Linux – PXE Linux config does not append network parameters to start kickstart installation

kickstartlinuxpxe-boot

I am trying to perform a PXE boot on a server with the following PXE linux configuration located in pxelinux.cfg/default: 

default cli
label cli
        menu label kickstart-installation
        kernel ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux
        append text ks=http://172.22.196.61/kickstart.cfg initrd=ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz noipv6 ksdevice=eth0 ip=172.22.196.200 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=172.22.169.254 dns=8.8.8.8 biosdevname=0

The image is pulled on the server to the machine. The installation is started but the ubuntu installation itself still tries to obtain a DHCP address (and this fails because we only use static ip addresses). Also the text parameter is not accepted for some reason because the installation still happens in the GUI.

I've followed this manual for kickstarting a server: https://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/Installation_Guide-en-US/s1-kickstart2-startinginstall.html

The actual PXE boot is a Ubuntu 14.04, pulled from this location: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/trusty-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/

Best Answer

Thanks to Pat for hinting me the fact that every distro uses other setup parameters, and not just the kernel parameters.

Apparently the kernel parameters were passed through as seen in cat /proc/cmdline but the debian-installer is not using the kernel parameters to kickstart the setup.

It is using netcfg in this format:

default cli
label cli
        menu label kickstartinstall
        kernel ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux
        append ks=http://172.22.196.61/kickstart.cfg initrd=ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz hostname=test-machine domain=test.local interface=eth0 netcfg/get_ipaddress=172.22.196.200 netcfg/get_netmask=255.255.255.0 netcfg/get_gateway=172.22.196.254 netcfg/get_nameservers=8.8.8.8 netcfg/disable_dhcp=true

As found here: http://blog.loftninjas.org/2008/07/17/booting-debian-installer-with-a-static-ip-address/

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