Using kickstart files to prepare Red Hat Enterprise Linux

IBM® Intelligent Operations Center includes sample Red Hat Enterprise Linux V6 kickstart files to prepare the operating system for standard and high availability environments on virtual or hardware servers.

About this task

IBM Intelligent Operations Center server requirements assume that the minimal installation option is selected during the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The minimal option provides only the @core and @server-policy packages essential to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The @core and @server-policy packages provide the required Linux rpm packages for a single-purpose server or desktop appliance and maximizes performance and security for the installation. The kickstart files included with IBM Intelligent Operations Center includes all packages needed for IBM Intelligent Operations Center and can be used to prepare the servers for installation.

The kickstart files can be found in the /rhel-kickstart directory in the installation media.

The kickstart files provided for a standard environment are:
  • std_ks-iopana-min.cfg - kickstart file for the analytics server
  • std_ks-iopapp-min.cfg - kickstart file for the application server
  • std_ks-iopdb-min.cfg - kickstart file for the data server
  • std_ks-iopdmz-min.cfg - kickstart file for the web server
  • std_ks-iopmdl-min.cfg - kickstart file for the semantic model server
The kickstart files provided for a high availability environment are:
  • ha_ks-iopana1-min.cfg - kickstart file for the analytics server 1
  • ha_ks-iopana2-min.cfg - kickstart file for the analytics server 2
  • ha_ks-iopapp1-min.cfg - kickstart file for the application server 1
  • ha_ks-iopapp2-min.cfg - kickstart file for the application server 2
  • ha_ks-iopdb1-min.cfg - kickstart file for the data server 1
  • ha_ks-iopdb2-min.cfg - kickstart file for the data server 2
  • ha_ks-iopdmz1-min.cfg - kickstart file for the web server 1
  • ha_ks-iopdmz2-min.cfg - kickstart file for the web server 2
  • ha_ks-iopmdl1-min.cfg - kickstart file for the semantic model server

Procedure

Setup each kickstart file.

  1. Edit the kickstart file.
  2. Change the lang value to the language for your installation. The default is en_US.UTF-8.
  3. Change the rootpw value to the root password for the system. The default is ibmioc16.
  4. Change the timezone value to the time zone for your installation. The default is America/New_York.
  5. Change the network information for the target system. The default is different for each server.
  6. Optional: Change the file system partition layout. In the default configuration, all file system partitions are created under one disk.

Use the kickstart file to configure the server or virtual machine.

  1. Complete the pre-install steps in the kickstart file.
  2. Use the kickstart file to install and configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the hardware server or virtual machine.
  3. Complete the post-install steps in the kickstart file.
  4. Create a snapshot of the virtual machine or a backup of the hardware server.

What to do next

After the operating system is configured on all hardware servers or virtual machines using the kickstart files, continue with the other server preparation steps. The kickstart files install the required Linux packages, so those steps can be skipped. After the servers are prepared, install IBM Intelligent Operations Center.