[Nottingham] Automating Installs

[Dylan Swift]

On 12 February 2011 00:25, Christopher Joice <christopher at c25.eu> wrote:

> Does anyone have any experience with automating installs of Fedora and / or
> Ubuntu?
>
> I need complete automation, with zero user interaction until the system is
> ready to log into. A script generates a VM, then loads in the iso, which
> should do EVERYTHING, including partitioning around existing OSs.
>
> I've tried kickstarts on fedora, but I can't load the damn things in, the
> documentation says to "enter the following command at the boot: prompt
> (where ks.cfg is the name of the kickstart file): linux ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg"
>
> However, the install cd uses grub, and there is no "boot: prompt". I tried
> editing the grub commands, but no luck so far, I was stabbing in the dark!
>
> Is ubuntu easier?
>
> Thoughts, advice, complete and working scripts, all welcome!
> Thanks,
> Christopher
>
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Hi Christopher,

Cobbler has been my tool of choice for some time now (2+ years).

Import a cd/dvd/iso image into cobbler, then you can define profiles for
machine types, then system definitions for cobbler to PXE boot physical or
virtual servers from. Can also be set up to provide a default install if you
can't pre-define system definitions.

I build most of my RedHat customer machines this way as build times are very
quick (usually < 5 minutes), repeatable, script-able (command line operation
is available alongside a web GUI). project is active still and parts have
been incorporated into RedHat Spacewalk. I believe there is an ongoing
effort to modify it to enable Ubuntu installations too.

https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/

Regards

Dylan
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