linuxrclinuxrc keywords/etc/fstabAutoYaST2 is a system for installing one or more SUSE Linux systems automatically and without user intervention. AutoYaST2 installations are performed using an AutoYaST profile with installation and configuration data. That profile can be created using the configuration interface of AutoYaST2 and can be provided to YaST2 during installation in different ways.
AutoYaST2 is available with recent SUSE products starting from SUSE Linux 8.0 and business products starting from SLES 8.
Products prior to SuSE Linux 8.0 and business products based on SLES 7 have an auto-installation system based on YaST1. A configuration management system is provided by ALICE for these products.
Updated documentation can be found at the following URL: https://www.suse.com/documentation/sles11/
The Linux Journal, in an article in issue 78 writes:
“A standard Linux installation asks many questions about what to install, what hardware to configure, how to configure the network interface, etc. Answering these questions once is informative and maybe even fun. But imagine a system engineer who has to set up a new Linux network with a large number of machines. Now, the same issues need to be addressed and the same questions answered repeatedly. This makes the task very inefficient, not to mention a source of irritation and boredom. Hence, a need arises to automate this parameter and option selection.”
“The thought of simply copying the hard disks naturally crosses one's mind. This can be done quickly, and all the necessary functions and software will be copied without option selection. However, the fact is that simple copying of hard disks causes the individual computers to become too similar. This, in turn, creates an altogether new mission of having to reconfigure the individual settings on each PC. For example, IP addresses for each machine will have to be reset. If this is not done properly, strange and inexplicable behavior results.”
Regular installation of SuSE Linux is semi-automated by default. The user is requested to select the necessary information at the beginning of the installation (In most cases language only), YaST2 then generates a proposal for the underlying system depending on different factors and system paramters. In most cases, and especially for new systems, such a proposal can be used to install the system and provides a usable installation.
The steps following the proposal are fully automated and the user is only prompted at the end of the installation to configure hardware and network services.
AutoYaST2 can be used where no user intervention is required or where customization is required. Using an AutoYaST profile, YaST2 prepares the system for a custom installation and avoids any interaction with the user, unless specified in the file controling the installation.
AutoYaST2 is not an automated GUI system. This means that in most cases many screens will be skipped, i.e. you will never see the language selection interface. AutoYaST2 will simply pass the language parameter to the sub-system without displaying any language related interface.
Using AutoYaST2, multiple systems sharing the same environment and similar but not necesserily identical hardware and performing similar tasks, can easily be installed in parallel and quickly. A configuration file—referred to as "AutoYaST profile"—is created using existing configuration resources. The profile file can be easily tailored for any specific environment.
Unlike autoinstallation systems available with older SUSE releases, AutoYaST2 is fully integrated and provides various options for installing and configuring a system. The main advantage over older systems and other auto-installation systems is the possibility to configure a computer by using existing modules and avoiding using custom scripts which are normally executed at the end of the installation.
This document will guide you through the three steps of auto-installation:
Preparation: All relevant information about the target system is collected and turned into the appropriate directives of the profile. The profile file is transferred onto the target system where its directives will be parsed and transformed to YaST2 conforming data.
Installation: Follows the instructions given in the profile and installs the base system.
Configuration: YaST2 in addition to user-defined post-install scripts, complete the system configuration.
The complete and detailed process is illustrated in the following figure:
The control file is in most cases a configuration description for a single system. It consists of sets of resources with properties including support for complex structures such as lists, records, trees and large embedded or referenced objects.
The XML configuration format provides a consistent file structure, which is easier to learn and remember when attempting to configure a new system.
The AutoYaST2 control file uses XML to describe the system installation and configuration. XML is a commonly used markup and many users are familiar with the concepts of the language and the tools used to process XML files. If you edit an existing control file or create a control file using an editor from scratch, it is strongly recommended to validate the control file using a validating XML parser.
The following example shows a control file in XML format:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE profile>
<profile
xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns"
xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/hda</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">ext2</filesystem>
<size>520Mb</size>
<mount>/</mount>
</partition>
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<size>1200Mb</size>
<mount>/data</mount>
</partition>
</partitions>
</drive>
</partitioning>
<scripts>
<pre-scripts>
<script>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<filename>start.sh</filename>
<source>
<![CDATA[
#!/bin/sh
echo "Starting installation"
exit 0
]]>
</source>
</script>
</pre-scripts>
</scripts>
</profile>Below is an example of a basic control file container, the actual content of which is explained later on in this chapter.
<?xml version="1.0"?> <!DOCTYPE profile> <profile xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns" xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns"> <!-- RESOURCES --> </profile>
The profile element (root node) contains one or more distinct resource elements. The permissible resource elements are specified in the schema files
A resource element either contains multiple and distinct property and resource elements, or multiple instances of the same resource element, or it is empty. The permissible content of a resource element is specified in the schema files.
A property element is either empty or contains a literal value. The permissible property elements and values in each resource element are specified in the schema files
An element can be either a container of other elements (a resource) or it has a literal value (a property); it can never be both. This restriction is specified in the schema files. A configuration component with more than one value must either be represented as some kind of embedded list in a property value or as a nested resource.
Nested resource elements allow a tree-like structure of configuration components to be built to any level.
...
<drive>
<device>/dev/hda</device>
<partitions> <!-- this is wrong, explanation below -->
<partition>
<size>1000mb</size>
<mount>/</mount>
</partition>
<partition>
<size>250mb</size>
<mount>/tmp</mount>
</partition>
</partitions>
</drive>
....In the example above the disk resource consists of a device property and a partitions resource. The partitions resource contains multiple instances of the partition resource. Each partition resource contains a size and mount property.
The XML schema defines the partitions element as a resource supporting one or multiple partition element children. If only one partition resource is specified it is important to use the "config:type" attribute of the partitions element to indicate that the content is a resource, in this case a list. Using the partitions element without specifying the type in this case will result in undefined behavior as YaST2 will improperly interpret the partitions resource as a property. The example below illustrates this use case.
...
<drive>
<device>/dev/hda</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<size>1000</size>
<mount>/</mount>
</partition>
<partition>
<size>250</size>
<mount>/tmp</mount>
</partition>
</partitions>
</drive>
....Global profile attributes are used to define meta-data on resources and properties. Attributes are used to define context switching. They are also used for naming and typing properties as shown in the previous sections. Profile attributes are in a separate namespace so they do not have to be treated as reserved words in the default namespace. New ones can then be added without having to potentially alter existing profiles.
Profile attributes are defined in the configuration namespace and must always be prefixed with config: . All profile attributes are optional. Most can be used with both resource and property elements but some can only be used with one type of element which is specified in the schema files.
The type of an element is defined using the config:type attribute. The type of a resource element is always RESOURCE, although this can also be made explicit with this attribute (to ensure correct identification of an empty element, for example, when there is no schema file to refer to). A resource element cannot be any other type and this restriction is specified in the schema file. The type of a property element determines the interpretation of its literal value. The type of a property element defaults to STRING, as specified in the schema file. The full set of permissible types is specified in the schema file.
A RELAX NG schema specifies a pattern for the structure and content of an XML document. A RELAX NG schema thus identifies a class of XML documents consisting of those documents that match the pattern. A RELAX NG schema is itself an XML document.
In order to create the control file, you need to collect information about the systems your are going to install. This includes hardware data and network information among other things. Make sure you have the following information about the machines you want to install:
Hard disk types and sizes
Graphical interface and attached monitor, if any
Network interface and MAC address if known (for example, when using DHCP)
With these parameters you are ready to go and create a profile of your systems to control the auto-installation process.
In order to create the control file for one or more computers, a configuration interface based on YaST2 is provided. This system depends on existing modules which are usually used to configure a computer in regular operation mode, for example, after SUSE Linux is installed.
The configuration management system lets you create control files easily and lets you manage a repository of configurations for the use in a networked environment with multiple clients.
With some exceptions, almost all resources of the control file can be configured using the configuration management system. The system offers flexibility and the configuration of some resources is identical to the one available in the YaST2 Control Center. In addition to the existing and familiar modules new interfaces were created for special and complex configurations, for example for partitioning, general options and software.
Furthermore, using a CMS guarantees the validity of the resulting control file and its direct use for starting automated installation.
Make sure the configuration system is installed (package autoyast2) and call it using the YaST2 Control Center or as root with the following command (make sure the DISPLAY variable is set correctly to start the graphical user interface instead of the text based one):
/sbin/yast2 autoyast
If editing the control file manually, make sure it has a valid syntax. To
check the syntax, use the tools already available on the distribution. For
example, to verify that the file is well-formed, use the utility
xmllint available with the libxml2
package:
xmllint <control file>
If the control file is not well formed, for example, if a tag is not
closed, xmllint will report about the errors.
Before going on with the autoinstallation, fix any errors resulting from such checks. The autoinstallation process cannot be started with an invalid and not well-formed control file.
You can use any XML editor available on your system or your favorite text editor with XML support (for example, Emacs, Vim). However, it is not optimal to create the control file manually for a large number of machines and it should only be seen as an interface between the autoinstallation engine and the Configuration Management System (CMS).
If you have a template and want to change a few things via script or command line, use an XSLT processor like sablot. For example, if you have an AutoYaST profile and want to fillout the hostname via script for any reason (if doing this so often, you want to script it)
First, create an XSL file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:y2="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns"
xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns"
xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns"
version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="xml" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes" omit-xml-declaration="no" cdata-section-elements="source"/>
<!-- the parameter names -->
<xsl:param name="hostname"/>
<xsl:param name="domain"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="y2:dns">
<xsl:copy>
<!-- where to copy the parameters -->
<domain><xsl:value-of select="string($domain)"/></domain>
<hostname><xsl:value-of select="string($hostname)"/></hostname>
<xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="@*|node()" >
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>This file expects the "hostname" and the "domain" as parameters from the user.
<xsl:param name="hostname"/> <xsl:param name="domain"/>
There will be a copy of those parameters in the dns section of the control file. That means, if there already is a domain element in the dns section, you will get a second one (no good).
If you want to create a new AutoYaST profile now from the template plus the XSL file, run the following command:
sabcmd add_hostname.xsl \$hostname=myHost \$domain=my.domain template.xml
You will get a filled out AutoYaST profile then on STDOUT.
If you have multiple XSL files you want to apply to a template, do the following:
sabcmd add_hd_vg.xsl \$device=/dev/sda \$partition=p2 \$vg=system \
| sabcmd add_hard disk.xsl \$device=/dev/system \$lvm=true \
| sabcmd ....
| sabcmd add_hostname.xsl \$hostname=myHost \$domain=my.domainPipe the output of each sabcmd to the next sabcmd.
For more information about XSLT, go to the official Web page www.w3.org/TR/xslt
This chapter introduces important parts of a control file for standard purposes. To learn about other available options, use the configuration management system.
Note that for some of the configuration options to work, additional packages have to be installed, depending on the software selection you have configured. If you choose to install Minimal then some packages might be missing and have to be added to the individual package selection.
YaST will install packages required in the second phase of the installation and before the post-installation phase of AutoYaST has started. However, if necessary YaST modules are not available in the system, important configuration steps will be skipped. For example, no security settings will be configured if yast2-security is not installed.
General options include all the settings related to the installation process and the environment of the installed system.
The mode section configures the behavior of AutoYaST with regard to confirmation and rebooting. The following has to be in the <general><mode> section.
By default, the user must confirm the auto-installation process. This option allows the user to view and change the settings for a target system before they are committed and can be used for debugging. confirm is set to "true" by default to avoid recursive installs when the system schedules a reboot after initial system setup. Only disable confirmation if you want to carry out a fully unattended installation.
With halt you cause AutoYaST to shut down the machine after all packages have been installed. Instead of a reboot into stage two, the machine is turned off. The boot loader is alreay installed and all your chroot scripts have run.
final_halt and final_reboot have been introduced with openSUSE 11.0 and SLES11. You can reboot or halt the machine after installation and configuration are finished at the end of stage 2.
openSUSE 11.0 uses the kexec feature and does not reboot anymore between stage1 and stage2. With the forceboot option you can force the reboot in case you need it for some reason. The value "true" will reboot, "false" will not reboot and a missing forceboot option uses the product's default.
Some drivers, for example the proprietary drivers for Nvidia and ATI graphics cards, need a reboot and will not work properly when using kexec. Therefore the default on SUSE Linux Enterprise products is to always do a proper reboot.
<general>
<signature-handling>
<accept_unsigned_file config:type="boolean">true</accept_unsigned_file>
<accept_file_without_checksum config:type="boolean">true</accept_file_without_checksum>
<accept_verification_failed config:type="boolean">true</accept_verification_failed>
<accept_unknown_gpg_key config:type="boolean">true</accept_unknown_gpg_key>
<import_gpg_key config:type="boolean">true</import_gpg_key>
<accept_non_trusted_gpg_key config:type="boolean">true</accept_non_trusted_gpg_key>
</signature-handling>
<mode>
<halt config:type="boolean">false</halt>
<forceboot config:type="boolean">false</forceboot> <! -- since 11.0 -->
<final_reboot config:type="boolean">false</final_reboot> <! -- since 11.0 -->
<final_halt config:type="boolean">false</final_halt> <! -- since 11.0 -->
<confirm config:type="boolean">true</confirm>
<second_stage config:type="boolean">true</second_stage>
</mode>
<proposals config:type="list"> <!-- since 11.1 -->
<proposal>partitions_proposal</proposal>
</proposals>
<wait> <!-- since 11.1 / SLES11 -->
<pre-modules config:type="list">
<module>
<name>networking</name>
<sleep>
<time config:type="integer">10</time>
<feedback config:type="boolean">true</feedback>
</sleep>
<script>
<source>
sleep 5
</source>
<debug config:type="boolean">false</debug>
</script>
</module>
</pre-modules>
<post-modules config:type="list">
<module>
<name>networking</name>
<sleep>
<time config:type="integer">3</time>
<feedback config:type="boolean">true</feedback>
</sleep>
<script>
<source>
sleep 7
</source>
<debug config:type="boolean">false</debug>
</script>
</module>
</post-modules>
</wait>
<!-- the storage section was invented with openSUSE 11.3 and SLES11 SP2 -->
<storage>
<!--
partition_alignment:
`align_optimal - That's the default. Partitions are aligned like the kernel suggests.
This can lead to problem with some machines/bioses that are unable to boot with that
alignment
`align_cylinder - that's the alignment like it was in pre-openSUSE 11.3 time for years. Partitions
always start on a cylinder boundary
-->
<partition_alignment config:type="symbol">align_cylinder</partition_alignment>
</storage>
</general>AutoYaST in openSUSE 11.1 allows you to configure the proposal screen with the <proposals config:type="list"> option in the profile. All proposals that are listed in that section are shown in the proposal screen if you set the confirm option to "true".
This is the proposal list openSUSE 11.1, which you can also find in the
control.xml file on the installation source:
partitions_proposal
bootloader_proposal
country_simple_proposal
timezone_proposal
users_proposal
hwinfo_proposal
mouse_proposal
software_proposal
runlevel_proposal
deploying_proposal
The wait section has been introduced with openSUSE
11.1 and SLES11. You can let AutoYaST sleep before and
after each module run during the second stage. You can run scripts and/or
pass a value (in seconds) for AutoYaST to sleep. In the example above
AutoYaST will sleep for 15 seconds (10+5) before the network configuration
starts and 10 seconds (3+7) after the network configuration is done. The
scripts in the example don't really make a lot of sense because you could
pass that value as "time" value too. They are only used to show how scripts
in the wait section work now.
The language, keyboard and clock properties in the general resource were moved to the root (profile) element of the autoyast profile. Do not use them in the general section anymore.
Now you can use the second_stage property to turn off AutoYaST after the first reboot (set to "false"). Then the complete second stage is a manual installation. Default is "true", which means AutoYaST is doing a complete installation. Since openSUSE 11.0 you can set the boolean final_reboot and final_halt to reboot or turn off the machine at the end of stage 2.
For signature handling, read the Section 4.6, “Software”.
The report resource manages three types of pop-ups that may appear during installation:
message pop-ups (usually non-critical, informative messages),
warning pop-ups (if something might go wrong),
error pop-ups (in case an error occurs).
<report>
<messages>
<show config:type="boolean">true</show>
<timeout config:type="integer">10</timeout>
<log config:type="boolean">true</log>
</messages>
<errors>
<show config:type="boolean">true</show>
<timeout config:type="integer">10</timeout>
<log config:type="boolean">true</log>
</errors>
<warnings>
<show config:type="boolean">true</show>
<timeout config:type="integer">10</timeout>
<log config:type="boolean">true</log>
</warnings>
</report>Depending on your experience, you can skip, log and show (with timeout) those messages. It is recommended to show all messages with timeout. Warnings can be skipped in some places but should not be ignored.
The default setting in auto-installation mode is to show all messages without logging and with a timeout of 10 seconds.
Note that not all messages during installation are controlled by the report resource. Some critical messages concerning package installation and partitioning will show up ignoring your settings in the report section. Mostly those messages will have to be answered with Yes or No.
This documentation is for yast2-bootloader and applies to SLE11 and openSUSE 11.0+. For older versions, use the documentation that comes with your distribution in /usr/share/doc/packages/autoyast2/
General scope of AutoYaST profile only boot loader part.
<bootloader>
<device_map config:type="list">
- info about order of devices in device.map
</device_map>
<global>
- info about configuration of installation (installation settings for GRUB and generic boot code)
</global>
<initrd_modules config:type="list">
- list of initrd modules
</initrd_modules>
<loader_type>grub</loader_type> - type of bootloader
<sections config:type="list">
- bootloader sections in menu.lst
</sections>
</bootloader>
You can define devices and their order in device.map,
but it is not necessary. yast2-bootloader checks the devices during
installation and proposes a device.map. It can happen that the order of
the devices is wrong or you have defined a different order than the one
set in the BIOS. Take care when you make changes there. The system might
not boot afterwards.
<device_map config:type="list">
<device_map_entry>
<firmware>hd0</firmware> <!-- order of devices in target map -->
<linux>/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3500418AS_6VM23FX0</linux> <!-- name of device (disk) -->
</device_map_entry>
</device_map>This is an important if optional part. Define here where to install GRUB and how the boot process will work. Again, yast2-bootloader proposes a configuration if you don't define one. Usually the AutoYaST profile includes only this part and all other parts are added automatically during installation by yast2-bootloader. Unless you have some special requirements, don't specify the boot loader config in the XML file.
