Render a Kickstart or Preseed
This article describes how to render templates used for Operating System
installation. This methodology can be used to help debug errors,
problems, or just generally observe what the Golang template rendered
kickstart or preseed artifact looks like.
Solution¶
Kickstart and Preseed files only created by request and are not stored on a filesystem that is viewable. They are dynamically generated on the fly, and served from the virtual Filesystem space of the Digital Rebar HTTP server (on port 8091 by default). However, it is possible to render a kickstart or preseed to evaluate how it is going to operate, or troubleshoot issues with your config files.
When a machine is in provisioning status, you can view the dynamically
generated preseed or kickstart from the TFTP server (or via the HTTP
gateway). Provisioning status means the Machine has been placed into an
installable BootEnv via a Stage. If (for exaxmple) placed in to
centos-8-install Stage, the compute.ks can be rendered for the
machine. Or, if placed in to ubuntu-16.04-install Stage, the seed
can be rendered for the machine.
Get the Machine ID, then use the following constructed URL:
MID="7f65279a-7e5c-4e69-af40-dd01af4c5667"
DRP="10.10.10.10"
TYPE="seed" # seed for ubuntu, or compute.ks for centos
http://${DRP}:8091/machines/${MID}/${TYPE}
ubuntu/debian
http://10.10.10.10:8091/machines/7f65279a-7e5c-4e69-af40-dd01af4c5667/seed
ubuntu 20.04 and newer
http://10.10.10.10:8091/machines/7f65279a-7e5c-4e69-af40-dd01af4c5667/autoinstall/user-data
centos/redhat
http://10.10.10.10:8091/machines/7f65279a-7e5c-4e69-af40-dd01af4c5667/compute.ks
Tip
A simple trick ... you can create a non-existent Machine, and place
that machine in different BootEnvs to render provisioning files for
testing purposes. For example, put the non-existent Machine in the
centos-8-install Stage, then render the compute.ks kickstart URL
above.
Additional Information¶
Additional resources and information related to this Knowledge Base article.
See Also¶
Versions¶
all
Keywords¶
kickstart, preseed, render template, bootenv, compute.ks, seed