Kickstart installs fail with a python error if you attempt to do a CD-Rom Based kickstart install with a kickstart file obtained from the DHCP server. With DHCP configured something like this: host builder { filename "/home/archive/kickstart/builder.kickstart"; next-server pendragon.cybertrails.com; hardware ethernet 00:90:27:2E:93:35; fixed-address 162.42.150.62; option host-name "builder"; } A kickstart file that will generate this error follows: # What language lang en_US # Network config, all should be static network --bootproto dhcp # What to install from cdrom # Any devices that we need for install device ethernet eepro100 device scsi BusLogic # Keyboard type keyboard us # noprobe, other devices # noprobe # Keep this, it won't hurt zerombr yes clearpart --all part /boot --size 16 part / --size 1000 part swap --size 256 part /usr --size 1000 --grow part /var --size 1000 --grow --maxsize 2000 part /home --size 8000 --grow # Install or upgrade install # What kind of mouse? mouse none # Timezone timezone --utc US/Arizona # Xconfig skipx yes # The root password rootpw changeme # Authen type info auth --useshadow --enablemd5 # Where to put lilo lilo --location mbr # Packages to install %packages @ Networked Workstation @ NFS Server @ Anonymous FTP Server @ Web Server @ Network Management Workstation @ Development @ Kernel Development @ Utilities %post echo "Builder Kickstart - Cyber Trails - `/bin/date`" > /etc/motd
Please submit the text of the python error that you are getting so that we can better diagnose the problems you are seeing.
Doht! I could've sworn I put the python error in there.. <blushes sheepishly> Here it is.. Traceback (innermost last): File "/usr/bin/anaconda", line 30, in ? [ 'gui', 'text', 'test', 'debug', 'method=', 'rootpath=' File "/usr/lib/python1.5/sit-packages/isys.py", line 135 in getopt return apply(_isys.getopt, args) TypeError: bad argument --kickstart: missing argument
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FWIW, this may actually be due to the nature of your install disks; from what I can tell, the boot disk's for the CD-Rom do not have any ethernet drivers on them whatsoever. (Which makes sense.. if your installing from CD, why would you want ethernet?) Hence, DHCP wouldn't run anyway. Why there is a python error, though; that I don't know.
You are right that this is happening because you are booting from the local boot disk.
> if your installing from CD, why would you want ethernet? This may not be a bug, but it's a change in behavior from 5.2 to 6.1. We install both from cdrom and over NFS using DHCP to get the client network configuration. For example, this is how it used to work: 1) boot from cdrom with "linux ks" (its much faster than using floppy) 2) ethernet card is autoprobed 3) DHCP request is broadcast 4) responce received, which includes location of client kickstart file 5) installer reads client-specific kickstart config file over NFS 6) installer sees either "cdrom" or "nfs" token to determine install type 7) we choose "cdrom" install 8) the installed mounts the dist from cdrom (instead of over NFS) Depending on the hardware, this is usually faster, and works nicely when we have to install many machines at onces, i.e. we don't have to kill the network. And, each machine can still get it's client-specific network configuration, and our kickstart post-install scripts can mount things up and finish off the site-specific configuration. It would be extremely useful to have this functionality back in 6.x, and I'm more than willing to help debug this further. I think the problem is with the boot disk images, as Adam mentioned in previous comments. I think the issue is this...(thought I'm not totally sure...will debug further.) The "boot" images contains CD-ROM support, but the "bootnet" (which we need to use to have ethernet support) doesn't have CD-ROM support. So I guess what would be needed is a boot disk with both CD-ROM support and ethernet support. Also, I believe that the CD-ROM contains the "boot" image and not the "bootnet" image. I'm guessing space on the disk is an issue as well, but if we're talking about a boot disk image on the CD-ROM, we can emulate a 2.88MB floppy, and include support for more devices (i.e. CD-ROM, iso9660, ethernet for starters.) I'm going to try to verify that the problem is indeed a lack of device support in the boot images, and I'll let you know what I find...
Okay, I've started to do a little debugging. What I said before about the disk images not having support for both the CD-ROM and network devices isn't correct. It looks like both the "boot" disk and "bootnet" disk see the CD-ROM and ethernet device, though both disks have problems. I've been trying to get the "boot" image to work with a "linux ks" and it fails. In looking at the kernel messages, it does find the CD-ROM and ethernet card, but it bombs. I'm using the latest available "boot" image. This is the output I get when booting with "linux ks" ... Greetings. Red Hat install init version 6.0 starting mounting /proc filesystem... done mounting /dev/pts (unix89 pty) filesystem... done checking for NFS root filesystem...no trying to remount root filesystem read write... done checking for writable /tmp... yes running install... running /sbin/loader Traceback (innermost last): File "/usr/bin/anaconda", line 30, in ? [ 'gui', 'text', 'test', 'debug', 'method=', 'rootpath=', File "/usr/lib/python1.5/site-packages/isys.py", line 135, in getopt return apply(_isys.getopt, args) TypeError: bad argument --kickstart: missing argument install exited abnormally ... Because of this bug, we've been using the "bootnet" disk instead of "boot". It's when we use the bootnet disk that we are unable to do a kickstart install off the CD-ROM. The error we get is simply: "no install method specified for kickstart" I'm guessing that the bootnet disk only knows about NFS, FTP, and HTTP installs? BTW, on the "boot" disk image, when SYSLINUX is loaded, you can press F4 to see a little blurb about kickstart. It reads: ... To enter the kickstart mode, type "linux ks <ENTER>". Kickstart mode works with both NFS and CD-ROM installations. The installation program looks in the following places for the config file: o the broadcast server from bootp o the bootp server if no other server name is broadcast o on the boot floppy if "linux ks=floppy <ENTER>" is given. ... By the way this is worded, it sounds to me that the install type (either NFS or CD-ROM) is not dependant on the way the kickstart config file is obtained. i.e. we should be able to install off CD-ROM or NFS, no matter where the kickstart config file is located weather it be floppy or BOOTP server. I'm going to continue to dig through the installer source and see if I can help out with this further. --Mark ========================================================================== Mark A Bentley -- Web Page: http://www.cs.umn.edu/~bentlema/ CSE/ITLabs Systems Staff -- Web Page: http://www.cs.umn.edu/systems-staff/ University of Minnesota -- EE/CSci Building -- Minneapolis (East Bank)
Just another comment about the following: > > from what I can tell, the boot disk's for the CD-Rom do not have > any ethernet drivers on them whatsoever. (Which makes sense.. if > your installing from CD, why would you want ethernet?) Hence, > DHCP wouldn't run anyway. > Just because you boot from CD-ROM, doesn't mean you're going to do a CD-ROM install. As far as I know, the boot disk image on the stock CD-ROM is the same as the 1.44MB "boot" image that comes in the images directory. It's just a lot faster booting from the CD-ROM, than the floppy drive. We normally burn the "boot" image along with the distribution onto a CD-R and use it to boot, regardless of the way we choose to install, weather it be a normall CD-ROM install, or a kickstart/CD-ROM install, or a kickstart/NFS install. They should all work. As far as the python error, it occurs while booting with the "boot" image on floppy as well. --Mark