Attune-Automation / Create-Red-Hat-Enterprise-Linux-RHEL-ISO-with-kickstart-built-on-macOS-or-Linux

As the demands of modern digital infrastructure grow, the need for efficient and standardised methods of operating system deployment becomes increasingly important. The Kickstart method is a powerful tool that allows system administrators to automate the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on multiple machines.

Home Page:https://github.attuneautomation.com/Automate-Red-Hat-Enterprise-Linux-RHEL-Installation-with-Kickstart/

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Automate Red Hat Enterprise Linux RHEL Installation with Kickstart

As the demands of modern digital infrastructure grow, the need for efficient and standardised methods of operating system deployment becomes increasingly important.

The Kickstart method is a powerful tool that allows system administrators to automate the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on multiple machines.

This Attune Project contains Blueprints to create RHEL Kickstart ISOs.

Clone this Project from GitHub

About Red Hat Enterprise Linux

RHEL stands as a commercial Linux distribution meticulously crafted by Red Hat to cater to the business sector. This versatile operating system comes in server editions designed for various architectures, including x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z, as well as a desktop edition tailored for x86-64 systems. The development and innovation for RHEL draw inspiration from Fedora Linux and CentOS Stream, which serve as its primary sources for new features and enhancements. Red Hat places its paramount emphasis on providing comprehensive support, training, and certification programs exclusively centered around the RHEL platform.

Understanding Kickstart Automation

Kickstart is a technology developed by Red Hat that enables administrators to automate the installation process of RHEL. Instead of manually configuring each installation, Kickstart uses a predefined configuration file, commonly referred to as a Kickstart file, to specify various installation settings. These settings include language preferences, partitioning schemes, package selection, network configuration, and more. The Kickstart file essentially scripts the installation process, allowing for consistent and repeatable deployments.

Advantages of Automated Kickstarting

Automating the installation of RHEL using Kickstart offers several key benefits:

  1. Time Efficiency: Manual installation can be time-consuming, especially when dealing with multiple machines. Kickstart automates the process, saving significant time and effort.

  2. Consistency: Automated installations ensure that each instance is configured identically, reducing the risk of errors caused by manual intervention.

  3. Reduced Human Error: Manual installations can lead to mistakes or variations in configuration. Kickstart eliminates these errors by following a predefined script.

  4. Standardisation: Kickstart promotes standardized configurations across the organization, simplifying management and troubleshooting.

Attune

Attune automates and orchestrates processes to streamline deployments, scaling, migrations, and management of your systems. The Attune platform is building a community of sharable automated and orchestrated processes.

You can leverage the publicly available orchestrated blueprints to increase your productivity, and accelerate the delivery of your projects. You can open-source your own work and improve existing community orchestrated projects.

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To clone this project into your own instance of Attune, follow the Clone a GIT Project How To Instructions.

Blueprints

This Project contains the following Blueprints.

Create RHEL7 UEFI Kickstart ISO

This Attune Automated blueprint for creating an Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) UEFI Kickstart ISO is a powerful tool that streamlines and simplifies the process of generating customized bootable ISO images for RHEL installations. This blueprint automates the creation of UEFI-compatible ISOs, ensuring compatibility with modern hardware and systems.

With this solution, users can effortlessly tailor their RHEL installations to meet specific requirements, such as pre-configured settings, software packages, and system configurations. It provides a seamless and efficient way to deploy RHEL8 across a wide range of hardware environments, making it ideal for system administrators and IT professionals who seek to automate and standardise their deployment processes.

Attune's automated blueprint for RHEL UEFI Kickstart ISOs empowers users to save time and effort while maintaining consistency and reliability in their Linux deployments, ultimately enhancing productivity and system management capabilities.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Create RHEL8 BIOS Kickstart ISO

This Attune Automated blueprint for creating an Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) BIOS Kickstart ISO is a robust tool designed to simplify the process of generating custom bootable ISO images for RHEL installations, specifically tailored for BIOS boot environments. This blueprint automates the creation of ISOs optimized for compatibility with traditional BIOS-based systems.

With this solution, users can effortlessly customize their RHEL installations to meet specific requirements, including pre-configured settings, software packages, and system configurations. It offers an efficient and streamlined approach to deploying RHEL on a wide array of hardware platforms, making it an excellent choice for system administrators and IT professionals seeking automation and standardisation in their deployment processes.

Attune's automated blueprint for RHEL BIOS Kickstart ISOs empowers users to save valuable time and resources, ensuring consistency and reliability in their Linux deployments. This enhancement in productivity and system management capabilities is essential for those managing environments primarily utilising BIOS-based boot configurations.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Create RHEL8 UEFI Kickstart ISO

This Attune Automated blueprint for creating an Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) UEFI Kickstart ISO is a powerful tool that streamlines and simplifies the process of generating customized bootable ISO images for RHEL installations. This blueprint automates the creation of UEFI-compatible ISOs, ensuring compatibility with modern hardware and systems.