<global>
<activate>true</activate>
<default>openSUSE 11.2 - 2.6.31.5-0.1</default>
<gfxmenu>(hd0,1)/boot/message</gfxmenu>
<lines_cache_id>4</lines_cache_id>
<timeout config:type="integer">10</timeout>
</global>|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
activate |
Set the boot flag on the boot partition. The boot partition can be "/" if there is no separate /boot partition. If the boot partition is on a logical partition, the boot flag is set to the extended partition. <activate>true</activate> | |
|
default |
Name (title) of the default boot section from
<default>openSUSE 11.2 - 2.6.31.5-0.1</default> | |
|
gfxmenu |
Path to the graphical boot menu (/boot/message). Set to 'none' if you do not want to use a graphical boot menu. <gfxmenu>(hd0,1)/boot/message</gfxmenu> | |
|
timeout |
The timeout in seconds for automatically booting the default boot
section from <timeout config:type="integer">10</timeout> | |
|
generic_mbr |
Write generic boot code to MBR, will be ignored if boot_mbr is set to "true". <generic_mbr>false</generic_mbr> | |
|
boot_mbr |
Write GRUB to MBR of the first disk in the order (device.map includes order of disks). <boot_mbr>false</boot_mbr> | |
|
boot_boot |
Write GRUB to separate /boot partition. If no separate /boot partition exists, GRUB will be written to "/". <boot_boot>false</boot_boot> | |
|
boot_root |
Write GRUB to "/" partition. <boot_root>false</boot_root> | |
|
boot_extended |
Write GRUB to the extended partition (important if you want to use a generic boot code and the "boot" partition is logical). NOTE: if the boot partition is logical, it should use boot_mbr (write GRUB to MBR) instead of generic_mbr. <boot_extended>false</boot_extended> | |
|
boot_custom |
Write GRUB to custom device. <boot_custom>/dev/sda3</boot_custom> | |
|
trusted_grub |
Use trusted GRUB instead of the classical GRUB (gfxmenu is deleted automatically if this option is true). Do not use trusted GRUB if your hardware does not support it. <trusted_grub>false</trusted_grub> | |
|
lines_cache_id |
Internal option specifying the cache id for perl-Bootloader. Do not use or change it in a cloned XML file. |
A list of initrd modules. Do not create your own list if you do not fully understand the impact. AutoYaST will take care of it for you.
Define which boot loader to use: grub, lilo, ppc or elilo.
<loader_type>grub</loader_type>
The configuration of the boot sections in the menu.lst is added automatically here by yast2-bootloader during installation. yast2-bootloader deletes boot sections with no valid kernel and initrd path.
<sections config:type="list">
<section>
<append>resume=/dev/disk/by-id/raid-sil_ajacccbhejai-part2 splash=silent quiet showotps</append>
<image>(hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.31-10-default</image>
<initial>1</initial>
<initrd>(hd0,0)/initrd-2.6.31-10-default</initrd>
<lines_cache_id>0</lines_cache_id>
<name>openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 8 - 2.6.31-10 (default)</name>
<original_name>linux</original_name>
<root>/dev/mapper/sil_ajacccbhejai_part3</root>
<type>image</type>
<vgamode>0x31a</vgamode>
</section>
<section>
<append>resume=/dev/disk/by-id/raid-sil_ajacccbhejai-part2 splash=silent quiet showopts</append>
<image>(hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.31-10-xen</image>
<initrd>(hd0,0)/initrd-2.6.31-10-xen</initrd>
<lines_cache_id>2</lines_cache_id>
<name>Xen -- openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 8 - 2.6.31-10</name>
<nounzip>0</nounzip>
<original_name>xen</original_name>
<root>/dev/mapper/sil_ajacccbhejai_part3</root>
<type>xen</type>
<vgamode>0x31a</vgamode>
<xen>(hd0,0)/xen.gz</xen>
<xen_append></xen_append>
</section>
<section>
<blockoffset>1</blockoffset>
<chainloader>/dev/fd0</chainloader>
<lines_cache_id>3</lines_cache_id>
<name>Floppy</name>
<noverifyroot>true</noverifyroot>
<original_name>floppy</original_name>
<type>other</type>
</section>
</sections>Available options depend on the type.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
append |
List of kernel args but without(!) vga= and root=. <append>splash=silent quiet showopts</append> | |
|
image |
Path to the kernel. <image>(hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.31-10</image> | |
|
initrd |
Path to the initrd. <initrd>(hd0,0)/my-initrd</initrd> | |
|
lines_cache_id |
Internal option specifying the cache id for perl-Bootloader. Do not use or change it in a cloned XML file. | |
|
name |
Name of section. <name>Productive System</name> | |
|
original_name |
Internal name of section parsed by YaST from a comment in the configuration file. There are some rules for names, and original_name helps to determine if the boot section is "linux" or "failsafe". For chainloader it helps to determine if it is "windows" or other (linux, floppy, etc). Use a simple original_name: linux, xen, windows, floppy, etc. <original_name>linux</original_name> | |
|
root |
Location of the root partition ("/"). <root>/dev/mapper/sil_ajacccbhejai_part3</root> | |
|
type |
Type of section (image/xen/other/menu). <type>xen</type> | |
|
vgamode |
Kernel arg for vga (vga=). <vgamode>0x31a</vgamode> | |
|
xen |
Path to xen.gz. <xen>(hd0,0)/xen.gz</xen> | |
|
xen_append |
Kernel args for XEN. <xen_append></xen_append> |
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
lines_cache_id |
Internal option specifying the cache id for perl-Bootloader. Do not use or change it in a cloned XML file. | |
|
name |
Name or title of the section. <name>Floppy</name> | |
|
original_name |
Internal name of the section parsed by YaST from a comment in the configuration file. There are some rules for names and original_name helps to determine if the boot section is "linux" or "failsafe". For the chainloader it helps to determine if it is "windows" or other (linux, floppy, etc). Use a simple original_name: linux, xen, windows, floppy etc. <original_name>linux</original_name> | |
|
type |
Type of section (image/xen/other/menu). <type>other</type> | |
|
blockoffset |
Offset in chainloader (used only in grub). <blockoffset>1</blockoffset> | |
|
chainloader |
Partition part for chainloader (so chainloader+blockoffset get final chainloader item in grub). <chainloader>/dev/fd0</chainloader> | |
|
noverifyroot |
With or without checking root. <noverifyroot>true</noverifyroot> | |
|
remap |
Windows-specific option for remapping hard disks, for example switch the first and second disk: map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) <remap>false</remap> | |
|
makeactive |
Add the makeactive argument for the chainloader section. <makeactive>false</makeactive> |
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
lines_cache_id |
Internal option specifying the cache id for perl-Bootloader. Do not use or change it in a cloned XML file. | |
|
name |
Name or title of section. <name>Floppy</name> | |
|
original_name |
Internal name of section parsed by YaST from a comment in the configuration file. There are some rules for names and original_name helps to determine if the boot section is "linux" or "failsafe". For the chainloader it helps to determine if it is "windows" or other (linux, floppy etc). Use a simple original_name: linux, xen, windows, floppy etc. <original_name>linux</original_name> | |
|
type |
Type of section (image/xen/other/menu). <type>other</type> | |
|
configfile |
Path to menu.lst config file. <configfile>1</configfile> | |
|
root |
Device name for loading menu.lst from another installation of Linux. <root>/dev/sda1</root> |
Since openSUSE 11.1 and SLES11, EVMS is no longer supported in the installation system. That means all support for EVMS in AutoYaST was dropped as well. All EVMS documentation here is only valid for SLES10 (all service packs).
The following elements must be between the <partitioning config:type="list"><drive> ... </drive></partitioning> tags in the <profile> section.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
device |
The device you want to configure in this <drive> section. You can use persistent device names via id, like /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD3200AAKS-75L9A0_WD-WMAV27368122 or by-path, like /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0001:00:03.0-scsi-0:0:0:0. <device>/dev/hda</device> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST tries to guess the device (on openSUSE 12.2 and SLES11 SP2 you can influence the guessing—see below this table for instructions on how to do that). A RAID must always have "/dev/md" as device. |
|
initialize |
If set to "true", the partition table gets wiped out before AutoYaST starts the partition calculation. <initialize config:type="boolean" >true</initialize> |
Optional. The default is "false". |
|
partitions |
A list of <partition> entries (see table below). <partitions config:type="list"> <partition>...</partition> ... </partitions> |
Optional. If no partitions are specified, AutoYaST will create a reasonable partitioning (see Automated Partitioning below). |
|
pesize |
This value only makes sense with LVM/EVMS. <pesize>8M</pesize> |
Optional. Default is 4M for EVMS/LVM volume groups. |
|
use |
Specifies the strategy AutoYaST will use to partition the hard disk. Choose between:
|
This parameter should be provided. |
|
type |
Specify the type of the drive Choose between:
<type config:type="symbol">CT_LVM</type> |
Optional. Default is CT_DISK for a normal physical hard disk. |
|
disklabel |
Describes the type of the partition table. Choose between:
<disklabel>gpt</disklabel> |
Optional and available since openSUSE 12.1 and SLES11 SP2. By default YaST decides what makes sense (msdos in most cases). |
|
keep_unknown_lv |
This value only makes sense for type=CT_LVM drives. If you are reusing an LVG and you set this to "true", all existing LVs in that VG will not be touched unless they are specified in the <partitioning> section. So you can keep existing LVs without specifying them. <keep_unknown_lv config:type="boolean" >false</keep_unknown_lv> |
Optional and available since openSUSE 12.1 and SLES11 SP2. The default is "false". |
Since openSUSE 12.2 and SLES11 SP2, you can influence AutoYaST's device-guessing for cases where you don't specify a <device> entry on your own. Usually AutoYaST would use the first device it can find that looks reasonable but you can configure it to skip some devices like this:
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<initialize config:type="boolean">true</initialize>
<!-- the skip_list is optional and available since openSUSE 12.2 and SLES11 SP2 -->
<skip_list config:type="list">
<listentry>
<!-- skip devices that use the usb-storage driver -->
<skip_key>driver</skip_key>
<skip_value>usb-storage</skip_value>
</listentry>
<listentry>
<!-- skip devices that are smaller than 1GB -->
<skip_key>size_k</skip_key>
<skip_value>1048576</skip_value>
<skip_if_less_than config:type="boolean">true</skip_if_less_than>
</listentry>
<listentry>
<!-- skip devices that are larger than 100GB -->
<skip_key>size_k</skip_key>
<skip_value>104857600</skip_value>
<skip_if_more_than config:type="boolean">true</skip_if_more_than>
</listentry>
</skip_list>
...For a list of all possible <skip_key>, run "yast2 ayast_probe" on openSUSE 12.2 or SLES11SP2.
The following elements must be between the <partitions config:type="list"><partition> ... </partition></partitions> tags in the <drive> section.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
create |
Specify if this partition must be created or if it already exists. <create config:type="boolean" >false</create> |
If set to "false", provide information for AutoYaST about which partition this is (like with partition_nr). |
|
mount |
The mount point of this partition. <mount>/</mount> <mount>swap</mount> |
You should have at least a root partition (/) and a swap partition. |
|
fstopt |
Mount options for this partition. <fstopt >ro,noatime,user,data=ordered,acl,user_xattr</fstopt> |
See |
|
label |
The label of the partition (useful for the "mountby" parameter; see below). <label>mydata</label> |
See |
|
uuid |
The uuid of the partition (only useful for the "mountby" parameter; see below). <uuid >1b4e28ba-2fa1-11d2-883f-b9a761bde3fb</uuid> |
See |
|
size |
The size of the partition, e.g. 4G, 4500M, etc. The /boot partition and the swap partition can have "auto" as size. Then AutoYaST calculates a reasonable size. One partition can have the value "max" to use all remaining space. You can specify the the size in percentage. So 10% will use 10% of the size of the hard disk or VG. You can mix auto, max, size, and percentage as you like. <size>10G</size> | |
|
format |
Specify if AutoYaST should format the partition. <format config:type="boolean">false</format> |
If you set "create" to "true", then you likely want this option set to "true" as well. |
|
filesystem |
Specify the file system to use on this partition:
<filesystem config:type="symbol" >ext3</filesystem> |
Optional. The default is ext3 for SLES11 and ext4 for openSUSE 12.x |
|
mkfs_options |
Specifiy an option string that is added to the mkfs command. <mkfs_options>-I 128</mkfs_options> |
Optional. Only use this when you know what you are doing. |
|
partition_nr |
The partition number of this partition. If you have set create=false or if you use LVM, then you can specify the partition via partition_nr. You can force AutoYaST to only create primary partitions by assigning numbers below 5. <partition_nr config:type="integer" >2</partition_nr> |
In most cases, numbers 1 to 4 are primary partitions while 5 and higher are logical partitions. |
|
partition_id |
The partition_id sets the id of the partition. If you want different identifiers than 131 for Linux partition or 130 for swap, configure them with partition_id. <partition_id config:type="integer" >131</partition_id> |
The default is 131 for Linux partition and 130 for swap. |
|
mountby |
Instead of a partition number, you can tell AutoYaST to mount a partition by device, label, uuid, path or id, which are the udev path and udev id (see /dev/disk/...). <mountby config:type="symbol" >label</mountby> |
See "label" and "uuid" documentation above. The default depends on YaST and is id in most cases. It was device in the past. |
|
subvolumes |
List of subvolumes to create for a file system of type btrfs. This key only makes sense for file systems of type btrfs. If there is a default subvolume used for the distribution (for example, "@" in SLES11 SP2) the name of this default subvolume is automatically prepended to the names in this list. <subvolumes config:type="list">
<path>tmp</path>
<path>opt</path>
<path>srv</path>
<path>var/crash</path>
<path>var/lock</path>
<path>var/run</path>
<path>var/tmp</path>
<path>var/spool</path>
...
</subvolumes> |
This key is available since openSUSE 12.3 and SLES11 SP3. |
|
lv_name |
If this partition is in a logical volume in a volume group (LVM or EVMS) specify the logical volume name here (see is_lvm_vg or is_evms_vg parameter in drive configuration). <lv_name>opt_lv</lv_name> | |
|
stripes |
An integer that configures LVM striping. Specify across how many devices you want to stripe (spread data). <stripes config:type="integer">2</stripes> | |
|
stripesize |
Specify the size of each block in kb. <stripesize config:type="integer" >4</stripesize> | |
|
lvm_group |
If this is a physical partition used by (part of) a volume group (LVM), you have to specify the name of the volume group here. <lvm_group>system</lvm_group> | |
|
pool |
Boolean must be set to true if the LVM logical volume should be an LVM thin pool. <pool config:type="boolean">false</pool> |
This key is available since openSUSE 12.3 and SLES11 SP3. |
|
used_pool |
The name of the LVM thin pool that is used as a data store for this thin logical volume. If this is set to something non-empty, it implies that the volume is a so-called thin logical volume. <used_pool>my_thin_pool</used_pool> |
This key is available since openSUSE 12.3 and SLES11 SP3. |
|
evms_group |
If this physical partition is used by a volume group (EVMS), you have to specify the name of the volume group here. <evms_group>system</evms_group> | |
|
raid_name |
If this physical volume is part of a RAID, specify the name of the RAID. <raid_name>/dev/md0</raid_name> | |
|
raid_type |
Specify the type of the RAID. <raid_type>raid1</raid_type> | |
|
raid_options |
Specify RAID options, see below. <raid_options>...</raid_options> | |
|
resize |
This boolean must be "true" if an existing partition should be resized. In this case, you want to set create to false and in most cases you don't want to format the partition. You need to tell AutoYaST the partition_nr and the size. The size can be in percentage of the original size or a number, like 800M. max and auto do not work as size here. <resize config:type="boolean" >false</resize> |
The resize only works with physical disks. Not with LVM/EVMS volumes. |
The following elements must be between the <partition><raid_options> ... </raid_options></partition> tags.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
chunk_size |
<chunk_size>4</chunk_size> | |
|
parity_algorithm |
Possible values are: left_asymmetric, left_symmetric, right_asymmetric, right_symmetric. Since SLES11 SP2 and openSUSE 12.1 you can use: parity_first, parity_last, left_asymmetric_6, left_symmetric_6, right_asymmetric_6, right_symmetric_6, parity_first_6, n2, o2, f2, n3, o3, f3 for RAID6 and RAID10. <parity_algorithm >left_asymmetric</parity_algorithm> | |
|
raid_type |
Possible values are: raid0, raid1 and raid5. <raid_type>raid1</raid_type> |
The default is raid1. |
|
device_order |
This list contains the optional order of the physical devices: <device_order config:type="list"> <device>/dev/sdb2</device> <device>/dev/sda1</device> ... </device_order> |
This is optional and the default is alphabetical order. This key is available since openSUSE 12.2 and SLES11 SP3. |
For automated partitioning, you only need to provide the sizes and mount points of partitions. All other data needed for successful partitioning is calculated during installation—unless provided in the control file.
If no partitions are defined and the specified drive is also the drive where the root partition should be created, the following partitions are created automatically:
/boot
The size of the /boot partition is determined by the architecture of the target system.
swap
The size of the swap partition is determined by the amount of memory available in the system.
/ (root partition)
The size of the root partition is determined by the space left after creating swap and /boot.
Depending on the initial status of the drive and how it was previously partitioned, it is possible to create the default partitioning in the following ways:
Use free space
If the drive is already partitioned, it is possible to create the new partitions using the free space on the hard drive. This requires the availability of enough space for all selected packages in addition to swap.
Reuse all available space
Use this option to delete all existing partitions (Linux and non-Linux).
Reuse all available Linux partitions
This option deletes all existing Linux partitions. Other partitions (i.e. Windows) remain untouched. Note that this works only if the Linux partitions are at the end of the device.
Reuse only specified partitions
This option allows you to select specific partitions to delete. Start the selection with the last available partition.
Repartitioning only works if the selected partitions are neighbors and located at the end of the device.
The value provided in the use property determines how existing data and partitions are treated. The value all means that ALL data on the disk will be erased. Make backups and use the confirm property if you are going to keep some partitions with important data. During automated installation, no pop-ups will notify you about partitions being deleted.
If multiple drives are present in the target system, identify all drives with their device names and specify how the partitioning should be performed.
Partition sizes can be given in gigabytes, megabytes or can be set to a flexible value using the keywords auto and max. max uses all available space on a drive, therefore should only be set for the last partition on the drive. With auto the size of a swap or boot partition is determined automatically, depending on the memory available and the type of the system.
A fixed size can be given as shown below:
1GB will create a partition of the size 1 GB. 1500MB will create a partition of the size 1.5 GB.
The following is an example of a single drive system, which is not pre-partitioned and should be automatically partitioned according to the described pre-defined partition plan. If you do not specify the device, it will be automatically detected. You do not have to create different profiles for /dev/sda or /dev/hda systems.
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/hda</device>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>A more detailed example shows how existing partitions and multiple drives are handled.
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/hda</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<mount>/</mount>
<size>5gb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<mount>swap</mount>
<size>1gb</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
</drive>
<drive>
<device>/dev/hdb</device>
<use>all</use>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<mount>/data1</mount>
<size>15gb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">jfs</filesystem>
<mount>/data2</mount>
<size>auto</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>free</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>
In most cases this is not needed because AutoYaST can delete partitions one by one automatically, but you have the option to let AutoYaST clear the partition table instead of deleting partitions individually.
Go to the "drive" section and add:
<initialize config:type="boolean">true</initialize>
With this setting AutoYaST will delete the partition table before it starts to analyse the actual partitioning and calculates its partition plan. Of course this means, that you cannot keep any of your existing partitions.
By default a file system to be mounted is identified in
/etc/fstab by the device name. This identification
can be changed so the file system is found by searching for a
UUID or a volume label. Note that not all
file systems can be mounted by UUID or a
volume label. To specify how a partition is to be mounted, use the
mountby property which has the
symbol type. Possible options are:
device (default),
label,
UUID.
If you choose to mount the partition using a label, the name entered for the label property is used as the volume label.
Add any legal mount option in the fourth field of
/etc/fstab. Multiple options are separated by
commas. Possible fstab options:
Mount read-only (ro): No write access to the file system. Default is "false".
No access time (noatime): Access times are not updated when a file is read. Default is "false".
Mountable by User (user): The file system can be mounted by a normal user. Default is "false".
Data Journaling Mode (ordered, journal, writeback): Specifies the journaling mode for file data.
All data is committed to the journal prior to being written to the main file system.
