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Alexey Gladkov edited this page Dec 4, 2022 · 3 revisions

Feature: kickstart

Feature adds the ability to run kickstart-script from initramfs. The kickstart looks similar to the kickstart implementation in RedHat's anaconda.

Boot parameters

  • ksfile=<FILE> - Specifies the full path to the script.

Kickstart

The kickstart is designed to automate some operations before the system boots.

Kickstart file

The kickstart file is a simple text file, containing a list of items, each identified by a keyword.

First, be aware of the following issues when you are creating your kickstart file:

  • There is a natural order for commands should be followed.
  • The %pre, %pre-install, %post and %onerror sections – These sections can be in any order.
  • Lines starting with a pound sign (#) are treated as comments and are ignored.

Recommended System Swap Space

The table below provides the recommended size of a swap partition depending on the amount of RAM in your system.

|Amount of RAM | Recommended swap space | Recommended swap space |

in the system if allowing for hibernation
less than 2 GB 2 times the amount of RAM 3 times the amount of RAM
2 GB - 8 GB Equal to the amount of RAM 2 times the amount of RAM
8 GB - 64 GB 0.5 times the amount of RAM 1.5 times the amount of RAM
more than 64 GB workload dependent 1.5 times the amount of RAM

Kickstart commands

The following commands can be placed in a kickstart file.

ignoredisk

ignoredisk [--drives=IGNOREDISK] [--only-use=ONLYUSE]

Controls kickstart's access to disks attached to the system. By default, all disks will be available for partitioning. Only one of the following three options may be used.

Options:

  • --drives=IGNOREDISK - Specifies those disks that anaconda should not touch when partitioning, formatting, and clearing.

  • --only-use=ONLYUSE - Specifies the opposite - only disks listed here will be used during installation.

clearpart

clearpart [--all] [--drives=DRIVES] [--initlabel] [--none] [--list=DEVICES] [--disklabel=DISKLABEL]

Removes partitions from the system, prior to creation of new partitions. By default, no partitions are removed.

Options:

  • --all - Erases all partitions from the system.

  • --drives=DRIVES - Specifies which drives to clear partitions from.

  • --initlabel - Initializes the disk label to the default for your architecture.

  • --none - Do not remove any partitions. This is the default.

  • --list=DEVICES - Specifies which partitions to clear.

  • --disklabel=DISKLABEL - Set the default disklabel to use. Only disklabels supported for the platform will be accepted. eg. dos and gpt.

reqpart

reqpart [--add-boot]

Automatically create partitions required by your hardware platform. These include a /boot/efi for x86_64 and Aarch64 systems with UEFI firmware, biosboot for x86_64 systems with BIOS firmware and GPT.

Options:

  • --add-boot - Create a separate /boot partition in addition to the platform-specific partition created by the base command.

makefs

makefs <device> [--fstype=FSTYPE] [--label=LABEL]

Creates or replaces the filesystem on the device.

Options:

  • --fstype=FSTYPE - Sets the filesystem type for the device (default: ext4).

  • --label=LABEL - Specifies the label to give to the filesystem to be made.

crypto

crypto [--name=NAME] [--passphrase=PASSPHRASE] [--cipher=CIPHER] [--pbkdf=PBKDF]
   [--pbkdf-memory=MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time=TIME] [--pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS]
   [--passfile=FILE]
   <device>

Creates LUKS encrypted volume.

Options:

  • --passphrase=PASSPHRASE - Specifies the passphrase to use when encrypting this device.

  • --passfile=FILE - Specifies the file that contains the password.

  • --cipher=CIPHER - Specifies which encryption algorithm should be used to encrypt the filesystem.

  • --pbkdf=PBKDF - Sets Password-Based Key Derivation Function (PBKDF) algorithm for LUKS keyslot.

  • --pbkdf-memory=MEMORY - Sets the memory cost for PBKDF.

  • --pbkdf-time=TIME - Sets the number of milliseconds to spend with PBKDF passphrase processing.

  • --pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS - Sets the number of iterations directly and avoids PBKDF benchmark.

part or partition

part [--ondisk=DISK] [--onpart=ONPART] [--asprimary]
   [--fstype=FSTYPE] [--label=LABEL]
   [--useexisting] [--noformat] [--hibernation]
   [--encrypted] [--passphrase=PASSPHRASE] [--passfile=FILE] [--cipher=CIPHER]
   [--pbkdf=PBKDF] [--pbkdf-memory=MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time=TIME] [--pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS]
   <mntpoint>

Creates a partition on the system.

The <mntpoint> is where the partition will be mounted and must be of one of the following forms:

  • /<path> For example, /, /usr, /home

  • swap The partition will be used as swap space.

  • raid.<id> The partition will be used for software RAID. Refer to the raid command.

  • pv.<id> The partition will be used for LVM. Refer to the logvol command.

  • zfs.<id>, zfs.boot.<id>, zfs.mirror.<id>, zfs.raidz.<id> The partition will be used for ZFS filesystem. boot, mirror, raidz reflect the type of partition being created.

Options:

  • --ondisk=DISK, --ondrive=DISK - Forces the partition to be created on a particular disk.

