Hi,
I am working on a kickstart install method and it works fine with cdrom as installation media. I would like change this media to an online resource. I saw option as - 'url --url http://<server>/<dir>'. I am not sure what should be the directory contents? Should we put all ISOs in that directory or what? Any insights?
Thanks, CS.
Carlos Santana wrote:
Hi,
I am working on a kickstart install method and it works fine with cdrom as installation media. I would like change this media to an online resource. I saw option as - 'url --url http://<server>/<dir>'. I am not sure what should be the directory contents? Should we put all ISOs in that directory or what? Any insights?
If you do http then I believe you just need all of the CDs extracted to that location, what I do is mount each cd and then rsync it's contents to the directory.
If you use NFS then I believe you can point to a directory that has ISO files, though I haven't done that in years.
nate
Thanks nate. So how do we change between ISOs - e.g. insert disk3?
- CS.
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 5:00 PM, natecentos@linuxpowered.net wrote:
Carlos Santana wrote:
Hi,
I am working on a kickstart install method and it works fine with cdrom as installation media. I would like change this media to an online resource. I saw option as - 'url --url http://<server>/<dir>'. I am not sure what should be the directory contents? Should we put all ISOs in that directory or what? Any insights?
If you do http then I believe you just need all of the CDs extracted to that location, what I do is mount each cd and then rsync it's contents to the directory.
If you use NFS then I believe you can point to a directory that has ISO files, though I haven't done that in years.
nate
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
nate,
could you please post your configuration?
I am getting error - "Unable to read package metadata. This may be due to missing repo directory. Please ensure that your install tree has been correctly generated. ..."
I think there must besome setting for identifying proper CD ISOs. Just pointing to ISOs directory didn't work in my case. Any help?
- CS.
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 5:29 PM, natecentos@linuxpowered.net wrote:
Carlos Santana wrote:
Thanks nate. So how do we change between ISOs - e.g. insert disk3?
I believe it's automatic, there may be some special naming convention needed or it might detect the disc label automatically I don't remember.
nate
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Carlos Santana wrote:
nate,
could you please post your configuration?
I am getting error - "Unable to read package metadata. This may be due to missing repo directory. Please ensure that your install tree has been correctly generated. ..."
I think there must besome setting for identifying proper CD ISOs. Just pointing to ISOs directory didn't work in my case. Any help?
If I had one I would, as I mentioned I haven't used ISOs like that over NFS in years, I use http installations using exploded ISOs these days.
Sorry can't help more, try looking on google for stuff like nfs, kickstart and iso images.
nate
on 7-20-2009 5:16 PM Carlos Santana spake the following:
nate,
could you please post your configuration?
I am getting error - "Unable to read package metadata. This may be due to missing repo directory. Please ensure that your install tree has been correctly generated. ..."
I think there must besome setting for identifying proper CD ISOs. Just pointing to ISOs directory didn't work in my case. Any help?
ISO installs only work over nfs. HTTP and FTP installs need the files copied off of the cd's to a folder under the or linked to the webroot.
on 7-21-2009 12:06 PM John R Pierce spake the following:
Scott Silva wrote:
ISO installs only work over nfs. HTTP and FTP installs need the files copied off of the cd's to a folder under the or linked to the webroot.
or loopback mounted on the http/ftp server ...
You can loopback mount the dvd image, but I don't think you could easily loopback mount the cd images and get a proper directory structure.
On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 3:10 PM, Scott Silva ssilva@sgvwater.com wrote:
or loopback mounted on the http/ftp server ...
You can loopback mount the dvd image, but I don't think you could easily loopback mount the cd images and get a proper directory structure.
You can merge directories quite easily with unionfs.. Works well if you want to use the DVD iso as a base and add updates on top of it.
On Tue, 2009-07-21 at 15:15 -0400, Kwan Lowe wrote:
On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 3:10 PM, Scott Silva ssilva@sgvwater.com wrote: > > or loopback mounted on the http/ftp server ...
You can loopback mount the dvd image, but I don't think you could easily loopback mount the cd images and get a proper directory structure.You can merge directories quite easily with unionfs.. Works well if you want to use the DVD iso as a base and add updates on top of it.
