Installation guide

Chapter 1.
Kickstart Installations
1.1. What are Kickstart Installations?
Many system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation method to install
Red Hat Linux on their machines. To answer this need, Red Hat created the kickstart instal-
lation 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 Red Hat Linux
installation.
Kickstart files can be kept on single server system, and read by individual computers dur-
ing the installation. This installation method can support the use of a single kickstart file to
install Red Hat Linux on multiple machines, making it ideal for network and system admin-
istrators.
Kickstart lets you automate most of a Red Hat Linux installation, including:
• Language selection
• Mouse configuration
• Keyboard selection
• Boot loader installation
• Disk partitioning
• Network configuration
• NIS, LDAP, Kerberos, Hesiod, and Samba authentication
• Firewall configuration
• Package selection
• X Window System configuration
1.2. How Do You Perform a Kickstart Installation?
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 disk with the kickstart file or make the kickstart file available on the
network.
3. Start the kickstart installation.
This chapter explains these steps in detail.