[CentOS] automated install over network

Peter Kjellstrom cap at nsc.liu.se
Tue Mar 20 11:27:26 UTC 2007


On Tuesday 20 March 2007, John R Pierce wrote:
> Dave wrote:
> > Hello,
> >    I've got a machine i'd like to put CentOS 4.4 on. Unfortunately
> > this machine doesn't have a rom in it, just a floppy and a network
> > card. I was wondering if i could boot it, then have it pick up what it
> > needs to start the install off the network and do an unattended
> > install vi nfs? Or, if that's not possible would it be possible to
> > boot and load CentOS completely from the network bypassing the hard
> > disk altogether? I don't need x on this box, in fact it doesn't have a
> > monitor, most of the work it will do will be via ssh, or unattended
> > stuff.
>
> if the system will do a PXE boot from the network and you've got a
> bootp/dhcp server on the LAN segment you should be able to setup a
> jumpstart and load the kernel via tftp, then install the system from
> http or nfs.   I haven't done this myself in ages, so I can't be of more
> assistance

As John says, _if_ it can do pxe then you can install. You'll need a properly 
configured dhcp/pxe server, the vmlinux and initrd.img files from 
4.4/os/xxx/images/pxeboot, pxelinux (from the syslinux package) and a 
suitable pxelinux config.

minimal pxelinux.cfg example (assuming the pxeboot files mentioned above lives 
in /tftpboot or equiv on your server):
LABEL c4_install
        KERNEL vmlinuz
        APPEND initrd=initrd.img

The doc files that comes with the syslinux package are good 
(/usr/share/doc/syslinux-2.11/pxelinux.doc for example). 

good luck,
 Peter
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