All data is directly written to the main file system before its metadata is committed to the journal.
Data ordering is not preserved.
Access Control List (acl): Enable access control lists on the file system.
Extended User Attributes (user_xattr): Allow extended user attributes on the file system.
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<fstopt>ro,noatime,user,data=ordered,acl,user_xattr</fstopt>
<mount>/local</mount>
<mountby config:type="symbol">uuid</mountby>
<partition_id config:type="integer">131</partition_id>
<size>10gb</size>
</partition>
</partitions>In some cases you may want to leave partitions untouched and only format specific target partitions, rather than creating them from scratch. For example, if different Linux installations coexist, or you have another operating system installed, likely you do not want to wipe these out. Or you may want to leave data partitions untouched.
Such scenarios require certain knowledge about the target systems and hard drives. Depending on the scenario, you might need to know the exact partition table of the target hard drive with partition ids, sizes and numbers. With this data you can tell AutoYaST to keep certain partitions, format others and create new partitions if needed.
The following example will keep partitions 1, 2 and 5 and delete partition 6 to create two new partitions. All remaining partitions will only be formatted.
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/hdc</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<create config:type="boolean">false</create>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<mount>/</mount>
<partition_nr config:type="integer">1</partition_nr>
</partition>
<partition>
<create config:type="boolean">false</create>
<format config:type="boolean">false</format>
<partition_nr config:type="integer">2</partition_nr>
<mount>/space</mount>
</partition>
<partition>
<create config:type="boolean">false</create>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">swap</filesystem>
<partition_nr config:type="integer">5</partition_nr>
<mount>swap</mount>
</partition>
<partition>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<mount>/space2</mount>
<size>50mb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<mount>/space3</mount>
<size>max</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>6</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>The last example requires exact knowledge of the existing partition table and the partition numbers of those partitions that should be kept. In some cases however, such data may not be available, especially in a mixed hardware environment with different hard drive types and configurations. The following scenario is for a system with a non-Linux OS with a designated area for a Linux installation.
In this scenario, shown in figure “Figure 4.1, “Keeping partitions””, AutoYaST will not create new partitions. Instead it searches for certain partition types on the system and uses them according to the partitioning plan in the control file. No partition numbers are given in this case, only the mount points and the partition types (additional configuration data can be provided, for example file system options, encryption and file system type).
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<create config:type="boolean">false</create>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<mount>/</mount>
<partition_id config:type="integer">131</partition_id>
</partition>
<partition>
<create config:type="boolean">false</create>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">swap</filesystem>
<partition_id config:type="integer">130</partition_id>
<mount>swap</mount>
</partition>
</partitions>
</drive>
</partitioning>
This option will allow AutoYaST to use an existing
/etc/fstab and use the partition data from a
previous installation. All partitions are kept and no new partitions are
created. The partitions will be formatted and mounted as specified in
/etc/fstab on a Linux root partition.
Although the default behaviour is to format all partitions, it is also possible to leave some partitions untouched and only mount them, for example data partitions. If multiple installations are found on the system (multiple root partitions with different fstab files, the installation will abort, unless the root partition is configured in the control file. The following example illustrates how this option can be used:
/etc/fstab # <partitioning_advanced>
<fstab>
<!-- Read data from existing fstab. If multiple root partitions are
found, use the one specified below. Otherwise the first root
partition is taken -->
<!-- <root_partition>/dev/hda5</root_partition> -->
<use_existing_fstab config:type="boolean">true</use_existing_fstab>
<!-- all partitions found in fstab will be formatted and mounted
by default unless a partition is listed below with different
settings -->
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<format config:type="boolean">false</format>
<mount>/bootmirror</mount>
</partition>
</partitions>
</fstab>
</partitioning_advanced>To configure LVM, first create a physical volume using the normal partitioning method described above.
The following example shows how to prepare for LVM in the partitioning resource:
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/sda</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<lvm_group>system</lvm_group>
<partition_type>primary</partition_type>
<size>max</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>
In the last example, a non-formatted partition is created on device
/dev/sda1 of the type LVM and
with the volume group system. This partition will use
all space available on the drive.
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/sda</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<lvm_group>system</lvm_group>
<partition_type>primary</partition_type>
<size>max</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
<drive>
<device>/dev/system</device>
<is_lvm_vg config:type="boolean">true</is_lvm_vg>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<lv_name>user_lv</lv_name>
<mount>/usr</mount>
<size>500mb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<lv_name>opt_lv</lv_name>
<mount>/opt</mount>
<size>1500mb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<lv_name>var_lv</lv_name>
<mount>/var</mount>
<size>200mb</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<pesize>4M</pesize>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>With SUSE Linux 10.1 and all following versions, it is possible to set the size to max for the logical volumes. Of course, you can only use max for one(!) logical volume. You cannot set two logical volumes in one volume group to sizemax.
SLES10 AutoYaST has EVMS support. SLES11 has not!
Using EVMS is quite similar to using LVM (see above). Switching from LVM to EVMS is just a small change in the AutoYaST profile. Change the "is_lvm_vg" element to "is_evms_vg" and the "lvm_group" element to "evms_group".
With AutoYaST it is not possible to mix LVM and EVMS.
Using the LVM example from above for EVMS, looks like this:
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/sda</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<evms_group>system</evms_group>
<partition_type>primary</partition_type>
<size>max</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
<drive>
<device>/dev/system</device>
<is_evms_vg config:type="boolean">true</is_evms_vg>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<lv_name>user_lv</lv_name>
<mount>/usr</mount>
<size>500mb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<lv_name>opt_lv</lv_name>
<mount>/opt</mount>
<size>1500mb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<lv_name>var_lv</lv_name>
<mount>/var</mount>
<size>200mb</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<pesize>4M</pesize>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>Using AutoYaST, you can create and assemble software RAID devices. The supported RAID levels are the following:
RAID 0: This level increases your disk performance. There is no redundancy in this mode. If one of the drives crashes, data recovery will not be possible.
RAID 1: This mode offers the best redundancy. It can be used with two or more disks. An exact copy of all data is maintained on all disks. As long as at least one disk is still working, no data is lost. The partitions used for this type of RAID should have approximately the same size.
RAID 5: This mode combines management of a larger number of disks and still maintains some redundancy. This mode can be used on three disks or more. If one disk fails, all data is still intact. If two disks fail simultaneously, all data is lost.
Multipath: This mode allows access to the same physical device via multiple controllers for redundancy against a fault in a controller card. This mode can be used with at least two devices.
As with LVM, you need to create all RAID partitions first and assign the partitions to the RAID device you want to create. Additionally you need to specify whether a partition or a device should be configured in the RAID or if it should be configured as a Spare device.
The following example shows a simple RAID1 configuration:
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<device>/dev/sda</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<partition_id config:type="integer">253</partition_id>
<format config:type="boolean">false</format>
<raid_name>/dev/md0</raid_name>
<raid_type>raid</raid_type>
<size>4gb</size>
</partition>
<!-- Here come the regular partitions, i.e. / and swap -->
</partitions>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
<drive>
<device>/dev/sdb</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<format config:type="boolean">false</format>
<partition_id config:type="integer">253</partition_id>
<raid_name>/dev/md0</raid_name>
<raid_type>raid</raid_type>
<size>4gb</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
<drive>
<device>/dev/md</device>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">reiser</filesystem>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<mount>/space</mount>
<partition_id config:type="integer">131</partition_id>
<partition_nr config:type="integer">0</partition_nr>
<raid_options>
<chunk_size>4</chunk_size>
<parity_algorithm>left-asymmetric</parity_algorithm>
<raid_type>raid1</raid_type>
</raid_options>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>Consider the following when configuring raid:
The device for raid is always /dev/md
The property partition_nr is used to determine the MD device number. If partition_nr is equal to 0, then /dev/md0 is configured.
All RAID-specific options are contained in the raid_options resource.
The following elements must be between the
<dasd> <devices config:type="list"> <listentry> ... </listentry> </devices> </dasd>
tags in the <profile> section. Each disk needs to be configured in a separate <listentry> ... </listentry> section.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
device |
<device >DASD</dev_name> | |
|
dev_name |
The device ( <dev_name >/dev/dasda</dev_name> |
Optional but recommended. If left out, AutoYaST tries to guess the device. |
|
channel |
Channel by which the disk is accessed. <channel>0.0.0150</channel> |
Mandatory. |
|
diag |
Enable or disable the use of <diag config:type="boolean">true</diag> |
Optional. |
The following elements must be between the tags in the <profile> section:
<zfcp> <devices config:type="list"> <listentry> ... </listentry> </devices> </zfcp>
Each disk needs to be configured in a separate <listentry> ... </listentry> section.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
controller_id |
Channel number <controller_id >0.0.fc00</controller_id> | |
|
fcp_lun |
Logical unit number <fcp_lun >0x4010400400000000</fcp_lun> | |
|
wwpn |
World wide port number <wwpn >0x500507630510473a</wwpn> |
Using the fcoe_cfg resource, you can configure a Fibre
Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).
<fcoe-client>
<fcoe_cfg>
<DEBUG>no</DEBUG>
<USE_SYSLOG>yes</USE_SYSLOG>
</fcoe_cfg>
<interfaces config:type="list">
<listentry>
<dev_name>eth3</dev_name>
<mac_addr>01:000:000:000:42:42</mac_addr>
<device>Gigabit 1313</device>
<vlan_interface>200</vlan_interface>
<fcoe_vlan>eth3.200</fcoe_vlan>
<fcoe_enable>yes</fcoe_enable>
<dcb_required>yes</dcb_required>
<auto_vlan>no</auto_vlan>
<dcb_capable>no</dcb_capable>
<cfg_device>eth3.200</cfg_device>
</listentry>
</interfaces>
<service_start>
<fcoe config:type="boolean">true</fcoe>
<lldpad config:type="boolean">true</lldpad>
</service_start>
</fcoe-client>|
Attribute |
Description |
Values |
|---|---|---|
|
fcoe_cfg |
|
yes/no |
|
interfaces |
List of network cards including the status of VLAN and FCoE configuration. | |
|
service_start |
Enable or disable the start of the services fcoe and lldpad at boot time. Starting the service fcoe means starting the Fibre Channel over Ethernet service daemon fcoemon which controls the FCoE interfaces and establishes a connection with the daemon lldpad. The lldpad service provides the Link Layer Discovery Protocol agent daemon lldpad that informs fcoemon about DCB (Data Center Bridging) features and configuration of the interfaces. |
yes/no |
SLES10 no longer supports selections but uses patterns. AutoYaST cannot convert selections to patterns. If you want to use a SLES9 AutoYaST profile to install a SLES10 server, you have to remove all addon entries and the base entry. Patterns are configured like this:
<software>
<patterns config:type="list">
<pattern>directory_server</pattern>
</patterns>
<packages config:type="list">
<package>apache</package>
<package>sendmail</package>
</packages>
<do_online_update config:type="boolean">true</do_online_update> <!-- since openSUSE 11.1 -->
</software>The packages section is still the same as on a SLES9. Just the addon and base sections are gone.
This feature is available since openSUSE 11.1 but not in SLES11.
Since openSUSE 11.0 you can use images during installation to speed up the installation. This feature is available in openSUSE 11.1 as well.
<!-- since openSUSE 11.1 -->
<!-- note! this is not in the software section! -->
<deploy_image>
<image_installation config:type="boolean">false</image_installation>
</deploy_image>In addition to the packages available for installation on the CD-ROMs, you can add external packages including customized kernels. Customized kernel packages must be compatible to the SuSE packages and must install the kernel files to the same locations.
Unlike in earlier in versions, you do not need a special resource in the control file to install custom and external packages. Instead you need to re-create the package database and update it with any new packages or new package versions in the source repository.
A script is provided for this task which will query packages available in
the repository and create the package database. Use the command
/usr/bin/create_package_descr. When creating the
database, all languages will be reset to English.
cd /usr/local/CDs/LATEST/suse create_package_descr -x PATH_TO_EXTRA_PROV -d /usr/local/CDs/LATEST/suse
In the above example, the directory
/usr/local/CDs/LATEST/suse contains the architecture
dependent and independent packages, i.e. noarch and
i586. This might look different on other
architectures.
The advantage of this method is that you can keep an up-to-date repository with fixed and updated package (e.g. from SuSE FTP server). Additionally this method makes the creation of custom CD-ROMs easier.
With SLES10/SL10.1, the concept of adding your own RPMs to an installation source has changed. Neither yast/order nor yast/instorder are supported any longer by AutoYaST or by YaST. To add your own RPMs to an installation source (or add-on products like the SDK), add a file add_on_products to CD1 of the main product.
media_url [path_on_media [product_1 [product_2 [....]]]
media_url is the URL of the media, path_on_media is the path to the catalog on the media. If not present, / (root) is assumed. product_1 and following are the names of products, which should be marked for installation. If no product is specified, all products found on the media are selected for installation. For example:
http://192.168.66.6/SLES10/sdk/CD1
http://192.168.66.6/SLES10/CD1/updatesBesides the add_on_products file, you can use the AutoYaST profile to specify add-on products. For example:
<add-on>
<add_on_products config:type="list">
<listentry>
<media_url>http://192.168.66.6/SLES10/CD1/updates</media_url>
<product>SuSE-Linux-Updates</product>
<product_dir>/</product_dir>
<ask_on_error config:type="boolean">false</ask_on_error>
<!-- available since openSUSE 11.0/SLES 11 -->
<name>MyUpdates</name> <!-- available since openSUSE 11.1/SLES11 (bnc#433981) -->
</listentry>
</add_on_products>
</add-on>With this entry in the AutoYaST profile, the add_on_products file is not necessary. Since openSUSE 11.0, AutoYaST can ask the user to make add-on products available instead of reporting a time-out error when an add-on product cannot be found at the given location. Set ask_on_error to "true" (the default is "false"). Then your add-on product can be on a different CD/DVD than the installation source.
YaST checks the signatures of files on the installation source. If a content file is not signed, during a manual installation YaST asks the user what to do. During an automatic installation, the installation source is rejected silently.
If you want to use unsigned installation sources with AutoYaST, turn off the checks with the following configuration in your AutoYaST profile (part of the general section.
The following elements must be between the <general><signature-handling> ... </signature-handling></general> tags.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
accept_unsigned_file |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept unsigned files like the content file. <accept_unsigned_file config:type="boolean" >true</accept_unsigned_file> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST lets YaST decide what to do. |
|
accept_file_without_checksum |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept files without a checksum in the content file. <accept_file_without_checksum config:type="boolean" >true</accept_file_without_checksum> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST lets YaST decide what to do. |
|
accept_verification_failed |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept signed files even when the verification of the signature failed. <accept_verification_failed config:type="boolean" >true</accept_verification_failed> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST lets YaST decide what to do. |
|
accept_unknown_gpg_key |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept new gpg keys on the installation source, for example the key used to sign the content file. <accept_unknown_gpg_key config:type="boolean" >true</accept_unknown_gpg_key> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST lets YaST decide what to do. |
|
accept_non_trusted_gpg_key |
This basically means, we know the key, but it is not trusted. <accept_non_trusted_gpg_key config:type="boolean" >true</accept_non_trusted_gpg_key> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST lets YaST decide what to do. |
|
import_gpg_key |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept and import new gpg keys on the installation source in its database. <import_gpg_key config:type="boolean" >true</import_gpg_key> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST lets YaST decide what to do. |
Since openSUSE 10.3, it is possible to configure the signature handling for each add-on product individually. The following elements must be between the <signature-handling> section of the individual add-on product.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
accept_unsigned_file |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept unsigned files like the content file for this add-on product. <accept_unsigned_file config:type="boolean" >true</accept_unsigned_file> |
Optional. If left out, the global signature-handling in the <general> section is used. |
|
accept_file_without_checksum |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept files without a checksum in the content file for this add-on. <accept_file_without_checksum config:type="boolean" >true</accept_file_without_checksum> |
Optional. If left out, the global signature-handling in the <general> section is used. |
|
accept_verification_failed |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept signed files even when the verification of the signature fails. <accept_verification_failed config:type="boolean" >true</accept_verification_failed> |
Optional. If left out, the global signature-handling in the <general> section is used. |
|
accept_unknown_gpg_key |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept new gpg keys on the installation source, for example the key used to sign the content file. <accept_unknown_gpg_key>
<all config:type="boolean">false</all>
<keys config:type="list">
<keyid>3B3011B76B9D6523</keyid>
</keys>
</accept_unknown_gpg_key> |
Optional. If left out, the global signature-handling in the <general> section is used. |
|
accept_non_trusted_gpg_key |
This basically means, we know the key, but it is not trusted. <accept_non_trusted_gpg_key>
<all config:type="boolean">false</all>
<keys config:type="list">
<keyid>3B3011B76B9D6523</keyid>
</keys>
</accept_non_trusted_gpg_key> |
optional. If left out, the global signature-handling in the <general> section is used. |
|
import_gpg_key |
If set to "true", AutoYaST will accept and import new gpg keys on the installation source into its database. <import_gpg_key>
<all config:type="boolean">false</all>
<keys config:type="list">
<keyid>3B3011B76B9D6523</keyid>
</keys>
</import_gpg_key> |
Optional. If left out, the global signature-handling in the <general> section is used. |
Kernel packages are not part of any selection. The required kernel is determined during installation. If the kernel package is added to any selection or to the individual package selection, installation will mostly fail due to conflicts.
To force the installation of a specific kernel, use the kernel property. The following is an example of forcing the installation of the default kernel. This kernel will be installed even if an SMP or other kernel is required.
<software>
<kernel>kernel-default</kernel>
<packages config:type="list">
<package>apache2</package>
</packages>
</software>Some packages are selected automatically either because of a dependency or because it is available in a selection.
Removing such packages might break the system consistency and it is not recommended to remove basic packages unless a replacement which provides the same services is provided. The best example for this case are MTA packages. By default, postfix will be selected and installed. If you wish to use another MTA like sendmail, then postfix can be removed from the list of selected package using a list in the software resource. The following example shows how this can be done:
<software>
<packages config:type="list">
<package>sendmail</package>
</packages>
<remove-packages config:type="list">
<package>postfix</package>
</remove-packages>
</software>If you want to install packages after the reboot during stage 2, instead of during the normal installation process in stage 1, you can use the post-packages element for that:
<software>
<post-packages config:type="list">
<package>yast2-cim</package>
</post-packages>
</software>Since SLES11 and openSUSE 11.1, you can also install patterns in stage 2. Use the post-patterns element for that:
<software>
<post-patterns config:type="list">
<pattern>apparmor</pattern>
</post-patterns>
</software>Since openSUSE 11.1, you can perform an online update at the end of the installation. Set the boolean do_online_update to "true". Of course this only makes sense if you add an online update repository in the suse-register/customer-center section, for example, or in a post-script. If the online update repository was available in stage 1 already via add-on section, then AutoYaST has already installed the latest packages available. If a kernel update is done via online-update, a reboot at the end of stage 2 is triggered.
<software> <do_online_update config:type="boolean">true</do_online_update> </software>
With the runlevel resource you can set the default runlevel and specify in detail which system services you want to be started in which runlevel.
The default property specifies the default runlevel of the system. Changes to the default runlevel will take effect the next time you boot the system. After the installation is completed, the system runs in runlevel 5, which is full multiuser with network and XDM. If you have configured a system with no X11, it is recommended to reboot the system after stage 1, using the reboot property in the general resource.
