KickStart Tutorial | Kickstart Installation In Linux Step By Step

Introduction:

To automate the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux a feature called Kicstart. A single file containing the answers to all the questions that would normally be asked during a typical installation. Kickstart installation can be performed using a local CD-ROM, a local hard drive, or via NFS, FTP, or HTTP. Kickstart perform Automatic installations of RHEL/CentOS7, without the need for user intervention, the machines using a kickstart file read from a local FTP server. Kickstart in Red Hat Enterprise Linux is similar to unattended installation for Microsoft Windows. The default configuration file for kickstart “anaconda-ks.cfg” is available in the home directory of the root user. In kickstart configuration file lines start with # characters are comments that are ignored by the installer. Line that starts with a % character and end with the %end is directive. The %packages section specifies the software to be installed on the target system. %post, Configure the system after all the software has been installed. The %pre, script is executed before any disk partitioning is done.

Install GUI package of kickstart
[root@asim ~]#yum install –y system-config-kickstart
Install FTP for network access
[root@asim ~]#yum install –y vsftpd
Start FTP service
[root@asim ~]#systemctl start vsftpd
Start FTP service on boot
[root@asim ~]#systemctl enable vsftpd
Mount CentOS DVD to FTP folder
[root@asim ~]#mount /dev/cdrom  /var/ftp/pub/
Temporary disable SELinux Security
[root@asim ~]#setenforce 0
Stop Firewall temporary or Add the firewall for FTP
[root@asim ~]#systemctl stop firewalld or [root@asim ~]#firewall-cmd  – -permanent  – -add-service=ftp
After add role reload the firewall
[root@asim ~]#firewall-cmd  – -reload
Open kickstart from command line Or Open kickstart from graphically
[root@asim ~]#systemctl system-config-kickstart or Application > System Tools > Kickstart

1) Basic configuration

Select Default Language   = English USA

keyboard                  = U.S English

Time zone                 = Asia/Kolkata

Set root password             = 123456

Confirm root password    = 123456

Check the check box of “Reboot system after installation”

2) Installation Method

Click the radio button of “Perform new installation”

In installation device select FTP

In FTP server: Type your system IP “192.168.220.138”

In FTP directory: type “pub”

3) Boot loader option

Click on Install new boot loader

In Installation options, choose “Install boot loader on MBR”

4) Partition Information

In Master Boot Record option click on “clear Master Boot Record”

In Partition option click on “Remove all existing partitions”

In disk label click on “Initialize the disk label”

Click on Add

Mount point “/”

File system “xfs”

File size(MB) “20480”

Ok

Click on Add

Mount point “/boot”

File system “xfs”

File size(MB) “2048”

Ok

Click on Add

File system “swap”

File size(MB) “1024”

Ok

5) Network Configuration

Network device      :eth0

Network type          :DHCP

ok

6) Authentication

Leave as it is

7) Firewall configuration

Disable SELinux

8) Display configuration

Leave as it is

9) Package Selection

Do this later

10) Pre installation and post installation script

Write script or leave this step

Go to file and save with name “ks.cfg” in “/var/ftp” directory

[root@asim ~]#cd ~

[root@asim ~]#ls

[root@asim ~]#gedit anaconda-ks.cfg

Copy packages

[root@asim ~]#gedit /var/ftp/ks.cfg

Paste packages at the end of the file

Save and close

Copy the save kickstart file syntax
[root@asim ~]#cp ks.cfg  /var/ftp/
Set permission on kickstart file
[root@asim ~]#chmod 755 /var/ftp/ks.cfg
Check for kickstart file syntax
[root@asim ~]#ksvalidator /var/ftp/ks.cfg

Setup New Virtual Machine and follow the steps below:

Press Tab on Client and type FTP location
ks=ftp://192.168.220.138/pub/ks.cfg         
Press Tab on Client and type FTP location ks=ftp://192.168.220.138/ks.cfg with ip=192.168.220.140 netmask=255.255.255.0-static IP and gateway configuration

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