Install via a CD-ROM or a USB Key

For clients that are not yet registered to Uyuni, and if network boot over PXE is not an option, a bootable CD-ROM or USB key can be used to install the system.

One option to prepare such a removable medium is to use Cobbler. For information about using Cobbler to prepare an ISO image, see Build an ISO Image With Cobbler.

For SUSE systems, it is often recommended to prepare an ISO image using KIWI. For more information, see Build a SUSE ISO Image With KIWI.

In all cases, you use the resulting image to burn a CD-ROM or prepare a USB key.

1. Build an ISO Image With Cobbler

Cobbler can create ISO boot images that contain a set of distributions, kernels, and a menu that works in a similar way to a PXE installation.

Building ISOs with Cobbler is not supported on IBM Z.

In order to prepare an ISO image with Cobbler, you need to prepare a distribution and a profile, similar to using network boot over PXE. For information about creating a distribution, see Autoinstallable Distributions. For information about creating a profile, see Autoinstallation Profiles.

The Cobbler buildiso command takes parameters to define the name and output location of the boot ISO. Specifying the distribution with --distro is mandatory when running buildiso command. --iso is the output location:

mgrctl exec -- cobbler buildiso --iso=/path/to/boot.iso --distro=<your-distro-label>

You must use distribution and profile labels as listed by Cobbler, and not simply as shown in the Web UI. To list the names of distributions and profiles stored by Cobbler, run the commands:

mgrctl exec -- cobbler distro list
mgrctl exec -- cobbler profile list

The boot ISO includes all profiles and systems by default. You can limit which profiles and systems are used with the --profiles and --systems options:

mgrctl exec -- cobbler buildiso --systems="system1 system2 system3" \
  --profiles="<your-profile1-label> <your-profile2-label> <your-profile3-label>" \
  --distro=<your-distro-label>

With --esp you can enable the built boot ISOs with Secure Boot. You explicitly specify the EFI System Partition (ESP). By default, Cobbler generates the ESP partition, which disables Secure Boot.

mgrctl exec -- cobbler buildiso \
  --esp="/usr/share/tftpboot-installation/SLE-15-SP6-x86_64/boot/x86_64/efi" \
  --iso=/path/to/boot.iso --distro=<your-distro-label>
Procedure: Finding efi

  1. On the container host, execute the following command to get the distro name:

    mgrctl exec -- cobbler distro list

    This command outputs strings such as sles15-sp6:1:SUSE.

  2. On the container host, execute the following command to get information about the distro files location:

    mgrctl exec -- cobbler distro report --name sles15-sp6:1:SUSE

    This command outputs a report such as the following:

    Name                  : sles15-sp6:1:SUSE
Architecture          : x86_64
...output omitted...
Initrd                : /usr/share/tftpboot-installation/SLE-15-SP6-x86_64/boot/x86_64/loader/initrd
Kernel                : /usr/share/tftpboot-installation/SLE-15-SP6-x86_64/boot/x86_64/loader/linux
...output omitted...

  3. See the contents of the boot directory. In the example above, the boot partition is the /usr/share/tftpboot-installation/SLE-15-SP6-x86_64/boot/x86_64/efi file, but this can differ based on the ISO distributor.

If you cannot write an ISO image to a public tmp directory, check your systemd settings in /usr/lib/systemd/system/cobblerd.service.

2. Build a SUSE ISO Image With KIWI

KIWI is an image creation system. You can use KIWI to create a bootable ISO image to be used by the target system for installation of a SUSE system. When the system is rebooted or switched on, it boots from the image, loads the AutoYaST configuration from your Uyuni, and installs SUSE Linux Enterprise Server according to the AutoYaST profile.

To use the ISO image, boot the system and type autoyast at the prompt (assuming you left the label for the AutoYaST boot as autoyast). Press Enter to begin the AutoYaST installation.

For more information about KIWI, see http://doc.opensuse.org/projects/kiwi/doc/.

3. Build a Red Hat ISO Image With Cobbler

For more information, see Build an ISO Image With Cobbler.