Regarding NFS method of Installation issue in RHEL 6.6

Discussion:

anant garg

2015-06-11 12:18:46 UTC

Hi All,

Greeting for the day.

I was installation RHEL by using NFS method in a kickstart file

My kickstart includes another kickstart

Below was a snippet of my kickstart

install
nfs --server=169.254.1.2 --dir=/export/home/agarg/imag

key --skip
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us

% include /mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

%packages
@base
@supp
@core
%end

I found that during Network installation, Installation failed with Error:-

The following problem occurred on line 0 of the kickstart file:

Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

I login to tty2 and found that only images directory from ISO has been
copied to /mnt/stage2
That is why it is not finding the kickstart.

I can not understand this behavior.

I tried the same installation by CD and /mnt/stage2 was having kickstart
and complete iso tree.

Can any one please help me understand this behavior and solution for nfs
method of installation of above on RHEL 6.6?

Please let me know in case you require more information

Thanks and Regards,
Anant Garg

Vratislav Podzimek

2015-06-16 07:56:48 UTC

Permalink

Isn't the 169.254.1.2:/export/home/agarg/imag simply mounted
to /mnt/stage2? I don't think anaconda copies anything. And that would
also explain why the kickstart file is not there.

--
Vratislav Podzimek

Anaconda Rider | Red Hat, Inc. | Brno - Czech Republic

anant garg

2015-06-16 12:29:19 UTC

Permalink

Thank you for replying.

I am sharing my understanding of the operation i performed.

I configured Network installation server 169.254.1.2 and exported
/export/home/agarg/imag from Server.

Now i make another machine(client ) attached to server to boot via network.
Client System was able to boot via pxe and was able to download initrd and
install.img images.
I checked that it was able to recieve the main kickstart in stage1 of
anaconda installer.

After the screen for running anaconda installer , i see below error for
installation failure:-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following problem occurred on line 0 of the kickstart file:

Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I accessed tty2 and check the contents of mnt/stage2/, I see below contents
were only present:-

$ ls mnt/stage2/
efiboot.img efidisk.img install.img pxeboot TRANS.TBL

The above is contents of my images directory present in the ISO

I was expecting that complete installation tree should be present on
mnt/stgae2 just like DVD.
However only images directory's contents is present.

I checked online But could not find the root cause that why images
directory's contents is only present in mnt/stage2 .

I will appreciate any help in this.
Is there a detailed explanation available for the nfs installation behavior
apart from RHEl 6 installation guide?

Please let me know in case further information is required.

Post by Vratislav Podzimek

Isn't the 169.254.1.2:/export/home/agarg/imag simply mounted
to /mnt/stage2? I don't think anaconda copies anything. And that would
also explain why the kickstart file is not there.
--
Vratislav Podzimek
Anaconda Rider | Red Hat, Inc. | Brno - Czech Republic
_______________________________________________
Anaconda-devel-list mailing list
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/anaconda-devel-list

Vratislav Podzimek

2015-06-22 16:41:25 UTC

Permalink

Post by anant garg
Thank you for replying.
I am sharing my understanding of the operation i performed.
I configured Network installation server 169.254.1.2 and
exported /export/home/agarg/imag from Server.
Now i make another machine(client ) attached to server to boot via network.
Client System was able to boot via pxe and was able to download initrd
and install.img images.
I checked that it was able to recieve the main kickstart in stage1 of
anaconda installer.

Where is the main kickstart downloaded from?

Post by anant garg
After the screen for running anaconda installer , i see below error
for installation failure:-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I accessed tty2 and check the contents of mnt/stage2/, I see below
contents were only present:-
$ ls mnt/stage2/
efiboot.img efidisk.img install.img pxeboot TRANS.TBL
The above is contents of my images directory present in the ISO

Can you please add the information on how you boot the installer and how
your kickstarts look?

Try running
$ ls /mnt/source

And see if that's the directory your additional ks file lives in or not.

