Kick Start Installation

[Tonatiuh]

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 for x86

I have installed dozens of times with same installation file (ks.cfg) by this method (HTTP).

I have a problem this time:

The server looks for DHCP (ther is no DHCP in the network where this server is). After that it asks for an IP. I introduce manually the IP (that I already includen in the ks.cfg file). It asks for more data and asks for IP a second time. Then it asks for the http server and Linux directory.

It is able to get the installation files from the http server, but it cannot read the ks.cfg and I have to introduce all installation data manually (whis I do not know).

Any idea?

[Matti_Kurkela]

The most probable reason:
- According to RedHat documentation, when the ks.cfg file is on the HTTP server, you *must* have DHCP to set the network parameters.

When there is no DHCP, the installer must start the manual installation process to ask the network parameters from the user... and when that is completed, it is apparently too late to switch to Kickstart mode.

If you burn the first installation CDROM in multi-session mode, you can add your ks.cfg on it in a second session. There is plenty of free space on the CD #1 just for this. Remember to import the old session first before adding files!

For more information, see chapter 28.8.1 of RHEL 5 Installation Guide, or the equivalent chapter in RHEL 4 Installation Guide. (RedHat's web server seems to be on maintenance break, so I cannot give direct links just now. Sorry!)

Other possibilities:
- Maybe the server has two NICs? (That would be the reason for asking the IP address twice.)

- Maybe the NIC you assume to be eth0 is actually eth1 and vice versa? (This could cause problems with the network settings in the ks.cfg file.)

- Have you really defined all the network parameters required in the non-DHCP case? After the installation is complete, compare your original ks.cfg to the /root/anaconda-ks.cfg file generated by the installer. Is something missing from the network settings?

MK

[Tonatiuh]

The problem was the DHCP by HTTP. I have created the Disk-1 with the ks.cfg file and it is working (from HTTP but reading the ks.cfg from local cd-rom).