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Chapter B Remote and Scripted Installations
Running a Scripted Installation from the Kickstart File
Afteryoucreateakickstartfile,useoneofthefollowingprocedurestorunyour
scriptedinstallation,dependingonwhetheryouselectedtoinstallfromanESX Server
installationCD‐ROMorfrominstallationfileshostedonaremoteserver.
To run a scripted installation using a CD
1Copyyourkickstartfiletoafloppydisk.
2Insertthefloppydisk
intothefloppydriveofthemachineonwhichyouwantto
installESX Server.
3InserttheESX ServerInstallationCDintotheCD‐ROMdrive.
4 Bootupthemachine.
Themodeselectionpageappears.
5Typeesx ks=floppy.
6PressEntertostartthescriptedinstallation.
To run a scripted installation using a PXE server
1UploadyourkickstartfiletoanNFS
orHTTPserver.
2SpecifytheinstallationmethodinthePXEserverbootoptions,where<ksurl>is
theURLtoaccessthekickstartfileand<methodurl>istheURLtoaccessthe
uploadedinstallationfiles.
Editing the Kickstart Configuration File
Thekickstartconfigurationfileisatextfilecontainingtheoptionsspecifiedforthe
ESX Serverinstallation.Youcanedityourkickstartconfigurationfiletomodifythe
optionsyouspecifiedusingtheVIWebAccessinterface,ortospecifyadditional
optionsnotavailableinthatinterface.
See theRedHatEnterpriseLinux3:
SystemAdministrationGuideavailableat
www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL‐3‐Manual/pdf/rhel‐sag‐en.pdf.
%include Section
Usethe%includesectiontodirectthekickstartparsertoadditionalkickstartfilesthat
mightincludemorekickstartcommands.Thesectioncontainsthefollowingcommand:
%include </path/to/file>
Youcanaddseveral%includesectionstoyourkickstartfile.
