remotely installing FC using vnc ...

[Ryan Sweet]

On Mon, 7 Mar 2005, bruce wrote:

> hi...
>
> i'm trying to remotely install/upgrade a remote server. i am not a linux
> admin.. i have no idea as to what a 'boot option' is, nor where it should
> go, or what file it should be in!!!

Here you go:
- find the "isolinux" dir from FC3.  "cd" to it (e.g. "cd 
/home/bruce/fc3/i386/isolinux").

- as the root user, copy "vmlinuz" and "initrd.img" to your /boot directory. 
IMPORTANT: use different file names in the target dir:

 	cp vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz-fc3install
 	cp initrd.img /boot/initrd-fc3install.img

- if you are upgrading a server that has lilo (older redhat, you probably 
don't have this as it hasn't been the default since redhat 7.x) then edit 
/etc/lilo.conf, and copy one of the existing kernel and initrd entries, 
modifying it to use the files that you just copied to /boot/.  Then run 
"/sbin/lilo".

-if you are upgrading a server that boots with grub (you probably are), edit 
/etc/grub.conf as follows:
--
title Fedora Core 3 installation
 	root (hd0,0)
 	kernel /vmlinuz-fc3install console=ttyS0 vnc ip=192.168.1.120 vnc-connect=192.168.2.54
 	initrd /initrd-fc3install.img
--
Make sure that you replace the "root (hd0,0)" line with one that matches your 
existing grub.conf.  Also replace the ip parameters with ones appropriate for 
your networks (you could also try ip=dhcp is you are using that).  You may 
want to do a kickstart install, in which case you should search redhat.com for 
"kickstart installation", which has very good documentation.  To learn more 
about the boot options that you can put on the "kernel" line see the linux 
kernel bootprompt howto: 
http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html

Once you create the new entry in /etc/grub.conf, make sure that you set the 
"default" parameter in /etc/grub.conf to default to your new entry (this is 
easiest if you make your new entry the first one and then set "default" to 0).

The "vnc-connect" parameter (see the kickstart documentation) tells the system 
to start the GUI installer in a vncserver and to connect to the vncviewer 
listening on the specified address.  To do this you must be able to open 
vnc connections from the remote site to your workstation.  Once you have setup 
the installer, reboot the system and on your workstation run "vncviewer 
-listen".  If everything goes correctly then the system should start the gui 
installer and connect it to your vncviewer.

The argument "console=ttyS0" tells the installer to start on serial console 0. 
(usually com1 for dos/win32 folks).  If you have serial console access and the 
hardware supports it, then you can do a text based install that way (remove 
the vnc arguments).

good luck -
-ryan

>
> that said, if i can find the right information, or perhaps someone to talk
> to, i can probably get this process to work, and get rid of my
> frustration!!!!!!!
>
> thanks for any pointers/help/assistance with this...
>
> and please don't say 'use yum/apt-get', unless you can give me pointers as
> to how to clear up issues that i've had with yum!!!!
>
> thanks....
>
> bruce
>
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-- 
Ryan Sweet             <ryan.sweet at aoes.com>
Advanced Operations and Engineering Services
AOES Group BV            http://www.aoes.com
Phone +31(0)71 5795521  Fax +31(0)71572 1277