[ILUG] Linux@Work - kickstart

[David Murphy]

Quoting <38CB6860.5AD574E3 at suberic.net>
by kevin lyda <kevin at suberic.net>:

> with kickstart the id can just be your ethernet address, but
> kickstart can go fetch your ks.cfg file from an nfs server. the dhcp
> server needs to specify a "filename" attribute and a "next-server"
> attribute for the ethernet card.

The DHCP filename/next server attributes sound like it performs a
similar function to the bootparam stuff Suns use when netbooting, and
just as Sun wrote an add_install_client script to automate the
process, one can do so for KickStart.

> that seems slightly more difficult then just running a script to
> make the floppy (since you'll need a floppy anyway). With solaris
> the boxes had the smarts to boot off the net, so editing a bootp
> config file and /etc/ethers was fine. but since you have to make a
> floppy anyway for intel boxes...

Obviously, no OS in the world is going to magically make your PC BIOS
capable of netbooting (and I'm sure I mentioned somewhere that you had
to produce a boot floppy for Solaris x86 machines you were
jumpstarting. Alternatively, maybe you're KickStarting onto Suns), but
if you do have to use a floppy there are significant practical
advantages in only having to produce one floppy image, and doing all
other configuration on a central server.

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