From hardik at statementofpurpose.com Fri Oct 2 19:28:33 2009 From: hardik at statementofpurpose.com (Hardik Modi) Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 15:28:33 -0400 Subject: Kickstart from an external drive Message-ID: Hello All, I'm putting together a disk that'll be used to upgrade systems to CentOS 5.3. Some of these systems have accessible internal DVD drives and others don't. My kickstart file is quite simple and I bury it inside the initrd so that I don't have to specify a device on the boot line. This has worked for me with CentOS 4.4 disks in the past. The goal for the install/upgrade is for it to be done largely unattended. The install method is cdrom. This setup works quite well when booting from the internal drive. But on systems where I can't use that drive and I use an external USB connected DVD drive instead, I end up at this prompt that says "The CentOS CD was not found in any of your CDROM drives. Please insert the CentOS CD and press OK to retry". Of course, the disk is present and it's the one the system has booted off of and where it's found the initrd and kickstart. It also has a correct discinfo file. Quite interestingly, if I select the back option a few times, it appears to select the correct drive and boot. Here's what I see on Alt-F3. Many repetitions of: 11:04:10 INFO : starting to STEP_URL 11:04:10 INFO : trying to mount CD device hda 11:04:10 INFO : ejecting /tmp/cdrom... 11:04:11 DEBUG : going to set language to en_US.UTF-8 11:04:11 INFO : setting language to en_US.UTF-8 11:04:11 INFO : starting to STEP_URL 11:04:11 INFO : trying to mount CD device hda And then it succeeds: 11:04:11 INFO : trying to mount CD device scd0 Questions: - can I force it to look at scd0 for the CentOS distribution? - even better, can I have it try both, so that I can maintain a single kickstart and isolinux entry? Many thanks, Hardik. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From woodsdog at gmail.com Wed Oct 7 20:54:42 2009 From: woodsdog at gmail.com (Matt W.) Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 14:54:42 -0600 Subject: FC11 Blank KS File Fails Message-ID: I have started messing around with Cobbler, and in doing so I am using FC11, x86_64. Cobbler has a default blank kickstart file that is, to start a manual install. However, when I pxe boot and use this blank kickstart file, anaconda comes up, asks for the languages, asks for the install source, and once loaded, fails with a big "reboot" button. It gives the error that the bootload configuration and the package selection wasn't specified in the file. >From what I undestand, if the kickstart file is blank, or a question isn't answered in the kickstart file, the installer will prompt for the answers. So, if the kickstart file is blank, it should essentially do a manual install. This isn't the case. I noticed that the bootloader options aren't asked for in the default FC11 install, so maybe something has been overlooked. As a side note, I was able to bypass this and continue with the manual install by just adding a bootloader line. Once done, it goes on and prompts for the rest of the install. Matt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From agoodall at rm.com Tue Oct 13 08:48:24 2009 From: agoodall at rm.com (Adam Goodall) Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:48:24 +0100 Subject: RHEL5 Kickstart and serial console Message-ID: <541AB21C3FE70144AFABD1251F180FC89EEC29@EMAIL02.internal.rmplc.net> Hi All I'm trying to setup a RHEL5.4 server to output to a serial console with as little setup effort as possible. When i was doing the same on RHEL4, it was a two step process: 1) add console=ttyS1,19200 to the kernel boot argument at install time 2) add bootloader --location mbr --append="console=ttyS1,19200" to the kickstart file. This set up everything required in the following files: /boot/grub/grub.conf /etc/inittab /etc/securetty And life was easy... I am now trying to do the same thing in RHEL5 but it is not having the same effect. Using the setup above, It sets up the grub config but doesnt setup the inittab or securetty entries, resulting in no output to the serial console after the server has booted. Obviously i could handle this in the post section and ammend the files as required, but i was wondering if anyone had an elegant solution that makes it as easy as the way i did it on RHEL4? Thanks Adam ____________________________________________________________________ You might be interested in this... RM Technical Seminars - Autumn 2009 Coming to a venue near you from 2nd November to 4th December. Book your place now... http://www.rm.com/technicalseminars ____________________________________________________________________ P.S. Think Green - don't print this email unless you really need to. This message is confidential, so please treat it appropriately and for its intended purpose only. In particular, if it refers to any technical data, terms or prices not generally available or known, such items are "commercially sensitive information" within the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and related laws. As it would be prejudicial to RM's commercial interests if these were disclosed, please refrain from doing so. As Internet communications are not secure, please be aware that RM cannot accept responsibility for its contents. Any views or opinions presented are those of the author only and not of RM. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, please accept our apologies and arrange for copies of it to be deleted. For your information, RM may intercept incoming and outgoing email communications. RM Education plc Registered Office: New Mill House, 183 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4SE, England Registered Number: 1148594 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bda20 at cam.ac.uk Tue Oct 13 09:02:40 2009 From: bda20 at cam.ac.uk (Ben) Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:02:40 +0100 (BST) Subject: RHEL5 Kickstart and serial console In-Reply-To: <541AB21C3FE70144AFABD1251F180FC89EEC29@EMAIL02.internal.rmplc.net> References: <541AB21C3FE70144AFABD1251F180FC89EEC29@EMAIL02.internal.rmplc.net> Message-ID: On Tue, 13 Oct 2009, Adam Goodall wrote: > I'm trying to setup a RHEL5.4 server to output to a serial console with as > little setup effort as possible. A laudable goal (-: > When i was doing the same on RHEL4, it was a two step process: > 1) add