New article: Installing Linux remotely

[Phil Meyer]

Fajar Priyanto wrote:
> Hi all,
> I wrote an article on how to install Linux remotely using Fedora Core 
> 5/OpenSuse 10.1. I'm sure any other modern Linux distro can do this also.
>
> This is the excerpt:
> One of the feature of Linux that I admire most is it's ability to be installed 
> remotely. Meaning? Yes, we can install it from a different location, either 
> it is from a different floor, different building, different city, or even 
> different country. This is most useful for a corporate with many branches but 
> limited IT staffs.
>
> Read the full article at:
> http://linux2.arinet.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=2
>
> Regards,
>   
Another method to install a remote system with no interaction is to copy 
over a vmlinuz and initrd image from the boot CD you would normally 
install from to the target system /boot directory prior to the 
install/upgrade. 

Assume you want to upgrade a FC4 server to FC5 remotely and with no 
interaction.  Then edit the /etc/grub.conf like so:

default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.1369_FC4)
        root (hd1,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 ro root=LABEL=/
        initrd /initrd-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img
title load
        root (hd1,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz text ramdisk_size=8192 
ks=http://myserver.com/cgi-bin/fc5.cgi?TYPE=server&PD=hdb
        initrd /initrd.img

Making the 'load' entry the default.  Now simply reboot the remote 
server and it can install itself with no interaction.  This assumes that 
the cgi produces a well crafted kickstart configuration script.