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392 lines
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ReStructuredText
livemedia-creator
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=================
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:Authors:
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Brian C. Lane <bcl@redhat.com>
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livemedia-creator uses `Anaconda <https://github.com/rhinstaller/anaconda>`_,
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`kickstart <https://github.com/rhinstaller/pykickstart>`_ and `Lorax
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<https://github.com/rhinstaller/lorax>`_ to create bootable media that use the
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same install path as a normal system installation. It can be used to make live
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isos, bootable (partitioned) disk images, tarfiles, and filesystem images for
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use with virtualization and container solutions like libvirt, docker, and
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OpenStack.
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The general idea is to use virt-install with kickstart and an Anaconda boot.iso to
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install into a disk image and then use the disk image to create the bootable
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media.
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livemedia-creator --help will describe all of the options available. At the
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minimum you need:
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``--make-iso`` to create a final bootable .iso or one of the other ``--make-*`` options.
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``--iso`` to specify the Anaconda install media to use with virt-install.
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``--ks`` to select the kickstart file describing what to install.
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To use livemedia-creator with virtualization you will need to have virt-install installed.
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If you are going to be using Anaconda directly, with ``--no-virt`` mode, make sure
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you have the anaconda-tui package installed.
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Conventions used in this document:
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``lmc`` is an abbreviation for livemedia-creator.
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``builder`` is the system where livemedia-creator is being run
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``image`` is the disk image being created by running livemedia-creator
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livemedia-creator cmdline arguments
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-----------------------------------
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See the output from ``livemedia-creator --help`` for the commandline arguments.
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Quickstart
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----------
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Run this to create a bootable live iso::
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sudo livemedia-creator --make-iso \
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--iso=/extra/iso/boot.iso --ks=./docs/rhel7-livemedia.ks
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You can run it directly from the lorax git repo like this::
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sudo PATH=./src/sbin/:$PATH PYTHONPATH=./src/ ./src/sbin/livemedia-creator \
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--make-iso --iso=/extra/iso/boot.iso \
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--ks=./docs/rhel7-livemedia.ks --lorax-templates=./share/
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You can observe the installation using vnc. The logs will show what port was
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chosen, or you can use a specific port by passing it. eg. ``--vnc vnc:127.0.0.1:5``
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This is usually a good idea when testing changes to the kickstart. lmc tries
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to monitor the logs for fatal errors, but may not catch everything.
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How ISO creation works
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----------------------
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There are 2 stages, the install stage which produces a disk or filesystem image
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as its output, and the boot media creation which uses the image as its input.
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Normally you would run both stages, but it is possible to stop after the
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install stage, by using ``--image-only``, or to skip the install stage and use
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a previously created disk image by passing ``--disk-image`` or ``--fs-image``
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When creating an iso virt-install boots using the passed Anaconda installer iso
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and installs the system based on the kickstart. The ``%post`` section of the
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kickstart is used to customize the installed system in the same way that
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current spin-kickstarts do.
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livemedia-creator monitors the install process for problems by watching the
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install logs. They are written to the current directory or to the base
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directory specified by the --logfile command. You can also monitor the install
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by using a vnc client. This is recommended when first modifying a kickstart,
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since there are still places where Anaconda may get stuck without the log
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monitor catching it.
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The output from this process is a partitioned disk image. kpartx can be used
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to mount and examine it when there is a problem with the install. It can also
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be booted using kvm.
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When creating an iso the disk image's / partition is copied into a formatted
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filesystem image which is then used as the input to lorax for creation of the
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final media.
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The final image is created by lorax, using the templates in /usr/share/lorax/live/
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or the live directory below the directory specified by ``--lorax-templates``. The
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templates are written using the Mako template system with some extra commands
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added by lorax.
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Kickstarts
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----------
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The docs/ directory includes several example kickstarts, one to create a live
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desktop iso using GNOME, and another to create a minimal disk image. When
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creating your own kickstarts you should start with the minimal example, it
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includes several needed packages that are not always included by dependencies.
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Or you can use existing spin kickstarts to create live media with a few
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changes. Here are the steps I used to convert the Fedora XFCE spin.
