Kickstart Support in Photon OS

Photon OS works with kickstart for unattended, automated installations. The kickstart configuration file can either reside in the CD-ROM attached to the host or be served through an HTTP server.

Kickstart Capabilities
Permitted JSON Fields
Sample Configuration File
Unattended Installation Through Kickstart

Kickstart Capabilities

Photon OS supports the following configurations with kickstart:

Setting the hostname
Setting the password
Setting the disk to install
Selecting whether to install the full or the minimal version of Photon OS
Applying a post-installation script
Adding public keys to allow the root account to log in through SSH

Permitted JSON Fields

The following is a list of allowed JSON fields and their descriptions:

Field	Description
hostname	The host name as string. You can also specify the name in printf format. The hostname must not start with a number or "-" and must be less than 64 characters. Example: "photon-$((RANDOM%4096))"
password: crypted: true/false text: password text	crypted: true: This indicates that the "text" field is already encrypted. In this case, the specified password is used as is for the root user. crypted: false: This indicates that the "text" field is plain text. It is then encrypted and used to create the root user's password. text: Plain text or encrypted password.
disk	Indicates the install disk. Example: /dev/sda
partitions	An array of partition definitions. To create GPT partitions Example: [ {"mountpoint": "/", "size": 0, "filesystem": "ext4"}, {"mountpoint": "/boot", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4"}, {"mountpoint": "/root", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4"}, {"size": 128, "filesystem": "swap"} ] To create LVM partitions Example: [ {"mountpoint": "/", "size": 0, "filesystem": "ext4", "lvm":{"vg_name":"vg1", "lv_name":"rootfs"}}, {"mountpoint": "/boot", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4"}, {"mountpoint": "/root", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4","lvm":{"vg_name":"vg1", "lv_name":"root"}}, {"size": 128, "filesystem": "swap","lvm":{"vg_name":"vg2", "lv_name":"swap"}} ] Note: Mounting '/boot' partition as lvm is not supported.
packagelist_file	Indicates the name of the file that contains the list of packages to install. Example: { "packagelist_file": "packages_minimal.json" }
additional_packages	Specify an array of additional packages.
install_linux_esx	Specify a boolean value to use linux esx instead of generic linux.
postinstall	Specify an array of bash commands to execute after install. See the example for partitions. Example: { "postinstall": [ "#!/bin/sh", "echo \"Hello World\" > /etc/postinstall" ] }
public_key	Optional. The public key that you require to install for password-less logins. This key is created in authorized_keys in the .ssh directory.
additional_files	Optional. Contains a list of pairs {source file (or directory), destination file (or directory)} to copy to the target system. Source file (directory) will be looked up in "search_path" list. Example: { "additional_files": [ {"resizefs.sh": "/usr/local/bin/resizefs.sh"}, {"resizefs.service": "/lib/systemd/system/resizefs.service"}]}
additional_rpms_path	Optional. Provide a path containing additional RPMS that are to be bundled into the image.
arch	Optional. Target system architecture. Should be set if target architecture is different from the host, for instance x86_64 machine building RPi image. Acceptable values are: "x86_64", "aarch64" Default value: autodetected host architecture Example: { "arch": "aarch64" }
bootmode	Optional. Sets the boot type to support: EFI, BIOS or both. Acceptable values are: bios, efi, dualboot bios Adds special partition (very first) for first stage grub. efi Adds ESP (Efi Special Partition), format is as FAT and copy there EFI binaries including grub.efi dualboot Adds two extra partitions for "bios" and "efi" modes. This target will support both modes that can be switched in bios settings without extra actions in the OS. Default value: "dualboot" for x86_64 and "efi" for aarch64 Example: { "bootmode": "bios" }
eject_cdrom	Optional. Ejects cdrom after installation completed if set to true. Boolean: true or false Default value: true Example: { "eject_cdrom": false }
live	Optional. Should be set to flase if target system is not being run on host machine. When it set to false, installer will not add EFI boot entries, and will not generate unique machine-id. Default value: false if "disk" is /dev/loop and true otherwise. Example: { "live": false }
log_level	Optional. Set installer logging level. Acceptable values are: error, warning, info, debug Default value: info Example: { "log_level": "debug" }
ostree	Optional. Atomic flavour of Photon OS. default_repo (required) Define the type of repo data used for installing the OS There are two type: 1. Default Repo(comes with ISO) 2. Custom Repo (Remote server) Boolean: true or false where true : Default Repo is selected false: Custom Repo is selected Default value: true Example: { "ostree": {"default_repo": true}} repo_url (Required, Only If Custom Repo is selected) Supported Value: Valid "repo" URL of remote server where repo data exists repo_ref (Required, Only If Custom Repo is selected) Supported Value: Valid "ref" path which was mentioned for creation of Base Tree on remote server Example: { "ostree": { "default_repo": false, "repo_url": "http://:/repo", "repo_ref": "photon/3.0/x86_64/minimal" } }
packages	Optional if packagelist_file set. Contains list of packages to install. Example: { "packages": ["minimal", "linux", "initramfs"] }
partition_type	Optional. Set partition table type. Supported values are: gpt, msdos. Default value: gpt Example: { "partition_type": "msdos" }
network	Optional. Used to configure network on a live/installed system. type required String; must be one of dhcp/static/vlan. Indicates how the network is being configured. hostname optional; when type == dhcp String; DHCP client hostname ip_addr required; when type == static IP String; IP address to be configured netmask required; when type == static IP String; Netmask to be configured gateway required; when type == static IP String; Gateway IP address to be configured nameserver required; when type == static IP String; Name server IP address to be configured vlan_id required; when type == vlan ID String. (1-4094); VLAN ID number expressed as string
postinstallscripts	Optional. Contains list of scripts to run on the target after installation. Scripts will be looked up in "search_path" list. Example: { "postinstallscripts": ["rpi3-custom-patch.sh"] }
search_path	Optional. List of directories to search for additional files and scripts. Example: { "search_path": ["/home/user", "/tmp"] }
shadow_password	Optional. Contains encrypted root password. Short form of: { "password": { "crypted": true, "text": "encrypted password here"} }
ui	Optional. Installer will show progress status in the UI, if it set to true. Or logging output will be printed to console - default behavior. Boolean: true or false Default value: false Example: { "ui": true }

