[et-mgmt-tools] cobbler kickstart does not pull in the http: ks file?

Fri Apr 4 14:41:47 UTC 2008

Terry McIntyre wrote:
> I've been trying to get a kickstart working with cobbler for a while,
> and it just isn't working. I am totally missing something, but what?
>   

Ok, so you're PXE'ing the system....   I don't have all the information 
I need to go on, so I'll start you off with some info and if you still
have problems we can take it from there.

In order for PXE to work, several conditions must be satisifed.    
"Cobbler check" looks after most of these and will let you know
about most of the common setup problems.   If you have not run "cobbler 
check", do so now and fix any errors it reports.

The most common problem is if your DHCP server does not set a 
"next-server" line, which is especially likely if DHCP is run
from another box and is not under your control.  If this happens, your 
server will be requesting PXE files from /another/ box or possibly
none at all.   The next-server in your DHCP config must point at your 
cobbler server.   If using cobbler to manage a dhcp configuration,
most of this is provided for you, and that information is included on 
the main cobbler page and on the Wiki... most likely you already
have working DHCP so you just need to talk with your DHCP admin.

First check to see that while your computer is booting, that it is 
contacting a server over TFTP and that this is your cobbler server.

As for your server requesting a dynamic IP when booting, this is normal, 
and is required in order to actually use PXE.  The system
will DHCP for the first time and then configure the system for a static 
IP on subsequent restarts.  

If you do not see your computer requesting a TFTP file while it is 
booting -- that's a DHCP problem.

If it successfully requests the kernel/initrd, goes into Anaconda, and 
then just doesn't request the kickstart file, that's more of an 
indication that the web server is not reachable from the install 
location -- which is a network problem.   If that is the case, use a 
machine on the network to verify the kickstart file can be retrieved 
with wget/curl or a browser.

I also saw from IRC last night you're using a pretty old version of 
Cobbler -- PXE has worked fine in all versions, though you should 
upgrade to 0.8.2.   It will make debugging easier and eliminate some 
potential communication errors when talking about things.   The latest 
version of Cobbler is available in EPEL for both EL4 and 5 according to 
the instructions on the Cobbler download page.

Hopefully that helps, if not, let me know more info and we'll see if we 
can't fix you...

--Michael

> The target system: IBM  x3850 M/T 8864
> Trying to install RHEL 4.4
>
> I added -vvvv flags to /etc/xinet.d/tftp to follow the progress of tftp
>
> Apr  3 22:17:57 admin in.tftpd[3261]: RRQ from 192.168.62.172 filename
> /pxelinux.0
> Apr  3 22:17:57 admin in.tftpd[3261]: tftp: client does not accept options
> Apr  3 22:17:57 admin in.tftpd[3262]: RRQ from 192.168.62.172 filename
> /pxelinux.0
> Apr  3 22:17:59 admin in.tftpd[3263]: RRQ from 192.168.62.172 filename
> /pxelinux.cfg/01-00-14-5e-bc-69-e2
> Apr  3 22:17:59 admin in.tftpd[3264]: RRQ from 192.168.62.172 filename
> //images/rhel4.4/vmlinuz
> Apr  3 22:17:59 admin in.tftpd[3265]: RRQ from 192.168.62.172 filename
> //images/rhel4.4/initrd.img
>
> -- which looks reasonable. All files listed above exist, and are
> world-readable.
>
> Contents of /pxelinux.cfg/01-00-14-5e-bc-69-e2
>
> default linux
> prompt 0
> timeout 1
> label linux
>         kernel /images/rhel4.4/vmlinuz
>         append ksdevice=eth0 lang=en_US text
> syslog=192.168.63.57:25150  initrd=/images/rhel4.4/initrd.img
> ks=http://192.168.63.57/cblr/kickstarts_sys/00:14:5e:bc:69:e2/ks.cfg
>
> Now, when I put the
> http://192.168.63.57/cblr/kickstarts_sys/00:14:5e:bc:69:e2/ks.cfg url
> in my browser, it works. I also see a log entry at
> /etc/http/logs/access_log when I request the page:
>
> 192.168.63.245 - - [03/Apr/2008:14:59:03 -0700] "GET
> /cblr/kickstarts_sys/00:14:5e:bc:69:e2/ks.cfg HTTP/1.1" 200 1730 "-"
> "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.13) Gecko/20080325
> Ubuntu/7.10 (gutsy) Firefox/2.0.0.13"
>
> When I boot the server from the network, I do not see a log entry for
> the kickstart file, and it requests a dynamic IP address in spite of
> the kickstart file specifying a static IP address.
>
> #System  language
> lang en_US
> #Language modules to install
> langsupport en_US
> #System keyboard
> keyboard us
> #System mouse
> mouse
> #Sytem timezone
> timezone --utc America/Los_Angeles
> #Root password
> rootpw changeme
> #Reboot after installation
> reboot
> #Use text mode install
> text
> #Install OS instead of upgrade
> install
> #Use Web installation
> url --url http://192.168.63.57/4.4/OneCd/
> #System bootloader configuration
> bootloader --location=mbr
> #Clear the Master Boot Record
> zerombr yes
> #Partition clearing information
> clearpart --all --initlabel
> #Disk partitioning information
> part / --fstype ext3 --size 5000
> part /boot --fstype ext3 --size 300
> part swap --size 10240
> part /var --fstype ext3 --size 5120
> part /home --fstype ext3 --size 3036
> part /opt --fstype ext3 --size 3036
> part /usr --fstype ext3 --size 1 --grow
> #System authorization infomation
> auth  --useshadow  --enablemd5
> network --bootproto=static --ip=192.168.62.172 --netmask=255.255.254.0
>  --gateway=192.168.62.40 --nameserver=192.168.67.154 --device=eth0
> --hostname=rac12.crm.bizsys.tmcs --onboot=on
> #Firewall configuration
> firewall --disabled
> selinux --disabled
> # disable the firstboot config
> firstboot --disable
> #Do not configure XWindows
> skipx
> #Package install information
> %packages --resolvedeps
> @ development-tools
> @ admin-tools
> @ system-tools
> @ server-cfg
> kernel-smp
> grub
> e2fsprogs
> perl
> lynx
> postfix
> sysstat
> %post
>
> hostname rac12.crm.bizsys.tmcs
>
> rpm -e sendmail kudzu redhat-config-mouse kernel-pcmcia-cs ppp rp-pppoe \
>         wvdial redhat-config-network-tui redhat-lsb
>
> chkconfig keytable off
> chkconfig rhnsd off
> chkconfig iptables off
> chkconfig xfs off
> chkconfig gpm off
> chkconfig --level 345 ntpd on
> chkconfig --level 345 snmpd on
> chkconfig --level 2345 postfix on
>
>
> Thanks in advance for any assistance!
>
>
>
>
>   