The software described in this documentation is either no longer supported or is in extended support.
Oracle recommends that you upgrade to a current supported release.
You can also create Kickstart profiles in Cobbler outside of Spacewalk. As for Spacewalk, a profile defines how to configure an installation if the target client has to perform a certain role. For example, you might want to configure a system as a web or database server. To create a profile in Cobbler, you associate a Kickstart file with a distribution.
You can use the cobbler profile list command to list the profiles that are known to Cobbler, for example:
# cobbler profile list
ol6u6-x86_64
To find out which Kickstart file a profile uses, run the cobbler profile report command, for example:
# cobbler profile report ol6u6-x86_64 | grep Kickstart
Kickstart : /var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts/sample.ks
Kickstart Metadata : {}
The default sample.ks
and other Kickstart files
that Cobbler provides in
/var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts
are unlikely to be
suitable for provisioning clients.
To create a new profile for a distribution:
Create the Kickstart file to associate with a distribution.
For example, the following file, named
ol6u6_basic_server.ks
, contains a Kickstart definition for a basic Oracle Linux 6 server:# Oracle Linux 6 Basic Server # Use text-based installation text # Install using HTTP from a URL provided by Cobbler url --url=$tree # Define localized settings lang en_US.UTF-8 keyboard us timezone --utc America/New_York # Configure network interface settings network --onboot yes --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6 # root password is an SHA-512 hash provided by Cobbler rootpw --iscrypted $default_password_crypted authconfig --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512 # Allow only SSH connections firewall --service=ssh # Configure SELinux enforcing mode selinux --enforcing # Perform a new installation, removing all existing partitions # before configuring the new boot loader and disk partitions install zerombr clearpart --drives=sda --all --initlabel bootloader --location=mbr --driveorder=sda --append="crashkernel=auto rhgb quiet" autopart # Shutdown and power off the system after installation is finished # to allow you to change the boot order or make other changes. poweroff # Alternatives are halt (default), reboot, and shutdown, # which might not be suitable for unattended installations # Package groups and packages to be installed %packages ... %end
For sample package lists, see Appendix B, Sample Package Lists.
NoteThis example requires that you configure an SHA-512 password hash for the
default_password_crypted
setting in/etc/cobbler/settings
.This example does not take advantage of the power of Kickstart templating and snippets for managing large numbers of profiles and systems in Cobbler. For more information, see the
cobbler(1)
manual page and http://www.cobblerd.org/.If SELinux is enabled in enforcing mode on your system and you create the Kickstart file in a directory other than
/var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts
, for example/var/kickstart
:Use the semanage command to define the default file type of the directory hierarchy as
cobbler_var_lib_t
, for example:#
/usr/sbin/semanage fcontext -a -t cobbler_var_lib_t "/var/kickstart(/.*)?"
Use the restorecon command to apply the file type to the entire directory hierarchy.
#
/sbin/restorecon -R -v /var/kickstart
For each Kickstart file in the directory, use the chcon command to set the SELinux user to
system_u
.#
chcon -u system_u /var/kickstart/*.ks
If SELinux is enabled in enforcing mode on your system and you create the Kickstart file in
/var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts
or in a directory on which you have defined the default file type ascobbler_var_lib_t
, use the chcon command to set the SELinux user of the file tosystem_u
, for example:#
chcon -u system_u ol6u6_basic_server.ks
You can use the ls -Z command to display the context, for example:
#
ls -Z ol6u6_basic_server.ks
-rw-rw-r--. root root system_u:object_r:cobbler_var_lib_t:s0 ol6u6_basic_server.ksThe correct SELinux context for a Kickstart file used by Cobbler is
system_u:object_r:cobbler_var_lib_t:s0
.Use the cobbler profile add command to create the profile, for example:
#
cobbler profile add --name=ol6u6_basic_server --distro=ol6u6-x86_64
\--kickstart=/var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts/ol6u6_basic_server.ks
NoteIf this command returns the error
kickstart not found
for a file that does exist at the specified path, the file's SELinux context is incorrect. See the previous step for details of how to set the correct SELinux context on a file.Enter the cobbler profile list command to display the profiles that are now known to Cobbler.
#
cobbler profile list
ol6u6-x86_64 ol6u6_basic_serverThe
ol6u6-x86_64
profile is unlikely to be usable. If you want to remove a profile, use the cobbler profile remove command.#
cobbler profile remove --name=ol6u6-x86_64
#cobbler profile list
ol6u6_basic_serverNoteRemoving a profile also removes any client
system
definitions that you have created from that profile.
You can now define PXE clients that Cobbler can provision based on a profile that you have created. See Section 4.6.1, “Adding a PXE Client to be Provisioned by Cobbler”.