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RHEL 7 - Kickstart

Automated Installation of RHEL 7 using Kickstart, DHCPD, HTTPD and TFTP

by Mohammed Usman Sharieff & Kishore Kumar G

Note: *All the commands are highlighted in red & are in bold.

1) Install the Redhat Server:

a) Create a Redhat Server with a minimum Hard Disk Size of 30GB, and make sure that the disk is partitioned with the following size:

  • /boot - 500 MB
  • / - 20 GB
  • /home - 5 GB
  • swap - 4 GB (2X the size of RAM)

(or)

b) If you have already installed the Server with Hard Disk Size of 20 GB, do the following:

  • 1) Add another Hard Disk of Size 20 GB of type SCSI. This partition is created to mount the client ISO.
  • 2) Use # fdisk -l to check whether the new disk is added. 
    [root@localhost Desktop]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdb: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
[root@localhost Desktop]#
  • 3) Create a new Logical Volume using the command # fdisk /dev/sdb and do the following: 
    [root@localhost Desktop]# fdisk /dev/sdb
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.23.2).

Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

Device does not contain a recognized partition table
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xb8a00146.

Command (m for help):
Command (m for help): n
Partition type:
   p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
   e   extended
Select (default p):
Using default response p
Partition number (1-4, default 1):
First sector (2048-41943039, default 2048):
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-41943039, default 41943039): +19G
Partition 1 of type Linux and of size 19 GiB is set

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xb8a00146

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048    39847935    19922944   83  Linux

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
[root@localhost Desktop]#
  • 4) Use # partprobe command to re-read the MBR without Re-booting or # reboot
  • 5) Use # mkfs -t xfs /dev/sdb1 to format the volume.
  • 6) Create a folder clientiso in / # mkdir /clientiso
  • 7) Mount the volume to the /clientiso folder # mount /dev/sdb1 /clientiso
  • 8) Open /etc/fstab # vi /etc/fstab and add the following line: 
    /dev/sdb1 /clientiso xfs defaults 1 2
  • 9) # reboot (or) # mount -a to mount the volume.
  • 10) To check the mounted partion use # df -h (or) mount


2) Disable all the 3 Firewalls:
  • a) Disable SELINUX:
    i) Open SELINUX Config file by using # vi /etc/selinux/config
    ii) Change 
    SELINUX=enforcing
    to 
    SELINUX=disabled
    iii) Use # setenforce 0 to change the configuration without rebooting.
    iv) Use # getenforce and make sure that the firewall is disabled.
  • b) Disable firewalld:
    i) Use # systemctl stop firewalld.service to stop the firewalld.
    ii) Use # systemctl disable firewalld.service to disable the firewalld.
  • c) Disable iptables, ebtables, ip6tables:
    i) Use # systemctl mask iptables.service ebtables ip6tables.service to stop them.

3) Configure hostname and TCP/IP on the Server:
  • 1) Set hostname as srv1.example.com by # hostnamectl set-hostname srv1.example.com and # reboot
  • 2) Check hosname status # hostnamectl status 
          [root@srv1 Desktop]# hostnamectl status
         Static hostname: srv1.example.com
               Icon name: computer-vm
                 Chassis: vm
              Machine ID: e62eac2270094228bd7d32a6db874904
                 Boot ID: 65aec7e0d92544568350ff25e03e5ed9
          Virtualization: vmware
        Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7.0 (Maipo)
             CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:GA:server
                  Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-123.el7.x86_64
            Architecture: x86_64
      [root@srv1 Desktop]#
  • 3) Add connection name eth0 using # nmcli connection add type ethernet con-name eth0 ifname eno16777736
  • 4) Configure network using text interface # nmtui and do the following:

    nmtui
  • 5) Make eth0 connection up # nmcli connection up eth0
  • 6) Check the configuration using # ifconfig 
    [root@srv1 Desktop]# ifconfig
eno16777736: flags=4163  mtu 1500
        inet 10.0.0.10  netmask 255.0.0.0  broadcast 10.255.255.255
        inet6 fe80::20c:29ff:fea7:27bb  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20
        ether 00:0c:29:a7:27:bb  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 109  bytes 12269 (11.9 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 39  bytes 5298 (5.1 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10
        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 1030  bytes 87600 (85.5 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 1030  bytes 87600 (85.5 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

[root@srv1 Desktop]#
  • 7) Open /etc/hosts file # vi /etc/hosts and add the following: 
       10.0.0.10     srv1.example.com
  • 8) Check the connection using # ping 10.10 and # ping srv1.example.com

4) Configure yum:
  • 1) Make sure that the CD/DVD (SATA) is connected and the Server ISO is mounted.
  • 2) Create two folders /iso, /packages in the / directory # mkdir /iso /packages
  • 3) Mount the Server ISO image to the /iso folder # dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/iso/rh7.iso
  • 4) Open /etc/fstab # vi /etc/fstab and add the following line: 
    /iso/rh7.iso  /packages  iso9600  user,loop  0 0
  • 5) # reboot (or) # mount -a to mount the volume.
  • 6) Use # df -h to view the mounted volume.
  • 7) Open /etc/yum.repos.d/rh7.repo # vi /etc/yum.repos.d/rh7.repo and add the following: 
    [rh7]
name=rh7
baseurl=file:///packages
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
  • 8) # yum clean all ; yum update

5) Install HTTPD, DHCPD, TFTP, SYSLINUX:
  • 1) Use yum install command to install the packages # yum install -y dhcp* http* tftp* syslinux*
  • 2) A total of 33 packages will be installed along with the dependencies.

