[cobbler] Cobbler 2.4.0, Ubuntu 12.04.1 64bit server == not using local repo?

Zack Perry zack.perry at sbcglobal.net
Mon Nov 12 06:10:24 UTC 2012


This weekend, I decided to try out the cobbler 2.4.0 from the epel-testing. I set it on in my "home lab", on an Acer Aspire One D257 netbook, which runs SL 6.3 64bit. 

Going over the usual (1) import ubuntu-12.04.1-server-amd64.iso to create a distro and profile, add a repo, reposync, (2) add a system was pretty quick. Since my home has a DSL, so I upgraded dnsmasq from repoforge to 2.63rc6, and used its proxy mode.

Two issues immediately became obvious:

(1) Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS default vmlinuz and initrd.gz always resulted prompting for CD/DVD :-(

As a quick get-around, I renamed the pair, and copied their counterpart from install/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/.  

The replacement pair got the PXE going, but despite what I specified in the preseed template, it always retrieve every package from the remote Ubuntu repositories :-(

I also tried to use the vmlinux and initrd.lz from Ubuntu 12.04.1 precise desktop daily build. That pair got into the busybox :-( So no go.

(2) Despite the fact that I set the desired interface to use during the installation as eth0, I still got prompted for selecting among two (eth0 and wlan0)

What I have in the /var/lib/cobbler/kickstart/ubuntu-server.seed:

[...]
# netcfg will choose an interface that has link if possible. This makes it
# skip displaying a list if there is more than one interface.
#d-i netcfg/choose_interface select auto
d-i netcfg/choose_interface select eth0

[...]
# You can choose to install restricted and universe software, or to install
# software from the backports repository.
# d-i apt-setup/restricted boolean true
# d-i apt-setup/universe boolean true
# d-i apt-setup/backports boolean true

# Uncomment this if you don't want to use a network mirror.
d-i apt-setup/use_mirror boolean false

# Select which update services to use; define the mirrors to be used.
# Values shown below are the normal defaults.
d-i apt-setup/services-select multiselect security
d-i apt-setup/security_host string security.ubuntu.com
d-i apt-setup/security_path string /ubuntu

# Additional repositories, local[0-9] available
# d-i apt-setup/local0/repository string \
#     http://local.server/ubuntu precise main
# d-i apt-setup/local0/comment string local server
[...]

And here is the profile:
[root at cobbler kickstarts]# cobbler profile report --name=ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64
Name                           : ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64
TFTP Boot Files                : {}
Comment                        : 
DHCP Tag                       : default
Distribution                   : ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64
Enable gPXE?                   : 0
Enable PXE Menu?               : 1
Fetchable Files                : {}
Kernel Options                 : {'priority': 'critical', 'locale': 'en_US'}
Kernel Options (Post Install)  : {'reboot': 'efi'}
Kickstart                      : /var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts/ubuntu-server.seed
Kickstart Metadata             : {'gateway': '192.168.1.254'}
Management Classes             : []
Management Parameters          : <<inherit>>
Name Servers                   : []
Name Servers Search Path       : []
Owners                         : ['admin']
Parent Profile                 : 
Proxy                          : 
Red Hat Management Key         : <<inherit>>
Red Hat Management Server      : <<inherit>>
Repos                          : ['ubuntu-12.04.1-x86_64']
[...]

The Repos attribute seemed to be completely ignored!

Has anyone succeeded PXE booting Ubuntu 12.04?  If so, were you successful in getting the installation to use your repos? I would be thankful to any hints.

Regards,

--Zack





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