Specify in which runlevels a service should run via a space separated list of the runlevels, as shown in the following example. Alternatively change the status of the service by either enabling or disabling it using the service_status property.
....
<runlevel>
<default>3</default>
<services config:type="list" >
<service>
<service_name>at</service_name>
<service_start>3 5</service_start>
</service>
<service>
<service_name>portmap</service_name>
<service_status>enable</service_status>
</service>
<service>
<service_name>hwscan</service_name>
<service_status>disable</service_status>
</service>
</services>
</runlevel>
....
Network configuration is used to connect a single SuSE Linux workstation to an Ethernet-based LAN or to configure a dial-up connection. More complex configurations (multiple network cards, routing, etc.) are also provided. With this module it is possible to configure and setup Ethernet controllers and Token-Ring controllers.
In the networking section, set this option to "true" (default is "false", available since openSUSE 11.2 and SLES11):
<keep_install_network config:type="boolean">true</keep_install_network>
YaST will keep network settings created during installation (via Linuxrc) and/or merge it with network settings from the AutoYaST profile (if defined). AutoYaST settings have higher priority than already present configuration files. YaST will write ifcfg-* files from profile without removing old ones. If there is an empty or no dns and routing section, YaST will keep already present values. Otherwise settings from the profile will be applied.
To configure network settings and activate networking automatically, one global resource is used to store the whole network configuration.
.....
<networking>
<dns>
<dhcp_hostname config:type="boolean">true</dhcp_hostname>
<dhcp_resolv config:type="boolean">true</dhcp_resolv>
<domain>local</domain>
<hostname>linux</hostname>
</dns>
<interfaces config:type="list">
<interface>
<bootproto>dhcp</bootproto>
<device>eth0</device>
<startmode>onboot</startmode>
</interface>
</interfaces>
<routing>
<ip_forward config:type="boolean">false</ip_forward>
<routes config:type="list">
<route>
<destination>default</destination>
<device>-</device>
<gateway>192.168.1.240</gateway>
<netmask>-</netmask>
</route>
</routes>
</routing>
<modules config:type="list">
<module_entry>
<device>eth0</device>
<module>e100</module>
<options></options>
</module_entry>
</modules>
<net-udev config:type="list">
<rule>
<name>eth0</name>
<rule>KERNELS</rule>
<value>0.0.0800</value>
</rule>
</net-udev>
<s390-devices config:type="list">
<listentry>
<chanids>0.0.0800 0.0.0801 0.0.0802</chanids>
<type>qeth</type>
</listentry>
</s390-devices>
<ipv6 config:type="boolean">true</ipv6>
</networking>
....Using IPv6 addresses in AutoYaST is fully supported. To disable IPv6 Address Support, set <ipv6 config:type="boolean">false</ipv6> in the network configuration section.
The following elements must be between the <net-udev>...</net-udev> tags.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
name |
Network interface name, e.g. |
required |
|
rule |
|
required |
|
value |
e.g. |
required |
The following elements must be between the <s390-devices>...</s390-devices> tags.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
type |
qeth, ctc or iucv | |
|
chanids |
channel ids separated by spaces <chanids>0.0.0700 0.0.0701 0.0.0702</chanids> | |
|
layer2 |
<layer2 config:type="boolean">true</layer2> |
boolean; default: false |
|
portname |
QETH port name | |
|
protocol |
CTC / LCS protocol, a small number (as a string) <protocol>1</protocol> |
optional |
|
router |
IUCV router/user |
Configure your Internet proxy (caching) settings.
HTTP proxy is the name of the proxy server for your access to the World Wide Web (WWW). FTP proxy is the name of the proxy server for your access to the file transfer services (FTP). No proxy domains is a list of domains for which requests should be carried out directly without caching.
If you are using a proxy server with authorization, fill in Proxy user name and Proxy password.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE profile>
<profile xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns" xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<proxy>
<enabled config:type="boolean">true</enabled>
<ftp_proxy>http://192.168.1.240:3128</ftp_proxy>
<http_proxy>http://192.168.1.240:3128</http_proxy>
<no_proxy>localhost</no_proxy>
<proxy_password>testpw</proxy_password>
<proxy_user>testuser</proxy_user>
</proxy>
</profile>The profile has elements to specify which superserver should be used (netd_service), whether it should be enabled (netd_status) and how the services should be configured (netd_conf).
A service description element has two parts: key and non-key. When writing the configuration, services are matched using the key fields; to the matching service, non-key fields are applied. If no service matches, it is created. If more services match, a warning is reported. The key fields are script, service, protocol and server.
service and protocol are matched
literally. script is the base name of the config
file: usually a file in /etc/xinetd.d, for example
"echo-udp", or "inetd.conf". For compatibility with 8.2,
server is matched more loosely: if it is
/usr/sbin/tcpd, the real server name is taken from
server_args. After that, the basename of the first
whitespace-separated word is taken and these values are compared.
<profile>
...
<inetd>
<netd_service config:type="symbol">xinetd</netd_service>
<netd_status config:type="integer">0</netd_status>
<netd_conf config:type="list">
<conf>
<script>imap</script>
<service>pop3</service>
<enabled config:type="boolean">true</enabled>
</conf>
<conf>
<server>in.ftpd</server>
<server_args>-A</server_args>
<enabled config:type="boolean">true</enabled>
</conf>
<conf>
<service>daytime</service>
<protocol>tcp</protocol>
</conf>
....
<conf>...</conf>
</netd_conf>
</inetd>
...
</profile>Using the nis resource, you can configure the target machine as a NIS client. The following example shows a detailed configuration using multiple domains.
...
<nis>
<nis_broadcast config:type="boolean">true</nis_broadcast>
<nis_broken_server config:type="boolean">true</nis_broken_server>
<nis_by_dhcp config:type="boolean">false</nis_by_dhcp>
<nis_domain>test.com</nis_domain>
<nis_local_only config:type="boolean">true</nis_local_only>
<nis_options></nis_options>
<nis_other_domains config:type="list">
<nis_other_domain>
<nis_broadcast config:type="boolean">false</nis_broadcast>
<nis_domain>domain.com</nis_domain>
<nis_servers config:type="list">
<nis_server>10.10.0.1</nis_server>
</nis_servers>
</nis_other_domain>
</nis_other_domains>
<nis_servers config:type="list">
<nis_server>192.168.1.1</nis_server>
</nis_servers>
<start_autofs config:type="boolean">true</start_autofs>
<start_nis config:type="boolean">true</start_nis>
</nis>
...The installed machine can be set up as an LDAP client to authenticate users with an OpenLDAP; server. Required data are the name of the search base (base DN, e.g, dc=mydomain,dc=com) and the IP address of the LDAP server (e.g., 10.20.0.2).
If LDAP is activated, NSS and PAM will be configured accordingly to use LDAP for user authentication.
...
<ldap>
<ldap_domain> dc=mydomain,dc=com</ldap_domain>
<ldap_server>10.10.0.1</ldap_server>
<ldap_tls config:type="boolean">true</ldap_tls>
<ldap_v2 config:type="boolean">true</ldap_v2>
<pam_password>crypt</pam_password>
<start_ldap config:type="boolean">true</start_ldap>
</ldap>
...Configuring a system as an NFS client or an NFS server is can be done using the configuration system. The following examples show how both NFS client and server can be configured.
Up to SLE11 and openSUSE 11.2, the following structure of NFS client configuration has been used:
...
<nfs config:type="list">
<nfs_entry>
<mount_point>/home</mount_point>
<nfs_options>defaults</nfs_options>
<server_path>192.168.1.1:/home</server_path>
</nfs_entry>
</nfs>
...From openSUSE 11.3 (SLE12 respectively) on, the structure of NFS client configuration has changed. Some global configuration options were introduced: enable_nfs4 to switch NFS4 support on/off and idmapd_domain to define domain name for rpc.idmapd (this only makes sense with enabled NFS4). Attention: the old structure is not compatible with the new one and the profiles with an NFS section created on older releases will not work with newer products.
...
<nfs>
<enable_nfs4 config:type="boolean">true</enable_nfs4>
<idmapd_domain>suse.cz</idmapd_domain>
<nfs_entries config:type="list">
<nfs_entry>
<mount_point>/home</mount_point>
<nfs_options>sec=krb5i,intr,rw</nfs_options>
<server_path>saurus.suse.cz:/home</server_path>
<vfstype>nfs4</vfstype>
</nfs_entry>
<nfs_entry>
<mount_point>/work</mount_point>
<nfs_options>defaults</nfs_options>
<server_path>bivoj.suse.cz:/work</server_path>
<vfstype>nfs</vfstype>
</nfs_entry>
<nfs_entry>
<mount_point>/mnt</mount_point>
<nfs_options>defaults</nfs_options>
<server_path>fallback.suse.cz:/srv/dist</server_path>
<vfstype>nfs</vfstype>
</nfs_entry>
</nfs_entries>
</nfs>
.......
<nfs_server>
<nfs_exports config:type="list">
<nfs_export>
<allowed config:type="list">
<allowed_clients>*(ro,root_squash,sync)</allowed_clients>
</allowed>
<mountpoint>/home</mountpoint>
</nfs_export>
<nfs_export>
<allowed config:type="list">
<allowed_clients>*(ro,root_squash,sync)</allowed_clients>
</allowed>
<mountpoint>/work</mountpoint>
</nfs_export>
</nfs_exports>
<start_nfsserver config:type="boolean">true</start_nfsserver>
</nfs_server>
....Select whether to start the NTP daemon when booting the system. The NTP daemon resolves hostnames when initializing. The first synchronization of the clock is performed before the NTP daemon is started. To use this host for initial synchronization, configure the property initial_sync.
To run NTP daemon in chroot jail, set start_in_chroot. Starting any daemon in a chroot jail is more secure and strongly recommended. To adjust NTP servers, peers, local clocks, and NTP broadcasting, add the appropriate entry to the control file. An example of various configuration options is shown below.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE profile>
<profile xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns" xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<ntp-client>
<configure_dhcp config:type="boolean">false</configure_dhcp>
<peers config:type="list">
<peer>
<address>ntp1.example.com</address>
<initial_sync config:type="boolean">true</initial_sync>
<options></options>
<type>server</type>
</peer>
</peers>
<start_at_boot config:type="boolean">true</start_at_boot>
<start_in_chroot config:type="boolean">true</start_in_chroot>
</ntp-client>
</profile>For the mail configuration of the client, this module lets you create a detailed mail configuration. The module contains various options. We recommended you use it at least for the initial configuration.
...
<mail>
<aliases config:type="list">
<alias>
<alias>root</alias>
<comment></comment>
<destinations>foo</destinations>
</alias>
<alias>
<alias>test</alias>
<comment></comment>
<destinations>foo</destinations>
</alias>
</aliases>
<connection_type config:type="symbol">permanent</connection_type>
<fetchmail config:type="list">
<fetchmail_entry>
<local_user>foo</local_user>
<password>bar</password>
<protocol>POP3</protocol>
<remote_user>foo</remote_user>
<server>pop.foo.com</server>
</fetchmail_entry>
<fetchmail_entry>
<local_user>test</local_user>
<password>bar</password>
<protocol>IMAP</protocol>
<remote_user>test</remote_user>
<server>blah.com</server>
</fetchmail_entry>
</fetchmail>
<from_header>test.com</from_header>
<listen_remote config:type="boolean">true</listen_remote>
<local_domains config:type="list">
<domains>test1.com</domains>
</local_domains>
<masquerade_other_domains config:type="list">
<domain>blah.com</domain>
</masquerade_other_domains>
<masquerade_users config:type="list">
<masquerade_user>
<address>joe@test.com</address>
<comment></comment>
<user>joeuser</user>
</masquerade_user>
<masquerade_user>
<address>bar@test.com</address>
<comment></comment>
<user>foo</user>
</masquerade_user>
</masquerade_users>
<mta config:type="symbol">postfix</mta>
<outgoing_mail_server>test.com</outgoing_mail_server>
<postfix_mda config:type="symbol">local</postfix_mda>
<smtp_auth config:type="list">
<listentry>
<password>bar</password>
<server>test.com</server>
<user>foo</user>
</listentry>
</smtp_auth>
<use_amavis config:type="boolean">true</use_amavis>
<virtual_users config:type="list">
<virtual_user>
<alias>test.com</alias>
<comment></comment>
<destinations>foo.com</destinations>
</virtual_user>
<virtual_user>
<alias>geek.com</alias>
<comment></comment>
<destinations>bar.com</destinations>
</virtual_user>
</virtual_users>
</mail>
...Using the features of this module, you will be able to change the local security settings on the target system. The local security settings include the boot configuration, login settings, password settings, user addition settings, and file permissions.
Configuring the security settings automatically corresponds to the Custom Settings in the security module available in the running system which lets you create your own, customized configuration.
See the reference for the meaning and the possible values of the settings in the following example.
...
<security>
<console_shutdown>ignore</console_shutdown>
<cwd_in_root_path>no</cwd_in_root_path>
<displaymanager_remote_access>no</displaymanager_remote_access>
<fail_delay>3</fail_delay>
<faillog_enab>yes</faillog_enab>
<gid_max>60000</gid_max>
<gid_min>101</gid_min>
<kdm_shutdown>root</kdm_shutdown>
<lastlog_enab>yes</lastlog_enab>
<encryption>md5</encryption>
<obscure_checks_enab>no</obscure_checks_enab>
<pass_max_days>99999</pass_max_days>
<pass_max_len>8</pass_max_len>
<pass_min_days>1</pass_min_days>
<pass_min_len>6</pass_min_len>
<pass_warn_age>14</pass_warn_age>
<passwd_use_cracklib>yes</passwd_use_cracklib>
<permission_security>secure</permission_security>
<run_updatedb_as>nobody</run_updatedb_as>
<uid_max>60000</uid_max>
<uid_min>500</uid_min>
</security>
...
Change various password settings. These settings are mainly stored in the
/etc/login.defs file.
Use this resource to activate one of the encryption methods currently supported. If not set, DES is configured.
DES, the Linux default method, works in all network environments, but it restricts you to passwords no longer than eight characters. MD5 allows longer passwords, thus provides more security, but some network protocols don't support this, and you may have problems with NIS. Blowfish is also supported.
Additionally, you can setup the system to check for password plausibility and length etc.
Use the security resource, you can change various boot settings.
How to interpret Ctrl + Alt + Del
When someone at the console has pressed the CTRL + ALT + DEL key combination, the system usually reboots. Sometimes it is desirable to ignore this event, for example, when the system serves as both workstation and server.
Shutdown behavior of KDM
Set who is allowed to shut down the machine from KDM.
Change various login settings. These settings are mainly stored in the '/etc/login.defs' file.
Set the minimum and maximum possible user ID and set the minimum and maximum possible group ID.
Since openSUSE 11.2 there is not AutoYaST client for X11 configuration anymore. You can still have the X11 section in your profile but it will be ignored.
SLES11 SP1 still has a X11 client.
FIXME
...
<x11>
<color_depth>16</color_depth>
<configure_x11 config:type="boolean">true</configure_x11>
<display_manager>kde</display_manager>
<enable_3d config:type="boolean">false</enable_3d>
<monitor>
<display>
<frequency config:type="integer">60</frequency>
<max_hsync config:type="integer">97</max_hsync>
<max_vsync config:type="integer">180</max_vsync>
<min_hsync config:type="integer">30</min_hsync>
<min_vsync config:type="integer">50</min_vsync>
<width config:type="integer">1024</width>
</display>
<monitor_device>G90F</monitor_device>
<monitor_vendor>VIEWSONIC</monitor_vendor>
</monitor>
<resolution>1600x1200,1280x1024,1024x768,800x600,640x480</resolution>
<window_manager>kdm</window_manager>
</x11>
...The root user and at least one normal user can be added during install using data supplied in the control file. User data and passwords (encrypted or in clear text) are part of the configure resource in the control file.
At least the root user should be configured during auto-installation so you can log in after the installation is finished. It will also ensure nobody else can log in to the system (in case the password is not set).
The two users in the following example are added during system configuration.
...
<users config:type="list">
<user>
<username>root</username>
<user_password>password</user_password>
<encrypted config:type="boolean">true</encrypted>
<forename/>
<surname/>
</user>
<user>
<username>nashif</username>
<user_password>password</user_password>
<encrypted config:type="boolean">true</encrypted>
<forename>Anas</forename>
<surname>Nashif</surname>
</user>
</users>
...
The last example shows the minimal information required for adding users.
Additional options are available for a more customized user account
management. The data in /etc/default/useradd is used
to determine the home directory of the user to be created as well as other
parameters.
By adding scripts to the auto-installation process you can customize the installation according to your needs and take control in different stages of the installation.
In the auto-installation process, five types of scripts can be executed and they will be described here in order of "appearance" during the installation.
All scripts have to be in the <scritps> section.
pre-scripts (very early, before anything else really happens)
postpartitioning-scripts (after partitioning and mounting to /mnt but before RPM installation—since openSUSE 11.2 and SLES11 SP3)
chroot-scripts (after the package installation, before the first boot)
post-scripts (during the first boot of the installed system, no services running)
init-scripts (during the first boot of the installed system, all services up and running)
Executed before YaST does any real change to the system (before partitioning and package installation but after the hardware detection).
You can use a pre-script to modify your profile and let AutoYaST reread it. Find your profile in "/tmp/profile/autoinst.xml". Adjust the file and store the modified version in "/tmp/profile/modified.xml". AutoYaST will read the modified file after the pre-script finishes.
With SUSE Linux 10.0 and all later versions, it is possible to change the partitioning with fdisk in your pre-script. With pre-10.0 versions of SUSE Linux (like SLES9), this was not possible.
Pre-scripts are executed at an early stage of the installation. This means if you have requested to confirm the installation, the pre-scripts will be executed before the confirmation screen shows up (profile/install/general/mode/confirm).
The following elements must be between the <scripts><pre-scripts config:type="list"><script> ... </script></pre-scripts>...</scripts> tags.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
location |
Define a location from where the script gets fetched. Locations can be the same as for the profile (http, ftp, nfs, etc.). <location >http://10.10.0.1/myPreScript.sh</location> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
source |
The script itself (source code), encapsulated in a CDATA tag. If you do not want to put the whole shell script into the XML profile, refer to the location parameter. <source> <![CDATA[ echo "Testing the pre script" > /tmp/pre-script_out.txt ]]> </source> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
interpreter |
Specify the interpreter that must be used for the script. Supported options are shell and perl. <interpreter>perl</interpreter> |
Optional (default is "shell"). |
|
filename |
The filename of the script. It will be stored in a temporary directory under /tmp/... <filename>myPreScript5.sh</filename> |
Optional. Default is the type of the script (pre-scripts in this case). If you have more than one script, you should set the filename to a reasonable value. |
|
feedback |
If this boolean is "true", stdout and stderr of the script will be shown in a pop-up, which the user has to confirm via the OK button. If stdout and stderr are empty, no pop-up is shown and therefore no confirmation is needed. <feedback config:type="boolean" >true</feedback> |
Optional, default is "false". This option was introduced with SL 10.1/SLES10. |
|
feedback_type |
This can be "message", "warning" or "error". Set the timeout for these pop-ups in the <report> section. <feedback_type>warning</feedback_type> |
Optional, if missing, an always blocking pop-up is used. This option was introduced with openSUSE 11.2 (not SLES11). |
|
debug |
If this is "true", every single line of a shell script is logged. Perl scripts are run with warnings turned on. <debug config:type="boolean">true</debug> |
Optional, default is "true". This option was introduced with SL 10.1/SLES10. |
|
notification |
This text will be shown in a pop-up for the time the script is running in the background. <notification>Please wait while script is running...</notification> |
Optional, if not configured, no notification pop-up will be shown. This option was introduced with openSUSE 11.3/SLES11 SP2 (not SLES10). |
|
rerun |
A script is only run once. Even if you use ayast_setup to run a XML file multiple times, the script is only run once. Change this default behavior by setting this boolean to "true". <rerun config:type="boolean">true</rerun> |
Optional, default is "false" (scripts only run once). |
Available since openSUSE 11.2 only and SLES11 SP3.
