fedora network boot without boot floppy

[Rick Stevens]

David Morgan wrote:
> Can an ftp network install from a server be triggered without a special 
> network-install boot floppy or CD?
> 
> Last week I wanted to install Fedora 3 on a spare older machine but had 
> trouble getting it to boot from CD. So rule out the CD. Plan B was a 
> network install. If installation CDs are copied onto a different linux 
> box, the target machine uses ftp to get access and the installation 
> proceeds.
> 
> The key to doing it is booting the target machine from a special floppy 
> which gives it a network driver and ftp client, and launches the 
> anaconda installer by somehow loading it from the server box. But I 
> found that as of Fedora 2, this stuff got too big and no such floppy is 
> available anymore. So I did the network install using RedHat 9 instead, 
> which is now on the box, running fine.
> 
> My question is, if I still wanted to get from RedHat 9 to Fedora 3 by an 
> "upgrade" installation, could I do it? I would copy the Fedora 3 disks 
> onto the ftp server machine. Now (unlike last week) RedHat9 provides me 
> the needed ftp client platform, so I don't need any boot floppy for 
> that. But how would I trigger the load-and-launch of anaconda from the 
> server to get the installation rolling?

We should probably clarify things a bit.  RHL5.2 through 7.1 were based
on 2.2 kernels.  RHL7.2 through RHL9 are based on 2.4 kernels.  FC2, FC3
and RHEL4 are all based on a 2.6 kernel.  The 2.6 kernel is too big to
fit on a floppy any longer, hence the missing boot floppy.

Now, there still is network stuff available, but you must use a larger
boot media.  CD/DVD is ideal, but failing that, and if you have a
machine that has the ability to boot from a USB device, you can go out
and get an el cheapo USB pen (jump) drive--64MB is more than adequate.
You then copy the "images/bootdisk.img" from the CD to your pen drive
and boot off of it.

If you lack the ability to boot from a pen drive, you can download
Smart Boot Manager from:

	http://btmgr.webframe.org/index.php3?body=download.html

and install that to a floppy and boot the floppy.  SBM will allow you
to boot from many different media that your BIOS won't and will give
you the ability to boot from your pen drive.  Then do the normal network
install.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
- Life:  That which happens while you search for the remote control. -
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