Using kickstart for Automatic Installation

Using kickstart for Automatic Installation

Introduction

Overview

You can use the kickstart tool to automatically install the openEuler OS in either of the following ways:

Semi-automatic installation: You only need to specify the location of the kickstart file. kickstart automatically configures OS properties such as keyboard, language, and partitions.
Automatic installation: The OS is automatically installed.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Table 1 lists the advantages and disadvantages of semi-automatic installation and full-automatic installation using kickstart. You can select an installation mode as required.

Table 1 Advantages and disadvantages

Installation Mode	Advantage	Disadvantage
Semi-automatic installation	Services such as TFTP, PXE, and DHCP do not need to be prepared.	You need to manually specify the path of the kickstart file.
Full-automatic installation	The OS is installed automatically.	Services, such as TFTP, DHCP, and PXE, need to be configured.

Background

kickstart

kickstart is an unattended installation mode. kickstart records typical parameters that need to be manually entered during the installation and generates the configuration file ks.cfg. During the installation, the installation program searches for the ks.cfg configuration file first for required parameters. If no matching parameters are found, you need to manually configure these parameters. If all required parameters are covered by the kickstart file, automatic installation can be achieved by specifying only the path of the kickstart file.

kickstart can be used for both full-automatic and semi-automatic installation.

PXE

Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE)) works in client/server network mode. The PXE client can obtain an IP address from the DHCP server during the startup and implement client boot and installation through the network based on protocols such as trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP).

TFTP

TFTP is used to transfer simple and trivial files between clients and the server.

Semi-automatic Installation Guide

Environment Requirements

The environment requirements for semi-automatic installation of openEuler using kickstart are as follows:

Physical or virtual machines (for details about how to create VMs, see the documents from corresponding vendors), including the machine where kickstart is used for automatic installation and the machine where the openEuler will be installed.
httpd: stores the kickstart file.
ISO image: openEuler-20.03-LTS-aarch64-dvd.iso

Procedure

To use kickstart to perform semi-automatic installation of openEuler, perform the following steps:

Environment Preparation

NOTE:
Before the installation, ensure that the firewall of the HTTP server is disabled. Run the following command to disable the firewall:
iptables -F  

Install and start the httpd service.

# dnf install httpd -y
# systemctl start httpd
# systemctl enable httpd

Run the following commands to prepare the kickstart file:

# mkdir /var/www/html/ks
#vim /var/www/html/ks/openEuler-ks.cfg ===>The file can be obtained by modifying the anaconda-ks.cfg file automatically generated on openEuler, or can be created using the system-config-kickstart tool.
====================================
***Modify the following information as required.***
#version=DEVEL
ignoredisk --only-use=sda
autopart --type=lvm
# Partition clearing information
clearpart --none --initlabel
# Use graphical install
graphical
# Use CDROM installation media
cdrom
# Keyboard layouts
keyboard --vckeymap=cn --xlayouts='cn'
# System language
lang zh_CN.UTF-8

# Network information
network  --bootproto=dhcp --device=enp4s0 --ipv6=auto --activate
network  --hostname=openeuler.com
# Root password
rootpw --iscrypted $6$fQE83lxEZ48Or4zc$j7/PlUMHn29yTjCD4Fi44WTZL/RzVGxJ/7MGsZMl6QfE3KjIVT7M4UrhFXbafvRq2lUddAFcyWHd5WRmXfEK20
# Run the Setup Agent on first boot
firstboot --enable
# Do not configure the X Window System
skipx
# System services
services --disabled="chronyd"
# System timezone
timezone Asia/Shanghai --isUtc--nontp

%packages
@^minimal-environment
@standard

%end

%anaconda
pwpolicy root --minlen=8 --minquality=1 --notstrict --nochanges --notempty
pwpolicy user --minlen=8 --minquality=1 --notstrict --nochanges --emptyok
pwpolicy luks --minlen=8 --minquality=1 --notstrict --nochanges --notempty
%end

%post
#enable kdump
sed  -i "s/ ro / ro crashkernel=1024M,high /" /boot/efi/EFI/openEuler/grub.cfg
%end
=====================================

NOTE:
The method of generating the encrypted password is as follows:
# python3
Python 3.7.0 (default, Apr 1 2019, 00:00:00)
[GCC 7.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import crypt
>>> passwd = crypt.crypt("myPasswd")
>>> print(passwd)
$6$63c4tDmQGn5SDayV$mZoZC4pa9Jdt6/ALgaaDq6mIExiOO2EjzomB.Rf6V1BkEMJDcMddZeGdp17cMyc9l9ML9ldthytBEPVcnboR/0

Mount the ISO image file to the CD-ROM drive of the machine where openEuler is to be installed.
If you want to install openEuler through the NFS, specify the path (which is cdrom by default) of installation source in the kickstart file.