Executed after YaST has done the partitioning and written the fstab. The empty system is mounted to /mnt already.
The following elements must be between the <scripts><postpartitioning-scripts config:type="list"><script> ... </script></postpartitioning-scripts>...</scripts> tags
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
location |
Define a location from where the script gets fetched. Locations can be the same as for the profile (http, ftp, nfs, etc.). <location >http://10.10.0.1/myScript.sh</location> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
source |
The script itself (source code), encapsulated in a CDATA tag. If you don't want to put the whole shell script into the XML profile, refer to the location parameter. <source> <![CDATA[ echo "Testing postpart script" > /mnt/postpart_test.txt ]]> </source> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
interpreter |
The interpreter that must be used for the script. Supported options are shell and perl. <interpreter>perl</interpreter> |
Optional, default is "shell". |
|
filename |
The filename of the script. It will be stored in a temporary directory under /tmp/... <filename>myScript5.sh</filename> |
Optional, default is the type of the script (postpartitioning-scripts in this case). If you have more than one script, set the filename to a reasonable value. |
|
feedback |
If this boolean is "true", stdout and stderr of the script will be shown in a pop-up, which the user has to confirm via the OK button. If stdout and stderr are empty, no pop-up is shown and therefore no confirmation is needed. <feedback config:type="boolean" >true</feedback> |
Optional, the default is "false". This option was introduced with openSUSE 10.1/SLES10. |
|
feedback_type |
This can be "message", "warning" or "error". Set the timeout for these pop-ups in the <report> section. <feedback_type>warning</feedback_type> |
Optional, if missing, an always blocking pop-up is used. This option was introduced with openSUSE 11.2 (not SLES11). |
|
debug |
If this is "true", every single line of a shell script is logged. Perl scripts are run with warnings turned on. <debug config:type="boolean">true</debug> |
Optional, default is "true". This option was added with SL 10.1/SLES10. |
|
notification |
This text will be shown in a pop-up for the time the script is running in the background. <notification>Please wait while script is running...</notification> |
Optional, if not configured, no notification pop-up will be shown. This option was added with openSUSE 11.3/SLES11 SP2 (not SLES10). |
|
rerun |
A script is only run once. Even if you use ayast_setup to run a XML file multiple times, the script is only run once. Set this boolean to "true" if you want to change this default behavior. <rerun config:type="boolean">true</rerun> |
Optional, default is false (scripts only run once). |
Chroot scripts are executed before the machine reboots for the first time. You can execute chroot scripts before the installation chroots into the installed system and configures the boot loader or you can execute a script after the chroot into the installed system has happened (look at the "chrooted" parameter for that).
The following elements must be between the <scripts><chroot-scripts config:type="list"><script> ... </script></chroot-scripts>...</scripts> tags
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
location |
Define a location from where the script gets fetched. Locations can be the same as for the profile (http, ftp, nfs, etc.). <location >http://10.10.0.1/myChrootScript.sh</location> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
source |
The script itself (source code), encapsulated in a CDATA tag. If you do not want to put the whole shell script into the XML profile, use the location parameter. <source> <![CDATA[ echo "Testing the chroot script" > /tmp/chroot_out.txt ]]> </source> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
chrooted |
This value can be "true" or "false". If set to "false", the installed system remains mounted at "/mnt" and no chroot happens. The boot loader is not installed either at this stage. Set to "true" means, a chroot into /mnt is performed, where the installed system is mounted. The boot loader is installed, and if you want to change anything in the installed system, you don't have to use the "/mnt/" prefix anymore. <chrooted config:type="boolean" >true</chrooted> |
Optional, default is "false". |
|
interpreter |
The interpreter that must be used for the script. Supported options are shell and perl. If you are in a chrooted=true condition, you can also use python if installed. <interpreter>perl</interpreter> |
Optional, default is shell. |
|
filename |
The filename of the script. It will be stored in a temporary directory under /tmp/... <filename>myPreScript5.sh</filename> |
Optional, default is the type of the script (chroot-scripts in this case). If you have more than one script, you should set the filename to a reasonable value. |
|
feedback |
If this boolean is "true", stdout and stderr of the script will be shown in a pop-up, which the user has to confirm via the OK button. If stdout and stderr are empty, no pop-up is shown and therefore no confirmation is needed. <feedback config:type="boolean" >true</feedback> |
Optional, default is "false". This option was added with SL 10.1/SLES10. |
|
feedback_type |
This can be "message", "warning" or "error". Set the timeout for these pop-ups in the <report> section. <feedback_type>warning</feedback_type> |
Optional, if missing, an always blocking pop-up is used. This option was introduced with openSUSE 11.2 (not SLES11). |
|
debug |
If this is true, every single line of a shell script is logged. Perl scripts are run with warnings turned on. <debug config:type="boolean">true</debug> |
Optional, default is "true". This option was added with SL 10.1/SLES10. |
|
notification |
This text will be shown in a pop-up for the time the script is running in the background. <notification>Please wait while script is running...</notification> |
Optional, if not configured, no notification pop-up will be shown. This option was added with openSUSE 11.3/SLES11 SP2 (not SLES10). |
|
rerun |
A script is only run once. Even if you use ayast_setup to run a XML file multiple times, the script is only run once. You can change the default behavior by setting this boolean to "true". <rerun config:type="boolean">true</rerun> |
Optional, default is "false" (scripts only run once). |
These scripts are executed after AutoYaST has completed the system configuration and after it has booted the system for the first time.
It is possible to execute post scripts in an earlier phase while the installation network is still up and before AutoYaST configures the system. To run network-enabled post scripts, the boolean property network_needed has to be set to "true".
The following elements must be between the <scripts><post-scripts config:type="list"><script> ... </script></post-scripts>...</scripts> tags.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
location |
Define a location from where the script gets fetched. Locations can be the same as for the profile (http, ftp, nfs, etc.). <location >http://10.10.0.1/myPostScript.sh</location> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
source |
The script itself (source code), encapsulated in a CDATA tag. If you do not want to put the whole shell script into the XML profile, use the location parameter. <source> <![CDATA[ echo "Testing the chroot script" > /tmp/chroot_out.txt ]]> </source> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
network_needed |
This value can be "true" or "false". On "false" the script will run after the YaST modules like the user configuration and everything else are done. The network is configured but not up and running yet. With this value set to "true", the script runs before all YaST modules are configured. So there is no local user and no network is configured but the installation network is still up and running (if you did a network installation). <network_needed config:type="boolean" >true</network_needed> |
Optional, default is "false". |
|
interpreter |
The interpreter that must be used for the script. Supported options are shell, perl and python if installed. <interpreter>perl</interpreter> |
Optional, default is shell. |
|
filename |
The filename of the script. It will be stored in a temporary directory under /tmp/... <filename>myPostScript5.sh</filename> |
Optional, default is the type of the script (post-scripts in this case). If you have more than one script, set the filename to a reasonable value. |
|
feedback |
If this boolean is "true", stdout and stderr of the script will be shown in a pop-up, which the user has to confirm via the OK button. If stdout and stderr are empty, no pop-up is shown and therefore no confirmation is needed. <feedback config:type="boolean" >true</feedback> |
Optional, default is "false". This option was added with SL 10.1/SLES10. |
|
feedback_type |
This can be "message", "warning" or "error". Set the timeout for these pop-ups in the <report> section. <feedback_type>warning</feedback_type> |
Optional, if missing, an always blocking pop-up is used. This option was added with openSUSE 11.2 (not SLES11). |
|
debug |
If this is "true", every single line of a shell script is logged. Perl scripts are run with warnings turned on. <debug config:type="boolean">true</debug> |
Optional, default is "true". This option was added with SL 10.1/SLES10. |
|
notification |
This text will be shown in a pop-up for the time the script is running in the background. <notification>Please wait while script is running...</notification> |
Optional, if not configured, no notification pop-up will be shown. This option was introduced with openSUSE 11.3/SLES11 SP2 (not SLES10). |
|
rerun |
A script is only run once. Even if you use ayast_setup to run a XML file multiple times, the script is only run once. Change this default behavior by setting this boolean to "true". <rerun config:type="boolean">true</rerun> |
Optional, default is "false" (scripts only run once). |
These scripts are executed when YaST has finished, during the initial boot process after the network has been initialized. These final scripts are executed using a special init.d script executed only once.
Init scripts are configured using the tag
init-scripts and are run using the special purpose
init.d script
/etc/init.d/autoyast.
The following elements must be between the <scripts><init-scripts config:type="list"><script> ... </script></init-scripts>...</scripts> tags
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
location |
Define a location from where the script gets fetched. Locations can be the same as for the profile (http, ftp, nfs, etc.). <location >http://10.10.0.1/myInitScript.sh</location> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
source |
The script itself (source code), encapsulated in a CDATA tag. If you do not want to put the whole shell script into the XML profile, use the location parameter. <source> <![CDATA[ echo "Testing the init script" > /tmp/init_out.txt ]]> </source> |
Either <location> or <source> must be defined. |
|
filename |
The filename of the script. It will be stored in a temporary directory under /tmp/... <filename>mynitScript5.sh</filename> |
Optional, default is the type of the script (init-scripts in this case). If you have more than one script, set the filename to a reasonable value. |
|
rerun |
A script is only run once. Even if you use ayast_setup to run a XML file multiple times, the script is only run once. Change this default behavior by setting this boolean to "true". <rerun config:type="boolean">true</rerun> |
Optional, default is "false" (scripts only run once). |
When added to the control file manually, scripts have to be included in a CDATA element to avoid confusion with the file syntax and other tags defined in the control file.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE profile>
<profile xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns" xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<scripts>
<chroot-scripts config:type="list">
<script>
<chrooted config:type="boolean">true</chrooted>
<filename>chroot.sh</filename>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<source><![CDATA[
#!/bin/sh
echo "Testing chroot (chrooted) scripts"
ls
]]>
</source>
</script>
<script>
<filename>chroot.sh</filename>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<source><![CDATA[
#!/bin/sh
echo "Testing chroot scripts"
df
cd /mnt
ls
]]>
</source>
</script>
</chroot-scripts>
<post-scripts config:type="list">
<script>
<filename>post.sh</filename>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<source><![CDATA[
#!/bin/sh
echo "Running Post-install script"
/etc/init.d/portmap start
mount -a 192.168.1.1:/local /mnt
cp /mnt/test.sh /tmp
umount /mnt
]]>
</source>
</script>
<script>
<filename>post.pl</filename>
<interpreter>perl</interpreter>
<source><![CDATA[
#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Running Post-install script";
]]>
</source>
</script>
</post-scripts>
<pre-scripts config:type="list">
<script>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<location>http://192.168.1.1/profiles/scripts/prescripts.sh</location>
</script>
<script>
<filename>pre.sh</filename>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<source><![CDATA[
#!/bin/sh
echo "Running pre-install script"
]]>
</source>
</script>
</pre-scripts>
<postpartitioning-scripts config:type="list">
<script>
<filename>postpart.sh</filename>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<debug config:type="boolean">false</debug>
<feedback config:type="boolean">true</feedback>
<source><![CDATA[
touch /mnt/testfile
echo Hi
]]>
</source>
</script>
</postpartitioning-scripts>
</scripts>
</profile>
After installation is finished, the scripts and the output logs can be
found in the directory /var/adm/autoinstall. The
scripts are located in the subdirectory scripts and
the output logs in the log directory.
The log is the output when executing the shell scripts using the following command:
/bin/sh -x <script_name> 2&> /var/adm/autoinstall/logs/<script_name>.log
Using the sysconfig resource, it is possible to define configuration
variables in the sysconfig repository (/etc/sysconfig)
directly. Sysconfig variables, offer the possibility to fine-tune many
system components and environment variables exactly to your needs.
The following example shows how a variable can be set using the sysconfig resource.
To configure a variable in a sysconfig file, the following syntax can be used:
<sysconfig config:type="list" >
<sysconfig_entry>
<sysconfig_key>XNTPD_INITIAL_NTPDATE</sysconfig_key>
<sysconfig_path>/etc/sysconfig/xntp</sysconfig_path>
<sysconfig_value>ntp.host.com</sysconfig_value>
</sysconfig_entry>
<sysconfig_entry>
<sysconfig_key>HTTP_PROXY</sysconfig_key>
<sysconfig_path>/etc/sysconfig/proxy</sysconfig_path>
<sysconfig_value>proxy.host.com:3128</sysconfig_value>
</sysconfig_entry>
<sysconfig_entry>
<sysconfig_key>FTP_PROXY</sysconfig_key>
<sysconfig_path>/etc/sysconfig/proxy</sysconfig_path>
<sysconfig_value>proxy.host.com:3128</sysconfig_value>
</sysconfig_entry>
</sysconfig>
Both relative and absolute pathes can be provided. If no absolute path is
given, it is treated as a sysconfig file under the
/etc/sysconfig directory.
For many applications and services you might have prepared a configuration
file which should be copied to the appropriate location in the installed
system, for example if you are installing a Web server and have a
ready to go server configuration file
(httpd.conf).
Using this resource, you can embed the file into the control file by specifying the final path on the installed system. YaST will copy this file to the specified location.
This feature requires the autoyast2 package to be installed. If the package is missing, AutoYaST will silently ignore the files section. Since openSUSE 11.1 and SLES11, AutoYaST will install the package automatically if it is missing.
Since openSUSE 11.1 and SLES11, you can specify the file_location where the file should be retrieved from. For an HTTP server this would look like: <file_location>http://my.server.site/issue</file_location>.
Since openSUSE 11.2 (not SLES11), you can create directories by specifying a file_path that ends with a slash.
<files config:type="list">
<file>
<file_path>/etc/httpd/httpd.conf</file_path>
<file_contents>
<![CDATA[
some content
]]>
</file_contents>
</file>
</files> <files config:type="list">
<file>
<file_path>/mydir/a/b/c/</file_path> <!-- create directory (since openSUSE 11.2) -->
</file>
</files>A more advanced example is shown below. This configuration will create a file using the content supplied in file_contents and change the permissions and ownership of the file. After the file has been copied to the system, a script is executed, which can be used to manipulate the file and prepare it for the environment of the client.
<files config:type="list">
<file>
<file_path>/etc/someconf.conf</file_path>
<file_contents>
<![CDATA[
some content
]]>
</file_contents>
<file_owner>nashif.users</file_owner>
<file_permissions>444</file_permissions>
<file_script>
<interpreter>shell</interpreter>
<source>
<![CDATA[
#!/bin/sh
echo "Testing file scripts" >> /etc/someconf.conf
df
cd /mnt
ls
]]>
</source>
</file_script>
</file>
</files>This feature is only available since SUSE Linux 10.1 and SLES10.
You have the option to let the user decide the values of specific parts of the profile during the installation. If you use this feature, a pop-up will ask the user to enter a specific part of the profile during installation. If you want a full auto installation, but the user should set the password of the local account, you can do this via the ask directive in the profile.
The following elements must be between the <ask-list config:type="list"><ask> ... </ask></ask-list> tags in the <general> section.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
question |
The question you want to ask the user. <question>Enter the LDAP server</question> |
The default value is the path to the element (the path often looks strange, so we recommend entering a question). |
|
default |
Set a pre-selection for the user. A textentry will be filled out with this value. A check box will be "true" or "false" and a selection will have this default "value" pre-selected. <default>dc=suse,dc=de</default> |
Optional. |
|
help |
An optional helptext that is shown on the left side of the question. <help>Enter the LDAP server address.</help> |
Optional. |
|
title |
An optional title that is shown above the questions. <title>LDAP server</title> |
Optional. |
|
type |
The type of the element you want to change. Possible values are "symbol", "boolean", "string" and "integer". The file system in the partition section is a symbol, while the "encrypted" element in the user configuration is a boolean. You can see the type of that element if you look in your profile at the config:type="...." attribute. Since openSUSE 11.2 and SLES11 SP2 you can use "static_text" as type too. A static_text is just a text that does not require any user input and can be used to show information if it's not wanted in the help text. <type>symbol</type> |
Optional. The default is string. If type is "symbol", you must provide the selection element too (see below). |
|
password |
If this boolean is set to "true", a password dialog pops up instead of a simple text entry. Setting this to "true" only makes sense if "type" is string. <password config:type="boolean">true</password> |
Optional. The default is "false". |
|
path (deprecated since openSUSE 11.0 and SLES11 - use pathlist) |
deprecated deprecated |
deprecated |
|
pathlist (available since openSUSE 11.0 and SLES11 - replaces path) |
A list of path elements. A path is a comma separated list of elements that describes the path to the element you want to change. For example, the ldap server element can be found in the profile in the <ldap><ldap_server> section. So if you want to change that value, you have to set the path to "ldap,ldap_server". If you want to change the password of the first user in the profile, you have to set the path to "users,0,user_password". The "0" indicates the first user in the <users config:type="list"> list of users in the profile. <pathlist config:type="list" ><path>networking,dns,hostname</path> <path>...</path> |
This information is optional but you should at least provide path or file. |
|
file (available since SLES10 SP1 and openSUSE 10.2) |
You can store the answer to a question in a file, to use it in one of your scripts later. If you ask during stage=inital and you want to use the answer in stage2, then you have to copy the answer-file in a chroot script that is running as chrooted=false. Use the commnad: "cp /tmp/my_answer /mnt/tmp/". The reason is that /tmp in stage1 is just in the RAM disk and will get lost after the reboot, but the installed system is already mounted at /mnt/. <file>/tmp/answer_hostname</file> |
This information is optional, but you should at least provide path or file. |
|
password |
If this boolean is set to "true", a password dialog pops up instead of a simple text entry. Setting this to "true" only makes sense if "type" is string. <password config:type="boolean">true</password> |
Optional. The default is "false". |
|
stage |
Stage configures the installation stage in which the question pops up. You can set this value to "cont" or "initial". "initial" means the pop-up comes up very early in the installation, shortly after the pre-script has run. "cont" means, that the dialog with the question comes after the first reboot when the system boots for the very first time. Questions you answer during the "inital" stage will write their answer into the profile on the hard disk. You should know that if you enter cleartext passwords during "initial". Of course it does not make sense to ask for the file system to use during the "cont" phase. The hard disk is already partitioned at that stage and the question will have no effect. <stage>cont</stage> |
Optional. The default is "initial". |
|
selection |
The selection element contains a list of <entry> elements. Each entry represents a possible option for the user to choose. The user cannot enter a value in a textfield, but he can choose from a list of values. <selection config:type="list">
<entry>
<value>
reiser
</value>
<label>
Reiser Filesystem
</label>
</entry>
<entry>
<value>
ext3
</value>
<label>
Extended3 Filesystem
</label>
</entry>
</selection> |
Optional for type=string, not possible for type=boolean and mandatory for type=symbol. |
|
dialog (available since openSUSE 10.3 and SLES10 SP2) |
You can ask more than one question per dialog. To do so, specifiy the dialog-id with an integer. All questions with the same dialog-id belong to the same dialog. The dialogs are sorted by the id too. <dialog config:type="integer">3</dialog> |
Optional. |
|
element (available since openSUSE 10.3 and SLES10 SP2) |
you can have more than one question per dialog. To make that possible you have to specifiy the element-id with an integer. The questions in a dialog are sorted by id. <element config:type="integer">1</element> |
Optional (see dialog). |
|
width (available since openSUSE 12.3 and SLES11 SP3) |
You can increase the default width of dialog. If there are multiple width specifications per dialog, the largest one is used. The number is roughly equivalent to the number of characters. <width config:type="integer">50</width> |
Optional. |
|
height (available since openSUSE 12.3 and SLES11 SP3) |
You can increase default height of dialog. If there are multiple height specifications per dialog, largest one is used. The number is roughly equivalent to number of lines. <height config:type="integer">15</height> |
Optional. |
|
frametitle (available since openSUSE 10.3 and SLES10 SP2) |
You can have more than one question per dialog. Each question on a dialog has a frame that can have a frame title, a small caption for each question. You can put multiple elements into one frame. They have to have the same frame title. <frametitle>User data</frametitle> |
Optional. Default is no frame title. |
|
script (available since openSUSE 10.3, not in SLES10 SP1) |
Since 10.3, you can run scripts after a question has been answered (see the table below for detailed instructions about scripts). <script>...</script> |
Optional (default is no script). |
|
ok_label (available since openSUSE 11.2 and SLES11 SP2) |
You can change the label on the "Ok" button. The last element that specifies the label for a dialog wins. <ok_label>Finish</ok_label> |
Optional. |
|
back_label (available since openSUSE 11.2 and SLES11 SP2) |
You can change the label on the "Back" button. The last element that specifies the label for a dialog wins. <back_label>change values</back_label> |
Optional. |
|
timeout (available since openSUSE 11.2 and SLES11 SP2) |
You can specify an integer here that is used as timeout in seconds. If the user does not answer the question before the timeout, the default value is taken as answer. When the user touches or changes any widget in the dialog, the timeout is turned off and the dialog has to be confirmed via the ok-button. <timeout config:type="integer">30</timeout> |
Optional. A missing value is interpreted as 0, which means that there is no timeout. |
|
default_value_script (available since openSUSE 11.2 and SLES11 SP2) |
You can run scripts to set the default value for a question (see the table below for detailed instructions about default value scripts). This feature is useful if you can "calculate" a useful default value, especially in combination with the "timeout" option. <default_value_script>...</default_value_script> |
Optional. Default is no script. |
The following elements must be between the <ask-list config:type="list"><ask><default_value_script>...</default_value_script>...</ask></ask-list> tags in the <general> section. This is available since 11.2 and SLES11-SP2.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
source |
The source code of the script. Whatever you <source>...</source> |
This value is required, otherwise nothing would be executed. |
|
interpreter |
The interpreter to use. <interpreter>perl</interpreter> |
The default is shell. You can also set "/bin/myinterpreter" as value. |
The following elements must be between the <ask-list config:type="list"><ask><script>...</script>...</ask></ask-list> tags in the <general> section. Available since 10.3 (not SLES10 SP1).
