Install RHEL by hand and with Kickstart

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$ als gewone gebruiker# als root (of met sudo)

Vaardigheden in dit hoofdstuk

RHEL installeren met de hand en met een Kickstart-bestand

Plan the installation

Decide the basics before you boot the installer. Then the installation is fast and the result fits its job.

Question	Typical answer for a server
Installation image	The DVD/full ISO (works offline) or the boot ISO (gets packages from the network)
Hardware	2 CPUs, 2 GiB RAM or more, 20 GiB disk or more; UEFI firmware
Software	Minimal Install or Server (no desktop)
Disk layout	Automatic LVM, or `/boot` + LVM with `/`, `/var`, `/home`, swap
Network	Fixed address and host name for servers
Accounts	root locked, one admin user in `wheel` with an SSH key
Registration	Activation key, so updates work at once

16.2

Install interactively with Anaconda

Anaconda shows an Installation Summary hub. Every item with a warning sign must be done before Begin Installation works.

Boot from the ISO and choose Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.
Choose the language.
In the summary, set:
- Installation Destination: the disk, and Automatic or Custom partitioning.
- Network & Host Name: turn the card on, set the host name, and (with Configure…) a fixed address.
- Software Selection: for example Minimal Install.
- Time & Date: the time zone, NTP on.
- Root Account: lock it, or set a strong password.
- User Creation: an admin user, with Add administrative privileges (puts the user in wheel).
- Connect to Red Hat: register with an account or an activation key.
Click Begin Installation, wait, then Reboot System.

After the first boot, check the system:

$hostnamectl
$ip -br a
$sudo dnf repolist
$lsblk
#ls -l /root/anaconda-ks.cfg

Notitie

Anaconda writes the answers of this installation into /root/anaconda-ks.cfg. It is the best start for your own Kickstart file.

16.3

Read a Kickstart file

A Kickstart file has commands (one per line), then sections that start with % and end with %end.

ks-web.cfg

# --- installation source and basics ---
text
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard --vckeymap=us
timezone Asia/Riyadh --utc
network --bootproto=static --device=enp1s0 --ip=192.168.122.30 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.122.1 --nameserver=192.168.122.1 --hostname=web1.example.com --activate
rhsm --organization=12345678 --activation-key=web-servers
 
# --- accounts ---
rootpw --lock
user --name=admin --groups=wheel --iscrypted --password=$6$rounds=4096$Xy1...$k3...
sshkey --username=admin "ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3Nza...k9 admin@laptop"
 
# --- disks ---
ignoredisk --only-use=vda
zerombr
clearpart --all --initlabel
autopart --type=lvm
 
# --- security and services ---
selinux --enforcing
firewall --enabled --service=ssh,http
services --enabled=chronyd,httpd
reboot
 
%packages
@^minimal-environment
httpd
vim-enhanced
-cockpit
%end
 
%post --log=/root/ks-post.log
echo "Installed by Kickstart on $(date +%F)" > /etc/motd
%end

Part	What it does
`text`	Run the installer in text mode (no graphics)
`network …`	Address, host name; `--activate` uses it already during the installation
`rhsm`	Register with an activation key during the installation
`rootpw --lock` / `user …` / `sshkey …`	Accounts and SSH keys
`ignoredisk`, `zerombr`, `clearpart`, `autopart`	Use only `vda`, wipe it, make an automatic LVM layout
`%packages`	Package groups (`@^environment`, `@group`), packages, `-name` to leave one out
`%pre` / `%post`	Shell scripts before / after the installation
`reboot`	Reboot at the end without asking

Make a password hash for --iscrypted:

$openssl passwd -6
Password:
$6$Xy1...$k3...

Let op

A Kickstart file with clearpart --all wipes the disk without asking. Use ignoredisk --only-use= so it never touches other disks.

16.4

Lay out the disks yourself

Instead of autopart, list every partition and logical volume with sizes.

ks-disk-part.cfg

zerombr
clearpart --all --initlabel --drives=vda
part /boot/efi --fstype=efi --size=600
part /boot     --fstype=xfs --size=1024
part pv.01     --size=1 --grow
volgroup rhel pv.01
logvol /     --vgname=rhel --name=root --fstype=xfs --size=10240
logvol /var  --vgname=rhel --name=var  --fstype=xfs --size=4096
logvol swap  --vgname=rhel --name=swap --size=2048

--grow makes the partition use all free space. Sizes are in MiB.

16.5

Check the file before you use it

ksvalidator (package pykickstart) finds syntax errors in seconds — much faster than a failed installation.

#dnf install pykickstart
$ksvalidator ks-web.cfg
$ksvalidator -v RHEL10 ks-web.cfg
$ksverdiff -f RHEL9 -t RHEL10

ksverdiff lists the Kickstart commands that changed between two versions.

Op het werk

Red Hat also offers a Kickstart Generator web tool on the Customer Portal, and the Hybrid Cloud Console can build installation images with your settings inside.

16.6

Start an installation with Kickstart

Put the file on a web server (or the ISO, or a USB stick) and tell the installer where it is with the boot option inst.ks=.

#dnf install httpd
#cp ks-web.cfg /var/www/html/
#restorecon -v /var/www/html/ks-web.cfg
#systemctl enable --now httpd
#firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent ; firewall-cmd --reload
$curl -s http://192.168.122.1/ks-web.cfg | head -3

At the boot menu of the ISO, press e (UEFI) or Tab (BIOS) and add:

Boot option

inst.ks=http://192.168.122.1/ks-web.cfg

For a virtual machine, virt-install can do it all in one command:

#virt-install --name web1 --memory 2048 --vcpus 2 --disk size=20 \
    --location /var/lib/libvirt/images/rhel-10.0-x86_64-dvd.iso \
    --os-variant rhel10.0 --network network=default \
    --initrd-inject /root/ks-web.cfg --extra-args "inst.ks=file:/ks-web.cfg console=ttyS0" \
    --graphics none

Source of the file	Boot option
Web server	`inst.ks=http://server/path/ks.cfg`
NFS	`inst.ks=nfs:server:/path/ks.cfg`
Disk / USB with a label	`inst.ks=hd:LABEL=KS:/ks.cfg`
Injected into the initrd	`inst.ks=file:/ks.cfg`