centos_pxe

CentOS 7/8 & Fedora PXE Boot Unattended OS Installation and Configuration Role

This role configures the basic framework for a local PXE boot environment allowing to perform unattended installation of CentOS 7, CentOS 8, Fedora 31 and more (with custom configuration).

It installs and configures the following:

Installation ISOs & Local RPM Repository - if the installation ISOs do not exist locally they will be downloaded and mounted. Once mounted, their content will be used to generate a local RPM mirror used during the installation process. The mirror can be also used later for additional RPM packages installations.

TFTP server & PXE - we need this to allow the network clients to boot via PXE.

This role pre-configures the PXE service with the following:

Boot from local drive. Do not install anything
Install Fedora 31 Manually with graphical GUI
Install CentOS 7 Manually with graphical GUI
Install CentOS 8 Manually with graphical GUI
Base Unattended Fedora 31 Kickstart Install in Text Mode
Base Unattended CentOS 7 Kickstart Install in Text Mode
Base Unattended CentOS 8 Kickstart Install in Text Mode

It also installs all the necessary kernel images needed for remote PXE clients to boot up properly.

Apache Web Server - with very little pre-configuration it'll be used to create a locally accessible server-generated directory listings of all RPM packages.

The local mirror will immitate the same directory structure as publically available mirrors.

They will be accessible locally at: (replace hostname.localdomain with own address)

Kickstart Files - this role deploys CentOS7/8 & Fedora 31 unattended installation Anaconda Kickstart files from templates. They are placed in a kickstart directory in the web server root directory and are accessible by all clients.

http://hostname.localdomain/kickstart/

Additional Notes

When building a new VM in VirtualBox or KVM allocate a minimum of 2 GB of RAM for the guest. The CentOS installation process will most likely fail if less than that is used. The amount of RAM can be lowered following a successfull installation.

The end user is encouraged to review and customize the Kickstart configuration templates. In their current form they are very basic. All of them assume the following:

automatic partitioning with LVM
SELinux off
firewall off
minimal software selection
root login allowed
single non-root administrator user
DHCP client network configuration

The idea for doing as little as possible with Anaconda and Kickstart installation is to rely on post installation configuration customization.

Requirements

Apache

Standard installation of Apache web server is required in order for the Kickstart process to access the installation packages locally.

A simple Apache role can be installed from Galaxy:

ansible-galaxy install mariuszczyz.centos_apache

https://galaxy.ansible.com/mariuszczyz/centos_apache

DHCPd

Working local DHCP service.

Alternatively, a dedicated DHCP can be set up on the PXE boot server by using this role: CentOS & Fedora DHCP Server Installation and Configuration Ansible Role.

Operating System Installation ISO Images

This role assumes the location of operating system installation ISO images is in /isos/. Leave it as is or change it in the defaults/main.yml. However, the ISO images must be downloaded prior to running this role. Otherwise, it will not have access to all the files it needs to properly set up the pre-boot environment. The task of downloading the ISOs has been purposely left out of this role.

Kickstart Files

The minimum changes needed for the Kickstart installation files to work:

rootpw --iscrypted PASSWORD_HASH - root password hash

Instructions on how to create a Kickstart root password hash

Run this command on the CLI: openssl passwd -6

Available algorithm options:

 -6                  SHA512-based password algorithm
 -5                  SHA256-based password algorithm
 -apr1               MD5-based password algorithm, Apache variant
 -1                  MD5-based password algorithm
 -aixmd5             AIX MD5-based password algorithm
 -crypt              Standard Unix password algorithm (default)

It'll prompt for the password and output the hash:

Note: not a real password below

Password:
Verifying - Password:
$6$gdGbs42fZoKUVwQH$eY2nId.oONxK9MneuM58Vg2NPEuftngWmwfK09YW4DQLs3Hcq5F5HEohDEcM.Ci3p8gQrVuygTfScim7MY6QI1

The rest of the setting can be customized optionally to fit your own needs, like partitioning, timezone, additional packages, etc.

Role Variables

Variable	Comment	Example
ISOS_PATH	Directory where ISO installation images will be stored locally	/isos
NAME	Sperating system name	fedora31
ISO_LOCATION	Full path to ISO image	/isos/CentOS-7-x86_64-Everything-1908.iso
MOUNT_POINT	Full path to where the ISO image should be mounted on the local file system	/var/www/centos7
KICKSTART_HASHED_ROOT_PASSWORD	Kickstart hased root password. Use "pwkickstart" or "openssl passwd -6" to generate	bEzYf1S49$yu
NON_ROOT_USER_NAME	Non root admin user account to create on the new system	mariusz
NON_ROOT_USER_PASSWORD	Kickstart hased user password. Use "pwkickstart" or "openssl passwd -6" to generate	bEzYf1S49$yu
TIMEZONE	Local timezone	America/Chicago
NTP_SERVERS	Network time servers. Local or public.	ntp.localdomain
FEDORA_HOSTNAME	Default hostname for the new Fedora server	fedora31.localdomain
FEDORA_NETWORK_INSTALLATION_URL	This is where Anaconda will fetch Fedora packages from	http://mirror.steadfastnet.com/fedora/releases/31/Everything/x86_64/os/
CENTOS7_HOSTNAME	Default hostname for the new Fedora server	centos7.localdomain
CENTOS7_NETWORK_INSTALLATION_URL	This is where Anaconda will fetch CentOS packages from	http://192.168.1.109/centos7
CENTOS8_HOSTNAME	Default hostname for the new Fedora server	centos8.localdomain
CENTOS8_BASE_OS_URL	CentOS 8 BaseOS packages repository URL	http://mirror.steadfastnet.com/centos/8/BaseOS/x86_64/os/
CENTOS8_APPSTREAM_REPO_URL	CentOS 8 AppStream packages repository URL	http://mirror.steadfastnet.com/centos/8/AppStream/x86_64/kickstart/

Dependencies

mariuszczyz.centos_apache mariuszczyz.centos_dhcpd

Install the dependencies from Ansible Galaxy with requirements.yml

# Install from Ansible Galaxy
- src: mariuszczyz.centos_apache
- src: mariuszczyz.centos_dhcpd

Example Playbook

Manual

Fetch this role from Ansible Galaxy manually:

ansible-galaxy install mariuszczyz.centos_pxe

Not Manual

Galaxy

Or include this role from Ansible Galaxy via requirements.yml

# requirements.yml
# Install from Ansible Galaxy
- src: mariuszczyz.centos_pxe

Github option

# requirements.yml
# Install from Github repository
- src: https://www.github.com/mariuszczyz/centos_pxe

Then run this to install all dependencies from Ansible Galaxy:

ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml

Run it

If you want to run this role individually create a new file: playbook.yml (name it however you wish btw) with the following content:

- hosts: servers
  user: YOUR USER
  become: True

  roles:
    - { role: mariuszczyz.centos_pxe, tags: ['centos_pxe'] }

Run it:

ansible-playbook -i hosts playbook.yml

License

BSD

Author Information

Author: Mariusz Czyz
Date: 12/2019
mariuszczyz.com

About

CentOS 7/8 and Fedora PXE Boot Server Role

role centos fedora kickstart pxe tftp unattended

Install

ansible-galaxy install mariuszczyz/centos-pxe

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Mariusz Czyz