Looking for instructions on updating kernel in bootable DVD
Hello all. I'm trying to update a kernel in the 7.3 bootable DVD which has a bug in it preventing me from using ipxe to perform kickstarts. Can anyone provide instructions (clear ones as the ones redhat has does not seem to work or I'm just not understanding them) how to do this successfully?
I copied the DVD image to the local filesystem, copied over the new kernel and initrd.img to the file system and recreated the ISO using the instructions provided by RH. But when the system is booted (virtual vmWare) from the ISO image it goes for a bit and then panics the kernel. It's hard to tell why as the vmWare console does not provide scrollback.
As a test I copied the DVD again to the file system and recreated the ISO from just the file system using RH's instructions. Same thing. So I'm not sure if it's just the burning of the iso or multiple issues going on.
If anyone can point to some good instructions I'd really appreciate it. I did try to use lorax (which RH uses) but their version does not have the no ssl validation option and when it tries to connect to CDN the SSL cert is not valid.
I just need to update the boot image so I can perform the kickstart install via HTTP.
Thanks
Responses
Have you noticed that the RHEL 7.3 DVD includes a specific kernel and initrd.img for PXE booting, located in /images/pxeboot? The default ones located in /isolinux are for booting from a local media only. For PXE booting, you should probably serve the contents of the DVD image, not the image itself.
My current PXE boot settings look like this:
kernel: /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz from the DVD image (or your custom one if you prefer)
initrd: /images/pxeboot/initrd.img from the DVD image (or your custom one of you prefer)
boot options: ip=dhcp inst.stage2=http://(installation server IP)/rhel73/media inst.lang=en_US inst.keymap=fi ks=http://(installation server IP)/rhel73/(kickstart file)
On the installation server, /var/www/html/rhel73/media is a directory onto which the RHEL server 7.3 installation DVD has been
mounted with this /etc/fstab line:
/media/isos/rhel-server-7.3-x86_64-dvd.iso /var/www/html/rhel73/media iso9660 loop,ro 0 0
Actually, the installer takes the inst.stage2 option, appends "/LiveOS/squashfs.img" to the specified URL/pathname and expects to be able to use the result to find the same squashfs.img file that is on the installation DVD.
For your boot troubleshooting: Even in virtual machines, you can use the serial console functionality to capture the boot messages.
VMware has an option in its virtual serial ports that redirects everything the VM outputs into the serial port into a file. Make sure your custom kernel includes serial port support as built-in, add a virtual serial port to your VM, add boot options to use the serial console and remove the "quiet" boot option, then make a boot attempt. Now you have all the boot messages in a text file you can read using any tools you prefer.
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