Chapter 5. Using PXE to Provision Hosts

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the Provisioning tab.
2. Find the Token duration option and click the edit icon and edit the duration, or enter 0 to disable token generation. If token generation is disabled, an attacker can spoof client IP address and download kickstart from Satellite Server, including the encrypted root password.

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.
2. In the Name field, enter a name for the host.
3. Optional: Click the Organization tab and change the organization context to match your requirement.
4. Optional: Click the Location tab and change the location context to match your requirement.
5. From the Host Group list, select a host group that you want to assign your host to. That host group will populate the form.
6. Click the Interfaces tab, and on the interface of the host, click Edit.

7. Verify that the fields are populated with values. Note in particular:

   • Satellite automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.
   • In the MAC address field, enter a MAC address of the provisioning interface of the host. This ensures the identification of the host during the PXE boot process.
   • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
   • Ensure that Satellite automatically selects the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.
8. Click OK to save. To add another interface, click Add Interface. You can select only one interface for Provision and Primary.
9. Click the Operating System tab, and verify that all fields contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.

10. Optional: Click Resolve in Provisioning template to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.

    For more information about associating provisioning templates, see Section 2.11, “Provisioning Templates”.

11. Click the Parameters tab, and ensure that a parameter exists that provides an activation key. If not, add an activation key.

12. Click Submit to save the host details.

    For more information about network interfaces, see Adding network interfaces.

CLI procedure

1. Create the host with the hammer host create command:

   # hammer host create --name "My_Unattended_Host" --organization "My_Organization" \
   --location "My_Location" --hostgroup "My_Host_Group" --mac "aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa" \
   --build true --enabled true --managed true

2. Ensure the network interface options are set using the hammer host interface update command:

   # hammer host interface update --host "test1" --managed true \
   --primary true --provision true

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.
2. In the Name field, enter a name for the host.
3. Optional: Click the Organization tab and change the organization context to match your requirement.
4. Optional: Click the Location tab and change the location context to match your requirement.
5. From the Host Group list, select a host group that you want to assign your host to. That host group will populate the form.
6. Click the Interfaces tab, and on the interface of the host, click Edit.

7. Verify that the fields are populated with values. Note in particular:

   • Satellite automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.
   • In the MAC address field, enter a MAC address of the provisioning interface of the host. This ensures the identification of the host during the PXE boot process.
   • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
   • Ensure that Satellite automatically selects the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.
8. Click OK to save. To add another interface, click Add Interface. You can select only one interface for Provision and Primary.
9. Click the Operating System tab, and verify that all fields contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.

10. Click Resolve in Provisioning Templates to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.

    For more information about associating provisioning templates, see Section 2.11, “Provisioning Templates”.

11. Click the Parameters tab, and ensure that a parameter exists that provides an activation key. If not, add an activation key.
12. Click Submit to save the host details. This creates a host entry and the host details page appears.

13. Download the boot disk from Satellite Server.

    • For Full host image, on the host details page, click the vertical ellipsis and select Full host 'My_Host_Name' image.
    • For Subnet image, navigate to Infrastructure > Subnets, click the dropdown menu in the Actions column of the required subnet and select Subnet generic image.
14. Write the ISO to a USB storage device using the dd utility or livecd-tools if required.

15. When you start the host and boot from the ISO or the USB storage device, the host connects to Satellite Server and starts installing operating system from its kickstart tree.

    When the installation completes, the host also registers to Satellite Server using the activation key and installs the necessary configuration and management tools from the Satellite Client 6 repository.

CLI procedure

1. Create the host using the hammer host create command.

   # hammer host create --name "My_Host_Name" --organization "My_Organization" \
   --location "My_Location" --hostgroup "My_Host_Group" --mac "aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa" \
   --build true --enabled true --managed true

2. Ensure that your network interface options are set using the hammer host interface update command.

   # hammer host interface update --host "My_Host_Name" --managed true \
   --primary true --provision true

3. Download the boot disk from Satellite Server using the hammer bootdisk command:

   • For Full host image:

     # hammer bootdisk host --host My_Host_Name.example.com --full true

   • For Subnet image:

     # hammer bootdisk subnet --subnet My_Subnet_Name

   This creates a boot ISO for your host to use.

