[syslinux] how can I pass boot options to the ks file?

[Schlomo Schapiro]

Hi,

On 30 December 2011 01:02, Gene Cumm <gene.cumm at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 17:44, Hai Tao <taoh666 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > How can I pass boot options, for example IP, Netmask, Hostname, Gateway
> etc, to the ks file, so after the installation I do not need to configure
> them manully?
>

Why not use the same DHCP that you used to boot pxelinux? After all, you
must have a working DHCP server since you cannot use PXELINUX without it.

Maybe you can tell us your scenario and why you can use DHCP for PXE
booting and why that same DHCP cannot be used to configure the network in
Linux.


> Long answer: For PXELINUX, you can use the IPAPPEND options but I
> believe it's recommended to use that information for seeding DHCP
> rather than replacing it.
>

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda_Boot_Options#ksdevice is the only
preboot network integration that I am aware of, we use it to help anaconda
use the same network interface for the installation that was used to PXE
boot the machine (our machines have 2 or 4 NICs and the 2nd NIC is
connected to the management LAN that is used for the automated installation.

If you seek more control then you should look at iPXE. There you can also
pass arguments to the kernel (http://ipxe.org/cmd/kernel) and there you can
also use all the network information that iPXE has, e.g. ip=${net0/ip}
(IIRC) to pass the network configuration to the installation system (
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Anaconda_Boot_Options#ip)

For non-RHEL distros you really should check the docs, e.g.
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apbs02.html.en

Regards,
Schlomo