While trying to kickstart a system, why installer hangs showing "unable to retrieve http://../rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel../images/install.img"

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Satellite 5.x

Issue

  • Trying to kickstart a system, the installer hangs showing the following:

    unable to retrieve http://10.0.0.1/rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel../images/install.img"

  • Trying to fetch the file with wget it gets redirected to HTTPS like this:

# wget http://127.0.0.1/rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-6-6.3/images/install.img
--2013-05-06 14:22:54--  http://127.0.0.1/rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-6-6.3/images/install.img
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: https://127.0.0.1/rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-6-6.3/images/install.img [following]
--2013-05-06 14:22:54--  https://127.0.0.1/rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-6-6.3/images/install.img
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:443... connected.
ERROR: cannot verify 127.0.0.1's certificate, issued by `/C=GB/ST=Asd/L=Mycity/O=Red Hat/OU=OUNAME/CN=sat.example.org':
  Unable to locally verify the issuer's authority.
ERROR: certificate common name `sat.example.org' doesn't match requested host name `127.0.0.1'.
To connect to 127.0.0.1 insecurely, use `--no-check-certificate'.
Unable to establish SSL connection.

  • We have a Red Hat Satellite 5.5, when trying PXE deployment we get this error:

    unable to retrieve http://ip-address/rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-6-6.1/images/install.img"

Resolution

  • The path client uses is incorrect here, the following corrected path works. Actual path can be different depending on the name of the profile. If this works then Satellite needs to be configured with the corrected path.
# wget http://127.0.0.1/ks/dist/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-6-6.3/images/install.img
  • Check whether install.img file is there in kickstart distribution or tree path, kickstart tree can be different here as per major and minor release selected in kickstart profile. If this is the case and issue is with Red Hat provided channel then sync problematic channel using satellite-sync -c base-channel-label --step=kickstarts command. When issue is with clone channel copy install.img file to kickstart tree directory manually. 
# ls /var/satellite/rhn/kickstart/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-5-5.10/
boot.iso  diskboot.img  minstg2.img  pxeboot  README  stage2.img  xen
  • Check if the network settings assigned to the client during kickstart is correct and DNS is working and resolving the satellite FQDN . As a workaround use IP instead of FQDN in kickstart file. For example : 
Systems > Kickstart > Profile > Select profile > Kickstart Details > Advanced options > url : 
--url http://10.10.0.10/ks/dist/ks-rhel-x86_64-server-6-6.8

Root Cause

  • An incorrect path is used to fetch the file.
  • The install.img is missing in kickstart tree directory.
  • If the network settings are not correct or the DNS is not working, during kickstart the client will fail to fetch this file through satellite FQDN.

This solution is part of Red Hat’s fast-track publication program, providing a huge library of solutions that Red Hat engineers have created while supporting our customers. To give you the knowledge you need the instant it becomes available, these articles may be presented in a raw and unedited form.

Close

Welcome! Check out the Getting Started with Red Hat page for quick tours and guides for common tasks.