Re: define network in kickstart pre script

The way we do it is to take advantage of pxelinux's profile loading 
stuff.  So we have the DHCP server set up to hand out pxelinux.0 as the 
boot file.  The client (via pxelinux) will try to fetch a bootloader 
profile using the system's MAC as a filename.  That way we can have a 
script that sets up the PXE install -- the script writes out a 
bootloader file that includes a link to the kickstart file, in your case 
the IP address, and various other options that are necessary.  We then 
tell pxelinux to boot the RHEL-provided pxeboot media with the given 
options and voila!  Easy-to-maintain hands-free installing.

If you don't have a DHCP server that you can configure for PXE and TFTP, 
you may not be able to do this, though.  You're already heading in the 
right direction using a network-accessible kickstart file...

Paul Krizak                         7171 Southwest Pkwy MS B400.2A
Advanced Micro Devices              Austin, TX  78735
Linux/Unix Systems Engineering      Desk:  (512) 602-8775
Silicon Design Division             Cell:  (512) 791-0686


Greg_Swift-S3lNbxCJ4k+9IyArzxoquPIbXMQ5te18@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> rhelv5-list-bounces-H+wXaHxf7aLQT0dZR+AlfA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 07/08/2008 
> 11:11:34 AM:
>
> > If you provide the static networking parameters as options at the
> > 'boot:' prompt, and have a 'network' line like this in your ks.cfg,
> > then the system gets configured appropriately:
> >
> > network --bootproto=static --noipv6
> >
> > In my experience, the system is not configured correctly if you
> > provide the network parameters in the dialog boxes.  (Don't know if
> > this has changed recently, like since 5.0, but it sounds like it
> > hasn't from your comments.)
>
> Thank you!  Let me give that a try.  While that does make for a long boot
> option, so did having it inside the url.  But this would be much cleaner.
>
> > Note that if you use a custom boot.iso with custom syslinux.cfg, you
> > can provide common parameters within custom targets (nameserver,
> > netmask, method and ks location, possibly gateway), and only have to
> > provide the ip, or possibly ip and gateway, at the 'boot:' prompt.
>
> My big push internally right now is to try and avoid custom install media.
> Previously we've had guys that basically invented a custom revisor and a
> custom livecd-creator for rhel3-5.  This, while kewl, has been a big
> maintenance nightmare.   Right now we just do a simple netboot iso.  If
> your above suggestion doesn't work for us, then I might take this approach.
>
> Thanks.
>
> -Greg
>
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