Anaconda and kickstart aren't exactly known for their vast amounts of
documentation.
I had to figure out 80% of what we do in our builds via trial and
error.
What I found to be the most useful was to put sleep 999999999
statements
in the %pre and %post everywhere I wanted to try something different,
then go to the Alt-F2 terminal bash prompt and poke around and try
stuff
manually. Once I got it to work manually, I would then incorporate it
into the mainstream kickstart build that we use globally.
All that said, I realize most people don't get to spend weeks fine
tuning the kickstart process for their environment. If the usefulness
and numbers of servers you need to build justify it, then jump in and
hack away. If on the other hand, you are building a few dozen servers
or less, it probably won't be worth it to go through the extensive
process I did.
This list is a great place to get help and ideas. Very rarely do I
see
a problem that someone on the list hasn't resolved, or can't point you
to a solution. It might not be the exact solution you want (such
as the
one I gave you), but you can usually get something done that will
accomplish what you need.
The other solution that I am aware of, that could help you is server
side generated kickstart files. This is going to be much more
complex,
and requires a cgi on the server to accept the request and generate
the
kickstart file, either on the fly or after a subsequent reboot, but
this
is another solution I have seen deployed successfully.
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: kickstart-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Robert Denton
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 9:42 AM
To: Discussion list about Kickstart
Subject: Re: %include syntax and usage
Hi Chip, thanks for the response!! I didn't mean to disparage your
comment at all. I appreciate any and all suggestions. I understand
that
the size of even the largest kickstart config file is trivial compared
to the overall build but I was hoping to keep it short and neat
anyway.
Are you aware of any thorough documentation discussing the include
directive? I cannot even find that, other than a few missives here
and
there that state the syntax is:
%include /path/to/file
the /path/to/file is apparently a little trickier than it looks.
Robert Denton
Network Administrator
Headsprout
800.401.5062 x1305
www.headsprout.com
On Sep 13, 2006, at 12:35 PM, Shabazian, Chip wrote:
Sorry, you didn't explain WHY you were doing it, you just asked for a
solution.
My kickstart file also has a very large exclusion list, that is used
for all kickstarts. I then include some packages back into the build
for certain builds based on the decisioning logic that is in the %
pre.
Yes, this is all stored in the kickstart file, but it allows me to
use
one kickstart file to build thousands of distributed servers a year
with differing requirements. At the end of the day, if the kickstart
file is huge, it's still very small compared to the number of
packages
you will have to transfer across the wire, and it should have no
impact on how long it takes to build a box.
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: kickstart-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Robert Denton
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 9:07 AM
To: Discussion list about Kickstart
Subject: Re: %include syntax and usage
Hm.. But if you build the list dynamically in the %pre section,
isn't
this still in the kickstart config file? I am trying to separate out
the packages because I have a long list of packages and package
exclusions.
Robert Denton
Network Administrator
Headsprout
800.401.5062 x1305
www.headsprout.com
On Sep 13, 2006, at 12:02 PM, Shabazian, Chip wrote:
The way I do this is to create the file I want, along with the
decisioning logic in %pre.
Example
if xxxxx ; then
cat << EOF >> /tmp/pkg2include
pkg1
pkg2
etc
EOF
Then in the %packages, I use
%include /tmp/pkg2include
I think I ran into problems when the file doesn't exist, so I added:
touch /tmp/pkg2include
at the end of the %pre so the file was there, even if it was empty.
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: kickstart-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:kickstart-list-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Robert
Denton
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 8:40 AM
To: kickstart-list@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: %include syntax and usage
Hello all,
I am hoping someone can help me with this. I am trying to
separate my
%packages list into a different file using the %include directive.
I am
finding that no matter what I try, the install aborts due to not
being
able to see the packages file. Hhere si the set up:
I build the linux computers via http, typing this at the boot
prompt:
linux ks=http://10.10.10.52/ks.cfg
This points the install to the kickstart config which is located
here
on my webserver:
/var/build/linux/ks.cfg
Also in that directory is 'packages'
/var/build/linux/packages
In the kickstart file I have tried all of these and none have
worked:
%include packages
%include ./packages
%include /var/build/linux/packages
%include http://10.10.10.52/packages
Could someone give me some pointers on the syntax? Thanks!
Robert Denton
Network Administrator
Headsprout
800.401.5062 x1305
www.headsprout.com
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