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Starting a Kickstart Installation

If you do an installation of a Linux server over the network (called a "network install"), you'll save yourself a lot of time: you don't need to change CDs. You can also automate installation with a so-called "scripted install" using a kickstart file. This will get you an "unattended installation". A sample file anaconda-ks.cfg is saved in /root at the end of every manual install. You can use that as a starting point to create your own.
When doing a network installation of Linux, you can tell Linux to use the kickstart file using a range of options. Please check the Red Hat docs for your favorite options.

How do you do a network installation when booting from a CD (or PXE server)? Simple!
Insert CD 1, or mount that image through DRAC or iLO, at boot the machine. At the first command line of the boot CD type:
linux ks=http://server/path/kickstart_file.cfg url=http://server/path

For instance,
linux ks=ftp://myserver/default-ks.cfg url=ftp://myserver/

where you have an ftp server running at hostname myserver and you have the CD contents (of ALL CDs) copied in the root of that ftp server. default-ks.cfg contains all your installation options.

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