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1. Flatten the xfce kickstart using ksflatten
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2. Add zerombr so you don't get the disk init dialog
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3. Add clearpart --all
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4. Add swap partition
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5. bootloader target
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6. Add shutdown to the kickstart
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7. Add network --bootproto=dhcp --activate to activate the network
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This works for F16 builds but for F15 and before you need to pass
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something on the cmdline that activate the network, like sshd:
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``livemedia-creator --kernel-args="sshd"``
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8. Add a root password::
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rootpw rootme
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network --bootproto=dhcp --activate
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zerombr
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clearpart --all
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bootloader --location=mbr
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part swap --size=512
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shutdown
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9. In the livesys script section of the %post remove the root password. This
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really depends on how the spin wants to work. You could add the live user
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that you create to the %wheel group so that sudo works if you wanted to.
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``passwd -d root > /dev/null``
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10. Remove /etc/fstab in %post, dracut handles mounting the rootfs
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``cat /dev/null > /dev/fstab``
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Do this only for live iso's, the filesystem will be mounted read only if
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there is no /etc/fstab
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11. Don't delete initramfs files from /boot in %post
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12. When creating live iso's you need to have, at least, these packages in the %package section::
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dracut-config-generic
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dracut-live
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-dracut-config-rescue
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grub-efi
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memtest86+
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syslinux
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One drawback to using virt-install is that it pulls the packages from the repo
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each time you run it. To speed things up you either need a local mirror of the
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packages, or you can use a caching proxy. When using a proxy you pass it to
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livemedia-creator like this:
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``--proxy=http://proxy.yourdomain.com:3128``
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You also need to use a specific mirror instead of mirrormanager so that the
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packages will get cached, so your kickstart url would look like:
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``url --url="http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/x86_64/os/"``
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You can also add an update repo, but don't name it updates. Add --proxy to it
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as well.
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Anaconda image install (no-virt)
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--------------------------------
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You can create images without using virt-install by passing ``--no-virt`` on
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the cmdline. This will use Anaconda's directory install feature to handle the
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install. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when doing this:
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1. It will be most reliable when building images for the same release that the
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host is running. Because Anaconda has expectations about the system it is
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running under you may encounter strange bugs if you try to build newer or
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older releases.
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2. Make sure selinux is set to permissive or disabled. It won't install
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correctly with selinux set to enforcing yet.
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3. It may totally trash your host. So far I haven't had this happen, but the
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possibility exists that a bug in Anaconda could result in it operating on
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real devices. I recommend running it in a virt or on a system that you can
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afford to lose all data from.
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The logs from anaconda will be placed in an ./anaconda/ directory in either
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the current directory or in the directory used for --logfile
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Example cmdline:
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``sudo livemedia-creator --make-iso --no-virt --ks=./rhel7-livemedia.ks``
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.. note::
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Using no-virt to create a partitioned disk image (eg. --make-disk or
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--make-vagrant) will only create disks usable on the host platform (BIOS
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or UEFI). You can create BIOS partitioned disk images on UEFI by using
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virt.
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AMI Images
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----------
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Amazon EC2 images can be created by using the --make-ami switch and an appropriate
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kickstart file. All of the work to customize the image is handled by the kickstart.
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The example currently included was modified from the cloud-kickstarts version so
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that it would work with livemedia-creator.
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Example cmdline:
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``sudo livemedia-creator --make-ami --iso=/path/to/boot.iso --ks=./docs/rhel7-livemedia-ec2.ks``
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This will produce an ami-root.img file in the working directory.
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At this time I have not tested the image with EC2. Feedback would be welcome.
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Appliance Creation
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------------------
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livemedia-creator can now replace appliance-tools by using the --make-appliance
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switch. This will create the partitioned disk image and an XML file that can be
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used with virt-image to setup a virtual system.
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The XML is generated using the Mako template from
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/usr/share/lorax/appliance/libvirt.xml You can use a different template by
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passing ``--app-template <template path>``
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Documentation on the Mako template system can be found at the `Mako site
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<http://docs.makotemplates.org/en/latest/index.html>`_
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The name of the final output XML is appliance.xml, this can be changed with
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``--app-file <file path>``
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The following variables are passed to the template:
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``disks``
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A list of disk_info about each disk.
