Automating redhat network installs

[Ben Crosby <bc ecs soton ac uk>]

Hi,


We have a requirement here at Southampton University to do an  automated
install across a LAN on client machines. I would like to be able to specify the packages
to install in a file or similar so that the machine may be left unattended to install, similar
to the slackware "custom dots" files.


The ideal solution would be a single / two  bootdisk(s) that give a dialog
asking the sysadmin to ender the machines network details and root password, which
would then install the software, reboot the system and run rc.custom on the first boot. 

This will be a shell script that copies all the config files the machine
needs, as well as installing any custom (non-rpm) software, before finally deleting the
rc.custom entries, mailing a status report of the install to the sysadmin, and rebooting 
once more.

Has anyone done anything similar ?

Many thanks,

Ben Crosby,
Systems Helpdesk.