With this solution, users can effortlessly tailor their RHEL installations to meet specific requirements, such as pre-configured settings, software packages, and system configurations. It provides a seamless and efficient way to deploy RHEL8 across a wide range of hardware environments, making it ideal for system administrators and IT professionals who seek to automate and standardise their deployment processes.

Attune's automated blueprint for RHEL UEFI Kickstart ISOs empowers users to save time and effort while maintaining consistency and reliability in their Linux deployments, ultimately enhancing productivity and system management capabilities.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Create RHEL9 BIOS Kickstart ISO

This Attune Automated blueprint for creating an Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) BIOS Kickstart ISO is a robust tool designed to simplify the process of generating custom bootable ISO images for RHEL installations, specifically tailored for BIOS boot environments. This blueprint automates the creation of ISOs optimized for compatibility with traditional BIOS-based systems.

With this solution, users can effortlessly customize their RHEL installations to meet specific requirements, including pre-configured settings, software packages, and system configurations. It offers an efficient and streamlined approach to deploying RHEL on a wide array of hardware platforms, making it an excellent choice for system administrators and IT professionals seeking automation and standardisation in their deployment processes.

Attune's automated blueprint for RHEL BIOS Kickstart ISOs empowers users to save valuable time and resources, ensuring consistency and reliability in their Linux deployments. This enhancement in productivity and system management capabilities is essential for those managing environments primarily utilising BIOS-based boot configurations.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Create RHEL9 UEFI Kickstart ISO

This Attune Automated blueprint for creating an Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) UEFI Kickstart ISO is a powerful tool that streamlines and simplifies the process of generating customized bootable ISO images for RHEL installations. This blueprint automates the creation of UEFI-compatible ISOs, ensuring compatibility with modern hardware and systems.

With this solution, users can effortlessly tailor their RHEL installations to meet specific requirements, such as pre-configured settings, software packages, and system configurations. It provides a seamless and efficient way to deploy RHEL8 across a wide range of hardware environments, making it ideal for system administrators and IT professionals who seek to automate and standardise their deployment processes.

Attune's automated blueprint for RHEL UEFI Kickstart ISOs empowers users to save time and effort while maintaining consistency and reliability in their Linux deployments, ultimately enhancing productivity and system management capabilities.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Perform Build Files Cleanup

This Attune Automated blueprint for linking to other Attune Automated projects is a powerful tool that streamlines project management and cleanup tasks within your automation workflows. Specifically, this blueprint automates the process of deleting build files and the Kickstart ISO group step, facilitating a seamless integration of projects and efficient resource management.

By incorporating this blueprint into your automation projects, users can effortlessly connect and coordinate different stages or phases of their workflow. It ensures that redundant build files and unnecessary ISO groups are systematically removed, optimising system resources and maintaining a tidy project environment.

Attune's automated linking blueprint enhances project efficiency and organisation, promoting smoother collaboration among team members and simplifying project maintenance. It's an indispensable asset for those seeking to streamline and automate project management processes while maintaining a clean and efficient project structure.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Test RHEL Node

This Attune Automated blueprint for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) installation testing is a versatile and efficient tool designed to streamline the process of evaluating and verifying RHEL installations. This blueprint offers an automated approach to thoroughly assess the reliability and functionality of RHEL deployments across various hardware configurations.

With this solution, users can easily initiate basic tests on RHEL installations. It provides a systematic and repeatable method for identifying and resolving potential issues, making it an invaluable resource for system administrators and IT professionals responsible for maintaining RHEL environments.

Attune's automated testing blueprint enhances the quality and stability of RHEL installations, promoting confidence in the reliability of these systems. It accelerates troubleshooting and resolution, ultimately improving the overall performance and integrity of RHEL deployments.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Create RHEL7 BIOS Kickstart ISO

This Attune Automated blueprint for creating an Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) BIOS Kickstart ISO is a robust tool designed to simplify the process of generating custom bootable ISO images for RHEL installations, specifically tailored for BIOS boot environments. This blueprint automates the creation of ISOs optimized for compatibility with traditional BIOS-based systems.

With this solution, users can effortlessly customize their RHEL installations to meet specific requirements, including pre-configured settings, software packages, and system configurations. It offers an efficient and streamlined approach to deploying RHEL on a wide array of hardware platforms, making it an excellent choice for system administrators and IT professionals seeking automation and standardisation in their deployment processes.

