Hi,
I'm planning to create a new tool to simplify creation and management of
kickstart-files (as well as automate some of the tasks that come with
automated installation).
If you know of another mailinglist that fits this subject, or you know of
similar projects (because I can imagine there are countless
implementations inside companies) please let me know. I'm just in the
design phase and i'm interested in what already exists and how it was
implemented (the structure/interface/features).
Let me first explain what I aim for (and how it is currently in my head).
First of all, it should be straight-forward to manage a list of systems
(or groups of systems) that have similar configurations. A config-file
could be something like:
/etc/footprint/system/proxy-servers.conf
[main]
boot options = panic=10 acpi=off
dist = rhel4as
#modules = e100
profile = proxy-servers
[proxy01]
ip = 10.0.0.1
netmask = 255.255.255.0
mac address = 00:01:02:03:004:05
...
(or even more simple, only hold 1 system)
There would be a collection of profiles, each specifying a set of
variables that influence the kickstart file. This could be
hardware-related or functional.
And a directory-structure for different methods, like LVM setup for
rhel3as, rhel4as for different disk configurations, or a debug-method
(to ease development), or a method that sets up callback and log
functionality (to follow progress from remote), lots of things are
possible here to extend anaconda.
The tool would then be able to construct a working kickstart file,
depending on the combination of profiles/variables it could generate a
custom initial ramdisk, use another kernel, create the PXE and DHCP
configuration, or make a floppy or ISO file used for custom hardware
booting.
Also, it would be nice to have a script in Apache that is able to (based
on the IP address or mac address) to generate the correct kickstart file
(and automatically save/timestamp it for debug/management purposes).
In the end, the command-line tool (based on the config files) would
automatically control DHCP/PXE, all the files that make remote booting
possible and the management (and revisions) of kickstart files.
And that's how I got the name, what is left after a good kickstart ?
A footprint :)
The aim is to integrate it to work with Yam, so that setting this up
becomes very easy. And custom packages and updates are merged with the
default packagelist so you don't have to do customisations afterwards.
Additionally, I'd like to have methods for doing extra configuration
tweaks (like populating hosts files, dropping SSH keys, configuring user
management and much much more). For all these things I can use help and
ideas, so let me know what additional features you have in mind.
Discussions go onto the rpmforge tools mailinglist:
http://lists.rpmforge.net/mailman/listinfo/tools
And I have a non-functional website at:
http://dag.wieers.com/home-made/footprint/
(required for registering the freshmeat project)
Kind regards,
-- dag wieers, dag at wieers.com, http://dag.wieers.com/ --
[all I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power]