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
filename |
The filename of the script. <filename>my_ask_script.sh</filename> |
The default is ask_script.sh |
|
source |
The source code of the script. Together with "rerun_on_error" activated, you check the value that was entered for sanity (since 11.0 only). Your script can create a file "/tmp/next_dialog" with a dialog id specifying the next dialog AutoYaST will raise. A value of -1 terminates the ask sequence. If that file is not created, AutoYaST will run the dialogs in the normal order (since 11.0 only). <source>...</source> |
This value is required, otherwise nothing would be executed. |
|
environment |
A boolean that passes the "value" of the answer to the question as an environment variable to the script. The variable is named "VAL". <environment config:type="boolean">true</environment> |
Optional. Default is "false". |
|
feedback |
A boolean that turns on feedback for the script execution. STDOUT will be displayed in a pop-up window that must be confirmed after the script execution. <feedback config:type="boolean">true</feedback> |
Optional, default is "false". |
|
debug |
A boolean that turns on debugging for the script execution. <debug config:type="boolean">true</debug> |
Optional, default is "true". This value needs "feedback" to be turned on too. |
|
rerun_on_error |
A boolean that keeps the dialog open until the script has an exit code of 0 (zero). So you can parse and check the answers the user gave in the script and display an error with the "feedback" option. <rerun_on_error config:type="boolean">true</rerun_on_error> |
Optional, default is "false". This value should be used together with the feedback option. |
Below you can see an example of the usage of the "ask" feature.
<general>
<ask-list config:type="list">
<ask>
<!-- deprecated since openSUSE 11.0; use pathlist instead
<path>ldap,ldap_server</path>
-->
<pathlist config:type="list">
<path>ldap,ldap_server</path>
</pathlist>
<stage>cont</stage>
<help>choose your server depending on your department</help>
<selection config:type="list">
<entry>
<value>ldap1.mydom.de</value>
<label>LDAP for development</label>
</entry>
<entry>
<value>ldap2.mydom.de</value>
<label>LDAP for sales</label>
</entry>
</selection>
<default>ldap2.mydom.de</default>
<default_value_script>
<source> <![CDATA[
echo -n "ldap1.mydom.de"
]]>
</source>
</default_value_script>
</ask>
<ask>
<!-- deprecated since openSUSE 11.0; use pathlist instead
<path>networking,dns,hostname</path>
-->
<pathlist config:type="list">
<path>networking,dns,hostname</path>
</pathlist>
<question>Enter Hostname</question>
<stage>initial</stage>
<default>enter your hostname here</default>
</ask>
<ask>
<!-- deprecated since openSUSE 11.0; use pathlist instead
<path>partitioning,0,partitions,0,filesystem</path>
-->
<pathlist config:type="list">
<path>partitioning,0,partitions,0,filesystem</path>
</pathlist>
<question>Filesystem</question>
<type>symbol</type>
<selection config:type="list">
<entry>
<value config:type="symbol">reiser</value>
<label>default Filesystem (recommended)</label>
</entry>
<entry>
<value config:type="symbol">ext3</value>
<label>Fallback Filesystem</label>
</entry>
</selection>
</ask>
</ask-list>
...
</general>
The following example is a nice way to choose between AutoYaST profiles.
AutoYaST will read the modified.xml file again after
the ask-dialogs are done. This way you can fetch a complete new profile.
<ask>
<selection config:type="list">
<entry>
<value>part1.xml</value>
<label>Simple partitioning</label>
</entry>
<entry>
<value>part2.xml</value>
<label>encrypted /tmp</label>
</entry>
<entry>
<value>part3.xml</value>
<label>LVM</label>
</entry>
</selection>
<title>XML Profile</title>
<question>Choose a profile</question>
<stage>initial</stage>
<default>part1.xml</default>
<script>
<filename>fetch.sh</filename>
<environment config:type="boolean">true</environment>
<source><![CDATA[
wget http://10.10.0.162/$VAL -O /tmp/profile/modified.xml 2>/dev/null
]]>
</source>
<debug config:type="boolean">false</debug>
<feedback config:type="boolean">false</feedback>
</script>
</ask>you can verify the answer of a question with a script like this:
<ask>
<script>
<filename>my.sh</filename>
<rerun_on_error config:type="boolean">true</rerun_on_error>
<environment config:type="boolean">true</environment>
<source><![CDATA[
if [ "$VAL" = "myhost" ]; then
echo "Illegal Hostname!";
exit 1;
fi
exit 0
]]>
</source>
<debug config:type="boolean">false</debug>
<feedback config:type="boolean">true</feedback>
</script>
<dialog config:type="integer">0</dialog>
<element config:type="integer">0</element>
<!-- deprecated since openSUSE 11.0; use pathlist instead
<path>networking,dns,hostname</path>
-->
<pathlist config:type="list">
<path>networking,dns,hostname</path>
</pathlist>
<question>Enter Hostname</question>
<default>enter your hostname here</default>
</ask>This feature is only available since SLES 11 (not openSUSE 11.1). It is not available on the zSeries (s390x) architecture.
With kdump the system is able to create crashdump files if the whole system (i.e., the kernel) crashes. Crash dump files contain the memory contents while the system crashed. Such core files can be analyzed later by support or a (kernel) developer to find the reason for the system crash. Kdump is mostly useful for servers where you cannot easily reproduce such crashes but it is important to get the problem fixed.
The only downside: enabling kdump costs you between 64 MiB and 128 MiB of system RAM (on "normal" sized systems), reserved for kdump in case the system crashes and the dump needs to be generated.
This section only describes how to set up kdump with AutoYaST. It does not describe how kdump works. For details, refer to the kdump(7) manual page, contained in the kdump package.
The following example shows a general kdump configuration.
<kdump>
<!-- memory reservation -->
<add_crash_kernel config:type="boolean">true</add_crash_kernel>
<crash_kernel>256M-:64M</crash_kernel>
<general>
<!-- dump target settings -->
<KDUMP_SAVEDIR>ftp://stravinsky.suse.de/incoming/dumps</KDUMP_SAVEDIR>
<KDUMP_COPY_KERNEL>true</KDUMP_COPY_KERNEL>
<KDUMP_FREE_DISK_SIZE>64</KDUMP_FREE_DISK_SIZE>
<KDUMP_KEEP_OLD_DUMPS>5</KDUMP_KEEP_OLD_DUMPS>
<!-- filtering and compression -->
<KDUMP_DUMPFORMAT>compressed</KDUMP_DUMPFORMAT>
<KDUMP_DUMPLEVEL>1</KDUMP_DUMPLEVEL>
<!-- notification -->
<KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_TO>bwalle@suse.de</KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_TO>
<KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_CC></KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_CC>
<KDUMP_SMTP_SERVER>mail.suse.de</KDUMP_SMTP_SERVER>
<KDUMP_SMTP_USER></KDUMP_SMTP_USER>
<KDUMP_SMTP_PASSWORD></KDUMP_SMTP_PASSWORD>
<!-- kdump kernel -->
<KDUMP_KERNELVER></KDUMP_KERNELVER>
<KDUMP_COMMANDLINE></KDUMP_COMMANDLINE>
<KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND></KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND>
<!-- expert settings -->
<KDUMP_IMMEDIATE_REBOOT>yes</KDUMP_IMMEDIATE_REBOOT>
<KDUMP_VERBOSE>15</KDUMP_VERBOSE>
<KEXEC_OPTIONS></KEXEC_OPTIONS>
</general>
</kdump>
The first step is to reserve memory for kdump at boot-up. Because the
memory must be reserved very early during the boot process, the
configuration is done via a kernel command line parameter called
crashkernel. The reserved memory will be used to load a
second kernel which will be executed without rebooting if the first kernel
crashes. This second kernel has a special initrd, which contains all
programs necessary to save the dump over the network or to disk, send a
notification e-mail, and finally reboot.
Enable or disable that the crashkernel parameter is
written for the default boot kernel with the
add_crash_kernel tag. You can specify the value of the
crashkernel parameter using the
crash_kernel tag.
To reserve memory for kdump, specify the amount (such
as 64M to reserve 64 MiB of memory from the RAM) and
the offset. The syntax is
crashkernel=AMOUNT@OFFSET. The kernel can auto-detect
the right offset (with the exception of the Xen hypervisor, where you have
to specify 16M as offset). Simply specify
<crash_kernel>crashkernel=64M</crash_kernel>
and the right thing will happen.
For the amount of memory, the following values are recommended:
|
Platform |
Recommended values |
|---|---|
|
i386 and x86-64 |
|
|
PPC64 |
|
|
IA64 |
|
You can also use the extended command line syntax to specify the amount of reserved memory depending on the System RAM. That is useful if you share one AutoYaST profile for multiple installations or if you often remove or install memory on one machine. The syntax is:
BEGIN_RANGE_1-END_RANGE_1:AMOUNT_1,BEGIN_RANGE_2-END_RANGE_2:AMOUNT_2@OFFSET
BEGIN_RANGE_1 is the start of the first memory range
(for example: 0M) and END_RANGE_1 is
the end of the first memory range (can be empty in case "infinity" should
be assumed) and so on. For example 256M-2G:64M,2G-:128M
means to reserve 64 MiB of crashkernel memory if the system has between
256 MiB and 2 GiB RAM and to reserve 128 MiB of crashkernel memory if
the system has more than 2 GiB RAM.
The following table shows the settings necessary to reserve memory:
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
add_crash_kernel |
Set to "true" if memory should be reserved and kdump enabled. <add_crash_kernel config:type="boolean">true</add_crash_kernel> |
required |
|
crash_kernel |
Use the syntax of the crashkernel command line as discussed above. <crash_kernel>256M:64M</crash_kernel> |
required |
The element KDUMP_SAVEDIR specifies the URL to where
the dump is saved. The following methods are possible:
file to save to the local disk,
ftp to save to an FTP server (without encryption),
sftp to save to an SSH2 SFTP server,
nfs to save to an NFS location and
cifs to save the dump to a CIFS/SMP export from
Samba or Microsoft Windows.
For details see the kdump(5) manual page. Two examples are:
file:///var/crash (which is the default location
according to FHS) and
ftp://user:password@host:port/incoming/dumps. A
subdirectory, with the time stamp contained in the name, will be created
and the dumps saved there.
When the dump is saved to the local disk,
KDUMP_KEEP_OLD_DUMPS can be used to delete old dumps
automatically. Set it to the number of old dumps that should be kept. If
the target partition would end up with less free disk space than
specified in KDUMP_FREE_DISK_SIZE, the dump is not
saved.
If you want to save the whole kernel and the debug information (if
installed) to the same directory, set
KDUMP_COPY_KERNEL to true. You'll
have everything you need to analyze the dump in one directory (except
kernel modules and their debugging information).
The kernel dump is uncompressed and unfiltered. It can get as large as your system RAM. To get smaller files, compress the dump file afterwards. The dump has to be decompressed before opening.
To use page compression, which compresses every page and allows dynamic
decompression with the crash(8) debugging tool, set
KDUMP_DUMPFORMAT to compressed
(default).
You may not want to save all memory pages, for example those filled with
zeroes. To filter the dump, set the KDUMP_DUMPLEVEL. 0
produces a full dump and 31 is the smallest dump. The manual pages
kdump(5) and makedumpfile(8) list for each value which pages will be
saved.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
KDUMP_SAVEDIR |
An URL that specifies the target to which the dump and related files will be saved. <KDUMP_SAVEDRIR >file:///var/crash/</KDUMP_SAVEDIR> |
required |
|
KDUMP_COPY_KERNEL |
Set to "true", if not only the dump should be saved to
<KDUMP_COPY_KERNEL >false</KDUMP_COPY_KERNEL> |
optional |
|
KDUMP_FREE_DISK_SIZE |
Disk space in megabytes that must remain free after saving the dump. If not enough space is available to write the dump and keep the required disk space free, the dump will not be saved. <KDUMP_FREE_DISK_SIZE >64</KDUMP_FREE_DISK_SIZE> |
optional |
|
KDUMP_KEEP_OLD_DUMPS |
The number of dumps that are kept (i.e., not deleted) if
<KDUMP_KEEP_OLD_DUMPS >4</KDUMP_KEEP_OLD_DUMPS> |
optional |
Configure e-mail notification if you want to be informed when a machine crashes and a dump is saved.
Because kdump runs in the initrd, a local mail server cannot send the notification e-mail. An SMTP server needs to be specified (see below).
You have to provide exactly one address in
KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_TO. More addresses can be specified
in in KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_CC. Only use e-mail addresses
in both cases, not a real name.
Specify KDUMP_SMTP_SERVER and (if the server needs
authentication) KDUMP_SMTP_USER and
KDUMP_SMTP_PASSWORD. Support for TSL or SSL is not
available but may be added in the future.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_TO |
Exactly one e-mail address to which the e-mail should be sent.
Additional recipients can be specified in
<KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_TO >tux@example.com</KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_TO> |
optional (notification disabled if empty) |
|
KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_CC |
Zero, one or more recipients that are in the cc line of the notification e-mail. <KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_CC >spam@suse.de devnull@suse.de</KDUMP_NOTIFICATION_CC> |
optional |
|
KDUMP_SMTP_SERVER |
Host name of the SMTP server used for mail delivery. SMTP
authentication is supported (see <KDUMP_SMTP_SERVER >email.suse.de</KDUMP_SMTP_SERVER> |
optional (notification disabled if empty) |
|
KDUMP_SMTP_USER |
User name used together with <KDUMP_SMTP_USER >bwalle</KDUMP_SMTP_USER> |
optional |
|
KDUMP_SMTP_PASSWORD |
Password used together with <KDUMP_SMTP_PASSWORD >geheim</KDUMP_SMTP_PASSWORD> |
optional |
As already mentioned, a special kernel is booted to save the dump. If you
don't want to use the auto-detection mechanism to find out which kernel is
used (see the kdump(5) manual page that describes the algorithm which is
used to find the kernel), you can specify the version of a custom kernel
in KDUMP_KERNELVER. If you set it to
foo, then the kernel located in
/boot/vmlinuz-foo or
/boot/vmlinux-foo (in that order on platforms that
have a vmlinuz file) will be used.
You can specify the command line used to boot the kdump kernel. Normally
the boot command line is used minus some settings that make no sense with
kdump (like the crashkernel parameter) plus some
settings needed by kdump (see the manual page kdump(5)). If you just want
some additional parameters like a overwritten console setting then use
KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND. If you know what you're doing
and you want to specify the whole command line, set
KDUMP_COMMANDLINE.
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
KDUMP_KERNELVER |
Version string for the kernel used for kdump. Leave it empty to use the auto-detection mechanism (strongly recommended). <KDUMP_KERNELVER >2.6.27-default</KDUMP_KERNELVER> |
optional (auto-detection if empty) |
|
KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND |
Additional command line parameters for the kdump kernel. <KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND >console=ttyS0,57600</KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND> |
optional |
|
KDUMP_COMMANDLINE |
Overwrite the automatically generated kdump command line. Use with
care. In most cases, <KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND >root=/dev/sda5 maxcpus=1 irqpoll</KDUMP_COMMANDLINE> |
optional |
|
Element |
Description |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
|
KDUMP_IMMEDIATE_REBOOT |
<KDUMP_IMMEDIATE_REBOOT >true</KDUMP_IMMEDIATE_REBOOT> |
optional |
|
KDUMP_VERBOSE |
Bitmask that specifies how verbose the kdump process should be. Read kdump(5) for details. <KDUMP_VERBOSE>3</KDUMP_VERBOSE> |
optional |
|
KEXEC_OPTIONS |
Additional options that are passed to kexec when loading the kdump kernel. Normally empty. <KEXEC_OPTIONS>--noio</KEXEC_OPTIONS> |
optional |
In addition to the core component configuration, like network authentication and security, AutoYaST offers a wide range of hardware and system configuration options, the same as available by default on any system installed manually and in an interactive way. For example, it is possible to configure printers, sound devices, TV cards and any other hardware components which have a module within YaST.
Any new configuration options added to YaST will be automatically available in AutoYaST.
AutoYaST support for printing is limited to basic settings defining how the CUPS printing system is used on a client for printing via the network.
There is no AutoYaST support for setting up local print queues. Modern
printers are usually connected via USB. CUPS accesses USB printers by a
model-specific device URI like
usb://ACME/FunPrinter?serial=1a2b3c. Usually it is not
possible to predict the correct USB device URI in advance, because it is
determined by the CUPS backend usb during runtime.
