Dear Experts, Could somebody point to kicstart HOWTO specific for CentOS 7? On CentOS 7 I somehow am always given human intervention questions about drive which defeats unattended ks install. <rant ??> I'm doing kickstart installations for quite some time, normally I was just installing system when new release comes, and am basing kickstart file on anaconda-ks.cfg - with some adoptions from my kickstart configuration for previous system release. Never had a need to re-learn a set of trivial things I use (as far back as I remember: CentOS 6, 5, ... Fedora 5, RH 9, 8, 7...). Now it turns out to be time to re-learn the thing. At least one snag I hit consistently with CentOS 7 kickstart is: it drops me into human decision as far as wiping hard drive and creating custom (or default probably as well) partitioning scheme is concerned. Most likely it is me who needs to learn new trick (like "tricking smart macintosh into actually doing what you want done") as it looks like safety defeats my unattended kickstart installation (like on Windows: "Do you really - really want to do this?") </rant> - if that was rant that is... Thanks a lot for your advises! Valeri ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On Thu, 4 Aug 2016, Valeri Galtsev wrote:> Dear Experts, > > Could somebody point to kicstart HOWTO specific for CentOS 7? > > On CentOS 7 I somehow am always given human intervention questions > about drive which defeats unattended ks install. > > At least one snag I hit consistently with CentOS 7 kickstart is: it > drops me into human decision as far as wiping hard drive and > creating custom (or default probably as well) partitioning scheme is > concerned. Most likely it is me who needs to learn new trick (like > "tricking smart macintosh into actually doing what you want done") > as it looks like safety defeats my unattended kickstart installation > (like on Windows: "Do you really - really want to do this?").It would have been helpful to see the disk-specific part of your kickstart file, but here's a snippet that's worked for me: clearpart --all --initlabel zerombr bootloader --location=mbr part ... part ... I've also noticed that LVM meta information will stick around during a re-installation. So if you're reusing the names of volumes groups, you might encounter an error. I do something like this in a %pre section: %pre --interpreter=/usr/bin/bash # DANGER: will remove all volume groups for VG in $(vgs -o vg_name --noheadings); do vgremove -f "$VG" done %end -- Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> http://www.madboa.com/
On Thu, August 4, 2016 7:13 pm, Paul Heinlein wrote:> On Thu, 4 Aug 2016, Valeri Galtsev wrote: > >> Dear Experts, >> >> Could somebody point to kicstart HOWTO specific for CentOS 7? >> >> On CentOS 7 I somehow am always given human intervention questions >> about drive which defeats unattended ks install. >> >> At least one snag I hit consistently with CentOS 7 kickstart is: it >> drops me into human decision as far as wiping hard drive and >> creating custom (or default probably as well) partitioning scheme is >> concerned. Most likely it is me who needs to learn new trick (like >> "tricking smart macintosh into actually doing what you want done") >> as it looks like safety defeats my unattended kickstart installation >> (like on Windows: "Do you really - really want to do this?"). > > It would have been helpful to see the disk-specific part of your > kickstart file, but here's a snippet that's worked for me: > > clearpart --all --initlabel > zerombr > bootloader --location=mbr > part ... > part ... > > I've also noticed that LVM meta information will stick around during a > re-installation. So if you're reusing the names of volumes groups, you > might encounter an error. I do something like this in a %pre section: > > %pre --interpreter=/usr/bin/bash > # DANGER: will remove all volume groups > for VG in $(vgs -o vg_name --noheadings); do > vgremove -f "$VG" > done > %end >Thanks Paul, here is my unsuccessful (requiring human intervention) kistart disk related part: # System bootloader configuration #bootloader --location=mbr --boot-drive=sda # Darn, they changed grub password encryption standard #bootloader --location=mbr --boot-drive=sda --append="crashkernel=no rhgb quiet" --md5pass=$1$F/BHluSk$YticIZvEKa6Ckmw6GYTno. bootloader --location=mbr --boot-drive=sda --append="crashkernel=no rhgb quiet" # Partition clearing information clearpart --all --initlabel --drives=sda # Disk partitioning information part /boot --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=500 --asprimary part / --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=5000 --asprimary part /usr --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=30000 --asprimary part swap --fstype="swap" --ondisk=sda --size=4000 part /var --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=3000 part /tmp --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=1000 part /home --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=50000 part /data --fstype="xfs" --ondisk=sda --size=100 --grow I never start with drives that contained any lvm leftovers, but thanks, I will add that part to my kickstart file. Valeri ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On Thu, Aug 04, 2016 at 10:32:56AM -0500, Valeri Galtsev wrote:> ... At least one > snag I hit consistently with CentOS 7 kickstart is: it drops me into human > decision as far as wiping hard drive and creating custom (or default > probably as well) partitioning scheme is concerned. Most likely it is me > who needs to learn new trick (like "tricking smart macintosh into actually > doing what you want done") as it looks like safety defeats my unattended > kickstart installation (like on Windows: "Do you really - really want to > do this?") > </rant> - if that was rant that is...Is it a BIOS boot, or are you using the UEFI firmware for booting? Either way, you might need a small boot partition (not /boot) at the beginning of the disk. -- Jonathan Billings <billings at negate.org>
On Thu, 2016-08-04 at 22:21 -0400, Jonathan Billings wrote:> Is it a BIOS boot, or are you using the UEFI firmware for booting? > Either way, you might need a small boot partition (not /boot) at the > beginning of the disk./boot/efi formatted FAT16, circa 150 MB -- Regards, Paul. England, EU. England's place is in the European Union.