Automatic installation using kickstart method

Question: Let us imagine a scenario where you have to set-up 40 computers on a small company?

Solution:

Even with the network installation method the process is terrible slow . Fortunately for us there is an alternative  ” hands-free” installation method ( non-interactive)  through a featured called kickstart.

The kickstart installation method is used primarily by Red Hat based distributions  to automatically perform unattended operating system installations .The configurations are taken from a file (anaconda.config.cfg)  , so there is no need to be provided  interactively from the user.

A kickstart file consists of a series of options to be passed to the Anaconda installer which describe how to set up the system , optional it may include custom scripts to be run before and/or after the installation  process . The file can be build by hand (simple editor)   or using the GUI system-config-kickstart tool.

Additionally  Anaconda , the installer , produce a kickstart configuration file at the end of any manual installation process . This file can be taken and used to reproduce the same installation or even further configured by hand.

Step for kickstart installation:

• Copy the kickstart configuration file to the public directory of your server (FTP or HTTP) , after a fresh installation this file is  found in the home directory of the root user. 
  scp  anaconda.cfg   192.168.1.12:/var/ftp/pub/cf.cfg
• modify the permissions of the file with chmod
  chmod  777   cf.cfg
• insert  the boot cd in your computer and start the installation process.

Kickstart Installation

• Enter linux  ks=ftp://192.168.1.12/pub/cf.cfg 
  My example made use of a FTP server , although the process is similar for HTTP .
  
  Now no need of the interface of the user. It will starts installation automatically. Like this install all computer using kickstart methods

Please feel free to comment to make it more useful to everyone.