Hi. I'm a new member of the list,
recently joined about a week ago. I could really use some help regarding
kickstart.
I have one physical system running
FC6. It is set up as my kickstart/NFS/DNS/DHCP server. I've a second
physical
system, a PC with the VMware Workstation
installed and running. I use it to boot/build 'play' virtual machines from
the
FC6 kickstart server.
I've taken the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg file
from the same FC6 system and am using it, along with all the other
normal
kickstart steps, to tailor a network-based
build of FC6. I do basically understand how to do that, and can
successfully
build a Virtual Machine (under VMware
Workstation v6.0 on a separate computer) with FC6. Great. Now I am
cook'n.
Next, I established many new directory
names, unique for each OS, established them each/all basically the
same as for
FC6, into that same FC6 kickstart server. The list follows for each
of the OS's I'm working with.
RHEL WS3u0 x32
RHEL WS3u1 x32
RHEL WS3u2 x32
RHEL WS3u3 x32
RHEL WS3u4 x32
RHEL WS3u5 x32
RHEL WS3u6 x32
RHEL WS3u7 x32
RHEL WS3u8 x32
RHEL WS3u9 x32 {And conceivably back to the 2.1 versions, too}
RHEL WS3u0 x64
RHEL WS3u1 x64
RHEL WS3u2 x64
RHEL WS3u3 x64
RHEL WS3u4 x64
RHEL WS3u5 x64
RHEL WS3u6 x64
RHEL WS3u7 x64
RHEL WS3u8 x64
RHEL WS3u9 x64 {And conceivably back to the 2.1 versions, too}
RHEL WS4u0 x32
RHEL WS4u1 x32
RHEL WS4u2 x32
RHEL WS4u3 x32
RHEL WS4u4 x32
RHEL WS4u5 x32
RHEL WS4u0 x64
RHEL WS4u1 x64
RHEL WS4u2 x64
RHEL WS4u3 x64
RHEL WS4u4 x64
RHEL WS4u5 x64
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
RHEL ES3u0 x32
RHEL ES3u1 x32
RHEL ES3u2 x32
RHEL ES3u3 x32
RHEL ES3u4 x32
RHEL ES3u5 x32
RHEL ES3u6 x32
RHEL ES3u7 x32
RHEL ES3u8 x32
RHEL ES3u9 x32 {And conceivably back to the 2.1 versions}
RHEL ES3u0 x64
RHEL ES3u1 x64
RHEL ES3u2 x64
RHEL ES3u3 x64
RHEL ES3u4 x64
RHEL ES3u5 x64
RHEL ES3u6 x64
RHEL ES3u7 x64
RHEL ES3u8 x64
RHEL ES3u9 x64 {And conceivably back to the 2.1 versions}
RHEL ES4u0 x32
RHEL ES4u1 x32
RHEL ES4u2 x32
RHEL ES4u3 x32
RHEL ES4u4 x32
RHEL ES4u5 x32
RHEL ES4u0 x64
RHEL ES4u1 x64
RHEL ES4u2 x64
RHEL ES4u3 x64
RHEL ES4u4 x64
RHEL ES4u5 x64
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
RHEL AS3u0 x32
RHEL AS3u1 x32
RHEL AS3u2 x32
RHEL AS3u3 x32
RHEL AS3u4 x32
RHEL AS3u5 x32
RHEL AS3u6 x32
RHEL AS3u7 x32
RHEL AS3u8 x32
RHEL AS3u9 x32 {And conceivably back to the 2.1 versions}
RHEL AS3u0 x64
RHEL AS3u1 x64
RHEL AS3u2 x64
RHEL AS3u3 x64
RHEL AS3u4 x64
RHEL AS3u5 x64
RHEL AS3u6 x64
RHEL AS3u7 x64
RHEL AS3u8 x64
RHEL AS3u9 x64 {And conceivably back to the 2.1 versions}
RHEL AS4u0 x32
RHEL AS4u1 x32
RHEL AS4u2 x32
RHEL AS4u3 x32
RHEL AS4u4 x32
RHEL AS4u5 x32
RHEL AS4u0 x64
RHEL AS4u1 x64
RHEL AS4u2 x64
RHEL AS4u3 x64
RHEL AS4u4 x64
RHEL AS4u5 x64
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
RHEL AS5u0 x32
RHEL AS5u0 x64
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
FC1 x32
FC2 x32
FC3 x32
FC4 x32
FC5 x32
FC6 x32
FC1 x64
FC2 x64
FC3 x64
FC4 x64
FC5 x64
FC6 x64
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fedora 7 x32
Fedora 7 x64
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
These are all for the Intel architecture, as that is all I have available.
I'd do other architectures too (zSeries, Itanium
and S/390) if someone wishes to loan me the equipment for the next year or
so. <smile>
My question is
this:
How do I dynamically build OS-specific kickstart anaconda-ks.cfg files for
EACH of them without having to waste
tons of hours manually
installing each one simply to get that one file
out of it??? I would have thought
the kickstart
GUI would have had something to allow the
operator to 'select' which OS from the multitudes possible, that it
would
now be looking at. If such a
capability exists, I'm unable to find it.
I seek to devote more of my time to
developing/polishing the post-installation area(s) than basic OS
building.
I have the disk resources to support hosting all the native files for
each of the OS's I've listed above.
Additionally,
I've the disk resources to support hosting each of the OS's as they get
built, to include snapshots and checkpoints,
within VMware virtual machines. I have all the ISO's for each them as well. I have a 64 bit Intel system
for virtual
building of OS's. I have a task which
requires testing various capabilities
against each of these OSs, and uniquely
against each of the various update/releases,
thus this is why I'm approaching
kickstart from such a broad
perspective.
I'm simply unsure on how to properly go
about it.
So, how do I manage kickstart building for any OS I wish to pick, and
have the resultant anaconda-ks.cfg
file work
correctly for the chosen OS, when I'm
building tons of machines 'virtually'? Do the kickstart tools in existence
today
facilitate this (it doesn't seem like they do)? If not, what manual method is needed?
Is there a resource or two on
the net that would facilitate what
I'm seeking to learn?
Thank you very much in advance for your help.
R,
-Joe Wulf, CISSP, USN(RET)
