Fermi Linux 9.0.x Kickstart
First thing to know is that Fermi Linux Kickstarting is the same as RedHat's kickstart. So anything you see here works with
RedHat, at the appropriate levels.
Fermi Linux 9.0.x has changed a bit on how it's install works, but it's also added some extra features
that makes doing kickstarts easier.
Misc stuff
This is just some miscellaneous stuff that has changed, or gotten better.
- Kickstart entries do not have to be in order
- If you want to be prompted for certain things, simply leave it off the kickstart and you will be prompted, but
everything else will go as the kickstart asks it to.
- Able to put kickstart in a variety of places (see below)
Creating a Kickstart File
Since Fermi Linux 7.3.1 the installer has automatically generated a kickstart file, and placed it in your
/root/ directory. The file is called anaconda-ks.cfg
This file has everything that you did during the install, from your video mode, your root password (encrypted),
your disk partitioning (commented out), to all the packages that you installed.
But, there is one thing that the kickstart file does not have, and that is where to install from. So even if you
don't do anything else with your kickstart file, you are probrubly going to want to add the following line, preferably
at the top.
- nfs --server linux.fnal.gov --dir /export/linux/901/i386
After putting the server line into the kickstart file, the other two places people usually edit is the
drive partition lines (They start with part), as well as the packages(everything below %packages).
Note: If you change monitors and/or video cards, you will want to double check the
xconfig line in your kickstart
Kickstart file on the web
You now have the option of having your machine get your kickstart from the web. This does depend on a couple of factors, but
for the most part, they are common through much of Fermilab.
Note: Although we are talking about the web, this all work via ftp and nfs as well.
- You must be able to use dhcp on your network.
This does not mean that your machine will be setup to use dhcp, but your machine
must be able to ask for a dhcp address and get one.
This is because your machine need to get on the network in order to get it's kickstart
file that has it's network address on it. In order to get on the network, it uses dhcp.
- You're kickstart file must be able to be accessed from the machine.
This seems like a no-brainer, but basically I'm saying to not put it where you need to
type in a password. Or if the web area has limited access, make sure that the access includes
whatever IP addresses you would get via dhcp.
So let's go through the steps you'll take to do a kickstart, if you are sitting at the machine and are able to
type at the keyboard.
- get or make a network install CD
or get or make network install floppies.
- boot the network install CD or floppies.
- At the boot: prompt type in
linux ks=(full address to you kickstart config file)
and example
linux ks=http://home.fnal.gov/~dawson/kickstart/cob.90.ks.cfg
- away you go with your install, using kickstart
Side Note
If you want your install to go through the serial console, you can do a
- linux ks=(full address to you kickstart config file) console=ttyS0
and example would be
- linux ks=http://home.fnal.gov/~dawson/kickstart/cob.90.ks.cfg console=ttyS0
If you have any comments or questions please write to
Troy Dawson
who is the maintainer of this page.
September 24, 2003