si_mkautoinstalldiskette(8)

NAME

si_mkautoinstalldiskette - creates a bootable floppy for

autoinstalling clients

SYNOPSIS

si_mkautoinstalldiskette [ -help ] [ -version ] [ -quiet ]
[ -floppy DEVICE ] [ -out-file  PATH  ]  [  -flavor  FLAVOR  ]  [
-kernel PATH ] [ -initrd PATH ] [ -append STRING ] [ -config PATH
] [ -ssh-key PATH ]

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the

si_mkautoinstalldiskette command.

si_mkautoinstalldiskette creates a floppy disk which can

be used to boot an autoinstall client and initiate an autoin

stall.

OPTIONS

A summary of options is included below.

-help Show summary of options

-version

Display version and copyright information.

-quiet Don't print any output, just provide an appropriate

exit code. (requires -floppy)

-floppy DEVICE

The 1.44MB floppy drive device containing the disk

to format. If not specified, /dev/fd0 is assumed. This command

understands "/dev/fd0" through "/dev/fd7". (if you specify

-floppy, this command will run non-interactively)

-out-file FILE

Create a 1.44MB floppy image in FILE. dd can be

used to write this image to a floppy later. This is useful for

some systems that allow you to boot nodes using a "virtual flop

py" file that is retrieved via TFTP (some PXE loaders and some

remote management boards).

-kernel PATH

Specify an alternate kernel to use. This is useful

if you have clients that have network cards or disk controllers

that are not supported by the default kernel provided by Sys

temImager. See the SystemImager manual for instructions on cre

ating a custom autoinstall kernel.

-flavor FLAVOR

The flavor of the boot package to use. If this op

tion is not specified, you will be asked to choose a flavor from

the available list interactively.

-initrd PATH

Specify an alternate initial ramdisk to use. This

is rarely useful, but may be necessary in some cases (e.g. need

ing to add more special files in /dev). See the SystemImager

manual for instructions on creating a custom initial ramdisk.

-append STRING

This option allows you to pass options to the au

toinstall kernel. For example, to tell the kernel to use ttyS3

as the serial console:

-append "console=ttyS3"

-config FILE

Where FILE contains all the settings necessary for

the client to set it's hostname and configure it's networking in

formation without DHCP. This file is copied to /local.cfg on the

autoinstalldiskette.

-ssh-key=FILE

Where FILE is the SSH2 id_dsa or id_rsa private key

of the user account that the autoinstall client will use to con

nect to the imageserver. It is usually found in the user's .ssh

directory.

To use this private key, you must also add the cor

responding public key to this user's .ssh/authorized_keys file on

the imageserver. The public key is usually called

.ssh/id_rsa.pub or .ssh/id_dsa.pub. The .ssh/authorized_keys

must be readable only by this user. (chmod 600

.ssh/authorized_keys)

SEE ALSO

si_mkautoinstallcd(8)

More details can be found in the SystemImager manual.

AUTHOR

This manual page was compiled by dann <<dannf@debian.org>>

for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).

06 March 2007 SI_MKAUTOIN

STALLDISKETTE(8)