Kickstart script with parameters.

[Berthold Cogel]

Rohit khaladkar schrieb:
> Hi All,I need to know if the kickstart script used for Redhat Linux
> installation can work with customised parameters ?
> I have two servers :
> 1)Application server  : With less disk space
> 2)Database server. : With more disk space.
> 
> The partitioning would vary on the type of the server. I was wondering if I
> can use the "user supplied parameters" in the kickstart script so that
> partitioning can change according to the parameter supplied.
> 
> Please let me know if there would be any other approach to handle this
> situtation
> 


We are using a HTTP based installation server with a CGI that generates
customized kickstart scripts. Parameters are passed via PATH_INFO to the
CGI:

ks=http://<installserver>/cgi-bin/ks.cgi/EL/5/i386/server/ks.cfg

This defines the distribution (we use sometimes Centos), the OS version,
architecture and the version (Workstation or Server)... This is needed
for the url parameter in the header of the script. And for some defaults
in %pre ans %post sections.

Additional parameters can then be passed as kernel parameters on the
commandline:

linux install ks=... <NAME>=<VALUE>

Then you must parse /proc/cmdline in the %pre and %post section of your
kickstart script:

if grep -i -q "NAME=[a-z0-9]" /proc/cmdline
then
    NAME=`cat /proc/cmdline | sed 's/.*NAME=\([^ ]*\).*/\1/'`
fi


Now you can generate includes for your kickstart script from this. Or
you can load predefined includes via wget in the installation system
during the process. We have a library of scripts that are included this
way in %pre and %post sections. What you get is something like this:


# Kickstart configuration file EL 3 kickstart Mode

#  EL 3 i386 WS
# Linux:    EL
# Version:  3
# Modus:    kickstart
# Variante: WS

# parameter for installation
text
install
url --url http://<installserver>/rhel/EL-3/current/i386/WS
lang de_DE
keyboard de-latin1-nodeadkeys

mouse

# generated includes
%include /tmp/language.inc
%include /tmp/global.inc
%include /tmp/network.inc
%include /tmp/diskconf.inc

%packages --resolvedeps --ignoremissing
%include /tmp/packages.inc
%include /tmp/packages-exclude.inc


#############
#
# Pre Section
#
#############

%pre

#!/bin/sh -x
#
# Pre-Install
#

LINUX=EL
LINUX_VERSION=3
FLAVOR=WS
ARCH=i386

...



Regards,
Berthold Cogel