boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc

[James Harrison]

1. I use a program called TextPad. It deals with the line returns.

2. sorry my mistake. It should be: append initrd=initrd.img 
ksdevice={DEV,eg:eth0} ip=dhcp ......

this should boot with dhcp.


________________________________
From: Peter Allen <peter.allen.5000 at gmail.com>
To: Discussion list about Kickstart <kickstart-list at redhat.com>
Sent: Thu, February 24, 2011 7:01:19 PM
Subject: RE: boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc

 
Thanks James:
 
Two questions:
 
	1. I      am creating boot disk on windows machine, which means I will be 
editing isolinux.cfg      file in windows.  When I open it in notepad I notice 
that there are      no line returns.  Will this be a problem?
	2. I now      plan to install from http without Kickstart.  So I should just 
remove      “img      ksdevice={DEV} linux”  I suppose.  Also, I can specify      
DHCP for networking, right? 
 
Peter
 

________________________________
 
From:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com 
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of James Harrison
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 3:19 PM
To: Discussion list about Kickstart
Subject: Re: boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc
 
Take boot.iso from the images directory in the RHEL DVD and mount it:
mount -o loop boot.iso /mnt

make a directory and copy all files from /mnt to this dir.
mkdir /root/iso
cd /mnt
cp -pr * /root/iso
cd /
umount /mnt

Look in /root/iso/isolinux

Probably want an isolinux.cfg file like this:

default linux
prompt 0
timeout 0

label linux
    kernel vmlinuz
    append initrd=initrd.img ksdevice={DEV} linux  ip=xx.xx.xx.xx 
netmask=xx.xx.xx.xx dns=xx.xx.xx.xx gateway=xx.xx.xx.xx vnc 
vncconnect=xx.xx.xx.xx vncpassword=abcdef  method=nfs:xx.xx.xx:/{PATH TO 
LINUX_DISTRO EXPORTED FROM NFS SERVER} keymap=us lang=en_US.UTF-8

fill in the details. Dont forget to make an NFS server.

To make the iso file use something like:
mkisofs -o "/root/iso/isolinux.iso" -boot-info-table -b isolinux.bin 
-no-emul-boot -c boot.cat /root/iso/isolinux

Use this file to boot from an RSA adapter or burn a cd.

Hope this helps

________________________________
 
From:Peter Allen <peter.allen.5000 at gmail.com>
To: Discussion list about Kickstart <kickstart-list at redhat.com>
Sent: Thu, February 24, 2011 5:43:41 PM
Subject: RE: boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc
Ok, I will try this and report back with results  J
 
Peter

________________________________
 
From:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com 
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of James Harrison
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 2:25 PM
To: Discussion list about Kickstart
Subject: Re: boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc
 
You have to make your own boot cd and insert the information I provided into the 
isolinux.cfg.

James
 

________________________________
 
From:Peter Allen <peter.allen.5000 at gmail.com>
To: Discussion list about Kickstart <kickstart-list at redhat.com>
Sent: Thu, February 24, 2011 5:07:43 PM
Subject: RE: boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc
What if the OS destination machine has no keyboard or monitor??
 
Peter
 

________________________________
 
From:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com 
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of James Harrison
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 11:52 AM
To: Discussion list about Kickstart
Subject: Re: boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc
 

Hi,
Start by running a vncviewer in listen mode (I use realvnc: vncviewer --listen 
from a command line ). Boot the machine to install linux with the cd-rom and you 
type:

linux  ip=xx.xx.xx.xx netmask=xx.xx.xx.xx dns=xx.xx.xx.xx gateway=xx.xx.xx.xx 
vnc vncconnect=xx.xx.xx.xx vncpassword=abcdef method=cdrom keymap=us 
lang=en_US.UTF-8

You need to specify IP, method, keymap and lang information otherwise it will 
ask you for this before vnc is running.

the ip address is the address you want to give to the machine your installing 
linux on. Can also be ip=dhcp
vncconnect is the IP address you ran the vncviewer on
vncpassword is the password. Not sure if it should be encrypted or mot
method=cdrom specify your install media

By booting from a cd-rom you unfortunately have to perform a media check. This 
requires output to a screen and a few key presses and I don't know if this can 
be disabled. The way I got round this was to use an NFS server, so the boot line 
is:

linux  ip=xx.xx.xx.xx netmask=xx.xx.xx.xx dns=xx.xx.xx.xx gateway=xx.xx.xx.xx 
vnc vncconnect=xx.xx.xx.xx vncpassword=abcdef  \     

    method=nfs:xx.xx.xx:/{PATH TO LINUX_DISTRO EXPORTED FROM NFS SERVER} 
keymap=us lang=en_US.UTF-8

eg,
method=nfs:10.2.34.123:/export/RHEL5.4/i386

/export/RHEL5.4/i386 is the path on the NFS server to the DVD distribution on 
disk. You have to copy the contents of the DVD to disk.

Heres a useful web page:
http://www.redhat.com/magazine/024oct06/features/kickstart/

Hope this is of some help.

James

________________________________
 
From:Peter Allen <peter.allen.5000 at gmail.com>
To: kickstart-list at redhat.com
Sent: Thu, February 24, 2011 1:00:18 PM
Subject: boot cd-rom network install on system with no display using vnc
Does anyone know how to do this?
 
Thanks
 
Peter


      
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