  • --onpart=ONPART, --usepart=ONPART - Puts the partition on an already existing device.

  • --asprimary Forces automatic allocation of the partition as a primary partition or the partitioning will fail. The --asprimary option only makes sense with the MBR partitioning scheme and is ignored when the GPT partitioning scheme is used.

  • --size=SIZE - Size of this partition.

  • --grow - Tells the partition to grow to fill available space (if any).

  • --resize - Attempt to resize this partition to the size given by --size=.

  • --fsoptions=FSOPTS - Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the fstab file.

  • --useexisting, --noformat - Use an existing logical volume and do not format it.

  • --encrypted - Specifies that this logical volume should be encrypted.

  • --passphrase=PASSPHRASE, --passfile=FILE, --cipher=CIPHER, --pbkdf=PBKDF, --pbkdf-memory=MEMORY, --pbkdf-time=TIME, --pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS - See options for the crypto command.

  • --fstype=FSTYPE, --label=LABEL - See options for the makefs command.

  • --hibernation - This option can be used to automatically determine the size of the swap partition big enough for hibernation if no size is specified with the --size= option. If this option is specified and --size is not defined, then the size will be determined according to the recommendations. See Recommended System Swap Space.

volgroup

volgroup [--pesize=PESIZE] <name> <partitions...>

Creates a Logical Volume Management (LVM) group.

<name> Name given to the volume group.

<partitions> Physical Volume partitions to be included in this Volume Group.

Options:

  • --pesize=PESIZE - Sets the size of the physical extents in KiB.

logvol

logvol --vgname=VGNAME --name=NAME [--chunksize=SIZE] [--percent=PERCENT]
   [--size=SIZE] [--grow] [--resize] [--fsoptions=FSOPTS]
   [--fstype=FSTYPE] [--label=LABEL]
   [--useexisting] [--noformat] [--hibernation]
   [--encrypted] [--passphrase=PASSPHRASE] [--passfile=FILE] [--cipher=CIPHER]
   [--pbkdf=PBKDF] [--pbkdf-memory=MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time=TIME] [--pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS]
   <mntpoint>

Create a logical volume for Logical Volume Management (LVM).

<mntpoint> Mountpoint for this logical volume or ‘none’.

Options:

  • --vgname=VGNAME - Name of the Volume Group this logical volume belongs to.

  • --name=NAME - The name of this logical volume.

  • --chunksize=SIZE - Specifies the chunk size (in KiB) for a new thin pool device.

  • --size=SIZE - Size of this logical volume.

  • --grow - Tells the logical volume to grow to fill available space (if any).

  • --resize - Attempt to resize this logical volume to the size given by --size=.

  • --fsoptions=FSOPTS - Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the fstab file.

  • --useexisting, --noformat - Uses an existing logical volume and do not format it.

  • --encrypted - Specifies that this logical volume should be encrypted.

  • --passphrase=PASSPHRASE, --passfile=FILE, --cipher=CIPHER, --pbkdf=PBKDF, --pbkdf-memory=MEMORY, --pbkdf-time=TIME, --pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS - See options for the crypto command.

  • --fstype=FSTYPE, --label=LABEL - See options for the makefs command.

  • --hibernation - This option can be used to automatically determine the size of the swap partition big enough for hibernation if no size is specified with the --size= option. If this option is specified and --size is not defined, then the size will be determined according to the recommendations. See Recommended System Swap Space.

raid

raid --device=DEVICE [--level=LEVEL] [--chunksize=SIZE] [--fsoptions=FSOPTS]
   [--fstype=FSTYPE] [--label=LABEL]
   [--useexisting] [--noformat] [--hibernation]
   [--encrypted] [--passphrase=PASSPHRASE] [--passfile=FILE] [--cipher=CIPHER]
   [--pbkdf=PBKDF] [--pbkdf-memory=MEMORY] [--pbkdf-time=TIME] [--pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS]
   <mntpoint> <partitions...>

Assembles a software RAID device.

<mntpoint> Location where the RAID file system is mounted.

<partitions> The software raid partitions lists the RAID identifiers to add to the RAID array.

Options:

  • --device=DEVICE - Name of the RAID device to use (such as ‘md0’ or ‘home’).

  • --level=LEVEL - RAID level to use eg. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

  • --chunksize=SIZE - Specifies chunk size of kilobytes. The default when creating an array is 512KB.

  • --fsoptions=FSOPTS - Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the fstab file.

  • --useexisting, --noformat - Uses an existing logical volume and do not format it.

  • --encrypted - Specifies that this logical volume should be encrypted.

  • --passphrase=PASSPHRASE, --passfile=FILE, --cipher=CIPHER, --pbkdf=PBKDF, --pbkdf-memory=MEMORY, --pbkdf-time=TIME, --pbkdf-iterations=ITERATIONS - See options for the crypto command.

  • --fstype=FSTYPE, --label=LABEL - See options for the makefs command.

