NFS doesn't require "custom kernels". It MIGHT need a particular initrd file, but that is all.

And NFS isn't the only shared filesystem available (gluster is faster).

The most complex setup is for PXE boot. Some older systems don't support it. The advantage is that you can
fire off a pxe boot network packet, and the system can be fully installed in about 20 minutes on local disks (recommended for root and swap). User files can be on NFS or gluster as you need.

but setting things up takes time. You first want to get familiar with what you have, and how it works. THEN setup a pxe boot for one system, and update it (hint - there is an already configured pxeboot+initrd for that very purpose, but you might want to customize it OR use it for a core installation, then use yum to update the rest after the initial install.)

Above all, keep a notebook with what you do - even of the things that didn't work (even better is to add why it didn't work) - as that will keep you from trying it again because you forgot it didn't work the first time.

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i would assume a lab tech can keep fc-19 running smoothly for a few years.

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Hi Selfprogrammed,
Hope you are well today. I appreciate the response, as always.

I do understand what you said said about kernel modifications.
But I am not trying to boot from an NFS file system, nor am I trying to use NFS filesystems for the linux file systems. I do not know what I wrote to give you the idea I wanted to boot from NFS. My apologies.
The only NFS filesystems will be for the iso image repository and the kickstart files, using as you indicated, using the boot option "repo={nfs|nfsiso}:server:/path". This is why I said I have no intention of modifying any kernels. No booting from NFS. Boot from DVD. No using NFS for linux file systems. I have plenty of local disk space for that. I'm just trying to follow the instructions in the Fedora-19 documentation, section 8.1.3. "Installing via NFS"

The image I want installed on the target system is Fedora-19-i386-DVD.iso which I downloaded from fedoraproject.org, and have loaded onto the nfsserver.

I boot the target system from a DVD, made from the image Fedora-19-i386-netinst.iso.
Then, at the boot prompt I enter the ip= and repo= options to the linux command as shown here:

boot: linux ip=<ipaddress>:[<dnsserver>]:<gateway>:<netmask>:<hostname>:<network-interface>:off repo=nfsiso:options:nfsserver:/path

You know, going through all this again, I think I have been entering the ip= option incorrectly. I know I've seen it defined two different ways.
As for anaconda, I cannot seem to find the format of the nfs options anywhere. But I did just find a link to a list anconda options, maybe that will tell me.

Anyway, I'm going to try the repo=nfsios one more time, then I'll finish setting up the kickstart files and try that.
I'll keep yoiu posted.

Thanks for the feedback.
Well, it is a lab environment. One system hasn't been touch for a while, it's at Fedora Core Release 6.
Another is at Release 11 and the rest are at Release 13. I would love to go with RHEL6.5 to match our one Enterprise server, but maybe I guess there's no budget for it. Not that I would know how much RHEL6 costs. I will have to research that today, when I get time.

centos is a FREE rebuild of RHEL6.5
the current is centos 6.4

it is 99.99% the same as RHEL

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In the immortal words of Johnny Carson, "I did not know that..."
But, then there's a lot about Linux I've not learned yet.
I guess I should check and see if Centos has the same lifespan
issues and then try to sell it to the powers that be.
Thanks!

centos has a bit of a different life span
7 years ( minus the redhat 3 years of EXTENDED support )
and only supports the current minor version
so upgrades are needed

ScientificLinux 6.4 ( also a free rebuild ) dose support older versions but ONLY the security backports

but do to the nature of RHEL the major versions of programs will NOT change in the lifespan of the OS

If SOLVED, then you must have got the IP addressing figured out.
An alternative would be to do tagged install. I don't know if Fedora supports it, but Slackware has an install method where a tag file indicates the components to install, and the admin only has to use the tag file to duplicate the install to other machines.
It requires a CDROM or DVD drive on the install machine.
I never had machines alike enough to use any of these, I just keep notes.