This is an interesting idea. Kind of like making copies of the MBR
before and after a bootloader change with 'dd if=/dev/hda bs=512
count=1'. However, my system does not list a /dev/nvram. I have the
following.
/dev/ram -> /dev/ram1
/dev/ramdisk -> /dev/ram0
They have the same date, before the distro was packaged for sale. Block
devices 1,1 and 1,0. Man just says that the ram device is a block
device to access the ram disk in raw mode and gives a mknod syntax.
How do I distinguish ram1 from ram0, and what do I safely do with them?
-j
james.oden@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Ok, this is a hack...so beware.
The real problem is that your box is sucking the cdrom back in after a
reboot, and then it is also set to
boot from the cdrom. If you could set it to not boot from cdrom after you
run kickstart (in %post) then
your done.
Linux has a device called /dev/nvram. No vendor I know of builds drivers
that lets you set values via this device,
but this won't stop you. All you have to do is make a copy of the
contents of /dev/nvram with the correct settings
for the box, and one with the don't boot from cdrom settings of the box
enabled. In your %post scriplet you will
need to cat the contents of the don't boot from cdrom copy into /dev/nvram.
After this when it reboots it won't boot
from the cdrom.
Now this leaves with a box not booting from cdrom. What I would do is
create an rc script that gets installed on the box
that upon boot copies in the "good" settings. Make sure it would not come
up in single user mode so that you can
actually create a new copy with better settings. Making this scale across
multiple boxes with differing bios's I will
leave as an excercise.
Cheers...james
John Beamon
<jbeamon@frankliname To: Kickstart List <kickstart-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
rican.com> cc:
Sent by: Subject: about reboots...
kickstart-list-admin
@redhat.com
06/06/03 11:28 AM
Please respond to
kickstart-list
A question has come to mind. I don't do hundreds of kickstarts a year.
I do a couple dozen, and I use this as a quick recovery tool more than
as a rapid deployment tool. Someone has got to have an answer for this.
I'm installing common Dell servers, usually 1650's and 2650's. They
have integrated e1000 nic's, so I'm using driver disks or modified
bootnet's. These are servers, so I use static IP instead of DHCP. I'm
installing a simple list of packages, and each floppy usually gets
tailored a bit before install. It's still more convenient than doing it
all manually.
If I set "reboot", the box comes up and reinstalls. If I don't set
"reboot", the box waits for a prompt from a KB and requires a "head"
during install. I've read recently here that LILO will not accomodate
the continuing growth of the kernel image much longer. (As it stands
now, the most recent kernel-BOOT image doesn't even fit on a floppy.)
So, ... LILO's going to age out as the kernel grows, so I can't
"bootloader --useLilo" and "lilocheck". It's already been presented on
this list that GRUB's flexibility and design precludes any sort of
"grubcheck" option.
With all that in mind, what options *do* I have for installing a
headless box, that will not require me to press ENTER for an orderly
reboot at the end, that will not reboot on its own and reinstall itself
from my boot medium? I don't know PXE as well as I'd like, so I'm game
to hearing that it magically detects installations and won't repeat them
after reboot.
My apologies for drawing a total brain-blank on this. I'll appreciate
someone clearing it up for me.
--
John Beamon
Systems Administrator
Franklin American Mortgage
eml: jbeamon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
web: www.franklinamerican.com
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--
John Beamon
Systems Administrator
Franklin American Mortgage
eml: jbeamon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
web: www.franklinamerican.com
