custom iso install
 

hello all,

I am a true linux newbie however I have been able to figure out how to setup a web server with PHP & mysql to do a little web development on a personal project. I am getting to the point where I am thinking about marketing my application. To do this I need to develop a way to install in at a client. I am a network administrator and am very familiar with purchasing different applications that are delivered as an install iso seemingly install a pre-configured version of linux. One I have used recently was using scientific linux as a base and had a nice install GUI that walked you through some base configurations and instlled there application. If anyone could point me in the right direction to learn how this is done that would be great.

Thanks in advance for all the help

Which application? Are you referring to Scientific Linux. It's an operating system not an application so are you just wanting to try to write some script to install the application you indicate you are creating or are you wanting to remaster an installed OS already containing your application?

The application that I am referring to is call andtek and I am guessing that they have remastered the install OS to include the asking for information regarding there application.

I'm not clear on what you want to do. Do you want to install this application 'andtek' or do you want to install a remastered version of Scientific Linux with 'andtek' already installed or something else?

If you mean applications for Unified Communications this site might help:-

http://www.andtek.com/communications...plication.html

Sorry for all of the confusion everyone. I meant andtek only as an example of what I am trying to do.

It sounds like I need to remaster a Linux iso. My goal is to have a Linux install ISO that when the installation is complete a LAMP server is installed, a MySQL database has been created and populated with some base info my application needs, phpmyadmin is installed and configured, the PHP.ini file has been configured how I want as well, and all of the files my application requires are loaded. At this point I don't know enough about Linux to have picked one build over another. I am currently using Ubuntu to develop my application but I am willing to change if remastering is easier on a different Linux build.

Can someone point me in the right direction to learn how this is done?

The simplest I have found is with PCLinuxOS which after you install the system and configure it to your liking, you just run 'mylivecd' from a terminal. It creates an iso of the system. Ubuntu and most derivatives of it have a program called remastersys. There is a separate version for Debian. Just google 'remastersys' and go to their site for more info if you are already using Ubuntu. I've used it on various Ubuntu derivatives and haven't really had any problems. The last time I was at their site, it indicated that it was no longer being developed. That has happened before and development has started again. It is developed by one person and is a lot of work so he sometimes takes a hiatus. This one might be permanent. There are different programs available for Fedora and Opensuse and probably other distributions also.

If you have an existing distro like scientific linux or centos you can copy the whole distro tree to a directory, then create a kicksstart out lining every detail of the install, what packages, software, etc you want installed. Then from the root of your distro go into the isolinux directory and modify the isolinux.cfg to point to your kickstart.

I normally use something like mkisofs to build boot iso's. Here is an example of a short little script I wrote.
#!/bin/bash
cd rhel5u5
mkisofs -o ../rhel5.5_x64.iso \
-b isolinux/isolinux.bin \
-c isolinux/boot.cat \
-no-emul-boot \
-boot-load-size 4 \
-boot-info-table -r -R -J -v -T -l -d \
.
cd ..
chmod 644 rhel5.5_x64.iso

Custom Linux ISO
 

I think what you what is a kickstart script?

A kickstart script allows you to predefine all the parameters needed in an installation. You can input parameters for variables that you may not know till install time. Other benefits include being able to define the package set you want installed, adding new packages to the disk repository(this will require a rebuild of repodata and comps.xml files on disc), and being able to run post install scripts. The big benefit obviously is silent install.

;)Here:

http://www.remastersys.com/

thank you everyone for the info.

Rogue45 is right I believe. I have been working with kickstart files for a few months now and I have a working USB install for my work that installs SL, a few custom applications, two KVM Virtual Machines and starts everything. All you need to do is look up what files you would like to install from the .iso's programs folder, and write your scripts in the %post section of the ks.cfg. Also worth noting is that I think that the ks.cfg automatically chroots to the systems root, so if you are wanting to copy over anythnig from your installation media you might want to look up the "no chroot" option for the %post section.

Here is a link for a lot of the ks.cfg functions: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda/Kickstart

Also I wouldnt use the "system-config-kickstart", it caused me a lot of problems.

Your are Welcome!
Have a good weekend:-;)