Cobbler and yum in RHEL 4.6

Look at small how-to install cobbler with yum on RHEL 4.6 from scratch.

Install the most RHEL 4.6 or CentOS 4.6 with default partitioning and custom installation (unselect all possible packages during installation procedure). Diable firewall and SELinux.

• Enable DVD repository by changing the line in /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Media.repo

enabled=1

• Install yum

mount /media/cdrom

• Download packages and install them:

mkdir /var/tmp/cobbler-4.6
cd /var/tmp/cobbler-4.6

rpm -i 
./python-elementtree-1.2.6-5.el4.centos.x86_64.rpm \
./python-urlgrabber-2.9.8-2.noarch.rpm ./sqlite-3.3.6-2.x86_64.rpm \
./python-sqlite-1.1.7-1.2.1.x86_64.rpm \
./yum-metadata-parser-1.0-8.el4.centos.x86_64.rpm \
./centos-yumconf-4-4.5.noarch.rpm \
./yum-2.4.3-4.el4.centos.noarch.rpm \
./createrepo-0.4.4-2.noarch.rpm

yum clean all
mkdir /var/tmp/rhel4_repo/
ln -s /media/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS/ /var/tmp/rhel4_repo/RPMS 
createrepo /var/tmp/rhel4_repo/
cat >/etc/yum.repos.d/RHEL-4.6-Media.repo <<+
[rhel4-media]
name=RHEL4 - Media
baseurl=file:///var/tmp/rhel4_repo/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1
+

createrepo /var/tmp/cobbler-4.6/
cat >>/etc/yum.repos.d/my.repo <<+
[my-repo]
name=My Repository
baseurl=file:///var/tmp/cobbler-4.6/
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1
+

• Install necessary software from DVD

mv /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo.orig

yum -y install wget mc
yum -y install httpd tftp-server mod_python python-devel createrepo rsync mkisofs
yum -y install perl-Digest-SHA1 perl-Digest-HMAC perl-Socket6 perl-Time-HiRes sysstat perl-libwww-perl
yum -y install libart_lgpl freetype libpng
yum -y install logrotate perl-DateManip
yum -y install cman
yum -y install dhcp bind
yum -y install memtest86+

yum -y install cobbler
yum -y install munin munin-node php-ldap
chkconfig munin-node on
yum -y install yum-utils
yum -y install syslinux

• Disable firewall (just for sure):

chkconfig --level 2345 iptables off
service iptables stop

• Change line in /etc/cobbler/settings to match the IP of the server:

default_password_crypted: "$1$pH3........0B2HB/"
default_name_servers: [192.168.0.129]
manage_dhcp: 1
manage_dns: 1
manage_forward_zones: [my.domain.cz]
manage_reverse_zones: [192.168.0]
next_server: 192.168.0.129
pxe_just_once: 1
server: 192.168.0.129
register_new_installs: 0
xmlrpc_rw_enable: 1

• Start cobbler and apache daemon:

/etc/init.d/cobblerd start
/etc/init.d/httpd start
chkconfig httpd on

• Change 'disable' to 'no' in /etc/xinetd.d/tftp

disable                 = yes

Cobbler/DHCPd/bind configuration

• Change listening interface for dhcpd in /etc/sysconfig/dhcpd:

DHCPDARGS=eth0;

• Modify file /etc/cobbler/dhcp.template according your needs:

subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
     option routers             10.226.23.1;
     option domain-name         "my.domain.cz";
     option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.129;
     option subnet-mask         255.255.255.0;
     range dynamic-bootp        192.168.0.200 192.168.0.254;
     filename                   "/pxelinux.0";
     default-lease-time         21600;
     max-lease-time             43200;
     next-server                $next_server;
}

• Modify /etc/cobbler/named.template like:

options {
...
#          listen-on port 53 { 127.0.0.1; };
...
#          allow-query     { localhost; };
           forwarders { 10.226.32.44; };
...
};

cobbler sync
service xinetd restart
chkconfig dhcpd on
chkconfig named on

Now you should run

cobbler check

and see something like that:

$ cobbler check
No setup problems found
Manual review and editing of /var/lib/cobbler/settings is recommended to tailor cobbler to your particular configuration.

Cobbler repository+ installation

cobbler import --name=RHEL4.6-x86_64-AS --mirror=/media/cdrom/
cobbler repo add --mirror=/var/tmp/cobbler-4.6/ --name=my-repo
cobbler reposync
cobbler image add --name=Memtest86+-1.26 --file=/tftpboot/memtest86+-1.26 --image-type=direct
cobbler profile copy --name=RHEL4.6-AS-x86_64 --newname=NGP_RHEL4.6-AS-x86_64
cobbler profile copy --name=rescue-RHEL4.6-AS-x86_64 --newname=NGP_rescue-RHEL4.6-AS-x86_64
cobbler profile edit --name=NGP_RHEL4.6-AS-x86_64 --repos="my-repo"
cobbler profile edit --name=NGP_rescue-RHEL4.6-AS-x86_64 --repos="my-repo"
cobbler sync

• Edit /etc/yum.repos.d/RHEL-4.6-Media.repo and change one line like:

baseurl=file:///var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror/RHEL4.6-x86_64-AS/RedHat

• Then run:

yum clean all

PXE configuration

• Make this the first line of /etc/cobbler/pxe/pxedefault.template,pxeprofile.template,pxesystem.template to enable serial connection:

SERIAL 0 115200

Cobbler WebUI

• Set root password for web access:

htdigest /etc/cobbler/users.digest "Cobbler" root

• Change line in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf:

module = authn_configfile

service cobblerd restart
service httpd restart

Cobbler host specification

cobbler system add --comment="c3virt01ce01 machine" --name=c3virt01ce01 --hostname=c3virt01ce01 --netboot-enabled=1 --profile=NGP_RHEL4.6-AS-x86_64 --name-servers=192.168.0.129 --static=0 --kickstart=/var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts/legacy.ks
cobbler system edit --name c3virt01ce01 --interface=eth0 --mac=00:0c:29:68:78:96 --ip=192.168.0.10 --netmask=255.255.255.0  --static=1 --dns-name=c3virt01ce01.my.domain.cz
cobbler system edit --name c3virt01ce01 --interface=eth1 --mac=00:0c:29:68:78:b4 --ip=192.168.1.10 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --static=1
cobbler system edit --name c3virt01ce01 --interface=eth2 --mac=00:0c:29:68:78:aa --ip=192.168.2.10 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --static=1
cobbler system edit --name c3virt01ce01 --interface=eth3 --mac=00:0c:29:68:78:be --static=0

cobbler sync

Hope it will be possible to use PXE boot to install machines.