aims2 & PrepareInstall

Introduction to PrepareInstall

PrepareInstall is a script used by the Quattor/Elfms community at CERN to assist in the installation of Elfms-managed devices in the Cern Computer Center.

The script takes care of the generation of kickstart files from the data available in CDB, communication with SINDES for the generation of GPG keys and the opening of necessary time windows and the registration of devices with the aims pxe infrastructure.

Prerequisites

User privileges

Executing certain steps with PrepareInstall requires certain privileges. More information can be gained by contacting project-elfms@cernNOSPAMPLEASE.ch

Using PrepareInstall with aims2

Example usage:

/usr/bin/PrepareInstall [--verbose] [-mail address] [-rep dirname] [-wipe-disks] [-rootpw] [-crypt-rootpw rootpw] 
[--noks] [--nosindes] [--hostcertificate] [--hc-username service-account] 
[--noaims] hostname [hostname] [hostname] [hostname]

Example command:

[lxplus666] /afs/cern.ch/user/d/dengate > /usr/bin/PrepareInstall lxplus[204-209]

Update: From September 2008 Kickstart files are no longer stored on AFS unless explicitly desired by the user. You can use the --rep option to specify where the Kickstart file should be written. When registering the Kickstart file with AIMS, the Kickstart is directly uploaded to AIMS. To display the Kickstart file use the showks command with the aims2client.

Known issues

Failure at %POST kickstart

If you are the person who registered the device and it fails with a fatal error during the %POST configuration of the kickstart, you will be most likely receive an email with a subject similar to:

install failed on lxb1234...

This is not an error with the PXE installation. This is an error with the %POST kickstart configuration. Debug the kickstart first.

Getting help

If you have questions about PrepareInstall it is suggested you contact project-elfms@cernNOSPAMPLEASE.ch, the scripts author, for more information.