Advanced Kickstart Questions
I need to know if this is possible and if so maybe a pointer to some resources that can help me accomplish.
I will talk to my provider and see if they can setup dhcp for my vlans. And dedicate a small percentage of my assigned ips to this pool. For example if I have 10 servers having two ip addresses that can be used as dhcp assigned address should be plenty.
I would look to put a Centos dvd into the drive and turn it out. It would then start the install. A couple of options:
1.) pull the kickstart file from ftp
2.) pull the kickstart file from http
3.) pull the kickstart file from the dvd then pull extra configuration information from ftp or http
I lean towards 1 and 2 simply because if I really need to make changes to the partitions or anything like that it can be easily accomplished.
So preferred ideas - need possibly other better suggestions:
System comes online.
Gets a dhcp address from my small recovery pool
Connects to my website or ftp site to get its kickstart file.
Completes its install with my kickstart file
or
No dhcp option (if I am forced to go this route)
Each system will have its own dvd and a custom kickstart file
System starts with my default kickstart file
Can I pull extra kickstart information from http:ftp? Not sure if possible
or
Can I pull extra kickstart information from a recovery disk? local mounted drive - same about being not sure if this is possible
or
Post steps can be to run script xyz from the recovery drive after its all been mounted? or does this type of work have to be done in the kick start file itself and not reach to any external type storage system, local, http, ftp
I really am just looking at ideas right now but I have about 2 days to decide and perfect the technique I would like to use. I also have to talk to my provider to see if they can offer me some dhcp services for my vlans. If they can't approve that idea then I will be forced to go the static kick start file route but would like to be able to either customize the kick start files after the fact with local,http, or ftp. or simply I will have to edit some of the /etc/rc.d/init.d startup files so that the first time the machine boots up and can mount/http/ftp that it pulls the scripts and executes any post-op steps.
