1. What is Kickstart installation?
Installation
of RedHat Linux in
non-interactive mode is called the Kickstart installation.
Many
system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation method to
install RedHat Enterprise Linux on their machines. Using kickstart, a
system administrator can create a single file containing the answer to all the questions that would
normally 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 RedHat Enterprise
Linux on multiple machines,
making it ideal for network and system administrators.
The
default Kickstart installation file is anaconda-ks.cfg.
2. What are the minimum requirements
for kickstart installation?
(i) RedHat Enterprise
Linux - 5, 6 or 7 ISO image file with full path.
(ii) Kickstart installation file like
anaconda-ks.cfg or out custom kickstart installation file.
(iii)
Copy the O/S ISO image file by configuring the kickstart.
(iv)
Availability of installation media to remote systems through NFS,
FTP or HTTP
3. How to setup the Kickstart installation server?
(i) Install the system-config-kickstart package by
# yum install
system-config-kickstart -y command.
(ii) Create a kickstart installation file
in GUI mode.
# system-config-kickstart (this command will display the kickstart
configuration window)
(iii)
Basic Configuration is the first option in the kickstart
configuration window and we have to choose the following options in this.
(a)
Select the default language (for
example English).
(b)
Select the Keyboard type (for example
US English).
(c)
Select the Time zone (for example
Asia/Kolkata).
(d)
Type the Root password
and Re-type the same
to confirm the root
password.
(e)
Select the Target Architecture
(x86_64 or 32
bit)
(iv)
Installation Method is the second option.
(a)
Installation Method. (Select
any one option)
(1) Perform New Installation
(2) Upgrade an existing installation
(b) Installation Source. (Select
any one option)
(1) CD-ROM/DVD
(2) NFS
(3) FTP
(4) HTTP
(5) Hard Drive
(v) Boot
Loader options is the next option
in kickstart configuration.
(a)
Select Install New Boot Loader
option.
(vi)
Partition Information is the next option.
(a)
Master Boot Record (Select
any one option)
(1) Create Master Boot Record
(2) Do not create Master Boot Record
(b)
Partitions (Select
any one option)
(1) Remove all existing partitions
(2) Remove existing Linux partitions
(3) Preserve existing partitions
(c)
Disk Label (Select
any one option)
(1) Initialize the disk label
(2) Do not initialize the disk label
(d)
Select Add button and select
Mount point, File system
type and
Sizes to create the partitions.
(vii)
Network
Configuration is the next option.
(a) Select
Add Network
Device to add the NIC
device, configure the IP address either DHCP
or Static and select enable the NIC at
boot time or not.
(viii)
Authentication is the next option.
Select the authentication mechanism
like Shadow passwords, NIS,
LDAP or Kerberos... etc.,
(ix)
Firewall
Configuration is the next
option.
Select whether
activate the SELinux or not,
Security Level and Firewall Information.
(x) Display Configuration is the next option.
Select
the display configuration of the
O/S either GUI
or CLI mode.
(xi)
Package Selection is the next option.
Select
the required packages for installation. (we
cannot select the packages in RHEL - 7)
(xii) and
(xiii) Pre-Installation Scripts and Post-Installation Scripts
are the last options.
If
we have any Pre-installation or
Post-installation scripts, then we have to specify the locations of
those.
(xiv)
Save this fie by select the Save
option in File menu.
(xv)
Exit from the Kickstart Configuration window by select the Quit option in File menu.
(xvi)
Open the kickstart file and the default kickstart file at time by the following
command.
# vim
-O
Go to package section in anaconda
file, copy the select the packages and
paste them in the kickstart file.
(xvii)
Check the kickstart file for syntax
errors by #
ksvalidator
(xviii)
Install the webserver package by #
yum install httpd*
-y command.
(xix)
Copy the kickstart file in Document Root of the webserver and preserver the
permissions.
# cp
-p /var/www/html/
(xx)
Restart the webserver deamons in RHEL - 6
and RHEL - 7.
# service
httpd restart (to
restart the webserver deamon in RHEL - 6)
# chkconfig httpd
on (to
enable the webserver deamon at next boot
in RHEL - 6)
# systemctl
restart httpd (to
restart the webserver deamon in RHEL - 7)
# systemctl
enable httpd (to enable the
webserver deamon at next boot in RHEL - 7)
(xxi)
Add the webserver service to IPtables
and Firewall.
In
RHEL - 6 :
# setup
Select
Firewall configuration
-----> Select HTTP
and HTTPS to the firewall
# service
iptables save
# service
iptables restart
# chkconfig
iptables on
In RHEL - 7 :
# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
# firewall-cmd --complete-reload
4. How to install on
client system using kickstart file?
(i) Boot the client system using RHEL - 6 DVD
and press Esc key.
(ii)
Then it prompts us boot :
screen.
