[svlug] Developing Kickstart scripts when they are used inproduction

[Mark]

I wrote a perl script that generates the kickstart files based on some default templates.
The template parses a bunch of parameters from a config file (each box has its own config file) and plugs them in.
Then I just specify the perl script with the config file name as parameter when I kick off the install, e.g.
http://host/cgi-bin/kickstart_generator.cgi?config=box_abc

Of course, instead of pearl, you can use whatever other scripting language you want...

MARK

> -----Original Message-----
> From: svlug-bounces+msalists=gmx.net at lists.svlug.org 
> [mailto:svlug-bounces+msalists=gmx.net at lists.svlug.org] On 
> Behalf Of Richard Sharpe
> Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 12:58 PM
> To: svlug at lists.svlug.org
> Subject: [svlug] Developing Kickstart scripts when they are 
> used inproduction
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> At my current place of employ I set up kickstart to install 
> Linux and our 
> stuff on our appliances.
> 
> However, product managers want to change the hardware, and 
> some changes 
> require that changes be made to the Kickstart scripts. Eg, 
> moving to two 
> drives and wanting to mirror some stuff and so on.
> 
> To handle this sitution, I decided to set up a development 
> kickstart area 
> as well as the production kickstart area. This is a good start, but 
> problems occur when we have to move a new kickstart file into 
> production.
> 
> While it is possible to eliminate some of these by setting up 
> a separate 
> name space (via a separate DNS and isolated network) that is 
> a pain. Life 
> would be a whole lot easier, on the whole, if Kickstart 
> allowed you to 
> embed variables in a kickstart script.
> 
> I am already doing this in the %post script:
> 
>  	# Post installation fixup stuff
>  	%post
>  	printenv
>  	KS=`printenv| grep ANACONDAARGS | cut -f3 -d/ | cut -f1 -d.`
>  	echo Kickstart location is: $KS
> 
> which allows me to minimize the hand-edits that are needed 
> when moving 
> stuff from dev to production. This is handled by specifying that the 
> kickstart config file is at http://ks... pr http://ks-dev... 
> in the boot 
> cd used ...
> 
> However, things like the url keyword still present problems:
> 
>  	url --url http://ks...
> 
> Here I have to remember to manually edit the script when I 
> move it over.
> 
> Are there any simple solutions? Do I have to learn Python?
> 
> Regards
> -------
> Richard Sharpe, rsharpe[at]richardsharpe.com, rsharpe[at]samba.org,
> sharpe[at]ethereal.com, http://www.richardsharpe.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> svlug mailing list
> svlug at lists.svlug.org
> http://lists.svlug.org/lists/listinfo/svlug
>