Therefore it is not possible to set up local print queues with AutoYaST.
Basics on how CUPS is used on a client workstation to print via network:
On client workstations application programs submit print jobs to the CUPS
daemon process (cupsd).
cupsd forwards the print jobs to a CUPS print
server in the network where the print jobs are processed. The server sends
the printer specific data to the printer device.
If there is only a single CUPS print server in the network, there is no
need to have a CUPS daemon running on each client workstation. Instead it
is simpler to specify the CUPS server in
/etc/cups/client.conf and access it directly (only
one CUPS server entry can be set). In this case application programs that
run on client workstations submit print jobs directly to the specified
CUPS print server.
Example 4.38, “Printer configuration” shows a printer
configuration section. The cupsd_conf_content entry
contains the whole verbatim content of the
cupsd configuration file
/etc/cups/cupsd.conf. The
client_conf_content entry contains the whole verbatim
content of /etc/cups/client.conf. The
printer section contains the
cupsd configuration but it does
not specify whether or not the cupsd should run. The
runlevel section specifies which system services should
run.
<printer>
<client_conf_content>
<file_contents><![CDATA[
... verbatim content of /etc/cups/client.conf ...
]]></file_contents>
</client_conf_content>
<cupsd_conf_content>
<file_contents><![CDATA[
... verbatim content of /etc/cups/cupsd.conf ...
]]></file_contents>
</cupsd_conf_content>
</printer>An example of the sound configuration created using the configuration system is shown below.
....
<sound>
<autoinstall config:type="boolean">true</autoinstall>
<modules_conf config:type="list">
<module_conf>
<alias>snd-card-0</alias>
<model>M5451, ALI</model>
<module>snd-ali5451</module>
<options>
<snd_enable>1</snd_enable>
<snd_index>0</snd_index>
<snd_pcm_channels>32</snd_pcm_channels>
</options>
</module_conf>
</modules_conf>
<volume_settings config:type="list">
<listentry>
<Master config:type="integer">75</Master>
</listentry>
</volume_settings>
</sound>
....AutoYaST provides a method to automatically and identically install groups of systems. The first step when preparing a AutoYaST installation is to decide how you want to install the target systems. The following scenario is a good example for how to set up and perform automated installations:
You need to install SuSE Linux on 50 new systems.
The development department owns 30 out of the 50 new dual processor and SCSI systems, and these systems must be installed as clients with development software.
The sales department owns 20 out of the 50 new, uni-processor IDE based systems and its systems must be installed as clients with end user software and office tools.
Prerequisites:
a boot server on the same Ethernet segment,
an installation server with the SuSE Linux OS,
an AutoYaST configuration server that defines rules and profiles.
A configuration repository holds the control files for multiple machines. The control files can have any file names, which have to be specified at the boot time of a target client. To avoid supplying the profile name for every client, you can define the directory of the control files. If a directory is specified, then the target client tries to load a file with a name matching its IP address in HEX mode. This has the advantage that you will be dealing with consistent file names rather than IPs as file names which might lead to some confusion.
The configuration repository is the same directory you specify when using the configuration system for creating control files.
To be able to use the HTTP protocol to
retrieve control files while auto-installing, you need a working
HTTP server on the server side. Install
Apache or your favorite Web server and enable it
using YaST. Normally the Web server root directory resides in
/srv/www/htdocs so you need to create a subdirectory
which will serve your configuration repository.
Create a directory and export it via NFS
to the target clients. This directory may the same location where you have
copied the CDs. (i.e. /usr/local/SuSE).
By default the TFTP directory is available
under /tftpboot which can also contain boot images if
you are booting over network. Do not forget to enable TFTP in the Inetd
configuration file (/etc/inetd.conf).
Inetd configuration can be done via YaST.
Rules offer the possibility to configure a system depending on system attributes by merging multiple control files during installation. The rules-based installation is controlled by a rules file.
The rules file is an XML file containing rules for each group of systems (or single systems) that you want to automatically install. A set of rules distinguish a group of systems based on one or more system attributes. After passing all rules, each group of systems is linked to a profile. Both the rules file and the profiles must be located in a pre-defined and accessible location.
The rules file is retrieved only if no specific control file is supplied using the autoyast keyword. For example, if the following is used, the rules file will not be evaluated:
autoyast=http://10.10.0.1/profile/myprofile.xml autoyast=http://10.10.0.1/profile/rules/rules.xml
Instead use:
autoyast=http://10.10.0.1/profile/
which will load http://10.10.0.1/profile/rules/rules.xml (the slash at the end of the directory name is important).
If more than one rule applies, the final profile for each group is generated on the fly using a merge script. The merging process is based on the order of the rules and later rules override configuration data in earlier rules. Note that the names of the top sections in the merged xml files need to be in alphabetical order for the merge to succeed.
The use of a rules file is optional. If the rules file is not found, system installation proceeds in the classic way by only using the supplied profile or by searching for the profile depending on the MAC or the IP address of the system.
The following simple example illustrates how the rules file is used to retrieve the configuration for a client with known hardware.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE autoinstall>
<autoinstall xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns" xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<rules config:type="list">
<rule>
<disksize>
<match>/dev/hdc 1000</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</disksize>
<result>
<profile>machine1.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
</result>
</rule>
<rule>
<disksize>
<match>/dev/hda 1000</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</disksize>
<result>
<profile>machine2.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
</result>
</rule>
</rules>
</autoinstall>
The last example defines two rules and provides a different profile for
every rule. The rule used in this case is disksize.
After parsing the rules file, YaST attempts to match the target system
with the rules in the rules.xml file. A rule match
occurs when the target system matches all system attributes defined in the
rule. As soon as the system matches a rule, the respective resource is
added to the stack of profiles AutoYaST will use to create the final
profile. The continue property tells AutoYaST whether
it should continue with other rules after a match has been found.
If the first rule does not match, the next rule in the list is examined until a match is found.
Using the disksize attribute, you can provide different configurations for systems with hard drives of different sizes. The first rule checks if the device /dev/hdc is available and if it is greater than 1 GB in size using the match property.
A rule must have at least one attribute to be matched. If you need to check more attributes, i.e. memory or architectures, you can add more attributes in the rule resource as shown in the next example.
The following example illustrates how the rules file is used to retrieve the configuration for a client with known hardware.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE autoinstall>
<autoinstall xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns" xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<rules config:type="list">
<rule>
<disksize>
<match>/dev/hdc 1000</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</disksize>
<memsize>
<match>1000</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</memsize>
<result>
<profile>machine1.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
</result>
</rule>
<rule>
<disksize>
<match>/dev/hda 1000</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</disksize>
<memsize>
<match>256</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</memsize>
<result>
<profile>machine2.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
</result>
</rule>
</rules>
</autoinstall>The rules directory must be located in the same directory specified via the autoyast keyword at boot time. If the client was booted using autoyast=http://10.10.0.1/profiles/, AutoYaST will search for the rules file in http://10.10.0.1/profiles/rules/rules.xml.
If the attributes AutoYaST provides for rules are not enough for your purposes, use custom rules. Custom rules are more or less a shell script you have to write. Its output to STDOUT specifies which AutoYaST profile should be used. STDERR will be ignored.
Here is an example for the use of custom rules:
<rule>
<custom1>
<script>
if grep -i intel /proc/cpuinfo > /dev/null; then
echo -n "intel"
else
echo -n "non_intel"
fi;
</script>
<match>*</match>
<match_type>exact</match_type>
</custom1>
<result>
<profile>@custom1@.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">true</continue>
</result>
</rule>The script in this rule can echo either "intel" or "non_intel" to STDOUT (the output of the grep command must be directed to /dev/null in this case). The output of the rule script will be filled between the two '@' characters, to determine the filename of the profile to fetch. AutoYaST will read the output and fetch a file with the name "intel.xml" or "non_intel.xml". This file can contain the AutoYaST profile part for the software selection, for example, in case you want a different software selection on intel hardware than on others.
The number of custom rules is limited to five. So you can use custom1 to custom5.
You can use five different match_types:
exact (default),
greater,
lower,
range,
regex (available since 10.1 and SLES10), a simple "=~" operator like in Bash.
"greater" and "lower" can be used for memsize or totaldisk for example. They can match only with rules that return an integer value. A range is only possible for integer values too and has the form of "value1-value2", for example "512-1024". "regex" can be used to match substrings like "ntel" will match "Intel", "intel" and "intelligent".
Multiple attributes can be combined via a logical operator. It is possible to let a rule match if disksize is greater than 1GB or memsize is exactly 512MB.
You can do this with the "operator" element in the rules.xml file. Here is an example:
<rule>
<disksize>
<match>/dev/hda 1000</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</disksize>
<memsize>
<match>256</match>
<match_type>greater</match_type>
</memsize>
<result>
<profile>machine2.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
</result>
<operator>or</operator>
</rule>Just "and" and "or" are possible operators and the default operator is "and".
The rules.xml file must:
have at least one rule,
have the name rules.xml,
be located in the directory rules in the profile repository,
and have at least one attribute to match in the rule.
The following table lists the predefined system attributes you can match in the rules file.
If you are unsure about a value on your system, start an auto-installation
with "confirm" set to "true". When the proposal shows up, switch to the
console via CTRL+ALT+F2 and run /usr/lib/YaST2/bin/y2base
ayast_probe ncurses. The text box displaying the detected values
can be scrolled.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
hostaddress |
IP address of the host |
This attribute must always match exactly. |
|
hostname |
The name of the host |
This attribute must always match exactly. |
|
domain |
Domain name of host |
This attribute must always match exactly. |
|
installed_product |
The name of the product to be installed. |
This attribute must always match exactly. |
|
installed_product_version |
The version of the product to be installed. |
This attribute must always match exactly. |
|
network |
network address of host |
This attribute must always match exactly. |
|
mac |
MAC address of host |
This attribute must always match exactly. (MAC addresses should have the form 0080c8f6484c). |
|
linux |
Number of installed Linux partitions on the system |
This attribute can be 0 or more. |
|
others |
Number of installed non-Linux partitions on the system |
This attribute can be 0 or more. |
|
xserver |
X Server needed for graphic adapter |
This attribute must always match exactly. |
|
memsize |
Memory available on host in MBytes |
All match types are available. |
|
totaldisk |
Total disk space available on host in MBytes |
All match types are available. |
|
haspcmcia |
System has PCMCIA (i.e Laptops) |
Exact match required, 1 for available PCMCIA or 0 for none. |
|
hostid |
Hex representation of IP address |
Exact match required |
|
arch |
Architecture of host |
Exact match required |
|
karch |
Kernel Architecture of host (i.e. SMP kernel, Athlon Kernel) |
Exact match required |
|
disksize |
Drive device and size |
All match types are available. |
|
product |
The hardware product name as specified in SMBIOS |
Exact match required |
|
product_vendor |
The hardware vendor as specified in SMBIOS |
Exact match required |
|
board |
The system board name as specified in SMBIOS |
Exact match required |
|
board_vendor |
The system board vendor as specified in SMBIOS |
Exact match required |
|
custom1-5 |
Custom rules using shell scripts |
All match types are available. |
Since openSUSE 11.3 (not SLES11 SP1) you can use dialog pop-ups with check boxes to select rules you want matched.
The following elements must be between the <rules config:type="list"><rule><dialog> ... </dialog></rule></rules> tags in the rules.xml file.
|
Attribute |
Values |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
dialog_nr |
All rules with the same dialog_nr are presented in the same pop-up dialog. The same dialog_nr can appear in multiple rules. <dialog_nr config:type="integer">3</dialog_nr> |
This element is optional and the default for a missing dialog_nr is always "0". If you want to use one pop-up for all rules, you don't need to specify the dialog_nr. |
|
element |
Each element needs a unique id. Even if you have more than one dialog, you must not use the same id twice like an id "1" on dialog 1 and and id "1" on dialog 2. That's different than with <ask> dialogs, where you can have the same <element> id on multiple dialogs. <element config:type="integer">3</element> |
Optional. If left out, AutoYaST adds its own ids internally. Then you cannot specify conflicting rules (see below). |
|
title |
Caption of the pop-up dialog <title>Desktop Selection</title> |
Optional |
|
question |
Question shown in the pop-up behind the check box. <question>KDE Desktop</question> |
Optional. If you don't configure a text here, the name of the XML file that is triggered by this rule will be shown instead. |
|
timeout |
Timeout in seconds after which the dialog will automatically "press" the okay button. Useful for a non-blocking installation in combination with rules dialogs. <timeout config:type="integer">30</timeout> |
Optional. A missing timeout will stop the installation process until the dialog is confirmed by the user. |
|
conflicts |
A list of element ids (rules) that conflict with this rule. If this rule matches or is selected by the user, all conflicting rules are deselected and disabled in the pop-up. Take care that you do not create deadlocks. <conflicts config:type="list"> <element config:type="integer">1</element> <element config:type="integer">5</element> ... </conflicts> |
optional |
Here is an example of how to use dialogs with rules:
<rules config:type="list">
<rule>
<custom1>
<script>
echo -n 100
</script>
<match>100</match>
<match_type>exact</match_type>
</custom1>
<result>
<profile>rules/kde.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">true</continue>
</result>
<dialog>
<element config:type="integer">0</element>
<question>KDE Desktop</question>
<title>Desktop Selection</title>
<conflicts config:type="list">
<element config:type="integer">1</element>
</conflicts>
<dialog_nr config:type="integer">0</dialog_nr>
</dialog>
</rule>
<rule>
<custom1>
<script>
echo -n 100
</script>
<match>101</match>
<match_type>exact</match_type>
</custom1>
<result>
<profile>rules/gnome.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">true</continue>
</result>
<dialog>
<element config:type="integer">1</element>
<dialog_nr config:type="integer">0</dialog_nr>
<question>Gnome Desktop</question>
<conflicts config:type="list">
<element config:type="integer">0</element>
</conflicts>
</dialog>
</rule>
<rule>
<custom1>
<script>
echo -n 100
</script>
<match>100</match>
<match_type>exact</match_type>
</custom1>
<result>
<profile>rules/all_the_rest.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
</result>
</rule>
</rules>Classes represent configurations for groups of target systems. Unlike rules, classes have to be configured in the control file. Then classes can be assigned to target systems.
Here is an example of a class definition:
<classes config:type="list">
<class>
<class_name>TrainingRoom</class_name>
<configuration>Software.xml</configuration>
</class>
</classes>The file Software.xml must be in the directory "classes/TrainingRoom/" then. It will get fetched from the same place the AutoYaST profile and rules were fetched from.
If you have multiple profiles and those profiles share parts, better use classes for common parts. You can also use XIncludes.
Using the configuration management system, you can define a set of classes. A class definition consists of the following variables:
Name: class name
Descriptions: class description
Order: order (or priority) of the class in the stack of migration
You can create as many classes as you need, however it is recommended to keep the set of classes as small as possible to keep the configuration system concise. For example, the following sets of classes can be used:
site: classes describing a physical location or site,
machine: classes describing a type of machine,
role: classes describing the function of the machine,
group: classes describing a department or a group within a site or a location.
A file saved in a class directory can have the same syntax and format as a regular control file but represents a subset of the configuration. For example, to create a new control file for a special computer with a specific network interface, only the control file resource which controls the configuration of the network is needed. Having multiple network types, you can merge the one needed for a special type of hardware with other class files and create a new control file which suits the system being installed.
It is possible to mix rules and classes during an auto-installation session. For example you can identify a system using rules which contain class definitions in them. The process is described in the figure “Figure A.1, “Rules Retrieval Process””.
After retrieving the rules and merging them, the generated control file is parsed and checked for class definitions. If classes are defined, then the class files are retrieved from the original repository and a new merge process is initiated.
With classes and with rules, multiple XML files get merged into one resulting XML file. This process of merging is often confusing for people, because it behaves different than one would expect. First of all it is important to note that the names of the top sections in the merged XML files need to be in alphabetical order for the merge to succeed.
For example, the following two XML parts should be merged:
<partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">swap</filesystem>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<mount>swap</mount>
<partition_id config:type="integer">130</partition_id>
<size>2000mb</size>
</partition>
<partition>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">xfs</filesystem>
<partition_type>primary</partition_type>
<size>4Gb</size>
<mount>/data</mount>
</partition>
</partitions>
</drive>
</partitioning><partitioning config:type="list">
<drive>
<initialize config:type="boolean">false</initialize>
<partitions config:type="list">
<partition>
<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
<filesystem config:type="symbol">xfs</filesystem>
<mount>/</mount>
<partition_id config:type="integer">131</partition_id>
<partition_type>primary</partition_type>
<size>max</size>
</partition>
</partitions>
<use>all</use>
</drive>
</partitioning>You might expect the profile to contain 3 partitions. This is not the case. You'll end up with two partitions and the first partition is a mixup of the swap and the root partition. Settings configured in both partitions, like mount or size, will be used from the second file. Settings that only exist in the first or second partition, will be copied to the merged partition too.
In this example, you do not want a second drive. The two drives should be merged into one. With regard to partitions, three separate ones should be defined.
The following workaround only works for SLES9/SL 10.0 and earlier versions.
The following method is not officially supported by AutoYaST. For each partition in one file, add an attribute to the partition:
<partition dontmerge="1"> ... </partitions>
Because of the new attribute, the merge script will not detect the partitions as the same element type. If you have more files, you may need to add more attributes like dontmerge="2", etc.
The following method solves the merging problem for SLES10, SUSE Linux 10.1 and later versions.
Use the dont_merge element in the rules or class file:
<classes config:type="list">
<class>
<class_name>swap</class_name>
<configuration>largeswap.xml</configuration>
<dont_merge config:type="list">
<element>partition</element>
</dont_merge>
</class>
</classes><rule>
<board_vendor>
<match>ntel</match>
<match_type>regex</match_type>
</board_vendor>
<result>
<profile>classes/largeswap.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">true</continue>
<dont_merge config:type="list">
<element>partition</element>
</dont_merge>
</result>
<board_vendor>
<match>PowerEdge [12]850</match>
<match_type>regex</match_type>
</board_vendor>
<result>
<profile>classes/smallswap.xml</profile>
<continue config:type="boolean">true</continue>
<dont_merge config:type="list">
<element>partition</element>
</dont_merge>
</result>
</rule>After the system has booted into an automatic installation and the control file has been retrieved, YaST configures the system according to the information provided in the control file. All configuration settings are summarized in a window that is shown by default and should be deactivated if a fully automatic installation is needed.
By the time YaST displays the summary of the configuration, YaST has only probed hardware and prepared the system for auto-installation. Nothing has been changed in the system yet. In case of any error, you can still abort the process.
A system should be automatically installable without the need to have any graphic adaptor or monitor. Having a monitor attached to the client machine is nevertheless recommended so you can supervise the process and to get feedback in case of errors. Choose between the graphical (Qt or GTK) and the text-based Ncurses interfaces. For headless clients, system messages can be monitored using the serial console.
This is the default interface while auto-installing. No special variables are required to activate it.
Start installing a system using the serial console by adding the keyword "console" (i.e. console=ttyS0) to the command line of the kernel. This starts linuxrc in console mode and later YaST in serial console mode.
This option can also be activated on the command line. This will start YaST2 in Ncurses mode. To start YaST in text mode, add textmode=1 on the command line.
Starting YaST in text mode is recommended when installing a client with less than 64 MB or when X11 is not being configured at all, especially on headless machines.
