On Nov 24, 2011, at 17:39 , <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Try adding the following dummy network to the Kickstart 
> 
> Network --activate --device eth0 ip=10.0.0.1 --netmask=255.255.255.0
> 
> This works for me when I have biosdevname=0 in the grub line (otherwise you will get weird device names other than ethX).

Hmm, weren't those invented and pushed by a colleague of yours? ;-)

NB I like them. A lot. They're predictable, and guaranteed not to change across reboots. They can cause problems with broken software though - like certain license managers for really expensive software that "know" that a system can only have network devices called ethX or vmnetX.

- Stephan

> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Connie Sieh
> Sent: 23 November, 2011 01:46
> To: Konstantin Olchanski
> Cc: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: SL6.1 installer requires internet connection?
> 
> On Tue, 22 Nov 2011, Konstantin Olchanski wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 04:09:15PM -0600, Connie Sieh wrote:
>>> On Tue, 22 Nov 2011, Konstantin Olchanski wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hi, SL users - I have constructed an SL6 installer USB disk and it works
>>>> but after asking all the questions, right before starting to install packages,
>>>> it stops and requests that there be an active network connection. The installation
>>>> does not seem to proceed until the machine acquires an internet connection.
>>>> 
>>>> Why is this?
>>> 
>>> How did you make the USB image?
>> 
>> 
>> Same as any bootable USB disk. Partition the USB disk, mkfs, rsync bootable
>> filesystem contents, install boot loader.
>> 
>> As follows:
>> 
>> 1) Partition table looks like this:
>> 
>> Disk /dev/sdc: 7996 MB, 7996440576 bytes
>> 224 heads, 56 sectors/track, 1245 cylinders
>> Units = cylinders of 12544 * 512 = 6422528 bytes
>> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
>> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
>> Disk identifier: 0x00000000
>> 
>>  Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>> /dev/sdc1   *           1        1245     7808612   83  Linux
>> 
>> NOTE: you need to repartition with -H224 -S56 (or whatever) because
>> I see some USB disks come with random heads and sectors settings.
>> 
>> NOTE2: note "boot" flag
>> 
>> 2) mke2fs -j /dev/sdc1 as normal, mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/dst
>> 
>> 3) rsync -av /triumfcs/mirror/SL/6.1/x64_64/os /mnt/dst (same contents as http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6.1/x86_64/os)
>> 
>> 4) directory "Packages" is probably not needed
>> 
>> 5) rsync -av .../SL-61-x86_64-2011-11-09-Everything-DVD1.iso .../SL-61-x86_64-2011-07-27-Everything-DVD2.iso /mnt/dst
>> 
> 
> So you should have a /images directory on your usb drive.  Copy the 
> /images/updates.img and /images/product.img from 
> .../SL-61-x86_64-2011-11-09-Everything-DVD1.iso to /images directory of 
> the usb drive.
> 
>> 6) cd /mnt/dst, setup "extlinux" (since the original uses isolinux). I use extlinux, mbr.bin, menu.c32 from extlinux-3.86.
>> 
>> 6a) cat mbr.bin > /dev/sdc, ./extlinux -i . (notice the dot)
>> 6b) extlinux.conf is a copy of isolinux.cfg with "vesamenu.c32" replaced by "menu.c32" from extlinux-3.86
>> 
>> 7) umount /dev/sdc, try to boot it.
>> 
>>>> I am making an SL6 installer for use on machines located where internet
>>>> access is physically impossible, so is there a solution or workaround?
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> There is a solution to this but I need to know the answer to the
>>> above question.
>> 
>> 
>> Ideally, I would like the installer run from the "Packages" directory rather
>> than the DVD iso images.
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> -Connie Sieh

-- 
Stephan Wiesand
DESY - DV -
Platanenallee 6
15738 Zeuthen, Germany