Thanks much for the reply Randolph. I've thought of that and actually the MAC address that is in the dhcpd.conf was cut and pasted (wrongly, see below) into there from tail /var/log/messages right after booting the machine in question. Here's a snippet of the tail: Nov 12 09:02:34 rattler3 dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:a0:24:ea:05:cd via eth0 Nov 12 09:02:35 rattler3 dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.104 to 00:a0:24:ea:05:cd via eth0 Nov 12 09:02:35 rattler3 dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:a0:24:ea:05:cd via eth0 Nov 12 09:02:35 rattler3 dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.104 to 00:a0:24:ea:05:cd via eth0 Nov 12 09:02:35 rattler3 dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.104 from 00:a0:24:ea:05:cd via eth0 Nov 12 09:02:35 rattler3 dhcpd: DHCPACK on 192.168.1.104 to 00:a0:24:ea:05:cd via eth0 And now that I start putting this information in here, I see that the MAC address ends in '05:cd' and not simply '05' as in my original post. I have now changed dhcpd.conf, restarted it and it found the ks.cfg file. Thanks much !! Mike -----Original Message----- From: kickstart-list-admin@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:kickstart-list-admin@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Randolph R. Russell Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2000 8:54 AM To: kickstart-list@xxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Getting started with kickstart help The problem is DHCP. Easy things first: are you certain you have the correct MAC address for the given client? If you do not, then you would see precisely this kind of behavior. The DHCP server will not recognize the host as the one with that particular hardware address, which means that it will not hand out the group information, as that is the only host in the group. Because it doesn't hand out the next-server and filename parameters, the installer will make two assumptions: first, that the DHCP server itself is the "next-server"; and second, that the value for "filename" is /kickstart/W.X.Y.Z-kickstart, where W.X.Y.Z is the IP address the client received. Try the kickstart again and do a tail -f /var/log/messages on the DHCP server and see whether the MAC address of the requesting client matches what you have specified for ncd2. I'm guessing that it doesn't, but if it does then we'll need to take a look at your entire dhcpd.conf (but don't post it if you have any public IPs in it!) ============================================================================ As for creating a bootable CD, and the attendant speed benefits, I suggest taking a simpler approach. If you have a Red Hat Linux CD-ROM, then you already *have* a bootable CDROM. Boot from the CDROM, shove a floppy with ks.cfg on it, then type "linux ks=floppy". Nothing says that the ks.cfg file must reside on a boot floppy, or that if it is on a boot floppy, that one must necessarily boot from it. If you are doing occasional kickstarts, this approach seems the most reasonable. If you are doing large-scale deployments (you'll have to decide for yourself what "large-scale" implies), then I'd say that a custom CD is only preferable for cases where the installations on being done on many different networks -- something a chain store's point of sale systems, for example. You could just send the CD to a store manager with instructions to turn on the system, stick the CD in, and get out of the way. If, on the other hand, a large-scale deployment is happening on your own network(s), I would argue that network installation is far more administratively efficient. If you have the right hardware, you could even dispense with local media (floppies, CDs) entirely and use PXE to provide a kickstart-ready install image over the network. On Sat, Nov 11, 2000 at 12:03:04PM -0800, Mike Lewis declared the following: > > I'm trying to get started with kickstart on RH7.0. I've read the relevant > sections in the RH7.0 reference guide, searched DEJA, searched the > kickstart-list archives at Redhat, searched the redhat-list at moongroup > (thanks Chuck !). There are a couple of questions / problems that I am > having: > > 1) I've setup dhcpd.conf with the following: (and restarted dhcpd) > > group { > filename "/U1/kickstart/ks.cfg"; > next-server 192.168.1.1; > server-identifier 192.168.1.1; > > host ncd2 { hardware ethernet 00:a0:24:ea:05; } > } > > When I boot from my kickstart boot diskette (created from RH7.0 respin > bootnet.img), I get "Error opening kickstart file /tmp/ks.cfg: no such file > or directory". If I go to alt-F3, I can see the following: > > sending dhcp request through device eth0 > nodns is 0 > reverse name lookup worked > bootp: no bootfile received > ks server: 192.168.1.3:/kickstart file: 192.168.1.104-kickstart > > >From the RH reference guide, this seems like the dhcp server is not sending > the information in the 'group' section of the dhcpd.conf. Therefore, the > dhcp server (192.168.1.3) is where the install is looking for > 192.168.1.104-kickstart. > > What have I missed here ? > > > > 2) I've seen references in the kickstart-list archives about making a > bootable CD and using it rather than the bootable floppy as it would be > faster. However I've not yet found how to go about making a bootable CD > that looks like the floppy. > > > Thanks for any help or pointers to more information, > Mike > > > > _______________________________________________ > Kickstart-list mailing list > Kickstart-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/kickstart-list -- Randolph R. Russell Phone: 919-547-0012 x333 Instructor/Consultant FAX: 919-547-0024 Red Hat, Inc. Email: rrussell@xxxxxxxxxx gpg: 1024D/B04CC2D6 5602 3F73 E70A D0BE 1923 D1D0 9CCD EA1C B04C C2D6
