Hello Dear Kickstarters, Currently I support RHEL 2.1, 3, and 4, WS and AS, and X86 and X86_64 version (except for RHEL 2.1). For each of these I have a kickstart script and an install tree, and for each of these I have a boot CD to install from. We install by boot from a RHEL 3 WS X86 Update 5 CD, for example, and entering "linux ks=http://install.server.name/install/rhel3wsx86";. Recently I was asked not just to support the latest version of each of those RHEL versions (RHEL 2.1 Update 6, RHEL 3 Update 5, RHEL 4 Update 1), but to also support older updates. This because some software, such as IBM Websphere, is only supported on specific update releases (for example RHEL 3 AS Update 1 and Update 3). If I were to implement this support via my current methods, I calculate: RHEL 2.1 X 2 Version (WS, AS) X 7 Updates = 14 CDs, 14 install trees, and 14 kickstart scripts (each one has to have URL= pointing to the right install tree) RHEL 3 X 2 Versions (WS, AS) X 2 architectures (X86, X86_64) X 6 Updates = 24 CDs, 24 install trees, and 24 kickstart scripts (each one has to have URL= pointing to the right install tree) RHEL 4 X 2 Versions (WS, AS) X 2 architectures (X86, X86_64) X 2 Updates = 8 CDs, 8 install trees, and 8 kickstart scripts (each one has to have URL= pointing to the right install tree) I would have to support 46 kickstart scripts, install CDs, and install trees. Perhaps getting around all those install trees is not possible, but disk space is cheap, so thats not the problem. However, having to make 46 boot CDs available for installation, and making 46 kickstart scripts, that is just horrible. Issues: 1) I have found that installing from an RHEL 3 AS CD, for example, doesn't allow you to install from a RHEL 3 WS tree (it complains the CD doesn't match the files in the tree.) The same goes for trying to install a RHEL 3 WS Update 5 tree by booting a RHEL 3 WS Update 4 CD, for example. It seems therefor that you can't make one Installer CD that allows you to install different releases of RHEL. 2) Unifying kickstart scripts would be just grand. There is no difference in the disk partitioning, package install, or other confguration between RHEL 3 AS or WS (well, not for me anyway.) But I have to specify the installation media in the kickstart script via "URL=". Perhaps in RHEL 3 and 4 (not in 2.1) this could be taken care of by specifying a release number at the boot: prompt and reading the boot: prompt options in %pre and then using %include to set the proper URL= line. Problem 1 seems to be the worst of the two. If anyone has dealt with the same issues, I would be very interested to hear about your solutions. Thanks for any ideas, Christian _________________ Christian Rohrmeier Schering AG Corporate IT - Infrastructure and Services Computer Systems and Operations System Administration - Research and Development Tel +49 30 468 15794 Fax +49 30 468 95794