(iii)
Type the following information about the kickstart file, its server
and also assign some IP address to the client
system to communicate with kickstart server.
boot :
linux ip=< IP address to the
client> netmask= ks=ftp://< IP address of the kickstart
server>/ (press Enter key)
* Then the installation will continue by
taking the installation information from the kickstart file.
5. In how many ways can
we install RedHat Linux through network?
(i) FTP
(ii) NFS
(iii)
HTTP
(iv)
PXE
6. How to install
RedHat Linux though FTP?
(i) First configure the FTP server and
copy the entire RedHat Linux DVD in that FTP document root directory.
(ii) Installation of
Linux through network requires one
boot.iso image
or RHEL DVD.
To make a DVD/Pendrive
bootable using boot.iso image :
(a)
Download the boot.iso image from
redhat website.
# cdrecord /root/boot.iso (/root/boot.iso is the path of boot.iso
image)
(b)
Copy the boot.iso image into
DVD or pendrive.
# dd
if=/root/boot.iso of=/dev/sdb1 (/dev/sdb1 is the address of the
USB or pendrive)
(iii)
Boot the system with the above created
boot.iso image and
press Esc key to get the boot : prompt.
(iv)
Then execute the below command to install the O/S.
boot :
linux askmethod (Press Enter
key)
(v) Select the preferred language
for installation (for example
English).
(vi)
Select the Keyboard layout as US.
(vii)
Select the urloption for the
installation media (for example
FTP/NFS/HTTP).
(viii)
Select IPv4 or
IPv6 to define network
settings and select
dynamic or static
options.
(ix)
Assign the same range
IP address and netmask
to the client system to communicate with server.
(x) Then specify the FTP server
IP address and path of the installation media to
install the O/S.
7. How to install RedHat
Linux through NFS?
(i) Make an entry in /etc/exports
to export the RHEL media.
# vim
/etc/exports
Example :
/var/ftp/pub/rhel6 172.25.9.0(rw,
sync) (If the
installation media is in /var/ftp/pub/rhel6)
(ii)
Export the above NFS shared
directory by # exportfs
-rv command.
(iii)
Then restart the NFS service by
# service restart
nfs command and
add the NFS to IPtables or
firewall.
(iv) Installation of
Linux through network requires one
boot.iso image
or RHEL DVD.
To make a DVD/Pendrive
bootable using boot.iso image :
(a)
Download the boot.iso image from
redhat website.
# cdrecord /root/boot.iso (/root/boot.iso
is the path of boot.iso
image)
(b)
Copy the boot.iso image into
DVD or pendrive.
# dd
if=/root/boot.iso of=/dev/sdb1 (/dev/sdb1 is the address of the
USB or pendrive)
(v)
Boot the system with the above created
boot.iso image and
press Esc key to get the boot : prompt.
(vi)
Then execute the below command to install the O/S.
boot :
linux askmethod (Press Enter
key)
(vii)
Select the preferred language for
installation (for example English).
(viii)
Select the Keyboard layout as US.
(ix)
Then select the NFS
directory option and
specify the NFS server
IP address and NFS
shared directory and the installation will be done.
8. How to install
the RedHat Linux
through HTTP?
(i) First install the http webserver by #
yum install httpd*
-y command.
(ii) Copy the entire RHEL DVD contents into /var/www/html/rhel6 by
# cp
-rvpf /media/RHEL/*.* /var/www/html/rhel6
(iii)
If not possible to do the above step2,
then create a link between the
/var/ftp/pub/rhel6 and /var/www/html by # ln
-s /var/ftp/pub/rhel6 /var/www/html/rhel6 command.
(iv)
Restart the http services and add it to the firewall.
In
RHEL - 6 :
# service
httpd restart (to restart the http service
in RHEL - 6)
#
chkconfig httpd on (to
enable the http service at next boot in
RHEL - 6)
#
setup
(through the setup command add the http service to the IP tables)
# service
iptables save (to
save the iptables configuration)
#
service iptables restart (to
restart the iptables service)
In
RHEL - 7 :
# systemctl
restart httpd (to
restart the http service in RHEL - 7)
#
systemctl enable httpd (to
enable the http service at next boot in
RHEL - 7)
#
firewall-cmd --permanent -add-service=http (to add the http service to
the firewall in RHEL - 7)
#
firewall-cmd -complete-reload (to
reload the firewall configuration)
(v) Installation of
Linux through network requires one
boot.iso image
or RHEL DVD.
To make a DVD/Pendrive
bootable using boot.iso image :
(a)
Download the boot.iso image from
redhat website.
# cdrecord /root/boot.iso (/root/boot.iso
is the path of boot.iso
image)
(b)
Copy the boot.iso image into
DVD or pendrive.
# dd
if=/root/boot.iso of=/dev/sdb1 (/dev/sdb1 is the address of the
USB or pendrive)
(vi)
Boot the system with the above created
boot.iso image and
press Esc key to get the boot : prompt.