console=ttyS1,19200 to the kernel boot argument at install time > 2) add bootloader --location mbr --append="console=ttyS1,19200" to the > kickstart file. Well, here's selected bits from my setup. RHEL4: 1) label rhel4 kernel vmlinuz4 append initrd=init4.img ks=hd:sdb1:/configs/rhel4.cfg console=ttyS0,9600 2) bootloader --location=mbr --append="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600 rhgb quiet" Not quite sure about the first part of the --append, but it works and has done for years. We use ttyS0 on every Dell and Sun box I've ever kickstarted. Perhaps RHEL5 has relabeled your serial port? RHEL5: 1) label rhel5 kernel vmlinuz5 append initrd=init5.img ks=hd:sdb1:/configs/rhel5.cfg console=ttyS0,9600 2) bootloader --location=mbr --append="console=ttyS0,9600 rhgb quiet" Here, the --append section is identical to yours (other than S0 over S1). Which is surprising if your setup setup doesn't work... > This set up everything required in the following files: > /boot/grub/grub.conf > /etc/inittab > /etc/securetty > > And life was easy... > > I am now trying to do the same thing in RHEL5 but it is not having the > same effect. Using the setup above, It sets up the grub config but doesnt > setup the inittab or securetty entries, resulting in no output to the > serial console after the server has booted. Obviously i could handle this > in the post section and ammend the files as required, but i was wondering > if anyone had an elegant solution that makes it as easy as the way i did > it on RHEL4? Well, the above lines have worked for me on RHEL5.x up to current for 32 and 64 bit on over 80 assorted machines (with only one serial port). Perhaps if there's no ttyS1 on your boxes (being discovered as ttyS0) then the install isn't adding the necessary lines. Just a guess. Ben -- Unix Support, MISD, University of Cambridge, England Plugger of wire, typer of keyboard, imparter of Clue Life Is Short. It's All Good. From agoodall at rm.com Tue Oct 13 10:36:38 2009 From: agoodall at rm.com (Adam Goodall) Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:36:38 +0100 Subject: RHEL5 Kickstart and serial console In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <541AB21C3FE70144AFABD1251F180FC8A4CC7C@EMAIL02.internal.rmplc.net> >-----Original Message----- >From: kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Ben >Sent: 13 October 2009 10:03 >To: Discussion list about Kickstart >Subject: Re: RHEL5 Kickstart and serial console >Well, the above lines have worked for me on RHEL5.x up to current for 32 and >64 bit on over 80 assorted machines (with only one serial port). Perhaps if there's no ttyS1 on your boxes (being discovered as ttyS0) then the install >isn't adding the necessary lines. >Just a guess. Thanks for the response Ben, I didn't think that the method would have changed racically. On closer inspection it isn't actually fully setting up the grub.conf in that it doesn't add the hiddenmenu option. Its definitely not the numbering of the serial port as once the server has booted I can add: co:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty ttyS1 19200 vt100-nav To inittab, then run init q and the serial console comes back to life. Still a little stumped as to what it could be. ____________________________________________________________________ You might be interested in this... RM Technical Seminars - Autumn 2009 Coming to a venue near you from 2nd November to 4th December. Book your place now... http://www.rm.com/technicalseminars ____________________________________________________________________ P.S. Think Green - don't print this email unless you really need to. This message is confidential, so please treat it appropriately and for its intended purpose only. In particular, if it refers to any technical data, terms or prices not generally available or known, such items are "commercially sensitive information" within the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and related laws. As it would be prejudicial to RM's commercial interests if these were disclosed, please refrain from doing so. As Internet communications are not secure, please be aware that RM cannot accept responsibility for its contents. Any views or opinions presented are those of the author only and not of RM. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, please accept our apologies and arrange for copies of it to be deleted. For your information, RM may intercept incoming and outgoing email communications. RM Education plc Registered Office: New Mill House, 183 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4SE, England Registered Number: 1148594 From larry.brigman at gmail.com Tue Oct 13 15:17:58 2009 From: larry.brigman at gmail.com (Larry Brigman) Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:17:58 -0700 Subject: RHEL5 Kickstart and serial console In-Reply-To: <541AB21C3FE70144AFABD1251F180FC8A4CC7C@EMAIL02.internal.rmplc.net> References: <541AB21C3FE70144AFABD1251F180FC8A4CC7C@EMAIL02.internal.rmplc.net> Message-ID: On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 3:36 AM, Adam Goodall wrote: > >>-----Original Message----- >>From: kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com > [mailto:kickstart-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Ben >>Sent: 13 October 2009 10:03 >>To: Discussion list about Kickstart >>Subject: Re: RHEL5 Kickstart and serial console > >>Well, the above lines have worked for me on RHEL5.x up to current for > 32 and >>64 bit on over 80 assorted machines (with only one serial port). > Perhaps if there's no ttyS1 on your boxes (being discovered as ttyS0) > then the install >isn't adding the necessary lines. > >>Just a guess. > > Thanks for the response Ben, I didn't think that the method would have > changed racically. On closer inspection it isn't actually fully setting > up the grub.conf in that it doesn't add the hiddenmenu option. > > Its definitely not the numbering of the serial port as once the server > has booted I can add: > co:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty ttyS1 19200 vt100-nav > To inittab, then run init q and the serial console comes back to life. > > Still a little stumped as to what it could be. In 5.1 thru 5.3 I have needed to add the following to my %post section to achieve what you are looking to do. I have kept this option in the 5.4 installs as I haven't seen any problems. # modify inittab to add serial console login cat >>/etc/inittab <