Scripted installations and KickStart syntax reference

[eugene123]

Greetings!

Just joined in.

I'm playing with a scripted installations of ESX 4 in my home lab (2 x HP DL160 G6 + iSCSI SAN)

I have found some examples of using KickStart to automate installation procedures.

Is there a place to go for the KickStart/Automation syntax reference?

Also, how many different automation scripting variants are out there?

For example, in a sample script that I have found I can see the following few lines:

"...

art cos --fstype=vmfs3 --size=9000 --ondisk=[DISKTYPE]

part None --fstype=vmkcore --size=250 --ondisk=[DISKTYPE]

virtualdisk vd1 --size=7500 --onvmfs=cos

part / --fstype=ext3 --size=3000 --onvirtualdisk=vd1 --grow

part swap --fstype=swap --size=1000 --onvirtualdisk=vd1

part /opt --fstype=ext3 --size=1000 --onvirtualdisk=vd1

part /tmp --fstype=ext3 --size=1000 --onvirtualdisk=vd1

part /home --fstype=ext3 --size=1000 --onvirtualdisk=vd1

1. VMware Specific Commands

vmaccepteula

%packages

%post --interpreter=bash

..."

Which scripting language are those lines being part of?

Best regards,

-Eugene

[nirvy]

Hi,

The ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide page 43 has a nice little intro to scripted installations

This blog post is also very good: http://virtualfoundry.blogspot.com/2009/04/ultimate-kickstart-file-part-one.html

[eugene123]

Thanks, nirvy!

I'll look at it right away!

-Eugene

[ZBali]

Hi,

Because ESX based on a redhat enterprise, you should read this site too:

Red Hat kickstart manual