[et-mgmt-tools] Using cobbler to mirror repos like updates/extras -- further information

[Michael DeHaan]

Msquared wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 23, 2007 at 11:46:23AM -0500, Michael DeHaan wrote:
>
>   
>> A common use case is keeping a local mirror of FC-6 updates.
>>     
>
> What happens if I have a local mirror of the Fedora 6 DVD plus a local
> mirror of the corresponding FC6 updates?  Can I add both to a profile, and
> kickstart will do the Right Thing when building the new machine?
>
> Regards, Msquared...
>
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>   

What we have here is a failure to communicate :)

Two kinds of mirrors, basically. Different concepts, used for different 
things.

"cobbler import" puts files into /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror -- this is a 
kickstart tree mirror. These don't need to be updated, and are essential 
for doing full automated installations. However since Anaconda /does/ 
allow network installs, you don't /have/ to mirror them on your cobbler 
server if you already have a good kickstart tree available over http on 
your network. In this case, you'd just use "cobbler distro add", and 
save yourself the import steps. However, most home users won't have an 
fast kickstart tree available to them, and this is why cobbler import 
helps you make one.

cobbler repo add ... puts files into /var/www/cobbler/repo_mirror -- 
these are yum repositories for things like extras & updates. These 
update quite frequently and are entirely optional for cobbler -- if you 
don't use them, it will use external repos as configured by default in yum.

If you add the later (the yum repos) you'll either have to edit them 
into the "repos" field of an existing profile in 
/var/lib/cobbler/profiles, or you can add create new profiles with 
"cobbler profile add" using the "--repo" argument. Note that if you do 
this, and you're using the default cobbler kickstart files, you'll still 
need to pass in an appropriate value for the --ksmeta option "tree". 
This is why I'd say it's much easier to just edit 
/var/lib/cobbler/profiles with the profiles that cobbler imports for you.

Add yes, it will do the right thing.

To verify that it does the right thing, run a "cobbler sync", and check 
out the kickstart files as seen at 
/var/www/cobbler/kickstarts/profilename/ks.cfg -- you should see a good 
parameter passed in for "url" towards the top, plus references to your 
repo in the middle (search for "repo") and also in post, where it 
installs the repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d

--Michael