Sample Configuration File

Here is a sample kickstart configuration file:

{
    "hostname": "photon-machine",
    "password":
        {
            "crypted": false,
            "text": "changeme"
        },
    "disk": "/dev/sda",
    "partitions": [
                        {"mountpoint": "/", "size": 0, "filesystem": "ext4"},
                        {"mountpoint": "/boot", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4"},
                        {"mountpoint": "/root", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4"},
                        {"size": 128, "filesystem": "swap"}
                    ],
    "packagelist_file": "packages_minimal.json",
    "additional_packages": ["vim"],
    "postinstall": [
                        "#!/bin/sh",
                        "echo \"Hello World\" > /etc/postinstall"
                   ],
    "public_key": "<ssh-key-here>",
    "install_linux_esx": false,
    "network": {
        "type": "dhcp"
    }    
}

Installing Root Partition as LVM

In the kickstart file modify the partitions field to mount root partition as LVM.

For example:

"disk": "/dev/sda"
"partitions":[
                {"mountpoint": "/", "size": 0, "filesystem": "ext4", "lvm":{"vg_name":"vg1", "lv_name":"rootfs"}},
                {"mountpoint": "/boot", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4"},

                {"mountpoint": "/root", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4","lvm":{"vg_name":"vg1", "lv_name":"root"}},

                {"size": 128, "filesystem": "swap","lvm":{"vg_name":"vg2", "lv_name":"swap"}}
]

Note:

vg_name : Volume Group Name
lv_name : Logical Volume Name

In above example rootfs, root are logical volumes in the volume group vg1 and swap is logical volume in volume group vg2, physical volumes are part of disk /dev/sda.

Multiple disks are also supported. For example:

"disk": "/dev/sda"
"partitions":[
                {"mountpoint": "/", "size": 0, "filesystem": "ext4", "lvm":{"vg_name":"vg1", "lv_name":"rootfs"}},
                {"mountpoint": "/boot", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4"},

                {"disk": "/dev/sdb", "mountpoint": "/root", "size": 128, "filesystem": "ext4","lvm":{"vg_name":"vg1", "lv_name":"root"}},

                {"size": 128, "filesystem": "swap","lvm":{"vg_name":"vg1", "lv_name":"swap"}}
]

If disk name is not specified, the physical volumes will be part of the default disk: dev/sda. In above example rootfs,root and swap are logical volumes in volume group vg1, physical volumes are in the disk /dev/sdb and partitions are present in /dev/sda.

Note: Mounting /boot partition as LVM is not supported.

Unattended Installation Through Kickstart

For an unattended installation, you pass the ks=<config_file> parameter to the kernel command. To pass the config file, there are two options: by providing it on the ISO or by serving it from an HTTP server.

The syntax to pass the config-file to the kernel through the ISO takes the following form:

ks=cdrom:/<config_file_path>

Here is an example:

ks=cdrom:/isolinux/my_ks.cfg

The syntax to serve the config-file to the kernel from an HTTP server (NOTE: DO NOT use https:// here) takes the following form:

ks=http://<server>/<config_file_path>

Building an ISO with a Kickstart Config File

Here's an example of how to add a kickstart config file to the Photon OS ISO by mounting the ISO on an Ubuntu machine and then rebuilding the ISO. The following example assumes you can adapt the sample kickstart configuration file that comes with the Photon OS ISO to your needs. You can obtain the Photon OS ISO for free from Bintray at the following URL:

https://bintray.com/vmware/photon

Once you have the ISO, mount it.

mkdir /tmp/photon-iso
sudo mount photon.iso /tmp/photon-iso

Then copy the content of the ISO to a writable directory and push it into the directory stack:

mkdir /tmp/photon-ks-iso
cp -r /tmp/photon-iso/* /tmp/photon-ks-iso/
pushd /tmp/photon-ks-iso/

Next, copy the sample kickstart configuration file that comes with the Photon OS ISO and modify it to suit your needs. In the ISO, the sample kickstart config file appears in the isolinux directory and is named sample_ks.cfg. The name of the directory and the name of the file might be in all uppercase letters.

cp isolinux/sample_ks.cfg isolinux/my_ks.cfg
nano isolinux/my_ks.cfg

With a copy of the sample kickstart config file open in nano, make the changes that you want.

Now add a new item to the installation menu by modifying isolinux/menu.cfg:

cat >> isolinux/menu.cfg << EOF
label my_unattended
    menu label ^My Unattended Install
    menu default
    kernel vmlinuz
    append initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 loglevel=3 photon.media=cdrom
EOF

Finally, rebuild the ISO so that it includes your kickstart config file:

mkisofs -R -l -L -D -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat \
        -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -V "PHOTON_$(date +%Y%m%d)" \
        . > <new_iso_path>.iso

popd

Working with Kickstart