Fully automated UEFI-based O/S installation (Debian 10)

[RobPomeroy]

@george1421 - Thanks George. My problem is understanding all the options!

Following your latest instructions unfortunately results in a kernel panic (presumably initram related?). The kernel and init disk both transferred correctly via TFTP. Incompatibility with UEFI perhaps?

[george1421]

@robpomeroy Switch the VM to bios and try it (just to test). I was having that issue with efi on proxmox. I thought it was just being proxmox being silly. Maybe not.

The error is basically the kernel doesn’t understand the format of the virtual disk drive (initrd).

[RobPomeroy]

@george1421 It’s a physical server (Dell T40) that literally cannot boot BIOS-based OSes, I’m afraid. It has no internal legacy boot capability. I was amazed, but then I haven’t worked with physical hardware in a while.

[george1421]

@robpomeroy Ok so next plan I was going to try is to grab FOG’s bzImage from /var/www/html/fog/service/ipxe That is EFI capable I was thinking about sliding that in and replacing the “linux” kernel just to see if it would init the disk. Let me see what I can do on vmware I should be able to duplicate the error I was seeing in my home lab.

[RobPomeroy]

@george1421 - okay, thanks George.

This boots beautifully though:

kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/grubx64.efi
boot || goto MENU

Is there no way to squirt additional parameters into that Grub EFI loader?

Sorry - I figured that this might be simple. I should know better by now!

[george1421]

@robpomeroy Well I have a workable solution.

kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/os/debian/Server10.7/linux loglevel=7 initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/nfs boot=casper netboot=nfs nfsroot=${fog-ip}:/images/os/debian/Server10.7/ locale=en_US.UTF-8 keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=us quiet splash ip=dhcp rw
imgfetch tftp://${fog-ip}/os/debian/Server10.7/initrd.gz
boot || goto MENU

After several itterations of try this, crash that… I found that the image args was missing this initrd=initrd.gz. Understand I did not push the installer past configuring the keyboard. But the kernel now boots. You will probably need to add in the link to the preseed file auto=true url=http://${fog-ip}/os/autoinstall/debian-10/preseed.cfg and anything else you want configured via image args.

[RobPomeroy]

@george1421 George, firstly thanks again for the all the work you’ve put into this!

This steered me in exactly the right direction. The following are the parameters I used for a completely automated netboot install (no Live ISO required). This is the point I was hoping to get to. Brilliant.

kernel tftp://${fog-ip}/debian-installer/amd64/linux auto=true url=http://${fog-ip}/os/autoinstall/debian-10/preseed.cfg interface=auto hostname=debian-10 domain=local initrd=initrd.gz vga=788 noprompt quiet
imgfetch tftp://${fog-ip}/debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz
boot || goto MENU

So this removes the need to mess around with grub.cfg or boot to an intermediate (grub) menu. All you need are the netboot.tar.gz files and a preseed.cfg. Next I’ll try doing this all via HTTP (rather than TFTP), to avoid polluting /tftpboot. I’m mindful that I would like to make the backup and restoration of FOG itself as straightforward as possible.

I know I’ve said this a few times in this thread (!) but once more: thank you. If I can help by writing up a wiki page for this process, do point me in the right direction.

[RobPomeroy]

Yep, HTTP worked perfectly too, which means I could put the three required files in a single location under the web root. FOG menu parameters:

kernel http://${fog-ip}/os/autoinstall/debian-10/debian-installer/amd64/linux auto=true url=http://${fog-ip}/os/autoinstall/debian-10/preseed.cfg interface=auto hostname=debian-10 domain=local initrd=initrd.gz vga=788 noprompt quiet
imgfetch http://${fog-ip}/os/autoinstall/debian-10/debian-installer/amd64/initrd.gz
boot || goto MENU

This is clean & efficient. I like it. Probably not as quick as using a Live image, but I’m doing this over a fast internet connection and it’s a minimal install. So the whole thing is done in ten minutes or so.

Again, I’m more than willing to write this up somewhere if useful for others.

[RobPomeroy]

@robpomeroy said in Fully automated UEFI-based O/S installation (Debian 10):

three required

*the required

[george1421]

@robpomeroy said in Fully automated UEFI-based O/S installation (Debian 10):

I’m more than willing to write this up somewhere if useful for others

Tutorials in the tutorial forum section is always appreciated. No one knows the entire IT picture so your work covers areas where others have not been. That is kind of why I started that huge tutorial on network booting, to give others a platform to start their projects with.

[RobPomeroy]

@george1421 Done.