Kickstart using Spacewalk:

Lessons learned:

Useful commands:

Notes:

03/29/15:

Go figure, once again, getting a simple procedure like do this, then do that, is nigh on impossible.

The closest thing is https://fedorahosted.org/spacewalk/wiki/HowToKickstartCobbler which, I kid you not, is over 5 fucking years old. .. and is for fedora.

Trying the kickstart users’ guide

Users’ guide failed. I’m in the getting started guide, believe it or not. Chapter 3 talks about kickstarting.

So, basic procedure:

1. Create a base channel.

2. Copy the installation media to a directory accessible by the spacewalk web server. /var/satellite/custom-distro/centos6

3. Push distro packages to the base channel. Do not tie it to a repo.

   1. Command:

      rhnpush --server localhost -c centos6_kickstart \
      -d /var/ftp/pub/inst/centos6.5/Packages/ -u admin -p 3Pizda!!
      

   2. Pushed repos appear to go to the cache directory. Using channel as above, it’s at/var/cache/rhn/repodata/centos6_kickstart. Make sure you have sufficient apace.

   3. Or, maybe not. Only thing in that directory is:

      # ll /var/cache/rhn/repodata/centos6_kickstart
      total 24
      drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root 4096 Mar 29 12:26 ./
      drwxr-xr-x. 17 root root 4096 Mar 29 12:26 ../
      -rw-r--r--.  1 root root  122 Mar 29 12:25 filelists.xml.gz
      -rw-r--r--.  1 root root  120 Mar 29 12:25 other.xml.gz
      -rw-r--r--.  1 root root  129 Mar 29 12:25 primary.xml.gz
      -rw-r--r--.  1 root root  871 Mar 29 12:25 repomd.xml
      

   4. Failed. unhelpful errors. Trying an altherate execution:

      rhnpush --server localhost -u admin -p 3Pizda!! \
      -c centos6_kickstart \
      /var/ftp/pub/inst/centos6.5/Packages/*.rpm
      

   5. Also failed. Next try:

      rhnpush --server http://localhost/APP -u admin -p 3Pizda!! \
      -c centos6_kickstart /var/ftp/pub/inst/centos6.5/Packages/*.rpm
      

   6. Started to hang then continued… I’ve also found that the packages are getting uploaded as unmanaged packages. I can add them through a well hidden menu pick. Channels -> Manage s/w channels select the channel, then packages -> add

   7. Multiple iterations of the rhnpush command and all 3995 packages got pushed up to the channel. That part’s a little concerning.

   8. If/when completed, permissible to remove Packages directory and contents.

3. Create kickstart distribution: Systems -> Kickstart -> Distributions -> create new distirbution.

   • Appropriate label

   • tree path = the location of the installation media from step 2.

4. Kickstart profiles… here’s where I’m flipping confused…