https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/apb.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/installation-guide/i386/appendix-preseed.html
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed? Date: 2014-09-25 22:17 From: Will Dennis wdennis@nec-labs.com To: Alastair Munro alastair@alastair-munro.com
Thanks for your help in this. So far, trying to spec partitions in d-i has been a rather painful experience... Using a ks file is MUCH less painful in this area (even if all the partitioner options are not available.) If you have working examples of any d-i partitioning that work in Cobbler, I’d be grateful to see them (either “regular” hard partitions, or LVM...)
Best,
Will
FROM: Alastair Munro [mailto:alastair@alastair-munro.com] SENT: Thursday, September 25, 2014 3:53 PM TO: Will Dennis SUBJECT: RE: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed?
Hi
I suspect kickstart support in ubuntu is immature at present. It should get better. As with all things cobbler you need the time and patience to experiment and test things out. I went with debian installer because we need to support ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04. Ubuntu ks only turned up in 14.04. However i managed to reuse most of my centos snippets for ubuntu by just embedding them in a copy of the post seed file. So the change to d-i was not so painful and not too much reworking required.
For the cobbler system definitions for ubuntu i had to put default gateways in the interface rather than the global networking, and it needs the nameserver fields to be filled in too (rather than just putting a resolv.conf inplace which gets overwritten by resolver). Other than that it works the same as fedora/centos.
-- Alastair Munro
-----Original Message----- From: Will Dennis wdennis@nec-labs.com To: cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org Cc: "alastair@alastair-munro.com" alastair@alastair-munro.com Sent: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:40 Subject: RE: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed?
Thanks, Alastair. Guess I'll be learning Debian Installer syntax then ;)
Would be cool in the future if Cobbler could support either d-i or kickstart for breed "ubuntu", since there is support now, and I'd wager most Cobbler users are more familiar with kickstart...
Best, Will
-----Original Message----- From: cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org [mailto:cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org] On Behalf Of alastair@alastair-munro.com Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 2 [1]:57 PM To: cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org Subject: Re: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed?
Debian/ubuntu uses debian installer. All lines start d-i. See this that I wrote:
https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Using%20template%20scripts%20for%20D... [2]
Use the cobbler sample.seed and then replace the pre and post seed files with your own, with embedded snippets.
I have not played round with lvm or partitioning on ubuntu/debian, but I was able to use all the snippets I wrote for centos with ubuntu (with some slight tweaks). These snippets are now multi platform!
The ubuntu guides tell you about debian installer and what the various lines do. I didn't have to tweak the sample.seed much.
Alastair
On 2014-09-25 16 [3]:39, Will Dennis wrote:
Hi all,
Went looking for an automated way to install a bunch of Ubuntu
(14.04)
nodes I had to bring up, and happily found that Ubuntu now supports Kickstart (albeit in a non-complete way...)
https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/ch04s06.html#ki [4]
ckstart [1]
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KickstartCompatibility [5] [2]
I created a USB installer, and authored a kickstart file (via the Ubuntu app "system-config-kickstart"), placed it in the root of the USB key, and then in /syslinux/txt.cfg I added "ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg" to the end of the "append" line for the default install. Booted my test node from the USB key, and the kickstart worked like a champ.
Now, since I've been using Cobbler to install RedHat-family nodes, I thought I'd try to add a Ubuntu OS choice. So I added the install ISO
to Cobbler via the 'cobbler import' command, and also did a 'cobbler reposync' to add the local repo. Tried PXE-booting my test node, my Ubuntu 14.04 OS choice shows up in the menu, and can be installed
(but
for some reason stops at the "Partition disks" setup screen...)
When I checked out the "kickstart" file for the profile, I was surprised to find that it was actually a Debian preseed file instead of a kickstart... Since I don't understand preseed files, and wanted to use my (working) kickstart file, I imported my kickstart file into
/var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts and then made a copy of the Ubuntu 14.04 profile, and changed the kickstart file to be mine instead of "sample.seed". Upon PXE booting the test node and selecting my new profile, it errored out with the following message:
"The installer failed to process the preconfiguration file from http://<cobbler-svr-ip>/cblr/svc/op/ks/profile/<profile_name [6]
[3]>. The
file may be corrupt."
So, is there a way to support using kickstart files against Ubuntu nodes, instead of preseed files? If so, any docs anywhere?
Also, is there a way to search the list archives (such as Gmane,
etc.)
for keywords such as "Ubuntu kickstart" - I'm sure this has been discussed before on the list, but couldn't (quickly) find anything...
Thanks,
Will
Links:
[1]
https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/ch04s06.html#ki [4]
ckstart [2] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KickstartCompatibility
[5]
[3]
http://%3ccobbler-svr-ip%3e/cblr/svc/op/ks/profile/%3cprofile_name [6]
cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler [7]
_______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler [7]
Links: ------ [1] tel:20142 [2] https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Using%20template%20scripts%20for%20D... [3] tel:2014092516 [4] https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/ch04s06.html#ki [5] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KickstartCompatibility [6] http://%3ccobbler-svr-ip%3e/cblr/svc/op/ks/profile/%3cprofile_name [7] https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
Yup, have seen all of this already... anyone have a reference URL for the d-I partman* config directives? (Not finding too much out there, don't want to have to start reading source if I can help it...)
I agree with the statement in https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/PartMan which says: "Debian preseed's partman options are an incomprehensible automatic partitioning language."
Truth.