--bind parameter of mount not useful for this?
<snip sig stuff>
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009, Scott Silva wrote:
You can loopback mount the dvd image, but I don't think you could easily loopback mount the cd images and get a proper directory structure.
A little massaging is needed and simple image loopback mounts seem 'touchy' in practice as outlined in the upstream's documentation. I have long published heavier third-party scripts on doing this setup, dating back at least to the RHL 7 and LTSP 3 series [Aurora, YDL, ...] days. I did a re-write recently (a year ago now, I see checking datestamps, and oding a bit of updating) and use for CentOS (day to day production, and QA testing): ftp://ftp.owlriver.com//pub/local/ORC/k12ltsp/ORCsetPXE and its helper: install-from-iso.sh
-- Russ herrold
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks nate. So how do we change between ISOs - e.g. insert disk3?
It's much easier to grab the DVD iso and use that instead. There are a couple approaches:
1) Loopback mount the DVD iso to an FTP/HTTP accessible filesystem. Very quick and painless.
2) Copy the CD/DVD iso contents to a standard filesystem. If you do this it allows you to copy the update RPMs to the same location, then use the repository tools to create the repo meta-data. This method allows you to install the latest version at once.
For the first case: mount -o loop /path/to/5.3_DVD.iso /var/ftp/pub/centos_5.3_x86
Your kickstart url would look like:
url --url ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/centos_5.3_x86/
In the second case, follow the instructions here: http://www.howtoforge.com/creating_a_local_yum_repository_centos
Well, I wish I could use DVD but my VMware server does not support it. It has an option only for CD ROM. :(
I may not go for the second option (up-to-date with rsync) in order to get consistent installations. Although having latest code is nice, its not our requirement for this project.
- CS.
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Kwan Lowekwan.lowe@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks nate. So how do we change between ISOs - e.g. insert disk3?
It's much easier to grab the DVD iso and use that instead. There are a couple approaches:
- Loopback mount the DVD iso to an FTP/HTTP accessible filesystem. Very
quick and painless.
- Copy the CD/DVD iso contents to a standard filesystem. If you do this it
allows you to copy the update RPMs to the same location, then use the repository tools to create the repo meta-data. This method allows you to install the latest version at once.
For the first case: mount -o loop /path/to/5.3_DVD.iso /var/ftp/pub/centos_5.3_x86
Your kickstart url would look like:
url --url ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/centos_5.3_x86/
In the second case, follow the instructions here: http://www.howtoforge.com/creating_a_local_yum_repository_centos
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Carlos Santana wrote:
Well, I wish I could use DVD but my VMware server does not support it. It has an option only for CD ROM. :(
I may not go for the second option (up-to-date with rsync) in order to get consistent installations. Although having latest code is nice, its not our requirement for this project.
CS.
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Kwan Lowekwan.lowe@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks nate. So how do we change between ISOs - e.g. insert disk3?
It's much easier to grab the DVD iso and use that instead. There are a couple approaches:
- Loopback mount the DVD iso to an FTP/HTTP accessible filesystem. Very
quick and painless.
- Copy the CD/DVD iso contents to a standard filesystem. If you do this it
allows you to copy the update RPMs to the same location, then use the repository tools to create the repo meta-data. This method allows you to install the latest version at once.
For the first case: mount -o loop /path/to/5.3_DVD.iso /var/ftp/pub/centos_5.3_x86
Your kickstart url would look like:
url --url ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/centos_5.3_x86/
In the second case, follow the instructions here: http://www.howtoforge.com/creating_a_local_yum_repository_centos
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Hi Carlos,
What version of VMware are you using ? I can confirm that if you are using VMware Infrastructure 3 you can mount both DVD and CD ISO's and just reference /dev/cdrom I believe this is the same for all other versions of VMware as well but I have not confirmed this.
You should definitely be able to access DVD's easily from VMware
Good Luck
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:52 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Well, I wish I could use DVD but my VMware server does not support it. It has an option only for CD ROM. :(
I may not go for the second option (up-to-date with rsync) in order to get consistent installations. Although having latest code is nice, its not our requirement for this project.
