46 kick start scripts, 46 install trees, 46 boot CDs

[Christian.Rohrmeier at SCHERING.DE]

Hello Dear Kickstarters,

Currently I support RHEL 2.1, 3, and 4, WS and AS, and X86 and X86_64
version (except for RHEL 2.1). For each of these I have a kickstart script
and an install tree, and for each of these I have a boot CD to install
from. We install by boot from a RHEL 3 WS X86 Update 5 CD, for example, and
entering "linux ks=http://install.server.name/install/rhel3wsx86".

Recently I was asked not just to support the latest version of each of
those RHEL versions (RHEL 2.1 Update 6, RHEL 3 Update 5, RHEL 4 Update 1),
but to also support older updates. This because some software, such as IBM
Websphere, is only supported on specific update releases (for example RHEL
3 AS Update 1 and Update 3).

If I were to implement this support via my current methods, I calculate:

RHEL 2.1 X 2 Version (WS, AS) X 7 Updates = 14 CDs, 14 install trees, and
14 kickstart scripts (each one has to have URL= pointing to the right
install  tree)
RHEL 3  X 2 Versions (WS, AS) X 2 architectures (X86, X86_64) X 6 Updates =
24 CDs, 24 install trees, and 24 kickstart scripts (each one has to have
URL= pointing to the right install  tree)
RHEL 4 X 2 Versions (WS, AS) X 2 architectures (X86, X86_64) X 2 Updates =
8 CDs, 8 install trees, and 8 kickstart scripts (each one has to have URL=
pointing to the right install  tree)

I would have to support 46 kickstart scripts, install CDs, and install
trees.

Perhaps getting around all those install trees is not possible, but disk
space is cheap, so thats not the problem. However, having to make 46 boot
CDs available for installation, and making 46 kickstart scripts, that is
just horrible.

Issues:
1) I have found that installing from an RHEL 3 AS CD, for example, doesn't
allow you to install from a RHEL 3 WS tree (it complains the CD doesn't
match the files in the tree.) The same goes for trying to install a RHEL 3
WS Update 5 tree by booting a RHEL 3 WS Update 4 CD, for example. It seems
therefor that you can't make one Installer CD that allows you to install
different releases of RHEL.

2) Unifying kickstart scripts would be just grand. There is no difference
in the disk partitioning, package install, or other confguration between
RHEL 3 AS or WS (well, not for me anyway.) But I have to specify the
installation media in the kickstart script via "URL=".  Perhaps in RHEL 3
and 4 (not in 2.1) this could be taken care of by specifying a release
number at the boot: prompt and reading the boot: prompt options in %pre and
then using %include to set the proper URL= line.

Problem 1 seems to be the worst of the two. If anyone has dealt with the
same issues, I would be very interested to hear about your solutions.

Thanks for any ideas,

Christian

_________________
Christian Rohrmeier
Schering AG
Corporate IT - Infrastructure and Services
Computer Systems and Operations
System Administration - Research and Development
Tel +49 30 468 15794
Fax +49 30 468 95794