the Red Hat installer). If you find that kickstart isn't working, the best option is to do a network install. At the boot: prompt, type "linux askmethod" (or "linux text askmethod" for the faster text-mode installation). At the menu choose an HTTP install. The server name is 127.0.0.1 (your-host, ip address is much faster) and the directory is rhel/4as (extra slashes are OK but unnecessary).
If this does not work and you can't find a network connectivity
problem, you may need to just burn all the binary CDs and install that
way. It is also possible to create custom CDs, see http://people.redhat.com/rkeech/custom-distro.txt
You can also use a network install to create a kickstart file. After an install, the anaconda installer leaves a working kickstart file based on your install as /root/anaconda-ks.cfg. You can comment anything you don't want out of the kickstart file (i.e., partitioning information), and the installer will ask you.
Setting up the network installation server
This describes a method for sysadmins to create an install point without copying the RPMs from the ISOs. The goal is to create a single place that looks like one really big CD (or DVD) to anaconda, the Red Hat installer. This will need to be done for every new release or update CD set.
Make sure you have enough room for 4 CDs on the server, then go to the RHN website, click on "Channels" then click on "Easy ISOs" on the left.
Find the correct Channel, currently "Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (v. 4 for 32-bit x86)," then download them on the server:
mkdir -p /ISO/4as cd /ISO/4as nohup wget -c 'LONG-URL-disc1.iso' & nohup wget -c 'LONG-URL-disc2.iso' & nohup wget -c 'LONG-URL-disc3.iso' & nohup wget -c 'LONG-URL-disc4.iso' &
Make directories and add the ISOs to /etc/fstab (same as mount -t iso9660 -o loop=/dev/loop1 RHEL4-i386-AS-disc1.iso disc1)
mkdir {disc1,disc2,disc3,disc4} cat >> /etc/fstab <<EOF /ISO/4as/RHEL4-i386-AS-disc1.iso /ISO/4as/disc1 iso9660 loop=/dev/loop1 0 0 /ISO/4as/RHEL4-i386-AS-disc2.iso /ISO/4as/disc2 iso9660 loop=/dev/loop2 0 0 /ISO/4as/RHEL4-i386-AS-disc3.iso /ISO/4as/disc3 iso9660 loop=/dev/loop3 0 0 /ISO/4as/RHEL4-i386-AS-disc4.iso /ISO/4as/disc4 iso9660 loop=/dev/loop4 0 0 EOF mount disc1 mount disc2 mount disc3 mount disc4You should now be able to look inside the ISOs with a command like ls /ISO/4as/disc2/RedHat/.
Set up a hierarchy and add symbolic links (ignore the TRANS.TBL warnings)
mkdir -p /ISO/4as/RedHat/RPMS/ ln -s /ISO/4as/disc1/RedHat/base/ /ISO/4as/RedHat/ ln -s /ISO/4as/disc1/RedHat/TRANS.TBL /ISO/4as/RedHat/ ln -s /ISO/4as/disc1/RedHat/RPMS/* /ISO/4as/RedHat/RPMS ln -s /ISO/4as/disc2/RedHat/RPMS/* /ISO/4as/RedHat/RPMS ln -s /ISO/4as/disc3/RedHat/RPMS/* /ISO/4as/RedHat/RPMS ln -s /ISO/4as/disc4/RedHat/RPMS/* /ISO/4as/RedHat/RPMS
You now have a complete monolithic image, which could also be used to
make a DVD
Make it all web-accessible
mkdir /var/www/html/rhel cd /var/www/html/rhel ln -s /ISO/4as .