Cluster der kan alt/PXE and Kickstart

Aim

To enable unattended installation and configuration of Ubuntu on nodes, so that their configuration matches the master machine. This is achieved with PXE boot and configuration with Kickstart.

PXE

Install tftp server

apt-get install tftpd-hpa

Netinstaller

Download and install pxelinux to tftp root:

cd /var/lib/tftpboot/
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/trusty/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
tar -xvzf netboot.tar.gz

Note: trusty = ubuntu 14.04, precise = ubuntu 12.04

Set the kickstartfile as default, and the timer to 5 sec

Enter the txt.cfg file

sudo nano /var/lib/tftpboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/boot-screens/txt.cfg

Rename the "default install" line to "default unattended" so the the unattended kickstart file will be executed by default

Insert the "label unattended" section in the bottom ofthe file

label unattended
        menu label ^Unattended install
        kernel ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux
        append vga=768 initrd=ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz ks=http://10.0.0.1/kickstart/ks.cfg

Change the timeout value to 50 in the default file.

sudo nano /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default

Kickstart

Install the http server lighttpd

sudo apt-get install lighttpd

Create the ks.cfg file

nano /var/www/kickstart/ks.cfg

The kickstart file

Copy/paste the following text to the ks.cfg file. (Make your own changes like ip addresses and domain name, so it will fit your setup.)

Note: When choosing a password, be sure to make it more than eight symbols, with letters, numbers and special symbols. "unattended" install will stop, waiting for confirmation of a weak password, if this advice is not followed... ;-)

#Generated by Kickstart Configurator
#platform=x86

#################
#Node configuration
#################
#System language
lang da_DK
#Language modules to install
langsupport us_EN
#System keyboard
keyboard dk
#System mouse
mouse
#System timezone
timezone Europe/Copenhagen

#################
#User configuration
#################
#Root password
rootpw cluster
#Initial user
user cluster --fullname "cluster" --password <more than 8 symbols here>

#Reboot after installation
reboot
#Use text mode install
text
#Install OS instead of upgrade
install
#Use Web installation
url --url http://mirror.tekkom.dk/ubuntu/
#System bootloader configuration
bootloader --location=mbr
#Clear the Master Boot Record
zerombr yes
#Partition clearing information
clearpart --all --initlabel

#################
#Disk configuration
#################
#Disk partitioning information
part / --fstype ext4 --size 1024
part /boot --fstype ext4 --size 512
part /home --fstype ext4 --size 1024
part /var --fstype ext4 --size 3072
part /tmp --fstype ext4 --size 3072
part /usr --fstype ext4 --size 5120
part swap --size 1024

#System authorization infomation
auth  --useshadow  --enablemd5  --enablenis --nisdomain dka.local --nisserver 1$
#Network information
network --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0
#Firewall configuration
firewall --disabled
#Do not configure the X Window System
skipx

#################
#Package installation
#################
#Package install information
%packages
openssh-server
nmap
ssh
screen
bmon
iperf
bonnie++
lmbench
lm-sensors
snmpd
snmp
build-essential
gcc
openssh-client
nfs-common
mpich2
dsh
portmap
nis
%pre

#################
#Scipt run
#################
#!/bin/bash
echo "Pre-installation"
%post --nochroot
echo "portmap : 10.0.0.1" >> /target/etc/hosts.allow
echo "ypserver 10.0.0.1" >> /target/etc/yp.conf
perl -pi -w -e 's/\/home/\/home.old/g;' /target/etc/fstab
mkdir /target/mnt/tmp
echo "10.0.0.1:/home /home nfs rw,bg,hard,intr 0 0" >> /target/etc/fstab
echo "10.0.0.1:/script /mnt/tmp/ nfs rw,bg,hard,intr 0 0" >> /target/etc/fstab
/target/etc/init.d/nis restart

mount 10.0.0.1:/home/ /home/