6) Mount the Client ISO and transfer the contents to the Apache server:
  • 1) Make sure that the CD/DVD (SATA) is connected and the Client ISO is mounted.
  • 2) Create a folder /clientiso, in the / directory # mkdir /clientiso
    *Note: If you have added an additional Hard Disk you can skip this step.
  • 3) Mount the Client ISO image to the /clientiso folder
    # dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/clientiso/rh7client.iso
  • 4) Goto /var/www/html # cd /var/www/html and create a folder packages # mkdir packages
  • 5) Open /etc/fstab # vi /etc/fstab and add the following line: 
    /clientiso/rh7client.iso  /var/www/html/packages  iso9600  user,loop  0 0
  • 6) # reboot (or) # mount -a to mount the volume.
  • 7) Use # df -h to view the mounted volume.

7) Configure DHCPD:
  • 1) Start DHCPD service # systemctl start dhcpd
  • 2) Open /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf # vi /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf and add the following: 
      subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.0.0.0 {
  range 10.0.0.100 10.0.0.200;
  filename "pxelinux.0";
  next-server 10.0.0.10;
  }
  • 3) Retart DHCPD service # systemctl restart dhcpd
  • 4) Enable DHCPD service # systemctl enable dhcpd
  • 5) Check status of DHCPD service # systemctl status dhcpd 
        [root@srv1 Desktop]# systemctl status dhcpd
    dhcpd.service - DHCPv4 Server Daemon
       Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dhcpd.service; enabled)
       Active: active (running) since Sat 2018-08-18 00:50:08 IST; 8min ago
         Docs: man:dhcpd(8)
               man:dhcpd.conf(5)
     Main PID: 1417 (dhcpd)
       CGroup: /system.slice/dhcpd.service
               └─1417 /usr/sbin/dhcpd -f -cf /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf -user dhcpd -gr...
    [root@srv1 Desktop]#

8) Configure TFTP:
  • 1) Navigate to /var/lib/tftpboot by # cd /var/lib/tftpboot
  • 2) Create two folders pxelinux.cfg and rh7
    # mkdir pxelinux.cfg
    # mkdir rh7
  • 3) Navigate to /usr/share/syslinux by # cd /usr/share/syslinux
  • 4) Copy menu.c32 to /var/lib/tftpboot # cp menu.c32 /var/lib/tftpboot
  • 5) Copy pxelinux.0 to /var/lib/tftpboot # cp pxelinux.0 /var/lib/tftpboot
  • 6) Navigate to /var/www/html/packages/isolinux by # cd /var/www/html/packages/isolinux
  • 7) Copy vmlinuz folder to /var/lib/tftpboot/rh7 # cp vmlinuz /var/lib/tftpboot/rh7
  • 8) Copy initrd.img to /var/lib/tftpboot/rh7 # cp initrd.img /var/lib/tftpboot/rh7
  • 9) Navigate to /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg by # cd /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
  • 10) Create a file called defualt by # vi default and add the following: 
        timeout 100
    default menu.c32
    menu title ==== Kishore RH7 Client Installation ====
    label 1
    menu label ^ 1)rhel7 using Kickstart
    kernel rh7/vmlinuz
    append initrd=rh7/initrd.img ks=http://10.0.0.10/ks.cfg
    You can download the default file here
  • 11) Finally the folder structure for the /tftpboot directory should be like this: 
        |_ /var
         |_ /lib
               |_ /tftpboot
                         |menu.c32
                         |pxelinux.0
                         |_ /pxelinux.cfg
                                        |default
                         |_ /rh7
                               |_ /vmlinuz
                               |inird.img
    You can download TFTPBOOT folder Repo here.

9) Adding ks.cfg to Apache Server:
  • 1) From any one of the previously installed client navigate to /root by cd /root
  • 2) Copy anaconda-ks.cfg from the client and rename it as ks.cfg # mv anaconda.cfg ks.cfg
  • 3) In the Server paste the ks.cfg file to /var/www/html # cp ks.cfg var/www/html
  • 4) Make the following changes in the ks.cfg file by # vi ks.cfg 
      Remove cdrom
  And the add the following:
  install
  autostep
  url --url=http://10.0.0.10/packages
    You can download the sample ks.cfg file here
  • 5) Finally the folder structure for /var/www/html should be like this: 
        |_ /var
         |_ /www
               |_ /html
                     |ks.cfg
                     |_ /packages

10) Start and Enable httpd, dhcpd, tftp, xinetd services:
  • 1) Start and enable httpd service 
      # systemctl start httpd.service
  # systemctl enable httpd.service
  • 2) Restart and enable dhcpd service 
      # systemctl restart dhcpd.service
  # systemctl enable dhcpd.service
  • 3) Start tftp socket and service 
      # systemctl start tftp.socket
  # systemctl start tftp.service
  • 4) Start xinetd socket and service 
      #  systemctl start xinetd.service
  #  systemctl enable xinetd.service
  • 4) Check the status if tftp, dhcpd, httpd and xinetd 
      #  systemctl status service_name

11) Performing Client Installation with kickstart:
  • 1) Virtual Machine setting for client VM, choose Host-Only for Network Adapter and auto detect for CD/DVD.
    vm settings
  • 2) First DHCP will assign the IP address to the client, then TFTP will start working.
    tftp
  • 3) Client starts installing automatically as per the configuration in ks.cfg.
    client install

  • Thank You!