Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed

10CHAPTER 1Installing Red Hat Enterprise LinuxCDs do not have to be swapped out of each machine as they are needed. To performsimultaneous installs on all the systems, all the systems can be booted using PXE insteadof burning a set of CDs for each system, and they can all be installed from one set ofinstallation files shared over the network.Keep in mind that you do not have to standardize on just one installation method. Acombination of methods might work best for you.The following installation methods are available:. CD-ROMInstalling from a set of installation CDs is the most direct method. Insert the mediainto the system, make sure the BIOS is configured to boot off the CD, and boot thesystem. The administrator is stepped through the process from keyboard andlanguage selection to choosing which software sets to install.. Hard DriveInstalling from the hard drive requires the ISO images of the installation CDs to beon a hard drive partition accessible by the installation program (formatted as ext2,ext3, or vfat). It also requires a boot CD created from the boot.iso image found onthe first installation CD. Refer to the “Creating the Installation Source” section fordetails on creating a boot disc.. Network Install (via NFS, FTP, or HTTP)This method also requires a boot CD created from the boot.iso image or PXE boot.After booting, select the preferred network installation method (NFS, FTP, or HTTP).The installation source must be available to the system using the selected networkprotocol. Refer to the “Creating the Installation Source” section for details onsetting up the installation source.. KickstartKickstart is the name of the Red Hat scripted installation method. A kickstartformattedscript is written, the installation program is started with a boot CD or viaPXE and then given the location of the kickstart file. Refer to the “Installing withKickstart” section for details.. PXEPXE, or Pre-Execution Environment, is available on some Network Interface Cards(NICs) and can be used to perform a network installation by connecting to anetwork file server and booting from files retrieved over the network instead of fromlocal media such as a CD. Refer to the “Starting the Installation” section for details.. Red Hat Network ProvisioningThis method requires an additional subscription to the RHN Provisioning moduleand an RHN Satellite Server. The web interface to the RHN Satellite Server includes aKickstart Profile creation wizard, which can be used to create and store a customized