--
Vratislav Podzimek

Anaconda Rider | Red Hat, Inc. | Brno - Czech Republic

anant garg

2015-07-01 10:11:50 UTC

Permalink

Hi Vratislav, All,

Thank you for responding.
I am providing you more details:-

Regarding booting the Installer

1. I am using network boot and for that I am using RHEL suggested method as
below:-

1. Copy the vmlinuz, initrd.img and pxelinux.0 to
/var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
2. Create a default file that contains option to boot above kernel vmlinuz
and initrd also with ks parameter to pass nfs location of main
kickstart file
3. Mount the ISO on server and copy its contents to the directory.
The directory has below folder:-

Packages --> contains packages
EFI --> contaings BOOT directory
isolinux --> contains isolinux.bin vmlinuz initrd.img
images -> contains install.img efidisk.ing pxeboot directory
repodata -> containing comps.xml
kickstart --> folder containing all kickstart files

4. Export this directory via NFS.

5. After that the client system is booted over network (PXE boot)
6. After that Running anaconda message appears.
7. After the screen of running anaconda , below error occurs:-

Post by anant garg
Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

I am providing you snippet of kickstart file as below:-

install
nfs --server=169.254.1.2 --dir=/export/home/agarg/imag

key --skip
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us

% include /mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

%packages
@base
@supp
@core
%end

Also I want to confirm an additional query:-

Also there is a pre section in my additional kickstart file which is
Additional.inc which is used to probe for system related information and
store it in a file.

But I think that %pre script execution from additional kickstart file has
been removed, can you please confirm.
Does In RHEL6.6 installer does %pre section script executes only from the
main kickstart file and not the additional included files ?

Post by anant garg

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
Try running
$ ls /mnt/source

I checked the above but this directory is not present, only below two
directory is present:-

mnt/stage2
mnt/runtime

and mnt/stage2 contains only contents of /export/home/agarg/imag/images
directory which are below:-

install.img
efidisk.ing
pxeboot directory

i will appreciate any further help provided.
Please let me know in case you require more information.

Thanks and regards,
Anant garg

Post by anant garg

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
Thank you for replying.
I am sharing my understanding of the operation i performed.
I configured Network installation server 169.254.1.2 and
exported /export/home/agarg/imag from Server.
Now i make another machine(client ) attached to server to boot via network.
Client System was able to boot via pxe and was able to download initrd
and install.img images.
I checked that it was able to recieve the main kickstart in stage1 of
anaconda installer.

Where is the main kickstart downloaded from?

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
After the screen for running anaconda installer , i see below error
for installation failure:-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
I accessed tty2 and check the contents of mnt/stage2/, I see below
contents were only present:-
$ ls mnt/stage2/
efiboot.img efidisk.img install.img pxeboot TRANS.TBL
The above is contents of my images directory present in the ISO

Can you please add the information on how you boot the installer and how
your kickstarts look?
Try running
$ ls /mnt/source
And see if that's the directory your additional ks file lives in or not.
--
Vratislav Podzimek
Anaconda Rider | Red Hat, Inc. | Brno - Czech Republic
_______________________________________________
Anaconda-devel-list mailing list
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/anaconda-devel-list

anant garg

2015-07-04 08:56:28 UTC

Permalink

Hi Anaconda developers, Vratislav, All

Greetings for the day.
Can You help me understand the above behavior and suggest workaround.

In addition to above I found one more behavioral difference between
installing via DVD iso and Network Installer.

In DVD installer, %pre section of all kickstart files are running.
for eg:- If I have a main kickstart file that includes another additional
kicksatrt file , then pre section of both kickstart files (main and
additional kicksatrt) executed.

But when I performed Network Installation, then %pre section only from main
kickstart ran, however %pre section of additional kickstart did not run .

