This howto shows how to create unattended, automated SUSE Linux Enterprise installations using autoYaST.
Contents |
First, we have to create an autoYaST profile for the system to be installed. This can be done right after the installation using the option "Clone This System for Autoyast" (see screenshot). This will create a file /root/autoinst.xml which contains all your installation settings.
If you did not create the autoYaST profile during installation, you can create it anytime using the autoYaST module. To get there, go to "Miscellaneous" -> "Autoinstallation" in YaST.
In the autoYaST module, go to "Tools" -> "Create Reference Profile". You will get to a screen that lets you select the options to be included in the profile. Just select everything you want to include in the profile and click on "Create". The system will create the profile and take you to the profile editor, which is explained in the next part.
You can now start editing your autoYaST profile. Either you use the autoYaST module in YaST, which is the more userfriendly way, or you can edit it with your favourite editor and plain XML. You can find the most current autoYaST Documentation under http://www.suse.de/~ug/. This site also contains some scripts that might be useful for you.
If you want to use the GUI, it is pretty much self-explanatory and lets you edit all the options you can include in the autoYaST profile.
The last step is to create your profile in your installation source. Installation source can be a network source, a local installation repository or even a CD/DVD installation media set.
To invoke automated installation, the option "autoyast" needs to be passed to linuxrc on boot. This can be done by entering the option in the bootloader GRUB during boot.
The "autoyast" option takes the following options for specifying the location of the autoYaST control file:
| Command line variable | Description |
|---|---|
| autoyast=default | Default auto-installation option |
| autoyast=file://<path> | Looks for control file in specified path (relative to source root directory, i.e. file:///autoinst.xml if in the top directory of a CD-ROM ) |
| autoyast=device://<device>/<file> | Looks for control file on a storage device. (only device name needed without full path, i.e. /dev/sda1 is wrong, instead use sda1) |
| autoyast=floppy://<path> | Looks for control file in the floppy (Useful when booting from CD) |
| autoyast=nfs://<server>/<path> | Looks for control file on <server> |
| autoyast=http://<server>/<path> | Retrieves the control file from a web server using the HTTP protocol. |
| autoyast=https://<server>/<path> | Retrieves the control file from a web server using HTTPS (encrypted connection) protocol |
| autoyast=tftp://<server>/<path> | Retrieve the control file with TFTP |
| autoyast=ftp://<server>/<path> | Retrieve the control file with FTP |
If autoyast=default is defined, YaST2 will look for a file named autoinst.xml in the following three places:
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