4. Write the ISO to a USB storage device using the dd utility or livecd-tools if required.

5. When you start the physical host and boot from the ISO or the USB storage device, the host connects to Satellite Server and starts installing operating system from its kickstart tree.

   When the installation completes, the host also registers to Satellite Server using the activation key and installs the necessary configuration and management tools from the Satellite Client 6 repository.

Procedure

1. On Capsule that you use for provisioning, update the grub2-efi package to the latest version:

   # satellite-maintain packages update grub2-efi

2. Enable foreman-proxy-http, foreman-proxy-httpboot, and foreman-proxy-tftp features.

   # satellite-installer --scenario satellite \
   --foreman-proxy-http true \
   --foreman-proxy-httpboot true \
   --foreman-proxy-tftp true

3. Ensure that the Capsule has TFTP and HTTPBoot features recognized. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Capsules and click on Capsule to see the list of recognized features. Click Refresh Features if any of the features are missing.
4. Ensure that Capsule is associated with the provisioning subnet. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Subnets > Edit Subnet > Capsules and select the Capsule for both TFTP and HTTPBoot options.
5. Click OK to save.
6. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.
7. In the Name field, enter a name for the host.
8. Optional: Click the Organization tab and change the organization context to match your requirement.
9. Optional: Click the Location tab and change the location context to match your requirement.
10. From the Host Group list, select a host group that you want to assign your host to. That host group will populate the form.
11. Click the Interfaces tab, and on the interface of the host, click Edit.

12. Verify that the fields are populated with values. Note in particular:

    • Satellite automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.
    • In the MAC address field, enter a MAC address of the provisioning interface of the host. This ensures the identification of the host during the PXE boot process.
    • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
    • Ensure that Satellite automatically selects the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.
13. Click OK to save. To add another interface, click Add Interface. You can select only one interface for Provision and Primary.
14. Click the Operating System tab, and verify that all fields contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.
15. From the PXE Loader list, select Grub2 UEFI HTTP.

16. Optional: Click Resolve in Provisioning template to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.

    For more information about associating provisioning templates, see Section 2.13, “Creating Provisioning Templates”.

17. Click the Parameters tab, and ensure that a parameter exists that provides an activation key. If not, add an activation key.

18. Click Submit to save the host details.

    For more information about network interfaces, see Adding network interfaces.

19. Set the host to boot in UEFI mode from network.
20. Start the host.
21. From the boot menu, select Kickstart default PXEGrub2.

CLI procedure

1. On Capsule that you use for provisioning, update the grub2-efi package to the latest version:

   # satellite-maintain packages update grub2-efi

2. Enable foreman-proxy-http, foreman-proxy-httpboot, and foreman-proxy-tftp true features:

   # satellite-installer --scenario satellite \
   --foreman-proxy-http true \
   --foreman-proxy-httpboot true \
   --foreman-proxy-tftp true

3. Create the host with the hammer host create command.

   # hammer host create --name "My_Host" \
   --build true \
   --enabled true \
   --hostgroup "My_Host_Group" \
   --location "My_Location" \
   --mac "aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa" \
   --managed true \
   --organization "My_Organization" \
   --pxe-loader "Grub2 UEFI HTTP"

4. Ensure the network interface options are set using the hammer host interface update command:

   # hammer host interface update \
   --host "My_Host" \
   --managed true \
   --primary true \
   --provision true

5. Set the host to boot in UEFI mode from network.
6. Start the host.
7. From the boot menu, select Kickstart default PXEGrub2.

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Provisioning Templates.
2. Create a provisioning template, or clone and edit an existing template. For more information, see Section 2.13, “Creating Provisioning Templates”.
3. In the template, click the Template tab.

4. In the Template editor field, add the create_users snippet to the %post section:

   <%= snippet('create_users') %>

5. Select the Default checkbox.
6. Click the Association tab.
7. From the Application Operating Systems list, select an operating system.
8. Click Submit to save the provisioning template.

9. Create a host that is associated with the provisioning template or rebuild a host using the OS associated with the modified template. For more information, see Creating a Host in Managing Hosts.

   The SSH keys of the Owned by user are added automatically when the create_users snippet is executed during the provisioning process. You can set Owned by to an individual user or a user group. If you set Owned by to a user group, the SSH keys of all users in the user group are added automatically.