Can anyone help me to so that I can run %pre section of all kickstart files
in a Network Installer.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks and regards,
Anant Garg

Post by anant garg
Hi Vratislav, All,
Thank you for responding.
I am providing you more details:-
Regarding booting the Installer
1. I am using network boot and for that I am using RHEL suggested method
as below:-
1. Copy the vmlinuz, initrd.img and pxelinux.0 to
/var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg
2. Create a default file that contains option to boot above kernel vmlinuz
and initrd also with ks parameter to pass nfs location of main
kickstart file
3. Mount the ISO on server and copy its contents to the directory.
The directory has below folder:-
Packages --> contains packages
EFI --> contaings BOOT directory
isolinux --> contains isolinux.bin vmlinuz initrd.img
images -> contains install.img efidisk.ing pxeboot directory
repodata -> containing comps.xml
kickstart --> folder containing all kickstart files
4. Export this directory via NFS.
5. After that the client system is booted over network (PXE boot)
6. After that Running anaconda message appears.
7. After the screen of running anaconda , below error occurs:-

Post by anant garg
Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

I am providing you snippet of kickstart file as below:-
install
nfs --server=169.254.1.2 --dir=/export/home/agarg/imag
key --skip
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
% include /mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc
%packages
@base
@supp
@core
%end
Also I want to confirm an additional query:-
Also there is a pre section in my additional kickstart file which is
Additional.inc which is used to probe for system related information and
store it in a file.
But I think that %pre script execution from additional kickstart file has
been removed, can you please confirm.
Does In RHEL6.6 installer does %pre section script executes only from the
main kickstart file and not the additional included files ?

Post by anant garg

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
Try running
$ ls /mnt/source

I checked the above but this directory is not present, only below two
directory is present:-
mnt/stage2
mnt/runtime
and mnt/stage2 contains only contents of /export/home/agarg/imag/images
directory which are below:-
install.img
efidisk.ing
pxeboot directory
i will appreciate any further help provided.
Please let me know in case you require more information.
Thanks and regards,
Anant garg

Post by anant garg

Where is the main kickstart downloaded from?

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
After the screen for running anaconda installer , i see below error
for installation failure:-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post by Vratislav Podzimek
Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

anant garg

2015-07-31 08:44:51 UTC

Permalink

HI,

i was able to perform Network Installation successfully.

Sharing information of what I did :-

What I changed in my kickstart was the below:-

install
nfs --server=169.254.1.2 --dir=/export/home/agarg/imag

to

install
nfs --server=169.254.1.2 --dir=/export/home/agarg/imag/install.img

Also On the NFS server side, I kept install.img on the ISO tree as
a separate entity on ISO tree.

Although I do not know a reason that why install.img is given as an
arguement to dir, Because the below docuement says in case of nfs
installation.

https://github.com/rhinstaller/pykickstart/blob/master/docs/kickstart-docs.rst#nfs

--dir=

Directory containing the Packages/ directory of the installation tree. If
doing an ISO install, this directory must also contain images/install.img.

Nonetheless Thanks for looking into the issue.

Post by anant garg
Hi All,
Greeting for the day.
I was installation RHEL by using NFS method in a kickstart file
My kickstart includes another kickstart
Below was a snippet of my kickstart
install
nfs --server=169.254.1.2 --dir=/export/home/agarg/imag
key --skip
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
% include /mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc
%packages
@base
@supp
@core
%end
I found that during Network installation, Installation failed with Error:-
Unable to open input kickstart file: Could not open/read
file:///mnt/stage2/kickstart/Additional.inc
I login to tty2 and found that only images directory from ISO has been
copied to /mnt/stage2
That is why it is not finding the kickstart.
I can not understand this behavior.
I tried the same installation by CD and /mnt/stage2 was having kickstart
and complete iso tree.
Can any one please help me understand this behavior and solution for nfs
method of installation of above on RHEL 6.6?
Please let me know in case you require more information
Thanks and Regards,
Anant Garg