Kickstart

Many system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation method to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on their machines. To answer this need, Red Hat created the kickstart installation method. Using kickstart, a system administrator can create a single file containing the answers to all the questions that would normally be asked during a typical installation.

Kickstart files can be kept on a single server system and read by individual computers during the installation. This installation method can support the use of a single kickstart file to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on multiple machines, making it ideal for network and system administrators.

• Kickstart [EN] @ Wikipedia

Subcommands & Parameters

keyboard LANG

Sets system keyboard type.

• de (German)
• en_US (US English)
• sg (Swiss German)

network

Configures network information for the system.

--bootproto=static|dhcp

--device=

--gateway=

--hostname=

--ip=

--nameserver=

--netmask=

--noipv6

--onboot=yes|no

partition MOUNTPOINT [PARAMETER ...]

Creates a partition on the system.

--fstype=ext2|ext3|swap|vfat

Sets the file system type for the partition.

--grow

Tells the partition to grow to fill available space (if any).

--size=SIZE

The minimum partition SIZE in megabytes.

timezone [PARAMETER ...] TIMEZONE

Sets the system time zone to TIMEZONE.

--utc

If present, the system assumes the hardware clock is set to UTC (Greenwich Mean).

%packages [PARAMETER ...]

Use the %packages command to begin a Kickstart file section that lists the packages you would like to install.

--nobase

Do not install the @Base group. Use this option if you are trying to create a very small system.

Examples

Make partitions

Removes partitions from the system, prior to creation of new partitions. By default, no partitions are removed.

clearpart --linux

Creates partitions on the system.

partition /boot --fstype=ext3 --size=250
partition swap  --fstype=swap --recommended
partition pv.2  --size=0 --grow

Use to create a Logical Volume Management group

volgroup client1_vg01 pv.2

Creates logical volumes for Logical Volume Management

logvol /     --fstype=ext3 --name=lv_base --vgname=client1_vg01 --size=2048
logvol /tmp  --fstype=ext3 --name=lv_tmp  --vgname=client1_vg01 --size=1024
logvol /usr  --fstype=ext3 --name=lv_usr  --vgname=client1_vg01 --size=3096
logvol /var  --fstype=ext3 --name=lv_var  --vgname=client1_vg01 --size=2048
logvol /home --fstype=ext3 --name=lv_home --vgname=client1_vg01 --size=5120 --grow

Set up static network card

network --device=eth0 --onboot=yes --bootproto=static --noipv6
   --ip=10.0.0.100 --netmask=255.255.0.0 --gateway=10.0.0.1
   --nameserver=10.0.0.20,10.0.0.21 --hostname=carbon.raysoft.loc

Set up dynamic network card

network --device=eth0 --onboot=yes --bootproto=dhcp --noipv6
   --hostname=carbon.raysoft.loc

Configure services

Modifies the default set of services that will run under the default runlevel. The services listed in the disabled list will be disabled before the services listed in the enabled list are enabled.

services --disabled=netfs --enabled=ntpd

Configure authorization

auth --useshadow --passalgo=sha512 --enablecache

Configure firewall

firewall --enabled --ssh

Configure SELinux

selinux --enforcing

Minimal amount of packages

%packages --nobase
coreutils
e2fsprogs
grub
lvm2
ntp
openssh-clients
openssh-server
rhn-setup
rpm
sysstat
yum
yum-rhn-plugin
yum-security
yum-updatesd

Load Kickstart file from a CD

boot: linux ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg

Load Kickstart from a USB flash drive

boot: linux ks=hd:sda1:/ks.cfg

Load Kickstart file from a Web server with DHCP server

boot: linux ks=http://www.raysoft.loc/ks.cfg

Load Kickstart file from a Web server without DHCP server

boot: linux ks=http://www.raysoft.loc/ks.cfg \
            ip=10.0.0.100 netmask=255.255.0.0 gateway=10.0.0.1 dns=10.0.0.20,10.0.0.21

Load Kickstart file from a FTP server with DHCP server

boot: linux ks=ftp://alex:******@ftp.raysoft.loc/ks.cfg