  • --hibernation - This option can be used to automatically determine the size of the swap partition big enough for hibernation if no size is specified with the --size= option. If this option is specified and --size is not defined, then the size will be determined according to the recommendations. See Recommended System Swap Space.

btrfs

btrfs [--subvol] [--data=LEVEL] [--metadata=LEVEL] [--label=LABEL]
   [--fsoptions=FSOPTS] [--name=NAME]
   [--useexisting] [--noformat]
   <mntpoint> <partitions...>

Create a Btrfs volume or subvolume.

<mntpoint> Location where the file system is mounted. <partitions...> lists the BTRFS identifiers to add to the BTRFS volume.

Options:

  • --subvol Create BTRFS subvolume.

  • --name=NAME Subvolume name.

  • --data=LEVEL RAID level to use (0, 1, 10) for filesystem data.

  • --metadata=LEVEL RAID level to use (0, 1, 10) for filesystem/volume metadata.

  • --label=LABEL Specify the label to give to the filesystem to be made.

  • --fsoptions=FSOPTS - Specifies a free form string of options to be used when mounting the filesystem. This string will be copied into the fstab file.

  • --useexisting, --noformat - Uses an existing logical volume and do not format it.

Example:

part btrfs.01 --ondisk=sda --size=100%
part btrfs.02 --ondisk=sdb --size=100%
part btrfs.03 --ondisk=sdc --size=100%
part btrfs.04 --ondisk=sdd --size=100%

btrfs none --data=1 --metadata=1 --label=fs btrfs.0*

btrfs /     --subvol --name=root LABEL=fs
btrfs /home --subvol --name=home LABEL=fs

zpool

zpool [--feature=VALUE ...] [--property=VALUE ...] [--fsoption=FSOPT ...] <pool>
    (<partitions...>|<vdev...>)

Creates a new storage pool containing the virtual devices specified on the command line. The pool names mirror, raidz, draid, spare and log are reserved. Using the same device in two pools will result in pool corruption.

<pool> the name of zfs pool. <partitions...> lists the zfs.<id> identifiers to add to the ZFS pool or real partitons.

Example:

# Creating a RAID-Z Storage Pool
zpool tank1 raidz sda sdb sdc sdd sde sdf

# Creating a Mirrored Storage Pool
zpool tank2 mirror sda sdb mirror sdc sdd

Options:

  • --feature=VALUE Sets the given pool feature. See the zpool-features(7) section for a list of valid features that can be set. Value can be either disabled or enabled.
  • --property=VALUE Sets the given pool properties. See zpoolprops(7) for a list of valid properties that can be set.
  • --fsoption=FSOPT Sets the given file system properties in the root file system of the pool. See zfsprops(7) for a list of valid properties that can be set.

Example:

part zfs.11 --size=30%
part zfs.21 --size=70%

part zfs.12 --size=30%
part zfs.22 --size=70%

zpool rpool mirror zfs.1*
zpool dpool mirror zfs.2*

zfs

zfs [--property=VALUE ...] [--size=VALUE] [--sparse] (<mntpoint>|none) <pool>/<volume>

Creates a new ZFS file system.

<mntpoint> Location where the file system is mounted.

Options:

  • --property=VALUE Sets the specified property.
  • --size=VALUE Creates a volume of the given size.
  • --sparse Creates a sparse volume with no reservation.

Example:

part zfs.11 --size=30%
part zfs.21 --size=70%

part zfs.12 --size=30%
part zfs.22 --size=70%

zpool rpool mirror zfs.1*
zpool dpool mirror zfs.2*

zfs /    rpool/ROOT
zfs /usr dpool/DATA

liveimg

liveimg --url=<url> [--proxy=<proxyurl>] [--noverifyssl] [--checksum=<sha256>]

Install a disk image instead of packages. The URL may also point to a tarfile of the root filesystem. The file must end in .tar, .tbz, .tgz, .txz, .tar.bz2, .tar.gz, .tar.xz, .tar.zst, .tar.lz4, .zip, .cpio.

Option:

  • --url=<url> - The URL to install from. http, https and file are supported.
  • --proxy=<proxyurl> - Specifies an HTTP/HTTPS proxy to use while performing the install. The various parts of the argument act like you would expect.
  • --noverifyssl - Don't check the server certificate against the available certificate authorities.
  • --checksum=<sha256> - Check sha256 checksum of the image file.

Example:

liveimg --url=file:///path/to/hasher.tar --checksum=01ba4719c80b6fe911b091a7c05124b64eeece964e09c058ef8f9805daca546b

reboot

reboot [--eject] [--kexec]

Reboot after the installation is complete. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

Options:

  • --eject Attempt to eject CD or DVD media before rebooting.

  • --kexec Use kexec to reboot into the new system, bypassing BIOS/Firmware and bootloader.

poweroff

poweroff [--eject] [--kexec]

Turn off the machine after the installation is complete. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

See options for the reboot command.

shutdown

shutdown [--eject] [--kexec]

At the end of installation, shut down the machine. This is the same as the poweroff command. Normally, kickstart displays a message and waits for the user to press a key before rebooting.

See options for the reboot command.

halt

halt [--eject] [--kexec]

At the end of installation, display a message and wait for the user to press a key before rebooting. This is the default action.

See options for the reboot command.

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