You don't need support from the VMWare server side... All you need is sufficient space on the OS filesystem to hold the DVD iso image.
Thanks Clint and Kwan.. @Clint: its vmware server 1.0.6!
Trying out DVD..
Quick question: Will Live-CD work? That would be great, but I will need to be specific with package versions (as I don't necessarily want the latest).
Thanks, CS
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Kwan Lowekwan.lowe@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:52 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Well, I wish I could use DVD but my VMware server does not support it. It has an option only for CD ROM. :(
I may not go for the second option (up-to-date with rsync) in order to get consistent installations. Although having latest code is nice, its not our requirement for this project.
You don't need support from the VMWare server side... All you need is sufficient space on the OS filesystem to hold the DVD iso image.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Yup.
How do I get to the boot prompt to enter - linux ks command? Previously I had CD-ROM connected with ISOs , which also served as boot media. But now I am doing via url method. Any clues?
- CS.
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:23 PM, John R Piercepierce@hogranch.com wrote:
Carlos Santana wrote:
Thanks Clint and Kwan.. @Clint: its vmware server 1.0.6!
that -really- should be upgraded to vmware server 2 !!
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Yup.
How do I get to the boot prompt to enter - linux ks command? Previously I had CD-ROM connected with ISOs , which also served as boot media. But now I am doing via url method. Any clues?
At the boot prompt for example: linux ks=ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/centos_5.3_x86
Or, if you have it available as http: linux ks=http://192.168.8.65/centos_5.3_x86/
I know how to start ks installation.
Initially I was booting from a CD drive and then typed in 'linux ks=http://<ip>/<file.ks>'.
But how do I get to boot prompt now? Lets say my DVD iso is located on some remote machine. We point to this DVD in kickstart file. But, we are not booting from it.
How do I get this boot prompt to start installation? Sorry for any confusion.
- CS
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 7:22 PM, Kwan Lowekwan.lowe@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Yup.
How do I get to the boot prompt to enter - linux ks command? Previously I had CD-ROM connected with ISOs , which also served as boot media. But now I am doing via url method. Any clues?
At the boot prompt for example: linux ks=ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/centos_5.3_x86
Or, if you have it available as http: linux ks=http://192.168.8.65/centos_5.3_x86/
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 10:03 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
I know how to start ks installation.
Initially I was booting from a CD drive and then typed in 'linux ks=http://<ip>/<file.ks>'.
But how do I get to boot prompt now? Lets say my DVD iso is located on some remote machine. We point to this DVD in kickstart file. But, we are not booting from it.
How do I get this boot prompt to start installation? Sorry for any confusion.
You'll still need the boot.iso image from the /images directory on the dvd.
From: Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com
I know how to start ks installation. Initially I was booting from a CD drive and then typed in 'linux ks=http:///'. But how do I get to boot prompt now? Lets say my DVD iso is located on some remote machine. We point to this DVD in kickstart file. But, we are not booting from it. How do I get this boot prompt to start installation? Sorry for any confusion.
Normaly (never tried http install), it should be like: grub> linux ks=http://.../ks.cfg [ method=http://.../ ] And, in ks.cfg: url --url http://.../
From the doc (http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5/html/Installatio...):
"If you are performing a network-based (NFS, FTP, or HTTP) installation, you must make the installation tree available" "An installation tree is a copy of the binary Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROMs with the same directory structure." Which would mean no ISO files...
JD
Carlos Santana wrote:
Well, I wish I could use DVD but my VMware server does not support it. It has an option only for CD ROM. :(
VMware server (even 1.x versions) will let you connect a dvd ISO image file to the guest, although it may call it a virtual CD drive. If you are starting with a new virtual machine it will boot from it automatically, but once you have a bootable hard drive set up you'll have to pop into the virtual bios and adjust the boot priority so the iso comes first - and then undo it or detach the iso when you want the hd boot again).
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 5:56 PM, Carlos Santana neubyr@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
I am working on a kickstart install method and it works fine with cdrom as installation media. I would like change this media to an online resource. I saw option as - 'url --url http://<server>/<dir>'. I am not sure what should be the directory contents? Should we put all ISOs in that directory or what? Any insights?
