Centos 5.5 x86_64 Practical Kickstart Automation installation

Principles and Concepts:

1.1 What is PXE

In strict terms, PXE is not a way to install, but a way to boot. The prerequisite for PXE installation is that the computer to be installed contains a PXE-supported network card (NIC) that must have a PXE Client in the network card. The PXE (Pre-Boot Execution Environment) protocol enables the computer to boot over the network. The protocol is divided into client and server side, PXE client in the network card ROM, when the computer boot, the BIOS to the PXE client into memory execution, by the PXE client will be placed in the remote file downloaded to the local run. You need to set up a DHCP server and a TFTP server to run the PXE protocol. The DHCP server is used to assign an IP address to the PXE client (the host that will install the system), and because it is assigning an IP address to the PXE client, the appropriate PXE settings need to be added when configuring the DHCP server. In addition, the TFTP client is already present in the PXE client ROM. PXE Client passes the TFTP protocol to the TFTP Server to download the required files.

1.2 What is Kickstart

Kickstart is a way to install unattended. Kickstart works by recording the various parameters that are required for manual intervention during the typical installation process. and generate a file named Ks.cfg; During the subsequent installation process (not limited to the machine that generates the Kickstart installation files) when a request is made to fill in the parameters, the installer first looks for the kickstart generated file and, when the appropriate parameter is found, takes the found parameter, and when the appropriate parameter is not found, Requires the installer to intervene manually. This way, if the kickstart file covers all the parameters that appear during installation, the installer can simply tell the installer where to take the Ks.cfg file, and then go to your own business. After installation, the installer restarts the system according to the reboot option set in Ks.cfg and ends the installation.

1.3 PXE + Kickstart installation conditions

The devices required to perform PXE + Kickstart installation are:

DHCP server;

TFTP server;

Ks.cfg configuration file generated by kickstart

A server that holds system installation files, such as NFS, HTTP, or FTP servers.

A host that will be installed with a PXE support network card;

Deployment requires a Centos5.5 virtual machine machine with a well installed graphical interface. Memory and machines are mostly available. ip:192.168.1.20