How to specify local address for remote kickstart file?

[Robinson, Andrew W.]

Short Explanation: I am trying out various scenarios for network
installations. This particular scenario involves having no dhcp server
available. If I specify a kickstart file on the installation server (http://
<http://%3cinstallation_server%3e/path/ks.cfg>
<installation_server>/path/ks.cfg or
nfs:<installation_server>:/path/ks.cfg), the installation process stops at
the point it wants to retrieve the kickstart file and prompts for the local
address. 

 

Question: Is there a way to specify the address of the local network
interface so that when it attempts to retrieve the kickstart file, it does
not need to obtain the address, either through dhcp or by an interactive
prompt?

 

Long (Winded) Explanation: I have set up a kickstart server and it works
well when all intended conditions are met. However, dhcp imposes two
limitations on the setup. First, because dhcp is a broadcast protocol, the
scope of the kickstart server is limited to a single subnet. Second, I don't
have any control over the production dhcp servers in the building. I am
exploring several ways to get around these limitations such as having the
dhcp packets passed through the routers and/or using a proxy dhcp server.
The method I am working on at the moment is to put a grub bootloader on a
floppy, have that define the address for the client interface, and point to
the kickstart server. Here is a sample entry from the grub.conf file:

 

title RHEL 3 WS kickstart-guided, no dhcp, local ks file  

       ifconfig --address=192.168.99.161 --mask=255.255.255.0
--gateway=192.168.99.1 --server=192.168.99.15

       root (nd)

       kernel /linux-install/rhel3ws/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=10000 ks=floppy

       initrd /linux-install/rhel3ws/initrd.img

 

Note: the version of grub shipped by Red Hat does not include network
support. I had to build a version from Gnu with patches for the network
interfaces for this experiment.

 

As best as I can tell, the address for the local interface is defined at
least twice and maybe more times during the installation process. The first
time is before it retrieves the installation kernel from the kickstart
server. That is usually handled by the PXE software on the NIC itself
through dhcp. Using this grub method, the address is defined in the grub
configuration. The other time I know about is when it attempts to retrieve a
kickstart file from the network. If I put the kickstart file on the floppy
with the grub bootloader, it does not prompt for the local nework address.
The client already knows its address before it attempts to retrieve the
kickstart file. Is there a way to tell it to remember that address? Is there
a way to specify that address explicitly? There is a ksdevice parameter that
will tell the system which client interface to use. Is there a similar
parameter to specify the address of that local interface?

 

Thanks!

 

Andrew Robinson

 

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