Kickstart Configurator...but no internet access
 

Hello,
I am using a Supermicro server model PDV-1222 from Padova with a Raid 4 configuration, and want to know how I can configure a kickstart installation without being able to connect the server to the internet (not permitted by my employer to connect it to the domain).

I am using CentOS 5.2, and because I am not allowed to connect this server to the internet, have been using a Dell laptop to surf the web and look for ways to download Kickstart Configurator and load it onto the Supermicro server via DVD/CD-ROM or floppy. I assume I can download Kickstart Configurator somewhere on the web, and would like to get some feedback from anyone out there who may not be new to CentOS/Linux/Kickstart Configuration like I am. I am brand new to this, but am quickly becoming familiar with Linux.

Thank you for reading.

Hi,

and welcome to LQ!

Now, I don't have centos handy, but from the manual I'd
guess that the configurator is part of the distribution
and doesn't need to be downloaded separately. Have
you tried invoking it as described, if you did and it failed,
did you check your installation media for its presence?



Cheers,
Tink

Hello and thanks for responding!

I opened Terminal, signed into root, and typed /usr/sbin/system-config-kickstart . I read in the manual that I must be sure to be using the X11 Window system when I do this, but I can not be sure if I am or am not.

So far I have been able to determine that X11 is included in Linux, but can determine to launch Windows X11 or tell if I am even using it right now.

I would check my installation material but I downloaded CentOS from a mirrored site which was sort of bland with links to start downloading any version of CentOS so I picked 5.2 because it was the newest version posted. For now I am doing VIM TUTOR and learning how to modify files. I need to know how to modify a kickstart file when I acutally find it!

Am I missing the big picture with X11? Do you think this is stopping me from accessing /usr/sbin/system-config-kickstart ?

I decided to abandon trying to find Kickstart Configurator and went directly to get the ks.cfg file from /root/anaconda-ks.cfg. Now that I can see what I need to burn to a boot disk, how do I save it? Do I copy>paste the text to an OpenOffice file and burn it as an ISO? I can only assume that will get me a bootable kickstart disk.

Ummm ... unlikely. I don't think this will work w/o some serious
thought (and a text/xml file won't cut it).

I was never able to figure out how to save a ks.cfg file that I created to a directory. I assume you can use VIM, I will eventually try that. I also abandoned trying to download kickstart confogurator because it involved too many things I didn't know how to do. Trying to download kickstart configurator was difficult because yum install system-config-kickstart simply downloads kickstart for you, and I wasn't able to locate a mirror page or means to download the kickstart installation file I needed. Even if I had it, I am not sure how to install it. I am just not familiar enough with Linux to know yet.