Kickstart provides a means of rapid, unattended deployment of the OS. The process briefly consists of:
Kickstart is currently running on ops01.
Files can be browsed at http://192.168.123.45/ks
Directory | Description |
---|---|
/kickstart | Base directory for all Kickstart related files |
/kickstart/backup | Contains backups and scripts |
/kickstart/http | All files published by http used by Kickstart clients |
/kickstart/tftpboot | PXE boot configs and files |
/kickstart/http/cfg | Kickstart Configuration Files |
/kickstart/http/extra | Additional scripts and packages |
/kickstart/http/extra/scripts/ks_post_install | Post-install scripts |
/kickstart/http/os | Repo/OS/Packages used for deployment |
/kickstart/tftpboot/isolinux | Kernel and initrd files |
/kickstart/tftpboot/msgs | Menus displayed once PXE is booted |
/kickstart/tftpboot/isolinux | Kernel and initrd files |
/kickstart/tftpboot/pxelinux.0 | File used to boot syslinux PXE |
/kickstart/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg | Names boot labels used for booting after syslinux phase |
The following files are worthy of note:
File | Description |
---|---|
/kickstart/http/extra/scripts/ks_post_install/config_server.sh | The main post-install script. Everything happens from here once the initial Kickstart build has completed and the OS is installed. |
/kickstart/http/extra/scripts/ks_post_install/mac.db | Used during post-build to match the MAC address of the server to apply the appropriate network settings. |
/kickstart/http/extra/scripts/ks_post_install/update_tar.sh | IMPORTANT!! If you make any changes to any files you MUST run this file to update the tar file the server retrieves to run all the post install scripts. |
After using the *.ks kickstart file to configure the server, at the bottom of the ks file is a command to wget and extract http://KS_SERVER/ks/ks_post_install.tar to /root/ks_post_install.
config_server.sh is run. This is the main file containing all directives which makes the following changes:
\\Note the variables at the top of the script.