Based on your original post, it seems that you want to install a system via the network versus from a CD boot disk, correct?
If so, here's how I do it:
1) On a host machine, download the CentOS DVD to some location on the machine.
2) Install the vsftpd package.
3) mkdir /var/ftp/centos_5.3_x86
4) mount -o loop /path/to/CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-DVD.iso /var/ftp/centos_5.3_x86
5) service vsftpd start
6) Edit your kickstart url to point to the location above: url --url ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/centos_5.3_x86
7) Copy the kickstart file to /var/ftp/pub/kickstart001.ks
7) From a web browser or ftp client, retrieve the boot.iso file from the host machine in the Images directory. Or you can just cd to the /var/ftp/centos_5.3_x86 directory on the host machine and copy the boot.iso from there to your VMWare server.
8) On the VMWare server, set the boot.iso as the CD ROM image.
9) Boot the target server. When the grub prompt appears: linux ks= ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/kickstart001.ks
10) Sit back :)
Kwan Lowe wrote:
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 5:56 PM, Carlos Santana <neubyr@gmail.com mailto:neubyr@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi, I am working on a kickstart install method and it works fine with cdrom as installation media. I would like change this media to an online resource. I saw option as - 'url --url http://<server>/<dir>'. I am not sure what should be the directory contents? Should we put all ISOs in that directory or what? Any insights?Based on your original post, it seems that you want to install a system via the network versus from a CD boot disk, correct?
If so, here's how I do it:
- On a host machine, download the CentOS DVD to some location on the
machine.
Install the vsftpd package.
mkdir /var/ftp/centos_5.3_x86
mount -o loop /path/to/CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-DVD.iso
/var/ftp/centos_5.3_x86
service vsftpd start
Edit your kickstart url to point to the location above: url --url
ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/centos_5.3_x86
Copy the kickstart file to /var/ftp/pub/kickstart001.ks
From a web browser or ftp client, retrieve the boot.iso file from
the host machine in the Images directory. Or you can just cd to the /var/ftp/centos_5.3_x86 directory on the host machine and copy the boot.iso from there to your VMWare server.
On the VMWare server, set the boot.iso as the CD ROM image.
Boot the target server. When the grub prompt appears: linux
ks=ftp://192.168.8.65/pub/kickstart001.ks
- Sit back :)
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
This method will work another option I'd recommend is checking out MREPO. As this enables you to maintain your own copy of repositories as well as setting up your own custom ones.
http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/mrepo/
Other options are things like
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 8:55 PM, Clint Dilks clintd@scms.waikato.ac.nzwrote:
This method will work another option I'd recommend is checking out MREPO. As this enables you to maintain your own copy of repositories as well as setting up your own custom ones.
http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/mrepo/
Other options are things like
Cobbler is a huge timeserver :)
Spacewalk also deserves kudos. I run Satellite at work and am using it in conjunction with Spacewalk to prepare for an upcoming Satellite class.
Thanks a lot Kwan and Clint.
The error regarding metadata happened when I was using CD ISOs. I had set of ISOs in web accessible dir and the KS file had an entry 'url --url <ip.addr>/iso-dir/'. The DVD download should be complete within few minutes. I will try it tomorrow. Still, it would be great to get CDs working.
Clint, thanks for the tips regarding repo/package management.
- CS.
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 8:12 PM, Kwan Lowekwan.lowe@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 8:55 PM, Clint Dilks clintd@scms.waikato.ac.nz wrote:
This method will work another option I'd recommend is checking out MREPO. As this enables you to maintain your own copy of repositories as well as setting up your own custom ones.
http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/mrepo/
Other options are things like
Cobbler is a huge timeserver :)
Spacewalk also deserves kudos. I run Satellite at work and am using it in conjunction with Spacewalk to prepare for an upcoming Satellite class.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
-
Carlos Santana -
Clint Dilks -
John Doe -
John R Pierce -
Kwan Lowe -
Les Mikesell -
nate -
R P Herrold -
Scott Silva -
William L. Maltby