[cobbler] How to enable a graphical install for RHEL desktops?

Zack Perry zack.perry at sbcglobal.net
Tue Nov 27 07:17:57 UTC 2012


cobbler: 2.4.0 from epel-testing
server : SL 6.3 64 bit

Today I attempted to PXE boot the desktop of Fedora 17. According to 
the Fedora 17 kickstart documentation, the graphical mode should be the
default, but the first time, the installer ran in text mode. After the
installation was done, I was greeted by just a text console with the 
login prompt :-(

So, I modified the kickstart template such that for desktop 
installation, it used the 'graphical' option. This worked. Fedora 17
installer ran in graphical mode. The firstboot program launched, and 
the desktop UI came up.

Next, I tried Scientific Linux 6.3 desktop. This time, the same symptom, but using the 'graphical' kickstart option didn't help. 

Feeling curious, I did the following: 

[root at cobbler ~]# cobbler system dumpvars --name=nb1|grep text
kernel_options : ksdevice=bootif lang=  graphical keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us interface=eth0 text locale=en_US kssendmac priority=critical 

BTW, the 'graphical' shown in the above line was added by me just for
testing.

I knew that I didn't set the 'text' kernel option (doubled checked the profile and system objects just to make sure), so I checked the 
source, indeed:

In cobbler/settings.py, there is the following:

    78      "kernel_options"                      : [{"lang":" ", "text":None, "ksdevice":"eth0"},"dict"],

Also, in /etc/cobbler/settings, there is the following:

[...]
# kernel options that should be present in every cobbler installation.
# kernel options can also be applied at the distro/profile/system
# level.
kernel_options:
 ksdevice: bootif
 lang: ' '
 text: ~
[...]

Now, I understand that very few people would use RHEL as desktops. Fedora? Sure.  But setting the installation always to text mode seems
to contradict with the official RHEL 6 Installation Guide.

Is there a way to get the documented behavior, i.e. graphical
by default, use text mode when desired?

Regards,

-- Zack






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