Kickstart does not "run on" the machine you are installing from. Neither does Jumpstart, which is Sun's version. They are both installation methods which leverage a number of existing services to transfer a minikernel to the box being installed, then define how that minikernel behaves to install the rest of the box. Here's the basic pieces as I understand them. I will gladly defer to those with more knowledge. 1) Get an ip for the card in the installation box. a) on Sun, this happens when you type "boot net" at the "ok" prompt and it configures the first network interface which it has found and broadcasts a dhcp request b) on Intel/Linux, this happens when you boot the box with a bootnet floppy or cd, or when you have configured an interface card to do a PXE boot. Somewhere on your local network, a dhcp server hears the broadcast and responds with an IP, which is assigned to the card. The fully installed box can either use this IP, or another one that is assigned in the installation script. In either case this ip is assigned to the card in the machine being installed for the duration of the installation. 2) Transfer the minikernel and configuration file a) on Sun, I believe it automatically initiates a tftp transfer from the server it got the IP from, and transfers a minikernel and Jumpstart configuration file. The minikernel begins processing the Jumpstart file to perform the installation. I think it will prompt for missing information, but I'm not sure. As far as I know, all file transfers (after the tftp portion) must be via nfs. b) on Intel/Linux, if the server is configured for PXE, the dhcp reply will have provided the ip of the tftp server and the location of the minikernel to be transferred. The pxe configuration may or may not point to a kickstart file. If no Kickstart file is provided, the minikernel will initiate the installation process and prompt the user for input. If PXE is not configured, then it will proceed to boot from the floppy or cd that was used to initiate the process. If you gave a "ks=" arguement to your boot, then it will attempt to find a kickstart file in the appropriate place (ftp, nfs, floppy or http). 3) Once the minikernel and configuration file are transferred, the installation proceeds as directed by the configuration file. Note that the only services needed on the server (or on the lan) are dhcp tftp nfs (or ftp, http for Linux) The Jumpstart package on Sun provides some utilities for configuring the tftp portions. I think they are scripts, so they might work on a Linux host. On Sun, you get the initial minikernel from the Jumpstart package, which is included on the first CD of the Solaris installation, I believe. (There are also minikernels for Sparc which work with Linux, such as the one included with Aurora Linux) On Linux, you get the initial minikernel from the syslinux package, or (for RedHat 8.x and beyond), from the images/pxeboot subdirectory on the first CD. To sum up, you should be able to use the same server for Solaris installs, Intel Linux installs and Sparc Linux installs. (I'm doing the last 2 now). You have to make sure your dhcp/tftp/nfs/http servers are configured to hand out the right minikernels to the right boxes, and maintain separate software trees. No matter which OS is hosting your installation, the biggest part is to get the correct minikernel into the tftp server space so it gets served up to the right box. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jim Wildman, CISSP, RHCE jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.rossberry.com On Tue, 21 Jan 2003, Nguyen, Hang wrote: > Hi, > > Thank you for your help! > > So specifically, can I use Kickstart running on Linux 7.3 machine to boot up > or install applications, files into a Sun Solaris 8 machine? > > Thanks alot, > Hang > > -----Original Message----- > From: Taylor, ForrestX [mailto:forrestx.taylor@xxxxxxxxx] > Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 2:53 PM > To: kickstart-list@xxxxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: transferring files with kickstart [was: (no subject)] > > > Nguyen, Hang wrote: > > Hi, > > > > Can I use kickstart to transfer files from one Linux box to another > > (download files from server box)? > > Yes, you can do it in the %post section. > > > Also, can I use Kickstart on Linux 7.3 to boot up a Solaris box across the > > network? > > Do you mean boot and install a Sun architechure machine using the 7.3 > CD/floppy? I don't think so. > > Forrest >
