kickstart installations

[Chadley Wilson]

Greetings,

sorry this is a big one!

I am using the ks=nfs:servername:/dir/ks.cfg method for installing via
network, it is quite impressive to see it all work.
Last night we had an emergency where I quickly had to configure to linux
distribution servers, 
It was quite easy, a simple nfs share and we loaded 140 PCs last night.
I have attached my ks.cfg file for all to see and use. The installation
was run from two ordinary celeron 2.4 gig boxes with 256 mb ram,
everything on board (msi 7005 mainboards). I used a western digital 120
gig drive in the 1st machine and a seagate barracuda 80 gig in the 2nd.
the 1st machine had the files copied from the cd into the nfs dir, and
the second had the isos which I created with dd command. These two
machines are now the nfs or distribution servers as my boss like call
them.
I ran a minimum of 8 systems per server and it was interesting to see
that the 1st server was on average 5 minutes slower than the second.

could that be because it has the files copied and not isos?

the average install times from the 1st server were between 13 and 18
minutes and from the second server between 9 and 11 minutes.

the second question is "How do I make the %post section eject the cdrom
after the installation?"

and the third question a little more tricky to explain is "In the
partitioning section, 

clearpart --linux --drives=hda

this option causes a warning to popup during the installation, I know
why, but how can I tell it not to prompt me?"

My reasons are simple we manufacture PCs they all have blank hard drives
so I would like the installation to run unattended, this prompt just
causes delays for me, having to run back to the PC at bench 1 to hit
enter, when I am at bench 16 40 meters away :-}.

This is my ks.cfg file for fedora core 1 :-}

==========================================================
# Kickstart file automatically generated by anaconda.
text
install
nfs --server=192.168.10.3 --dir=/fc1
lang en_US.UTF-8
langsupport --default en_ZA.UTF-8 en_ZA.UTF-8
keyboard us
mouse genericwheelps/2 --device psaux
xconfig --card "VESA driver (generic)" --videoram 31680 --hsync
30.0-54.0 --vsync 50.0-120.0 --resolution 1024x768 --depth 24
--startxonboot  --defaultdesktop gnome
network --device eth0 --bootproto dhcp
rootpw --iscrypted $1$7f38PgYc$puxAfwfa/0IvHCDI.QEnq1
firewall --disabled
authconfig --enableshadow --enablemd5
timezone Africa/Johannesburg
bootloader --location=mbr --append rhgb
clearpart --linux --drives=hda
part /boot --fstype ext3 --size=100 --ondisk=hda
part / --fstype ext3 --size=1024 --grow --ondisk=hda
part swap --size=96 --grow --maxsize=192 --ondisk=hda
                                                                                
%packages
@ office
@ dialup
@ sound-and-video
@ editors
@ admin-tools
@ base-x
@ gnome-desktop
@ graphics
@ printing
@ games
@ text-internet
@ graphical-internet
kernel
grub
                                                                                
                                                                                
%post
/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 pcmcia off
/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 isdn off
/sbin/chkconfig --level 345 rhnsd off
eject


Many thanks for your time,
-- 
******************************************************************
Chadley Wilson
Soon 2 B RHCE
Linux Rocks
Welcome to my world.
Enjoy the adventures of Linux 
***************************************************
Linux is easy, lazy people criticise, curse and fail.