CentOS - Jul 2008 - harddisc or nfs based install

When choosing either of these methods and using an iso, how does CentOS
determine
the right iso file to mount? Is there an expected file name format?

Thanks!
jlc

--- On Mon, 7/21/08, Joseph L. Casale <JCasale at activenetwerx.com>
wrote:
> From: Joseph L. Casale <JCasale at activenetwerx.com>
> Subject: [CentOS] harddisc or nfs based install
> To: "'CentOS mailing list'" <centos at centos.org>
> Date: Monday, July 21, 2008, 6:57 PM
> When choosing either of these methods and using an iso, how
> does CentOS determine
> the right iso file to mount? Is there an expected file name
> format?
Joseph,

Say you have the iso: CentOS-5.2-x86_64-bin-DVD.iso  (4.6 GB)

that iso is too big for a vfat partition, so it should be downloaded to
an ext3 type.

If you check the images folder (after mounting as iso9660)
mount -t iso9660 ./CentOS-5.2-x86_64-bin-DVD.iso /mnt/nfs -o loop,ro

IOW check /mnt/nfs/images
inside there are several mini-boot images: an boot.iso to burn to CD and 
diskboot.img for a USB boot.

Using either, once you get to the prompt:
>linux askmethod
it will bring up the menu for nfs or harddisk.

nfs
----
nfs has worked flawlessly for me. You need another box which has the iso
mounted (shown above) and that mount point exported via nfs. Make sure the box
targetted for install has a common enough ethernet device which the boot kernel
supports and plug it in to your network. The installer will configure it for
dhcp.

You will need the IP address of the nfs server and its nfs mount point
(/mnt/nfs) to get the installer kicked off.

harddisk
-------
This method has not worked for me on C5, though on fedora it always worked.  To
see for yourself, pick a neutral partition (ext3) like /data and put the DVD iso
in the root. If the iso is unique and the only possible C5 DVD iso, then all you
need to give the menu is the device name (/dev/sda3 or whatever it is) -- the
installer will do the smart thing and find the iso.

It will start to boot and the install will begin, but it will fail early in the
same spot -- IIRC, its the proposal/partition stage or immediately there after.
I've always given up on the harddisk method on C5. I would be very happy to
hear that others got it to work!

-- 
Mark
http://www.tlviewer.org/centos  (my repo)

on 7-21-2008 6:57 PM Joseph L. Casale spake the
following:
> When choosing either of these methods and using an iso, how does CentOS
determine
> the right iso file to mount? Is there an expected file name format?
> 
> Thanks!
> jlc
With NFS mounts, you can only have one set in any particular directory, and 
the last time I did a hard disc install it was the same way. But I have to 
confess that I haven't done a hard disk install since RedHat 7.something.

-- 
MailScanner is like deodorant...
You hope everybody uses it, and
you notice quickly if they don't!!!!

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>With NFS mounts, you can only have one set in any particular directory, and
the last time I did a hard disc install it was the same way. But I have to
confess that I haven't done a hard disk install >since RedHat
7.something.
That makes sense.

Thanks Scott!
jlc