- Will
-----Original Message----- From: cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org [mailto:cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org] On Behalf Of alastair@alastair-munro.com Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 5:30 PM To: cobbler mailing list Subject: [cobbler] Fwd: RE: Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed?
https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/apb.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/installation-guide/i386/appendix-preseed.html
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed? Date: 2014-09-25 22:17 From: Will Dennis wdennis@nec-labs.com To: Alastair Munro alastair@alastair-munro.com
Thanks for your help in this. So far, trying to spec partitions in d-i has been a rather painful experience... Using a ks file is MUCH less painful in this area (even if all the partitioner options are not available.) If you have working examples of any d-i partitioning that work in Cobbler, I’d be grateful to see them (either “regular” hard partitions, or LVM...)
Best,
Will
FROM: Alastair Munro [mailto:alastair@alastair-munro.com] SENT: Thursday, September 25, 2014 3:53 PM TO: Will Dennis SUBJECT: RE: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed?
Hi
I suspect kickstart support in ubuntu is immature at present. It should get better. As with all things cobbler you need the time and patience to experiment and test things out. I went with debian installer because we need to support ubuntu 12.04 and 14.04. Ubuntu ks only turned up in 14.04. However i managed to reuse most of my centos snippets for ubuntu by just embedding them in a copy of the post seed file. So the change to d-i was not so painful and not too much reworking required.
For the cobbler system definitions for ubuntu i had to put default gateways in the interface rather than the global networking, and it needs the nameserver fields to be filled in too (rather than just putting a resolv.conf inplace which gets overwritten by resolver). Other than that it works the same as fedora/centos.
-- Alastair Munro
-----Original Message----- From: Will Dennis wdennis@nec-labs.com To: cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org Cc: "alastair@alastair-munro.com" alastair@alastair-munro.com Sent: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:40 Subject: RE: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed?
Thanks, Alastair. Guess I'll be learning Debian Installer syntax then ;)
Would be cool in the future if Cobbler could support either d-i or kickstart for breed "ubuntu", since there is support now, and I'd wager most Cobbler users are more familiar with kickstart...
Best, Will
-----Original Message----- From: cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org [mailto:cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org] On Behalf Of alastair@alastair-munro.com Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2014 2 [1]:57 PM To: cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org Subject: Re: [cobbler] Can deploy Ubuntu using a kickstart file rather than a preseed?
Debian/ubuntu uses debian installer. All lines start d-i. See this that I wrote:
https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Using%20template%20scripts%20for%20D... [2]
Use the cobbler sample.seed and then replace the pre and post seed files with your own, with embedded snippets.
I have not played round with lvm or partitioning on ubuntu/debian, but I was able to use all the snippets I wrote for centos with ubuntu (with some slight tweaks). These snippets are now multi platform!
The ubuntu guides tell you about debian installer and what the various lines do. I didn't have to tweak the sample.seed much.
Alastair
On 2014-09-25 16 [3]:39, Will Dennis wrote:
Hi all,
Went looking for an automated way to install a bunch of Ubuntu
(14.04)
nodes I had to bring up, and happily found that Ubuntu now supports Kickstart (albeit in a non-complete way...)
https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/ch04s06.html#ki [4]
ckstart [1]
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KickstartCompatibility [5] [2]
I created a USB installer, and authored a kickstart file (via the Ubuntu app "system-config-kickstart"), placed it in the root of the USB key, and then in /syslinux/txt.cfg I added "ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg" to the end of the "append" line for the default install. Booted my test node from the USB key, and the kickstart worked like a champ.
Now, since I've been using Cobbler to install RedHat-family nodes, I thought I'd try to add a Ubuntu OS choice. So I added the install ISO
to Cobbler via the 'cobbler import' command, and also did a 'cobbler reposync' to add the local repo. Tried PXE-booting my test node, my Ubuntu 14.04 OS choice shows up in the menu, and can be installed
(but
for some reason stops at the "Partition disks" setup screen...)
When I checked out the "kickstart" file for the profile, I was surprised to find that it was actually a Debian preseed file instead of a kickstart... Since I don't understand preseed files, and wanted to use my (working) kickstart file, I imported my kickstart file into
/var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts and then made a copy of the Ubuntu 14.04 profile, and changed the kickstart file to be mine instead of "sample.seed". Upon PXE booting the test node and selecting my new profile, it errored out with the following message:
"The installer failed to process the preconfiguration file from http://<cobbler-svr-ip>/cblr/svc/op/ks/profile/<profile_name [6]
[3]>. The
file may be corrupt."
So, is there a way to support using kickstart files against Ubuntu nodes, instead of preseed files? If so, any docs anywhere?
Also, is there a way to search the list archives (such as Gmane,
etc.)
for keywords such as "Ubuntu kickstart" - I'm sure this has been discussed before on the list, but couldn't (quickly) find anything...
Thanks,
Will
Links:
[1]
https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/ch04s06.html#ki [4]
ckstart [2] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KickstartCompatibility
[5]
[3]
http://%3ccobbler-svr-ip%3e/cblr/svc/op/ks/profile/%3cprofile_name [6]
cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler [7]
_______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler [7]
Links: ------ [1] tel:20142 [2] https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Using%20template%20scripts%20for%20D... [3] tel:2014092516 [4] https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/ch04s06.html#ki [5] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KickstartCompatibility [6] http://%3ccobbler-svr-ip%3e/cblr/svc/op/ks/profile/%3cprofile_name [7] https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org https://lists.fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
On 26.09.2014 17:33, Will Dennis wrote:
Yup, have seen all of this already... anyone have a reference URL for the d-I partman* config directives? (Not finding too much out there, don't want to have to start reading source if I can help it...)
They're in the same manual:
https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/amd64/apbs04.html#preseed-p...
btw, don't expect the kickstart support to improve, besides native D-I gives you much more power anyway.
cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org