General Information

Installing on bare metal systems using the “net-install” method and kickstart.

Checklist

• Distro(s): Enterprise Linux 6/7

Installing a system over the network procedure.

• Netinstall ISO ⇒ used to bootstrap the system and define network,hostname,kickstart file and NFS source install location
  • Alternatively, PXE Boot can replace needing any physical installation media.
• DVD ISO ⇒ located on the NFS server and is the source for the install
• Kickstart file ⇒ located on the NFS server in the same location as the DVD ISO and automates the installer

• Download the OS net install image (to boot from)
  • Put this image on your local desktop/laptop or create a bootable USB flash drive

Setup a NFS Server if you do not have one already.

• Download the OS standard DVD install ISO (to provide the installation files over the network)
  • Put this image on your NFS server in an exported directory
• Prepare ISO+images directory on NFS server (If they don't exist already)
  • Mount the DVD ISO image temporarily

    mount -t iso9660 -o loop /iso/centos6.7-dvd/CentOS-6.7-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso /mnt

  • Copy the images/ directory from the mounted ISO image to the same directory as the ISO image

    cp -pr /mnt/images /iso/centos6.7-dvd/

  • Unmount ISO image

    umount /mnt

  • Example: the directory /iso/centos6.7-dvd/ now contains:
    • CentOS-6.7-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso
    • images/ (directory copied from ISO)

Create a kickstart file and put it in the same location on the NFS server as the ISO image.

• Create Kickstart Config File(s) ⇒ Examples Here

• Connect to system console (via KVM, other remote access solution, or physically in front of it)
• Mount a netinstall ISO image from a location on your desktop/laptop
  • OR plugin a USB flash drive with a netinstall ISO on it to the server
• Boot server to the netinstall ISO

On the Welcome to CentOS screen:

• Highlight “Install or Upgrade an existing system” and press “tab” or “e” to edit boot options. (depending upon bios or uefi system)
• CentOS 6
  • BIOS ⇒ After “vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img”, append:

    ks=nfs:<nfs-ip>:/iso/centos6.7-dvd/centos6-ks-bios.cfg ksdevice=link hostname=<fqdn-hostname> ip=x.x.x.x netmask=x.x.x.x gateway=x.x.x.x nameserver=x.x.x.x

• CentOS 7
  • BIOS ⇒ After “quiet”, append:

    inst.resolution=1024x768 inst.ks=nfs:<nfs-ip>:/iso/centos7.2-dvd/centos7-ks-bios.cfg ksdevice=link hostname=<fqdn-hostname> ip=x.x.x.x netmask=x.x.x.x gateway=x.x.x.x nameserver=x.x.x.x

  • UEFI ⇒ After “quiet”, append:

    inst.resolution=1024x768 inst.ks=nfs:<nfs-ip>:/iso/centos7.2-dvd/centos7-ks-efi.cfg ksdevice=link hostname=<fqdn-hostname> ip=x.x.x.x netmask=x.x.x.x gateway=x.x.x.x nameserver=x.x.x.x

• Note: This can be pasted into most consoles by using KVM menus. (Keyboard > Send Text to Target… > Paste in text > click Ok)