Kickstart install on AS4?

[Rick Stevens]

Simon Hargrave wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I'm having problems running a Kickstart installation on AS4 (on a HP DL360
> server).  The symptoms are: -
> 
> 1) If I boot from CD and specify a Kickstart file on an NFS share as in: -
> 
> linux ks=nfs:server:/share/kickstart.file
> 
> It attempts to get a DHCP address (and fails as there isn't a server).  So
> it prompts for network details, which I provide, and it fails with the
> following: -
> 
> tg3: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
> tg3: eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.
> loader: failed to set default route: Network is unreachable
> 
> The server at this point is not pingable from anywhere (local segment or
> otherwise).  The tg3 messages suggest the NIC is up, however it's odd that
> it can't ping, and the default route message is bizaare!

Not really.  You gave it an IP address and a netmask, but no route so
the system has no idea how to get to the NFS server.  I've never done an
NFS install, but did the system ask for a default route or a gateway?
If so, then you should have specified the IP address for your router.
Note that the address of the router AND the address you gave the NIC
MUST be on the same network segment.

> 2) If I boot again from CD but don't specify a Kickstart file, again it
> tries DHCP, then asks for details.  However this time it establishes the
> LAN correctly.  I can ping it from either the local segment or any other
> subnet.  This is with providing exactly the same details as before.

What's the command line you used to do that?

> 3) The Kickstart boot works fine with an AS3 CD, which we have been doing
> for some time.

AS3 is a 2.4 kernel.  AS4 is a 2.6 kernel.  They work differently.

> What is the difference in the way the NIC is booted up in scenario 1) as
> opposed to scenario 2) that would cause it to fail?

It may be a bug in anaconda.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-      "Doctor!  My brain hurts!"  "It will have to come out!"       -
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