Is there a way to automate kvm re/installs?

[raindog308]

I love the pushbutton reinit of ovz. Is there a way to do something similar for kvm?


Other than a custom iso or a homegrown "run this script after manually installing OS" sort of thing.

 

[fizzyjoe908]

You can use NOC-PS for OS (re)installs on KVM virtual servers.

 

[raindog308]

In case I wasn't clear, I am just a KVM customer, not the owner of the physical node.  So you sign up for a KVM at a provider, is there any way to automate your OS install/reinstall like OvZ or is it always "boot from media, walk through the menu".

 

[kaniini]

In case I wasn't clear, I am just a KVM customer, not the owner of the physical node.  So you sign up for a KVM at a provider, is there any way to automate your OS install/reinstall like OvZ or is it always "boot from media, walk through the menu".

Some providers have this functionality, like DigitalOcean.  This is where Xen PV shines though.

 

[Virtovo]

I love the pushbutton reinit of ovz. Is there a way to do something similar for kvm?


Other than a custom iso or a homegrown "run this script after manually installing OS" sort of thing.

Forgive me if I misunderstand; however most most operating systems support automated installs from script.

With CentOS for instance you can install from kickstart.

http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/Installation_Guide-en-US/ch-kickstart2.html

http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/KickStart

http://www.openlogic.com/wazi/bid/188083/Automatic-CentOS-6-0-Installation-With-Kickstart

 

[KuJoe]

I know that SolusVM has an option for PXE boot, but this is setup on the provider's side and not something the clients can mess with.

 

[wlanboy]

Would like to have that option on all of my KVM providers.

It is quite time consuming if you test things and have to reinstall the OS three times in a row...

 

[KuJoe]

Why not install OpenVZ inside the KVM and run your testing inside the OpenVZ? I don't know if you can run KVM inside KVM but if you can then you can setup the base KVM to run a PXE server.

 

[texteditor]

The first screen of all of Debian's installer ISOs let you enter a url for a preseed file for auto installation

Loading the preseeding file from a webserver

Most install methods you can interrupt early on and add a URL to a preseed file, for an almost fully automated installations. Here exemplified with the graphical installer:

----When the graphical installer menu appears, press ESC
----(Type "help" if you want view generic help)
----Type "auto url=http://webserver/path/preseed.cfg", replacing the URL with the address to your preseed configuration file

The "auto" command launches the installation in the automated mode, where the configuration of hostname, locale and keymap are postponed so that they can be answered from the preseed file loaded from the network. You could use "install url=..." but you'd have to answer these questions manually, regardless of what you have in the preseed config.

 

[blergh]

Yeah, preseeding or via templates?

 

[HalfEatenPie]

I don't know if I'm understanding this right but are you requesting for the KVM Templates? That should probably be the closest thing we have to an automated reinstaller/installer. Solus supports it too now.

 

[tchen]

I came across this while looking up the pre-seeding texteditor mentioned.

http://fai-project.org/fai-cd/

I'm not sure if it needs a separate DHCP address to bootstrap itself though.

The install client which will be installed using FAI, is booted via network card or from CD or USB stick. It gets an IP address and boots a Linux kernel which mounts its root file system via NFS from the install server. After the kernel is loaded, the FAI startup script performs the automatic installation which doesn’t need any interaction. First, the hard disks will be partitioned, file systems are created and then software packages are installed. After that, the new installed operating system is configured to your local needs using some scripts. Finally the new operating system will be booted from the local disk.

The details of how to install the computer (the configuration) are stored in the configuration space on the install server. Configuration files are shared among groups of computers if they are similar using the class concept. So you need not create a configuration for every new host. Hence, FAI is a scalable method to install a big cluster with a great number of nodes.

 

 

[raindog308]

OK, sounds like the best avenue is an distro-specific config mechanism like kickstart.  Thanks!

 

[VPSCorey]

We support this on our OnApp cloud architecture.  You build a VM how you want it.  Make a backup of it.  Then go to the backup and click convert to template.  Then it can be deployed as many times as needed.

 

[Virtovo]

OK, sounds like the best avenue is an distro-specific config mechanism like kickstart.  Thanks!

Just to note also you do not need DHCP to use kickstart.  You can specify network settings for a static IP address on the boot line.