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Each entry has the following attributes:
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``name``
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base name of the disk image file
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``format``
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"raw"
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``checksum_type``
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"sha256"
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``checksum``
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sha256 checksum of the disk image
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``name``
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Name of appliance, from --app-name argument
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``arch``
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Architecture
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``memory``
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Memory in KB (from ``--ram``)
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``vcpus``
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from ``--vcpus``
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``networks``
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list of networks from the kickstart or []
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``title``
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from ``--title``
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``project``
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from ``--project``
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``releasever``
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from ``--releasever``
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The created image can be imported into libvirt using:
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``virt-image appliance.xml``
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You can also create qcow2 appliance images using ``--image-type=qcow2``, for example::
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sudo livemedia-creator --make-appliance --iso=/path/to/boot.iso --ks=./docs/rhel7-minimal.ks \
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--image-type=qcow2 --app-file=minimal-test.xml --image-name=minimal-test.img
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Filesystem Image Creation
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-------------------------
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livemedia-creator can be used to create un-partitined filesystem images using
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the ``--make-fsimage`` option. As of version 21.8 this works with both virt and
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no-virt modes of operation. Previously it was only available with no-virt.
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Kickstarts should have a single / partition with no extra mountpoints.
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``livemedia-creator --make-fsimage --iso=/path/to/boot.iso --ks=./docs/rhel7-minimal.ks``
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You can name the output image with ``--image-name`` and set a label on the filesystem with ``--fs-label``
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TAR File Creation
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-----------------
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The ``--make-tar`` command can be used to create a tar of the root filesystem. By
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default it is compressed using xz, but this can be changed using the
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``--compression`` and ``--compress-arg`` options. This option works with both virt and
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no-virt install methods.
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As with ``--make-fsimage`` the kickstart should be limited to a single / partition.
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For example::
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livemedia-creator --make-tar --iso=/path/to/boot.iso --ks=./docs/rhel7-minimal.ks \
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--image-name=rhel7-root.tar.xz
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Live Image for PXE Boot
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-----------------------
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The ``--make-pxe-live`` command will produce squashfs image containing live root
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filesystem that can be used for pxe boot. Directory with results will contain
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the live image, kernel image, initrd image and template of pxe configuration
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for the images.
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Atomic Live Image for PXE Boot
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------------------------------
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The ``--make-ostree-live`` command will produce the same result as ``--make-pxe-live``
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for installations of Atomic Host. Example kickstart for such an installation
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using Atomic installer iso with local repo included in the image can be found
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in docs/rhel-atomic-pxe-live.ks.
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The PXE images can also be created with ``--no-virt`` by using the example
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kickstart in docs/rhel-atomic-pxe-live-novirt.ks. This also works inside the
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mock environment.
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Debugging problems
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------------------
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Sometimes an installation will get stuck. When using virt-install the logs will
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be written to ./virt-install.log and most of the time any problems that happen
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will be near the end of the file. lmc tries to detect common errors and will
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cancel the installation when they happen. But not everything can be caught.
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When creating a new kickstart it is helpful to use vnc so that you can monitor
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the installation as it happens, and if it gets stuck without lmc detecting the
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problem you can switch to tty1 and examine the system directly.
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If it does get stuck the best way to cancel is to use kill -9 on the virt-install pid,
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lmc will detect that the process died and cleanup.
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If lmc didn't handle the cleanup for some reason you can do this:
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1. ``sudo umount /tmp/lmc-XXXX`` to unmount the iso from its mountpoint.
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2. ``sudo rm -rf /tmp/lmc-XXXX``
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3. ``sudo rm /var/tmp/lmc-disk-XXXXX`` to remove the disk image.
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Note that lmc uses the lmc- prefix for all of its temporary files and
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directories to make it easier to find and clean up leftovers.
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The logs from the virt-install run are stored in virt-install.log, logs from
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livemedia-creator are in livemedia.log and program.log
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You can add ``--image-only`` to skip the .iso creation and examine the resulting
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disk image. Or you can pass ``--keep-image`` to keep it around after the iso has
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been created.
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Cleaning up aborted ``--no-virt`` installs can sometimes be accomplished by
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running the ``anaconda-cleanup`` script. As of Fedora 18 anaconda is
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multi-threaded and it can sometimes become stuck and refuse to exit. When this
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happens you can usually clean up by first killing the anaconda process then
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running ``anaconda-cleanup``.
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Hacking
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-------
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Development on this will take place as part of the lorax project, and on the
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anaconda-devel-list mailing list, and `on github <https://github.com/rhinstaller/lorax>`_
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Feedback, enhancements and bugs are welcome. You can use `bugzilla
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<https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=Fedora&component=lorax>`_ to
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report bugs against the lorax component.
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