[RFE] Red Hat Satellite provisioning workflow with netboot ISO

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Satellite 6.17
  • Red Hat Satellite 6.18

Issue

  • What is a supported provisioning workflow that uses a generic image?

Resolution

Unsupported Procedure: The following information has been provided by Red Hat, but is outside the scope of the posted Service Level Agreements and supported procedures. The information is provided as-is and any configuration settings or installed applications made from the information in this article could make the provisioning workflow unsupported by Red Hat Global Support Services.

Workaround

The following workaround may be used to create a custom netboot ISO. The result of this procedure is a bootable image located at <customized-rhel-boot-iso-path>, which can be used to provision hosts.

  • Create a custom netboot ISO

    1. This content is not included.Download the latest Boot ISO for the desired Red Hat Enterprise Linux release.

    2. Save the downloaded file and make it available under <rhel-boot-iso-path>.

    3. Install the lorax package, which contains tools to customize ISO images:

       dnf install lorax -y

    4. Inject a custom Kickstart command using the mkksiso tool, depending on network configuration needs:

      • DHCP configuration:

          mkksiso -c "inst.ks=http://<your-satellite-server>/unattended/provision inst.ks.sendmac ip=dhcp" <rhel-boot-iso-path> <customized-rhel-boot-iso-path>

      • Static IP configuration:

          mkksiso -c "inst.ks=http://<satellite-server>/unattended/provision inst.ks.sendmac ip=<ipaddress>::<gateway>:<netmask>:<hostname>:<interface>:none" <rhel-boot-iso-path> <customized-rhel-boot-iso-path>

        Note: If hosts should be provisioned with their designated static IP address, the full host image provisioning workflow of Red Hat Satellite can be used.

  • Provision a host using the custom netboot ISO

    1. Create the host as per Red Hat Satellite documentation. Explicitly specify the MAC address for the primary interface, which is used to identify the host during provisioning.
    2. Boot host with <customized-rhel-boot-iso-path> as boot medium.

For more KB articles/solutions related to Red Hat Satellite 6.x Provisioning Issues, please refer to the Consolidated Troubleshooting Article for Red Hat Satellite 6.x Provisioning related Issues

Root Cause

  • A supported provisioning workflow that incorporates the usage of a generic image is not available.
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