IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment, Version 7.1.1.11

Editing a Linux parameter file

About this task

Note: Since version 7.1.1 of the product, information about partitions in the custom configuration file is not normally taken into account.

For partitioning information in the custom configuration file to be taken into account, and to replace any information in the default file, these conditions must be fulfilled:

The version of the product must be 7.1.1.3 or higher
The deployment must be performed by HTTP
The system profile must be of type unattended setup
The operating system being deployed must be SuSE

Information in Common networking info is overwritten by the information in the custom configuration file. However, information in the Advanced network settings are not because they are applied in a post-configuration stage.

Procedure

On Server > OS deployment > System profiles > Profile details > OS configuration details:
- Click Edit custom 'ks.cfg' to edit the file.
  Note: If you are deploying Linux on machines with two disks, ensure you add one of the following statements to the ks.cfg file:
```
bootloader --driveorder=sdb,sda
```
  or
```
bootloader --driveorder=hdb,hda
```
  depending on the disk naming system of the machines.
- Click Edit custom 'autoinst.xml' to edit the file.
  You can use the following sections in your file:
  - <files>
  - <groups>
  - <users>
  - <signature-handling>
Type the parameters and their values in the syntax requested by the operating system, or copy and paste it from another editor.
Click OK.

Results

Tivoli® Provisioning Manager for OS Deployment merges the information of the edited file with the information provided on the web interface (default file). The resulting configuration is the union of the values in the custom and default files, with the following restrictions:

The result of conflicting values between the custom and default files is undefined.
Partition information in the custom file is taken into account only for SuSE unattended setup by HTTP, in which case only the information in the custom file is taken into account.
Advanced network settings are always applied, because they are performed at a later stage.

Example

Here is a short example of a autoinst.xml file which adds a new user during setup.

<profile xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns"
         xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
 <users config:type="list">
   <user>
     <username>jdoe</username>
     <user_password>tOpsEcreT</user_password>
     <encrypted config:type="boolean">false</encrypted>
     <forename>John</forename>
     <surname>Doe</surname>
   </user>
 </users>
</profile>

Do not omit the xmlns and xmlns:config attributes of the profile tag.

Troubleshooting

About this task

If the OS configurations in the deployed operating system are not what you expected, you must examine the parameter files carefully. They are the result of the merge between the custom file and the default file created.

To troubleshoot OS configuration parameters after a failed deployment, there are two options:

Without rebooting the target:
1. Type Alt+F2 on the target. This opens a shell.
2. In the opened shell, view the file /tmp/anaconda.log.
You must look for ks.cfg at the root of the partition labeled rembo. The file contains the information merged from the custom and the default files.

To troubleshoot OS configuration parameters after a failed deployment, there are two options:

Without rebooting the target:
1. Type Alt+F2 on the target. This opens a shell.
2. In the opened shell, view the file/var/log/YaST2/y2log .
You must look for autoinst.xml at the root of the partition labelled rembo. The file contains the information merged from the custom and the default files.

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