Installing the System

Boot the system and enter the installation option page.
1. On the installation wizard page in Starting the Installation, select Install openEuler 20.03 LTS and press e.
2. Add inst.ks=http://server_ip/ks/openEuler-ks.cfg to the boot parameters.
3. Press Ctrl+x to start the automatic installation.
Verify the installation.
After the installation is complete, the system automatically reboots. If the first boot option of the system is set to the CD-ROM, the installation page will be displayed again. In this case, shut down the machine and change boot sequence to boot the system from the hard drive preferentially.

Full-automatic Installation Guide

Environment Requirements

The environment requirements for full-automatic installation of openEuler using kickstart are as follows:

Physical or virtual machines (for details about how to create VMs, see the documents from corresponding vendors), including the machine where kickstart is used for automatic installation and the machine where openEuler will be installed.
httpd: stores the kickstart file.
tftp: provides vmlinuz and initrd files.
DHCPD/PXE: provides the DHCP service.
ISO image: openEuler-20.03-LTS-aarch64-dvd.iso

Procedure

To use kickstart to perform full-automatic installation of openEuler, perform the following steps:

Environment Preparation

NOTE:
Before the installation, ensure that the firewall of the HTTP server is disabled. Run the following command to disable the firewall:
iptables -F  

Install and start the httpd service.

# dnf install httpd -y
# systemctl start httpd
# systemctl enable httpd

Install and configure tftp.

# dnf install tftp-server -y
# vim /etc/xinetd.d/tftp
service tftp
{
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -s /var/lib/tftpboot
disable = no
per_source = 11
cps = 100 2
flags = IPv4
}
# systemctl start tftp
# systemctl enable tftp
# systemctl start xinetd
# systemctl status xinetd
# systemctl enable xinetd

Prepare the installation source:

# mount openEuler-20.03-LTS-aarch64-dvd.iso /mnt
# cp -r /mnt/* /var/www/html/openEuler/

Set and modify the kickstart configuration file openEuler-ks.cfg. Select the HTTP installation source by referring to 3.

#vim  /var/www/html/ks/openEuler-ks.cfg
====================================
***Modify the following information as required.***
#version=DEVEL
ignoredisk --only-use=sda
autopart --type=lvm
# Partition clearing information
clearpart --none --initlabel
# Use graphical install
graphical
# Keyboard layouts
keyboard --vckeymap=cn --xlayouts='cn'
# System language
lang zh_CN.UTF-8
#Use http installation source
url  --url=//192.168.122.1/openEuler/
%post
#enable kdump
sed  -i "s/ ro / ro crashkernel=1024M,high /" /boot/efi/EFI/openEuler/grub.cfg
%end
...

Modify the PXE configuration file grub.cfg as follows:

# cp -r /mnt/images/pxeboot/* /var/lib/tftpboot/
# cp /mnt/EFI/BOOT/grubaa64.efi /var/lib/tftpboot/
# cp /mnt/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg /var/lib/tftpboot/
# ls /var/lib/tftpboot/
grubaa64.efi  grub.cfg  initrd.img  TRANS.TBL  vmlinuz
# vim /var/lib/tftpboot/grub.cfg
set default="1"

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2

set timeout=60


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Install openEuler 20.03 LTS' --class red --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        set root=(tftp,192.168.1.1)
        linux /vmlinuz ro inst.geoloc=0 console=ttyAMA0 console=tty0 rd.iscsi.waitnet=0 inst.ks=http://192.168.122.1/ks/openEuler-ks.cfg
        initrd /initrd.img
}

Run the following commands to configure DHCP (or use dnsmasq instead):

# dnf install dhcp -y
#
# DHCP Server Configuration file.
#   see /usr/share/doc/dhcp-server/dhcpd.conf.example
#   see dhcpd.conf(5) man page
#
# vim /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
ddns-update-style interim;
ignore client-updates;
filename "grubaa64.efi";  #  Location of the pxelinux startup file;
next-server 192.168.122.1;     # (IMPORTANT) TFTP server IP address;
subnet 192.168.122.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option routers 192.168.111.1; # Gateway address
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0; # Subnet mask
range dynamic-bootp 192.168.122.50 192.168.122.200; # Dynamic IP address range
default-lease-time 21600;
max-lease-time 43200;
}
# systemctl start dhcpd
# systemctl enable dhcpd

Installing the System

On the Start boot option screen, press F2 to boot from the PXE and start automatic installation.
The automatic installation window is displayed.
Verify the installation.