RHEL 5 Kickstart setup and installation

Below is the short process of how to setup the Kickstart server and create a Kickstart file for automated installation with HTTP style.

Set up web server Apache which is default on RHEL-5.
Create an iso with the dd command as shown below
mount the DVD

# mount /dev/dvd /mnt
# dd if=/dev/dvd of=/var/rhel5.iso
# mkdir /var/www/html/kick
# cd /var/www/html/kick
dump your DVD mounted files and directories with following way:

#  rsync -rv /mnt/* .

copy the anaconda.ks.cfg file from /root and modify as per your requirement. Here is the basic one just to get the things going - So this is simply just for reference - in case you forget OR set up the Kickstart after a while :-) in that case you may really need some notes to refer.

Example ks.cfg file:

# Kickstart file automatically generated by anaconda.

install
url --url http://192.168.60.130/kick
key --skip
lang en_US.UTF-8
langsupport --default=en_US.UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
xconfig
network --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp
rootpw --iscrypted $1$mgirnE1C$tK92VwNASset7OLfUSznD/
firewall --disabled
selinux --disabled
authconfig --enableshadow --enablemd5
timezone America/Phoenix
bootloader --location=mbr --append="rhgb quiet"
# The following is the partition information you requested
# Note that any partitions you deleted are not expressed
# here so unless you clear all partitions first, this is
# not guaranteed to work
clearpart --all --initlabel
part /boot --fstype ext3 --size=100
part / --fstype ext3 --size=3000 --grow --maxsize=4000
part /home --fstype ext3 --size=1000 --grow
part swap --size=1000 --grow --maxsize=2000

%packages
@ admin-tools
@ text-internet
@ gnome-desktop
@ dialup
@ smb-server
@ base-x
@ web-server
@ printing
@ server-cfg
grub
e2fsprogs
kernel

%post

boot your client with bootable CD or with iso

linux ks=http://192.168.140.22/kick/ks.cfg

Thanks.