(vii)
Then execute the below command to install the O/S.
boot :
linux askmethod (Press Enter
key)
(viii)
Select the preferred language for
installation (for example English).
(ix)
Select the Keyboard layout as US.
(x) Select the urloption for the installation media and
specify the http or
https IP address and
location.
Example :
http or
https://172.25.9.11/rhel6
(xi)
Then installation of RedHat Linux will be done through HTTP.
9. What is PXE installation and
what are it's requirements?
Automatic Installation of RHEL from the Network is called
PXE installation. This is also
called as un-attended
installation.
The means nobody interaction is required
in the installation process.
PXE stands
for Pre Execution. The PXE does
not requires a RHEL DVD
or any boot.iso image.
The requirements for
PXE server :
(i) Static network
at server side.
(ii)
DHCP server should be configured on the server.
(iii)
FTP server should be configured on the server.
(iv)
Yum server should be configured on the
server.
(v) TFTP
server should be configured on the server.
(vi)
Create the kickstart installation file.
* If all the above 5
servers are configured in one
server, that server should be called
as PXE
server.
10. How to configure the
PXE server and how to install RedHat from
PXE server?
(a) Put the
RHEL - 6 DVD into the DVD
drive and go to Packages directory.
# cd
/media/RHEL6/Packages
(b) Install the
vsftpd package to configure
the FTP server.
# rpm
-ivh vsftpd*
(c) Copy the entire RHEL - 6 DVD
contents into the
/var/ftp/pub/rhel6 directory.
# cp
-rvpf /media/RHEL6/*.* /var/ftp/pub/rhel6
(d) Restart, enable
the ftp service at next boot, add the service to IP tables
and restart the IP tables.
# service
vsftpd restart
#
chkconfig vsftpd on
# iptables -A
INPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp --deport 21
-j ACCEPT
# iptables -A
OUTPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 21 -j
ACCEPT
# iptables -A
INPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 20 -j
ACCEPT
# iptables -A
OUTPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 20 -j
ACCEPT
# service iptables
save
# service iptables
restart
# chkconfig iptables
on
(e) Configure the
network as static by #
setup command and
restart the network and
NetworkManager.
(f) Configure the yum
server.
# vim
/etc/yum.repos.d/linux.repo
[linux]
name=Linux
yum server
baseurl=ftp://172.25.9.11/pub/rhel6 (Specify the
FTP server IP address)
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1 (save and
exit the file)
# yum
clean all
# yum repolist
(g) Configure the DHCP
server.
# yum
install dhcp* -y
# cp -rvpf
/usr/share/doc/dhcp-4.1.1/dhcpd.conf.sample /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
# vim /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
Go to line number 47
and edit the line as below.
subnet
172.25.9.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 172.25.9.50 172.25.9.200;
* comment
on next two lines
option
routers 172.25.9.11;
option
broadcast-address
172.25.9.255;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
allow
booting;
allow
bootp;
next-server 172.25.9.11;
filename
"Pxelinux.0";
authoritative; (save and
exit this file)
# service
dhcpd restart
#
chkconfig dhcpd on
# iptables -A
INPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 67 -j
ACCEPT
# iptables -A
OUTPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 68 -j
ACCEPT
# iptables -A
INPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 67 -j
ACCEPT
# iptables -A
OUTPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 68 -j
ACCEPT
(h) Configure the TFTP server.
# yum
install tftp* syslinux*
-y
# vim
/etc/xinetd.d/tft
*
Go to disable=yes line
and make it as no (save and
exit this file)
# cp
-rvpf /media/RHEL6/isolinux/*.* /var/lib/tftpboot
# mkdir /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
# cp /var/lib/tftpboot/isolinux.cfg /var/lib/ftfpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
# cp -rvpf
/usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0
/var/lib/tftpboot
# service xinetd
restart
# chkconfig xinetd
on
# iptables -A
INPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 69 -j
ACCEPT
# iptables -A
OUTPUT -m state
--state NEW -m
tcp -p tcp
--deport 69 -j
ACCEPT
(i) Create the kickstart file
# yum
install system-config-kickstart -y
#
system-config-kickstart (create a kickstart file and
save it in /var/ftp/pub directory)
#
ksvalidator /var/ftp/pub/ks.cfg
(j) Specify the kickstart file location
in pxelinux.cfg file.
# vim
/var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default
* Go
to line 19 and
edit the lines as below.
menu
label ^ PXE SERVER
menu
default
kernel
vmlinuz
append
initrd=initrd.img linux ks=ftp://172.25.9.11/pub/ks.cfg (save and exit this
file)
(k) Restart all
the services once again.
# service
network restart
# chkconfig network
on
# service
vsftpd restart
# chkconfig vsftpd
on
# service
dhcpd restart
# chkconfig dhcpd
on
# service
xinetd restart
# chkconfig xinetd
on
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