Setup Kickstart Server in Linux

Red Hat Linux operating system installations can be done via a network connection using a Kickstart server. It is frequently much faster than using CDs and the process can be automated.

Example Kickstart 
 Get the kickstart cfg from http server and start the install
   boot: linux ks=http://server.com/path/to/kickstart/file

 Get the kickstart cfg from nfs server and start the install
   boot: linux ks=nfs:server:/path/to/kickstart/file

 Serving the Kickstart file from nfs server through dhcp /etc/dhcpd.conf
   next-server 10.10.10.100;
   filename "/export/rhinstall/kickstart/ks.cfg"

Setup a Kickstart Server

01. Install and configure the DHCPD server

02. Install tftp server and enable TFTP service

a. yum install tftp-server
    b. Enable TFTP server. 
       vi /etc/xinetd.d/tftp and change disable to 'no'
    c. service xinetd restart

03. Install syslinux if not already installed

a. yum install syslinux

04. Copy needed files from syslinux to the tftpboot directory

cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /tftpboot
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/menu.c32 /tftpboot
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/memdisk /tftpboot
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/mboot.c32 /tftpboot
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/chain.c32 /tftpboot

04. Create the directory for your PXE menus

mkdir /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg

05. For each "Release" and "ARCH" Copy vmlinuz and initrd.img from /images/pxeboot/ directory on "disc 1" of that $Release/$ARCH to /tftpboot/images/RHEL/$ARCH/$RELEASE

mkdir -p /tftpboot/images/RHEL/i386/4.3
    mkdir -p /tftpboot/images/RHEL/i386/5.5
    mkdir -p /tftpboot/images/RHEL/x86_64/4.3
    mkdir -p /tftpboot/images/RHEL/x86_64/5.5

For RHEL 5.5 x86_64, do the following

mount /dev/cdrom /cdrom
    cd /cdrom/images/pxeboot
    cp vmlinuz initrd.img /tftpboot/images/RHEL/x86_64/5.5

Do the above for all releases and ARCH you want to kickstart from this server.

06. Add this to your existing or new /etc/dhcpd.conf.
Note: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of your PXE server

allow booting;
    allow bootp;
    option option-128 code 128 = string;
    option option-129 code 129 = text;
    next-server xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx; 
    filename "/pxelinux.0";

07. Restart DHCP service

# service dhcpd restart

08. Create Simple or Multilevel PIXIE menu. Create a file called "default" in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg directory. A Sample file named "isolinux.cfg" is found on the boot installation media in "isolinux" directory. Copy this file as default and edit this file as per requirement. A sample default file is given bellow.

default menu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 300
ONTIMEOUT local

MENU TITLE PXE Menu

LABEL Pmajic
        MENU LABEL Pmajic
        kernel images/pmagic/bzImage
        append noapic initrd=images/pmagic/initrd.gz root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk_size=100000

label Dos Bootdisk
        MENU LABEL ^Dos bootdisk
        kernel memdisk
        append initrd=images/622c.img

LABEL RHEL 5 x86 eth0
        MENU LABEL RHEL 5 x86 eth0
        KERNEL images/RHEL/x86/5.5/vmlinuz
        APPEND initrd=images/RHEL/x86_64/5.5/initrd.img ramdisk_size=10000 
               ks=nfs:xx.xx.xx.xxx:/ ksdevice=eth1

LABEL RHEL 5 x86_64  eth0
        MENU LABEL RHEL 5 x86_64  eth0
        KERNEL images/RHEL/x86_64/5.5/vmlinuz
        APPEND initrd=images/RHEL/x86_64/5.5/initrd.img ramdisk_size=10000 
               ks=nfs:xx.xx.xx.xxx:/ ksdevice=eth1

09. Install the kickstart Configurator tool. This tool will be helpful to create the kickstart configuration file.

yum install system-config-kickstart

10. Create the kickstart config file. This file can be created using kickstart Configuration Tool. A Sample file anaconda-ks.cfg based on current installation of a system is placed in /root directory. We can also use this /root/anaconda-ks-cfg as the configuration file. Copy this file to the location specified in the default file. Make sure the directory is NFS exported if you are using NFS for installing the OS.

11. Modify the kickstart configuration file as per requirement. If you are using NFS for installation, Make sure to copy the ISO images of Linux disks to any NFS server and NFS export the directory. This server/directory details need to be specified in the jumpstart configuration file.

12. After creating the KS configuration files and copying the ISO images, the installation can be started.