Installation guide

Chapter 28. Kickstart Installations
1. What are Kickstart Installations?
Many system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation method to install Red
Hat Enterprise Linux on their machines. To answer this need, Red Hat created the kickstart in-
stallation method. Using kickstart, a system administrator can create a single file containing the
answers to all the questions that would normally be asked during a typical installation.
Kickstart files can be kept on a single server system and read by individual computers during
the installation. This installation method can support the use of a single kickstart file to install
Red Hat Enterprise Linux on multiple machines, making it ideal for network and system adminis-
trators.
Kickstart provides a way for users to automate a Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation.
2. How Do You Perform a Kickstart Installa-
tion?
Kickstart installations can be performed using a local CD-ROM, a local hard drive, or via NFS,
FTP, or HTTP.
To use kickstart, you must:
1. Create a kickstart file.
2. Create a boot media with the kickstart file or make the kickstart file available on the net-
work.
3. Make the installation tree available.
4. Start the kickstart installation.
This chapter explains these steps in detail.
3. Creating the Kickstart File
The kickstart file is a simple text file, containing a list of items, each identified by a keyword. You
can create it by using the Kickstart Configurator application, or writing it from scratch. The
Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program also creates a sample kickstart file based on the
options that you selected during installation. It is written to the file /root/anaconda-ks.cfg. You
should be able to edit it with any text editor or word processor that can save files as ASCII text.
First, be aware of the following issues when you are creating your kickstart file:
• Sections must be specified in order. Items within the sections do not have to be in a specific
order unless otherwise specified. The section order is:
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