To begin a kickstart installation, you must boot the system from boot
media you have made or the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1, and enter a special boot
command at the boot prompt. The installation program looks for a
kickstart file if the ks command line argument is
passed to the kernel.
CD-ROM #1 and Diskette
The linux ks=floppy command also works
if the ks.cfg file is located on a vfat or
ext2 file system on a diskette and you boot from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM
#1.
An alternate boot command is to boot off the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CD-ROM #1
and have the kickstart file on a vfat or ext2 file system on a
diskette. To do so, enter the following command at the
boot: prompt:
linux ks=hd:fd0:/ks.cfg
With Driver Disk
If you need to use a driver disk with kickstart, specify the
dd option as well. For example, to boot off
a boot diskette and use a driver disk, enter the following command
at the boot: prompt:
linux ks=floppy dd
Boot CD-ROM
If the kickstart file is on a boot CD-ROM as described in
Section 1.8.1 Creating Kickstart Boot Media, insert the CD-ROM into the
system, boot the system, and enter the following command at the
boot: prompt (where ks.cfg
is the name of the kickstart file):
linux ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg
Other options to start a kickstart installation are as follows:
ks=nfs:<server>:/<path>
The installation program looks for the kickstart file on the NFS
server <server>, as file
<path>. The installation program
uses DHCP to configure the Ethernet card. For example, if your
NFS server is server.example.com and the kickstart file is in the
NFS share /mydir/ks.cfg, the correct boot command would be
ks=nfs:server.example.com:/mydir/ks.cfg.
ks=https://<server>/<path>
The installation program looks for the kickstart file on the HTTP
server <server>, as file
<path>. The installation program
uses DHCP to configure the Ethernet card. For example, if your
HTTP server is server.example.com and the kickstart file is in the
HTTP directory /mydir/ks.cfg, the correct boot command would be
ks=https://server.example.com/mydir/ks.cfg.
ks=floppy
The installation program looks for the file
ks.cfg on a vfat or ext2 file system on the
diskette in /dev/fd0.
ks=floppy:/<path>
The installation program looks for the kickstart file on
the diskette in /dev/fd0, as file
<path>.
ks=hd:<device>:/<file>
The installation program mounts the file system on
<device> (which must be vfat or
ext2), and look for the kickstart configuration file as
<file> in that file system (for
example, ks=hd:sda3:/mydir/ks.cfg).
ks=file:/<file>
The installation program tries to read the file
<file> from the file system; no
mounts are done. This is normally used if the kickstart file
is already on the initrd image.
ks=cdrom:/<path>
The installation program looks for the kickstart file on
CD-ROM, as file <path>.
ks
If ks is used alone, the installation
program configures the Ethernet card to use DHCP. The
kickstart file is read from the "bootServer" from the DHCP
response as if it is an NFS server sharing the kickstart file. By
default, the bootServer is the same as the DHCP server. The name
of the kickstart file is one of the following:
If DHCP is specified and the boot file begins with a
/, the boot file provided by DHCP is looked for
on the NFS server.
If DHCP is specified and the boot file begins with
something other then a /,
the boot file provided by DHCP is looked for in the
/kickstart directory on the NFS server.
If DHCP did not specify a boot file, then the installation
program tries to read the file
/kickstart/1.2.3.4-kickstart, where
1.2.3.4 is the numeric IP address
of the machine being installed.
ksdevice=<device>
The installation program uses this network device to connect
to the network. For example, to start a kickstart installation
with the kickstart file on an NFS server that is connected to the
system through the eth1 device, use the command
ks=nfs:<server>:/<path>
ksdevice=eth1 at the boot: prompt.
