Raskas’ blog

Kickstart is the RedHat way of automate installation. The kickstart file contains all answers to the questions asked during the installation. Besides the normal answers you can add a pre and post installation section where you can execute some extra commands.

You can start building your kickstart file from several points.
One way is to use the graphical tool system-config-kickstart which is included in the package with the same name. An other way is to perform an installation and use the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg file as a start. Off course starting from an empty file is also an option.

Once you have your kickstart file ready you can start the installation. The installation can be performed in multiple ways, from the installation cd, from an own build bootable cd, from the network, … I will not discuss every possible way to install a system but choose the way which is in my opinion the easiest and most realistic method that can be used in most cases.

This is what you need:
* The installation cd downloaded from the official site.
* A usb-disk containing your kickstart file.

I choose for the full installation cd because you can use that cd for every installation and use the packages available on that cd.
I choose for the usb-disk option because not all pc’s have a floppy-drive and you don’t always have the option to access an external server to download you kickstart file from an http or nfs server.

This is how you automatically install your system:
* Boot from the installation cd.
* At the boot: prompt enter:
linux ks=hd:sda1:/ks.cfg
* Press enter to start you installation and wait till the installation is finished.

note:
sda1 is the usb-disk-device. If you have scsi disks in your system it is possible that the usb-drive will be sdb or even sdc.
The /ks.cfg is the path to you kickstart file. The path can varie and also the ks.cfg filename is not fixed.