There are different methods for booting the client. The computer can boot from its network interface card (NIC) to receive the boot images via DHCP or TFTP. Alternatively a suitable kernel and initrd image can be loaded from a floppy or a bootable CD-ROM.
For testing/rescue purposes or because the NIC does not have a PROM or PXE you can build a boot floppy to use with AutoYaST. Using a floppy to initiate an auto-install process is limited due to the size of the data a floppy can hold. However, it is still possible to use floppies when auto-installing a single, disconnected machine.
Floppies can also store the control file, especially when using the original SuSE CD-ROMs for a single, disconnected machine. Via the kernel command line, you can specify the location of the control file on the floppy.
Even without specifying any command line options, it is still possible to
initiate the auto-install process by placing a control file on a floppy
with the pre-defined file name autoinst.xml. YaST
will check for autoinst.xml upon start-up and if it
was found it will switch from interactive to automated installation.
You can use the original SuSE CD-ROMs in combination with other media. For example, the control file can be provided via a floppy or a specified location on the network.
Alternatively, create a customized CD-ROM that holds only the package you need and the control file. If you need to change the configuration, you'll have to create a new CD-ROM.
Booting via PXE requires a DHCP and a TFTP server in your network. The computer will boot then without a physical media like a boot floppy or CDROM.
Here is an example of a
/srv/tftp/pxelinux.cfg/default file:
default SLES9
# install SLES9
label SLES9
kernel linux_sles9
append initrd=initrd_sles9 vga=0x0314 install=.... autoyast=... language=de_DE
# boot harddisc
label hd·
LOCALBOOT 0We recommended you add the vga=... parameter with a valid value for graphical installations, to trigger an installation with the frame buffer device instead of the vesa driver or ncurses mode.
Here is as an example of a /etc/dhcp.conf file:
option domain-name-servers 192.168.66.1;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
ddns-update-style none; ddns-updates off;
log-facility local7;
option grub-menufile code 150 = text;
option grub-menufile "(nd)/menu.lst";·
subnet 192.168.66.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.66.100 192.168.66.200;
# PXE related stuff ...
#
# "next-server" defines the TFTP server which will·
# serve the pxelinux image to the PXE clients.
next-server 192.168.66.1;
allow booting;
allow bootp;
option routers 192.168.66.1; # default gateway
#
# "filename" specifies the pxelinux image on the TFTP server·
# which will be served to the PXE clients.
# The configured TFTP server on 192.168.100.1 runs in a·
# "change-root jail" to /srv/tftpboot
filename "pxelinux.0";
}A problem you might run into if you do installation via PXE is that the installation will run into an endless loop, because after the first reboot, the machine is doing PXE boot again and restarts the installation instead of booting from hard disk for the second stage of the installation.
This problem can be solved in different ways. One way is to use an http server to provide the AutoYaST profile. And, instead of a static profile, run a CGI script on the Web server that provides the profile and changes the TFTP server configuration for your target host. Then the next PXE boot of the machine will be from hard disk by default.
Another way is to use AutoYaST to upload a new PXE boot configuration for the target host via the profile:
<pxe>
<pxe_localboot config:type="boolean">true</pxe_localboot>
<pxelinux-config>
DEFAULT linux
LABEL linux
localboot 0
</pxelinux-config>
<tftp-server>192.168.66.1</tftp-server>
<pxelinux-dir>/pxelinux.cfg</pxelinux-dir>
<filename>__MAC__</filename> <!-- since openSUSE 11.2, not SLES11 -->
</pxe>
This entry will upload a new configuration for the target host to the TFTP
server shortly before the first reboot happens. In most installations the
TFTP daemon runs as user "nobody". You have to make sure this user has
write permissions to the pxelinux.cfg directory. So
if your machine has the IP address "192.168.66.195", a file
C0A842C3 will be uploaded. When the machine reboots
and receives the same IP address via DHCP, the new configuration will be
used, telling the target host to boot from hard disk.
If you want to do another auto-installation on the same machine, you have to remove the file from the TFTP server.
Since openSUSE 11.2 (not SLES11), you can also configure the filename that will be uploaded. If you use the "magic" __MAC__ filename, the filename will be the mac address of your machine like this "01-08-00-27-79-49-ee". If the filename setting is missing, the IP address will be used for the filename.
Adding the command line variable autoyast causes
linuxrc to start in automated mode.
linuxrc searches for a configuration file,
which should be distinguished from the main control file in the following
places:
in the root directory of the initial RAM disk used for booting the system,
in the root directory of the floppy.
The configuration file used by linuxrc can have the
following keywords (for a detailed description of how
linuxrc works and other keywords, see
Appendix B, Advanced Linuxrc Options):
linuxrc #|
Keyword |
Value |
|---|---|
|
netdevice |
Network device to use for network setup (for BOOTP and DHCP requests) |
|
server |
Server (NFS) to contact for source directory |
|
serverdir |
Directory on NFS Server |
|
hostip |
When empty, client sends BOOTP request, otherwise client is configured with entered IP configuration. |
|
netmask |
Netmask |
|
gateway |
Gateway |
|
nameserver |
Name server |
|
insmod |
Kernel modules to load |
|
autoyast |
Location of the the control file for automatic installation, i.e. autoyast=http://192.168.2.1/profiles/ |
|
install |
Location of the installation directory, i.e. install=nfs://192.168.2.1/CDs/ |
|
instmode |
Installation mode, i.e. nfs, http etc. (not needed if install is set) |
|
y2confirm |
Even with <confirm>no</confirm> in the profile, the confirm proposal comes up (available since SUSE Linux 10.1/SLES10). |
These variables and keywords will bring the system up to the point where
YaST can take over with the main control file. Currently, the source
medium is automatically discovered, which in some cases makes it possible
to initiate the auto-install process without giving any instructions to
linuxrc.
The traditional linuxrc configuration file
(info) has the function of giving the client enough
information about the installation server and the location of the sources.
In most cases, this file is not needed; it is however needed in special
network environments where DHCP and
BOOTP are not used or when special kernel
modules have to be loaded.
All linuxrc keywords can be passed to linuxrc using the
kernel command line. The command line can also be set when creating
network bootable images or it can be passed to the kernel using a
specially configured DHCP server in
combination with Etherboot or PXE.
The command line variable autoyast can be used in the format described in table “Table 7.2, “Command Line Variables for AutoYaST””
|
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 and you did an installation from CD). |
|
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, use only sda1 instead). Since openSUSE 11.2 (not SLES11) you can omit specifying the device and trigger AutoYaST to search all devices (autoyast=device:///my.xml). |
|
autoyast=floppy://<path> |
Looks for control file on a floppy (useful when booting from CD). Since SLES10 SP1 and later the fallback is looking on USB devices. |
|
autoyast=nfs://<server>/<path> |
Looks for control file on <server> |
|
autoyast=http://[user:password@]<server>/<path> |
Retrieves the control file from a Web server using the HTTP protocol. |
|
autoyast=https://[user:password@]<server>/<path> |
Retrieves the control file from a Web server using HTTPS (encrypted connection) protocol (possible since SL 10.1 and SLES10). |
|
autoyast=tftp://<server>/<path> |
Retrieve the control file via TFTP. |
|
autoyast=ftp://[user:password@]<server>/<path> |
Retrieve the control file via FTP. |
|
autoyast=usb://<path> (since SLES10 SP1) |
Retrieve the control file from USB devices (AutoYaST will search all connected USB devices). |
|
autoyast=relurl://<path> (since openSUSE 11.0) |
Retrieve the control file from the installation source (install=....). |
|
autoyast=slp (since openSUSE 11.2, not SLES 11) |
Query the location of the profile from an SLP server (service:autoyast:...). Since openSUSE 11.3 you can add a "description=" attribute so you can "translate" the URL into something more readable. |
|
autoyast=cifs://<server>/<path> (since openSUSE 11.2, not SLES 11) |
Looks for control file on <server> with CIFS |
|
autoyast=label://<label>/<path> (since openSUSE 11.3, not SLES 11) |
Searches for control file on a device with the specified label |
Several scenarios for auto-installation are possible using different types of infrastructure and source media. The simplest way is to use the source media from SuSE. In that case you have either a DVD with all SuSE packages or a set of CD-ROMs. To initiate the auto-installation process however, the auto-installation command line variable should be entered at system boot-up and the control file should be accessible to YaST. The following list of scenarios explains how the control file can be supplied as well as the setup needed for the auto-installation process to succeed.
Using original CD-ROMs from SuSE:
To use the original CD-ROMs, you need a media with the control file. The control file can reside in the following locations:
Floppy: Control file accessible via the
autoyast=floppy option. YaST also searches upon
start-up for a file named autoinst.xml. If such a
file is found, YaST2 will switch into auto-installation mode even if
no special command line variables were supplied. (See
“Section 7.3.2, “Auto-installing a Single System””.)
Network: Control file accessible via the autoyast=nfs://.., autoyast=ftp://.., autoyast=http://.. or autoyast=tftp://.. options.
Using 'self-made' CD-ROMs:
In this case, you can include the control file on the CD-ROM for easy access (using the autoyast=file:// option) or use one of the above mentioned methods used with the original SuSE CD-ROMs.
When using CD-ROMs for auto-installation, it is necessary to instruct the installer to use the CD-ROM for installation and not try to find the installation files on the network. This can be accomplished by adding the instmode=cd option to the kernel command line (this can be done by adding the option to the isolinux.cfg file on the CD).
Using NFS and Floppy, Network or CD-ROM for system boot-up.
This option is the most important one due to the fact that installations of PC farms are normally done using NFS servers and other network services like BOOTP and DHCP. The control file can reside in the following places:
Floppy/CD-ROM: Control file accessible via the autoyast=file://.. option.
Network: Control file accessible via the autoyast=http://.., autoyast=ftp://.., autoyast=nfs://.. or autoyast=tftp://.. options.
To disable the network during installations where it is not needed or unavailable, for example when auto-installing from CD-ROMs, use the linuxrc option netsetup to set the network configuration behavior. To disable network setup use netsetup=0.
If autoyast=default is defined, YaST will look for a
file named autoinst.xml in the following three
places:
the root directory of the floppy disk,
the root directory of the installation medium,
the root directory of the initial RAM disk used to boot the system.
With all AutoYaST invocation options, excluding default, it is possible to specify the location of the control file in the following ways:
Specify the exact location of the control file:
autoyast=http://192.168.1.1/control-files/client01.xml
Specify a directory where several control files are located:
autoyast=http://192.168.1.1/control-files/
In this case the relevant control file is retrieved using the hex digit representation of the IP as described below.
If only the path prefix variable is defined, YaST will fetch the control file from the specified location in the following way:
First, it will search for the control file using its own IP address in upper case hexadecimal, e.g. 192.0.2.91 -> C000025B.
If this file is not found, YaST will remove one hex digit and try again.
This action is repeated until the file with the correct name is found.
Ultimately, it will try looking for a file with the MAC address of the
client as the file name (mac should have the following syntax:
0080C8F6484C) and if not found a file named
default (in lower case).
As an example, for 192.0.2.91, the HTTP client will try:
C000025B C000025 C00002 C0000 C000 C00 C0 C 0080C8F6484C default
in that order.
To determine the hex representation of the IP address of the client, use
the utility called /usr/bin/gethostip available with
the syslinux package.
# /usr/bin/gethostip 10.10.0.1 10.10.0.1 10.10.0.1 0A0A0001
The easiest way to auto-install a system without any network connection is to use the original SuSE CD-ROMs and a floppy disk. You do not need to set up an installation server nor the network environment.
Create the control file and name it autoinst.xml.
Copy the file autoinst.xml to a floppy by either
mounting the floppy or by using the mtools.
mcopy autoinst.xml a:
If you choose to pass information to linuxrc using the info file, it is possible to integrate the keywords in the XML control file. In this case the file has to be accessible to linuxrc and has to be named info.
Linuxrc will look for a string (start_linuxrc_conf in the control file which represents the beginning of the file. If it is found, it will parse the content starting from that string and will finish when the string end_linuxrc_conf is found. The options are stored in the control file in the following way:
....
<install>
....
<init>
<info_file>
<![CDATA[
#
# Don't remove the following line:
# start_linuxrc_conf
#
install: nfs://192.168.1.1/CDs/full-i386
textmode: 1
autoyast: file:///info
# end_linuxrc_conf
# Do not remove the above comment
#
]]>
</info_file>
</init>
......
</install>
....Note that the "autoyast" keyword must point to the same file. If it is on a floppy, then the protocol floppy has to be used. If the info file is stored in the initial RAM disk, the file option has to be used.
The system configuration during auto-installation is the most important part of the whole process. Customizing a system according to your environment and needs is what makes an auto-installation system attractive, not the installation part.
As you have seen in the previous chapters, almost anything can be configured automatically on the target system. In addition to the pre-defined directives, you can always use post-scripts to change other things in the system. Additionally you can change any system variables, and if required, copy complete configuration files into the target system.
The post-installation and system configuration are initiated directly after the last package is installed on the target system and continue after the system has booted for the first time.
Before the system is booted for the first time, AutoYaST writes all data collected during installation and writes the boot loader in the specified location. In addition to these regular tasks, AutoYaST executes the chroot-scripts as specified in the control file. Note that these scripts are executed while the system is not yet mounted.
If a different kernel than the default is installed, a hard reboot will be required. A hard reboot can also be forced during auto-installation, independent of the installed kernel. Use the reboot property of the general resource (see Section 4.1, “General Options”).
Most of the system customization is done in the second stage of the installation. If you require customizations that cannot be done using AutoYaST resources, use post-install scripts for further modifications.
You can define an unlimited number of custom scripts in the control file, either by editing the control file or by using the configuration system.
The following figure illustrates how rules are handled and the processes of retrieval and merge.
Linuxrc is a program used for setting up the kernel for installation purposes. It allows the user to load modules, start an installed system, a rescue system or an installation via YaST.
Linuxrc is designed to be as small as possible. Therefore, all needed programs are linked directly into one binary. So there is no need for shared libraries in the initdisk.
If you run Linuxrc on an installed system, it will work slightly differently so as not to destroy your installation. As a consequence you cannot test all features this way.
Unless Linuxrc is in manual mode, it will look for an
info file in these locations: first
/info on the floppy disk and if that does not exist,
for /info in the initrd. After that it parses the
kernel command line for parameters. You may change the
info file Linuxrc reads by setting the
info command line parameter. If you do not want
Linuxrc to read the kernel command line (e.g. because you need to specify a
kernel parameter that Linuxrc recognizes as well), use
linuxrc=nocmdline.
The info file is no longer implicitly read. You have
to make it explicit, like 'info=floppy:/info'.
Linuxrc will always look for and parse a file
/linuxrc.config. Use this file to change default
values if you need to. In general, it is better to use the
info file instead. Note that
/linuxrc.config is read before any
info file, even in manual mode.
info file format #Lines starting with '#' are comments, valid entries are of the form:
key: value
Note that value extends to the end of the line and therefore may contain spaces. key is matched case insensitive.
You can use the same key-value pairs on the kernel command line using the
syntax key=value. Lines that do not have the form
described above are ignored.
The table below lists Valid keys. The given values are only examples.
linuxrc keywords #|
Keyword/Value |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Language: de_DE |
set the language |
|
Keytable: de-lat1-nd |
load this keytable |
|
Display: Color|Mono|Alt |
set the menu color scheme |
|
Install: nfs://server/install/8.0-i386 |
install via NFS from server (note: you can give username, password etc. in the URL, too) |
|
InstMode: cd|hd|nfs|smb|ftp|http|tftp |
set installation mode |
|
HostIP: 10.10.0.2 |
the client ip address |
|
Netmask: 255.255.0.0 |
network mask |
|
Gateway: 10.10.0.1 |
gateway |
|
Server: 10.10.0.1 |
installation server address |
|
Nameserver: 10.10.0.1 |
nameserver |
|
Proxy: 10.10.0.1 |
proxy (either ftp or http) |
|
ProxyPort: 10.10.0.1 |
proxy port |
|
Partition: hda1 |
partition with install sources for hard disk install |
|
Serverdir: /install/8.0-i386 |
base directory of the installation sources |
|
Netdevice: eth0 |
network interface to use |
|
BOOTPWait: 5 |
sleep 5 seconds between network activation and starting bootp |
|
BOOTPTimeout: 10 |
10 seconds timeout for BOOTP requests |
|
DHCPTimeout: 60 |
60 seconds timeout for DHCP requests |
|
TFTPTimeout: 10 |
10 seconds timeout for TFTP connection |
|
ForceRootimage: 0|1 |
load the installation system into RAM disk |
|
Textmode: 0|1 |
start YaST in text mode |
|
Username: name |
set username (e.g. for FTP install) |
|
Password: password |
set password (e.g. for FTP install) |
|
WorkDomain: domain |
set work domain for SMB install |
|
ForceInsmod: 0|1 |
use '-f' option when running insmod |
|
DHCP: 0|1 |
start DHCP daemon now, but see UseDHCP |
|
UseDHCP: 0|1 |
use DHCP instead of BOOTP (DHCP is default) |
|
vlan: VLANID |
set a VLANID to enable 802.1q tagged VLAN support |
|
MemLimit: 10000 |
ask for swap if free memory drops below 10000 kB |
|
MemYaST: 20000 |
run YaST in text mode if free memory is below 20000 kB |
|
MemYaSTText: 10000 |
ask for swap before starting YaST if free memory is below 10000 kB |
|
MemModules: 20000 |
delete all modules before starting YaST if free memory is below 20000 kB |
|
MemLoadImage: 50000 |
load installation system into RAM disk if free memory is above 50000 kB |
|
Manual: 0|1 |
start Linuxrc in manual mode |
|
NoPCMCIA: 0|1 |
do not start card manager |
|
Domain: zap.de |
set domain name (used for name server lookups) |
|
RootImage: /suse/images/root |
installation system image |
|
RescueImage: /suse/images/rescue |
rescue system image |
|
InstallDir: /suse/inst-sys |
installation system |
|
Rescue: 1|nfs://server/dir |
load rescue system; the URL variant specifies the location of the rescue image explicitly |
|
AutoYaST: ftp://autoyastfile |
location of autoinstall file; activates autoinstall mode |
|
VNC: 0|1 |
setup VNC server |
|
VNCPassword: password |
sets VNC server password |
|
UseSSH: 0|1 |
setup SSH server |
|
SSHPassword: password |
sets SSH server password (this will not be the final root password!) |
|
AddSwap: 0|3|/dev/hda5 |
if 0, never ask for swap; if the argument is a positive number n, activate the n'th swap partition; if the argument is a partition name, activate this swap partition |
|
Exec: command |
run command |
|
USBWait: 4 |
wait 4 seconds after loading USB modules |
|
Insmod: module params |
load this module |
|
Loghost: 10.10.0.22 |
Enable remove logging via syslog |
|
y2confirm |
overrides the confirm parameter in a profile and requests confirmation of installation proposal (available since SUSE Linux 10.1/SLES10) |
The netsetup keyword allows advanced network configurations and enables dialogs to setup the network where required.
netsetup=1
the normal network setup questions
netsetup=xxx,yyy
only xxx and yyy
netsetup=+xxx,-yyy
default, additionally xxx, but not yyy
netsetup can have the following values: dhcp, hostip, gateway, netmask, nameserver. nameserverN asks for N nameservers (max. 4).
For example, the following can be entered on the command line:
netsetup=-dhcp,+nameserver3