[CentOS] Headless system

David G. Miller dave at davenjudy.org
Fri Dec 20 04:16:29 UTC 2013


Billy Crook <bcrook at ...> writes:

> 
> What about when special modules need to be in the initrd for hardware
> upon which boot depends (raid cards, SAN HBAs, NICs sometimes)?
> 
> On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 9:26 AM, David G. Miller <dave at ...> wrote:
> > Ashley M. Kirchner <ashley <at> ...> writes:
> >
> >>
> >> So I'm in a bit of a pickle ...  I have a machine that needs to be
> >> repurposed from WinXP to CentOS.  I downloaded the CentOS DVD and all then
> >> realized ... I don't have a keyboard/mouse for the machine.  It only has
> >> USB ports on it, and I don't have a single available USB keyboard that I
> >> can plug in.  Bit of a problem.
> >>
> >> Usually what I do is install via VNC anyway, but that is contingent on me
> >> already having something on the machine that allows me to connect to it so
> >> that when it boots up, I can edit the boot parameters and enable VNC.  I
> >> don't have that this time.
> >>
> >> So, the question is: can I make a DVD image that starts the installer with
> >> VNC options set and if so, how do I go about that?
> >>
> >
> >
> > Kind of "don't raise the bridge, lower the river suggestion:"
> >
> > Pull the hard drive and put it in another system long enough to do the
> > install.  As long as the chip architecture is the same (32bit vs. 64 bit),
> > it should work fine.  It should work even if one system is Intel and the
> > other AMD.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Dave
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > CentOS mailing list
> > CentOS at ...
> > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
> 
1) I give Ashley credit for knowing his systems and knowing if the system in
question needs such a kernel module in order to boot.

2) Fairly low likelihood that the system needs such a module in order to
even boot.  Might need it for full functionality but that can be handled later.

3) I carry around a USB hard disk with Fedora on it.  If I can get a system
to boot from the drive, it always seems to work.  Experience says most
systems will boot without any non-standard pieces.

Cheers,
Dave






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