Attune's automated blueprint for RHEL BIOS Kickstart ISOs empowers users to save valuable time and resources, ensuring consistency and reliability in their Linux deployments. This enhancement in productivity and system management capabilities is essential for those managing environments primarily utilising BIOS-based boot configurations.

Clone this Project from GitHub

Parameters

Name Type Script Reference Comment
Automation Worker Base Directory Text automationworkerbasedirectory Base directory for deploying temporary files to build the kickstart ISO.
Automation Worker Linux Node Linux/Unix Node automationworkerlinuxnode The device used to perform tasks to create the ISO.
Automation Worker Linux User Linux/Unix Credential automationworkerlinuxuser non privilege user on the Automation Worker node.
Automation Worker Linux User: root Linux/Unix Credential automationworkerlinuxuserroot root user on the Automation Worker node.
New OS Boot Loader is BIOS Text newosbootloaderisbios Set as 'true' or 'false'.
New OS Boot Loader is UEFI Text newosbootloaderisuefi Set as 'true' or 'false'.
New OS Linux Disk First Letter Text newoslinuxdiskfirstletter The first letter of the disk in Linux, EG, sda or xda set as 's' or 'x'.
New OS Linux Eject CDROM Text newoslinuxejectcdrom Set 'true' to eject CDROM after the kickstart installation and 'false' to do nothing.
New OS Linux Node Linux/Unix Node newoslinuxnode The New OS to be built.
New OS Linux TimeZone Text newoslinuxtimezone Valid Linux timezones are listed in /usr/share/zoneinfo/posix and also at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones.

Example: Australia/Brisbane
New OS Linux User: root Linux/Unix Credential newoslinuxuserroot root user on the New OS to be built.
New OS Node Subnet Network IPv4 Subnet newosnodesubnet Subnet used by the new operating system to be built.
New OS RPM CA Certificate Directory Text newosrpmcacertificatedirectory RPM CA Certificate drop In directory. Place all RPM CA certificates that you want to use here.

This is an absolute path to a folder. If it does not exist or if it is empty, then it will not be used.
Operating System Name Text operatingsystemname Set as:
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7",
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8", or
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9".
RHEL7 baseos Repo URL Text rhel7baseosrepourl RPM Server BaseOS Repository URL.

For example "http://rpm_server_for_rhel7/rpm_mirror/rhel-7-server-rpms/"
RHEL8 baseos Repo URL Text rhel8baseosrepourl RPM Server BaseOS Repository URL for RHEL8.

For example "http://rpm_server_for_rhel8/rpm_mirror/rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms/"
RHEL9 baseos Repo URL Text rhel9baseosrepourl RPM Server BaseOS Repository URL for RHEL9.

For example "http://rpm_server_for_rhel9/rpm_mirror/rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms/"

Files

Name Type Comment
RHEL7 BIOS Kickstart Config Version Controlled Files https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/5/html/installation_guide/s1-kickstart2-options
RHEL7 Boot ISO Large Archives
RHEL7 grub.cfg Inside efiboot.img Version Controlled Files A modified "EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg" suitable for RHEL7 UEFI boot to be put in "images/efiboot.img".
RHEL7 UEFI Kickstart Config Version Controlled Files RHEL7 UEFI boot files for kickstarting RHEL7.
RHEL8 BIOS Kickstart Config Version Controlled Files RHEL8 BIOS boot files for kickstarting RHEL8.
RHEL8 Boot ISO Large Archives
RHEL8 grub.cfg Inside efiboot.img Version Controlled Files A modified "EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg" suitable for RHEL8 UEFI boot to be put in "images/efiboot.img".
RHEL8 UEFI Kickstart Config Version Controlled Files RHEL8 UEFI boot files for kickstarting RHEL8.
RHEL9 BIOS Kickstart Config Version Controlled Files RHEL9 BIOS boot files for kickstarting RHEL8.
RHEL9 Boot ISO Large Archives This file can be downloaded from the following link. You need a Redhat login.
https://developers.redhat.com/products/rhel/download#assembly-field-downloads-page-content-61451
RHEL9 grub.cfg Inside efiboot.img Version Controlled Files A modified "EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg" suitable for RHEL9 UEFI boot to be put in "images/efiboot.img".
RHEL9 UEFI Kickstart Config Version Controlled Files RHEL9 UEFI boot files for kickstarting RHEL9.
Test File Version Controlled Files

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About

As the demands of modern digital infrastructure grow, the need for efficient and standardised methods of operating system deployment becomes increasingly important. The Kickstart method is a powerful tool that allows system administrators to automate the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on multiple machines.

https://github.attuneautomation.com/Automate-Red-Hat-Enterprise-Linux-RHEL-Installation-with-Kickstart/