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Minimization of boot ISO

Please do the following to create a minimal bootable iso.

Download the iso file rhel-server-6.5-x86_64-boot.iso from the following link, which is proximally 300 MB in size. (Boot.iso file)

Then on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux machine, mount it

# mount -o loop /path/to/downloaded/rhel-server-6.5-x86_64-boot.iso /mnt

Create a new directory and copy few contents.

# mkdir -p /tmp/iso
# cp -avRf /mnt/isolinux/* /tmp/iso

Now go to /tmp/iso and create a file ks.cfg as follows.

# cat /tmp/iso/ks.cfg
install
cdrom
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
network --onboot no --device em1 --bootproto static --ip <IP> --netmask 
255.255.240.0 --gateway 10.194.176.1 --noipv6 --hostname <hostname>
network --onboot no --device em2 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6
network --onboot no --device ib0 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6
network --onboot no --device ib1 --bootproto dhcp --noipv6
rootpw <test>
firewall --service=ssh
authconfig --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512
selinux --enforcing
timezone --utc America/New_York
bootloader --location=mbr --driveorder=sdb,sda --append="crashkernel=auto rhgb 
quiet"
clearpart --none
part None --fstype=efi --onpart=sda1 --noformat
part None --fstype=vfat --label="DellUtility" --onpart=sdb1 --noformat
part / --fstype=ext4 --size=64000
part /home --fstype=ext4 --size=32000
part /tmp --fstype=ext4 --grow --size=200

%packages
@base
@client-mgmt-tools
@compat-libraries
@console-internet
@core
@debugging
@basic-desktop
@desktop-debugging
@desktop-platform
@development
@ftp-server
@fonts
@general-desktop
@graphical-admin-tools
@input-methods
@internet-browser
@java-platform
@legacy-x
@network-file-system-client
@network-tools
@performance
@perl-runtime
@remote-desktop-clients
@server-platform
@server-policy
@system-admin-tools
@x11
mtools
pax
python-dmidecode
wodim
sgpio
genisoimage
dos2unix
unix2dos
device-mapper-persistent-data
ftp
lftp
mutt
systemtap-client
abrt-gui
expect
jpackage-utils
libXmu
arpwatch
nmap
perl-DBD-SQLite
mc
screen
tree
hardlink
expect
vlock
lsscsi
-nano
-trace-cmd
-valgrind
-crash-gcore-command
-crash-trace-command
-byacc
-rcs
-swig
%end

Please replace cdrom by the URL of yum repository and hostname/IP and root password must be changed. I assume you make this changes and after making these changes, put the ks.cfg in /tmp/isodirectory.

Then open the file /tmp/iso/isolinux.cfg and make the following changes. It should appear as follows only.

default vesamenu.c32
#prompt 1
timeout 600

display boot.msg

menu background splash.jpg
menu title Welcome to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5!
menu color border 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color sel 7 #ffffffff #ff000000
menu color title 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color tabmsg 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color unsel 0 #ffffffff #00000000
menu color hotsel 0 #ff000000 #ffffffff
menu color hotkey 7 #ffffffff #ff000000
menu color scrollbar 0 #ffffffff #00000000

label linux
menu label ^Install or upgrade an existing system
menu default
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg
label vesa
menu label Install system with ^basic video driver
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img xdriver=vesa nomodeset
label rescue
menu label ^Rescue installed system
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img rescue
label local
menu label Boot from ^local drive
localboot 0xffff
label memtest86
menu label ^Memory test
kernel memtest
append -

Then create a bootable media
```
# cd /tmp/iso
# mkisofs -r -T -J -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat \
 -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -v -o /tmp/linuxboot.iso .
```
After running this command, you will get the resulting iso /tmp/linuxboot.iso with almost 35 MB in size which will automatically deploy machines using kickstart and network repositories.

Kickstart Tools Introduction

Once the bootdisk lauches the kernel, it looks in the ks.cfg file to figure out where it is going to get it's root file system.
This is specified in the NFS line in ks.cfg. For example, here is the default nfs line:

nfs --server KickStart.cisco.com --dir /export/ftp/pub/linux/redhat/linux/7.0/en/os/i386

Etc

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Last modified: March 12, 2019