Hi Fabian,

I can't use kickstart as I have diff configs for each server. The servers are rented out to my clients as dedicated servers. Each client has his own needs, so not much that I can do about this. Also, different servers with different hardware (diff size HDs), so just the partitioning by itself must be done manually.

"why not just launch the install with vnc and take the gui remotely ?"

I'm confused about the vnc portion. How do I get to the vnc part if the server is not installed yet? Furthermore, wouldn't this result in the same issue? Wouldn't anaconda still ask me for a monitor to be recognized?

Thanks,

-Sup. ----- Original Message ----- From: Fabian Arrotin To: CentOS mailing list Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 12:25 AM Subject: Re: [CentOS] new install of 5.1 with KVM-over-IP - can't installwith GUI - need assistance

Alon wrote:

Hi All,

I have several dozens of CentOS and WhiteBox servers. Most of them are CentOS 4.6. Our installation service is done in the datacenter where the servers are located.

When we install a fresh clean install, we use the GUI menus, while using the KVMoverIP.

That was working great with CentOS 4.x

In CentOS 5.x, the installation process 'annonces" that "Hey,. I know you are using a KVM and don't have a monitor attached" (who cares??). But, "since you are using a KVM and no monitor is attached,. you CANNOT use the GUI installation".

Why???

4.x didn't care for this.

Why make my life difficult?

I have to 'cheat' by calling the datacenter to plug a monitor for the first minute of the install and then plug back the KVM cable. Isn't this stupid? of course it is!

I am looking for a solution such as a parameter that I can pass to the boot sequence (vga=nommconf or something like that) so that it won't do the probing for the VGA and just let me go about my business.

Mind you that this is a problem both with DELL PowerEdge 1950iii with DRAC5 remote consule as well as with just plain PCs that use ATEN KVM 9116. Once the probe understand that we don't use a monitor it prompts the 'can't use the GUI'.

Any pointers about this?

No really pointers to give you, but with so much machines to install/manage, why not using kickstart for your installations ? Faster than manual installations ... (for virtual or real nodes) And if you really want to use anaconda in gui mode, why not just launch the install with vnc and take the gui remotely ? On the other hand, i know that anaconda gui in 5.X is working ok with remote kvm (i've tested on IBM RSA2 and IBM BladeCenter MM and Advanced MM)

- Fabian Arrotin fabian.arrotin@arrfab.net "Internet network currently down, TCP/IP packets delivered now by UPS/Fedex ..."

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Hi Bill,

Thankfully, our servers are already setup in the noc. We have a need for a new install once a week. While I appreciate the help on the automation and the partitioning,. we are deviating from the problem I'm reporting:

How to bypass the VGA prob and use the GUI install while using a KVM setup.

Should I escalate this issue to the RedHat bugzilla? If an older version of CentOS/RH was able to skipp that prob successfully,. CentOS 5.x should have that capability, or at least allow to pass a parameter of 'novgaprob' or something like that.

Thanks,

-Sup.

----- Original Message ----- From: William L. Maltby To: CentOS mailing list Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 5:33 AM Subject: Re: [CentOS] new install of 5.1 with KVM-over-IP - can'tinstallwith GUI - need assistance

On Mon, 2008-06-09 at 00:50 +0300, Alon wrote:

Hi Fabian,

I can't use kickstart as I have diff configs for each server. The servers are rented out to my clients as dedicated servers. Each client has his own needs, so not much that I can do about this. Also, different servers with different hardware (diff size HDs), so just the partitioning by itself must be done manually.

Maybe this one task can be automated. When I was working on RAS for a NAS, we had to be able to handle different HD configurations and sizes. In the install/recovery image I generated on CD (this was several years past), we used sfdisk to automatically partition the HDs. Using a fixed "root" partition size, we calculated the rest of the disk as a % of available for each desired partition. Worked great.

<snip>

HTH -- Bill

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ISSUE RESOLVED:

Thanks for jpegNY (CentOS forums) the issue has been resolved:

Upon boot, the parameter to pass is:

boot: linux graphical

Thats it. It start the xserver and bypasses the check.

Thanks for the help on this. HTH someone else down the road.

-Sup. ----- Original Message ----- From: mkn0014 To: CentOS mailing list Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 11:47 AM Subject: Re: [CentOS] new install of 5.1 with KVM-over-IP - can'tinstallwithGUI - need assistance

Alon wrote:

Should I escalate this issue to the RedHat bugzilla?

Yes do so.

/Mats _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos