96 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
96 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
[[!meta title="Generic automatic installation for different Linux distributions"]]
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## Introduction / Motivation
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If you've been a little bit longer active as a sysadmin, you'll have faced
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different Linux distributions and got used to their pros and cons.
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One thing though that I cannot (and do not) want to get used to, is that
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every distribution contains its own way of having an automated installation.
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May it be [kickstart](http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/Kickstart),
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[preseed](http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Preseed) or
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[aif](http://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/any/aif/) (or any other
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I've not mentioned), all contain their own specific settings to do
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the same again and again.
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Having a lot of discussions regarding this topic, there is one
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approach that seems to kick them all, can be automated easily and
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extended for other distributions (or Unices) and probably
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easily developed as well:
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## Unix = collection of files + metadata
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Unices and Linux distributions are just a number of files in some particular
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filesystem plus some metadata like partitions (or slices), as
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some other people at [OpenQRM](http://openqrm.com/?q=node/2)
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have recognised this as well:
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We asked ourself "what is linux ?", it is the kernel, an initrd,
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some modules and a root-filesystem. Those are all "just" files
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..... so we should treat them like files by putting and managing
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them on modern storage-servers.
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But instead of doing the whole infrastructure management stuff,
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virtualisation (hear the cloud?) and monitoring environment, I'll
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just focus on the part of the installation.
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## Installation into/from a directory
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Assume the following: Every Linux distribution can somehow be put
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into a directory. Either by tar'ing an existing installation or
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by using specific tools like
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[debootstrap](http://wiki.debian.org/Debootstrap),
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[febootstrap](http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/febootstrap/) or
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[archbootstrap](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archbootstrap).
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This proces is pretty easy
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(especially if you compare it to all the options you get
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with the preseed/kickstart/etc., this is just **one** command line!)
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and can be used as a starting point for a generic installation.
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## Add some metadata
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Now take this directory, and put it onto the harddisk. Installation
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done. Well. almost:
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* Todo before
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* Create partitions
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* Create filesystems
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* Todo after
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* Adjust /etc/fstab
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* Add correct boot loader
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* Configure network + ssh
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After you've created the partitions and the filesystem
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(which is distribution independent!), you can copy over the files
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to the target diretory, in which the selected partitions are mounted.
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For post processing, you need to adjust the fstab, so partitions
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(and swap, do not forget computers with 4 or 8 MiB main memory!)
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will be used at the right location. Adding a bootloader would be of
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great help for the boot process (almost distribution independent),
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though booting from the network
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via PXE may even get around this.
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Finally the network configuration (distribution specific!) must be
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adjusted and ssh should be installed, so the system can be configured
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remotely (for instance with [[software/cdist]]).
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## Todo
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So the next steps are pretty straight forward:
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Write something that automatically
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* configures partitions
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* creates filesystems
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* mounts the filesystems
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* copies files from a know location
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* adjusts the operating system
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* umounts everything and
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* reboots
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Doesn't sound like very much and so
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I'll probably give it a try in the next weeks, so stay tuned if you're
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interested in this topic.
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[[!tag eth unix]]
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