On 14/01/16 15:21, Loris Bennett wrote:
> Hi Benjamin,
> 
> Benjamin Lefoul <[log in to unmask]> writes:
> 
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I am actually interested in the automated install topic (currently
>> taking place in the other discussion, but I don't want to feed the
>> troll so I'll start a new one).
>>
>> Someone just mentioned Cobbler, and the fact that it's RH's baby. Is
>> this in any way linked to the recent acquisition of Ansible ?  In
>> fact, I never really understood what Ansible was, and does it have its
>> place in automated install? Can it replace Kickstart?
>>
>> As you can see I am pretty naive about the topic...
> 
> I don't know very much about kickstart

As a rough crash-course .... checkout /root/anaconda-ks.cfg on a freshly
installed system.  If you want to do the exact same installation once
more, you copy this file to a medium or web server and provide the URI
to this file on the kernel command line before starting the installer.
If anaconda picks it up, you'll have an automated install running instantly.

A more comprehensive guide on kickstart can be found here:
<https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Installation_Guide/chap-kickstart-installations.html>

> but am currently using ansible to
> set up two administration servers for a test cluster.  My meagre
> understanding is that kickstart is mainly aimed at the initial
> lower-level installation (partitioning the disk, installing the base OS
> and other packages, ...).

Correct.  Ansible is more for further automated setup tasks after the
core OS has been installed and is ready for the network.

Especially if you're playing with virtualization or containers,
cloud-init might be another useful tool to prepare images when using
image cloning.  In some cases it might be useful for bare-metal installs
too, but it isn't network based.  If 100% network capable setup is
required, ansible is a better alternative.

To start an install without anything else than a local network, PXE boot
can help out.  I've done that at home, that was a fairly straight
forward process.  Bascally you configure the dhcp server to provide PXE
details for computers booting of the network.  Then you need to
configure a tftp server which provides a boot menu/configuration and
boot kernels.  I did that without involving cobbler.  Cobbler might be
beneficial in some setups, but haven't dug deep into that.

How to get ready for network installs can be found here:
<https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/Installation_Guide/chap-installation-server-setup.html>


-- 
kind regards,

David Sommerseth