Need a Kickstart kickstart

Chuck Slate chuck at cslate.net
Tue Feb 24 14:30:17 UTC 2004


Hi again, Nico.  Thanks for all the insight.  I now having it working as
hoped!!!

As an FYI, I have included below the exact steps I ended up taking to
make it work for my environment in the hopes others might find this
useful as well:


#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~##~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

# Follow these steps to automate the client side of a remote kickstart
# installation. In other words, this process is not intended to automate
# a CDROM install.  It is intended to be used to build a bootable CD
# that will automatically run a FTP, HTTP or NFS kickstart installation
# (according to the ks.cfg file).

# All work should be done on a host that can burn CDs.



# Make dir where all prep work will be done
mkdir /tmp/staging

# Mount the 1st RH install CD
mount /mnt/cdrom

# Copy the files RH makes available for creating boot CDs
# to the staging area
cp -av /mnt/cdrom/isolinux/ /tmp/staging/

# Dismount and eject the CD
eject

# CD to the staging area, from where the rest of the work will be done
cd /tmp/staging/

# Make sure all the copied files have write perms
chmod u+w isolinux/*

# Copy my custom kickstart configuration file to the staging area
# NOTE: The ks.cfg can be built (or at least started) using the 
# GNOME Kickstart Configurator utility
cp ks.cfg isolinux/

# Edit the "boot CD configuration" file
vi isolinux/isolinux.cfg

# Make sure the first line in the config is replaced to use the
# new boot CD for kickstart.  The new line should appear as follows:
default linux ks=cdrom

# Also remove lines 2, 3, and 4, so the user won't even be prompted,
# i.e., the install will begin automatically.  FYI: The lines to 
# remove are:
prompt 1
timeout 600
display boot.msg

# Save and close the isolinux.cfg file.

# Make an iso image file (called file.iso) using the files in the
# staging area.  NOTE: The files within the isolinux dir will end
# up on the root of the CD's fs.
mkisofs -o file.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat \
-no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -R -J -v -T isolinux/

# Burn that new iso file to a CD to make the boot CD
cdrecord -v dev=0,0,0 file.iso

# Once you are sure it works as planned, you should of course remove the
# staging dir to keep things clean.

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Regards,

Chuck






On Tue, 2004-02-17 at 03:44, Nico De Ranter wrote:
> Hi Chuck,
> 
> An ISO is just a CD image so you can use 'cdrecord' to write it to
> a CD directly. If you want to change some files it gets a bit trickier.
> I'm not sure whether it's possible to write directly to the ISO. I could
> convince mount once to mount it rw but when I umounted it all changes were
> gone.  Therefor the easiest way is to copy the contect of the ISO to a 
> staging directory, change the files and then create a new ISO image from it.
> 
> e.g.
> 
> # mount the iso image (ro is fine)
> mkdir /tmp/iso
> mount -o loop bootks.iso /tmp/iso/
> # create a new directory were you'll make the new image
> mkdir /tmp/staging
> cd /tmp/iso
> # copy the content of the image (ok, I'm oldfashioned, I like tar-pipes :-)
> tar cvf - . | (cd ../staging/; tar xBpf -)
> cd /tmp/staging
> # update isolinux/isolinux.cfg to use your kickstart server
> # update/delete the .msg files
> cd /tmp/isolinux
> # create a new iso image
> mkisofs -o ../newbootk.iso \
>        -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat \
>        -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table . 
> # write it do a CD
> cdrecord dev=<your cd writer> newbootk.iso
> 
> You can find more info about creating bootable CD's using isolinux 
> on their website:
> 
>    http://syslinux.zytor.com/iso.php#how
>        
> That should do the trick
> 
> Hope this helps :-)
> 
> Nico
> 
> On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 08:45:15PM -0500, Chuck Slate wrote:
> > Thanks, Nico.
> > 
> > I've never worked with ISOs, so I could therefore use a little more
> > direction.
> > 
> > Specifically, I took the same approach here that I had in the past
> > (mounting the image file using the "-o loop" option, then editing/adding
> > to the image as required).  When I do that here, however, I am reminded
> > by an error message that the fs type in question (iso9660) is ro (even
> > though the output from the mount command shows it as rw).
> > 
> > So what is the best way to go about extracting, modifying, and
> > rebuilding the ISO file as I customize the kickstart configuration?
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Chuck
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Mon, 2004-02-16 at 02:46, Nico De Ranter wrote:
> > > Use the boot.iso from the images directory on the first CD. 
> > > 
> > > Nico
> > > 
> > > On Sun, Feb 15, 2004 at 09:59:57PM -0500, Chuck Slate wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Hi All,
> > > > 
> > > > I have a RH 9 server I'd like to use as a Kickstart server to remotely
> > > > (over FTP) build my other hosts.
> > > > 
> > > > I used to do this on RH 7.3 using a diskette imaged from the bootnet.img
> > > > image file (with my own ks.cfg file copied in, of course), but now
> > > > notice on RH 9 you must initially use the bootdisk.img file to get a
> > > > boot diskette and then use the drvnet.img file to make a NIC driver
> > > > diskette.
> > > > 
> > > > So I've made this work fine with the extra step of inserting the driver
> > > > diskette as prompted.
> > > > 
> > > > The last task in the process, however, is to make a bootable CD to
> > > > replace the 2 diskettes (still ultimately doing the imaging over the
> > > > wire). My goal is to automate the build process completely, i.e., be
> > > > able to pop in the CD, boot the box, and move on.
> > > > 
> > > > I have combed the RH docs site as well as done my share of googling, but
> > > > have come up empty so far.
> > > > 
> > > > If anyone has done this, please share the details?
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks in advance!
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Chuck
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > -- 
> > > > Chuck Slate <chuck at cslate.net>
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > ---------------------------------------------------------
> > >  "It has been said that there are only two businesses that
> > >   refer to customers as users: illegal drug trade and
> > >                the computer industry." 
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------
> > > Nico De Ranter
> > > Senior System Administrator
> > > Sony Service Center (NSCE/VPE-B)
> > > The Corporate Village, Da Vincilaan 7-D1
> > > B-1935 Zaventem, Belgium
> > > Telephone: +32 (0)2 706 43 11 Fax: +32 (0)2 700 86 22
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-install-list
> > > To Unsubscribe Go To ABOVE URL or send a message to:
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> > -- 
> > Chuck Slate <chuck at cslate.net>
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > To Unsubscribe Go To ABOVE URL or send a message to:
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> > Subject: unsubscribe
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>  "It has been said that there are only two businesses that
>   refer to customers as users: illegal drug trade and
>                the computer industry." 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Nico De Ranter
> Senior System Administrator
> Sony Service Center (NSCE/VPE-B)
> The Corporate Village, Da Vincilaan 7-D1
> B-1935 Zaventem, Belgium
> Telephone: +32 (0)2 706 43 11 Fax: +32 (0)2 700 86 22
> 
> 
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-- 
Chuck Slate <chuck at cslate.net>





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