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Kickstarting a machine refers to the client/server method by which you can set up a centralized server with the OS Install CD content on it and offer this data out to the network (either via FTP, HTTP, or NFS services), and use this to automate your client OS loads. On the client side, you use special boot floppy or CD media to get a new PC up and then do either a manual interactive or fully automated desktop or server load.
Kickstart is Red Hat's own client/server technology. It lets you do local or network-based OS installs with as little as a network connection and a boot floppy. Kickstart builds upon older networking service technologies along with Red Hat's own client program, Anaconda. All these, combined with either a syslinux boot media or a PXE network boot environment, make up the complete kickstart automated provisioning system.
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Syslinux is a mini-Linux OS boot environment that can get a machine up and running with a basic network connection. Red Hat-based systems use it along with the Anaconda client side program to perform an OS load, either from CD, the hard drive, or over the network. For more information on syslinux or isolinux, go to http://syslinux.zytor.com/. |
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PXE, short for Pre-Boot Execution Environment and pronounced "pixie," is a client-side boot specification by Intel that is usually implemented by network card hardware, and uses the network server-side DHCP/BOOTP protocols. If you have a network card that features PXE booting and a BIOS that can support booting from PXE, then you have the ability to "network boot" a blank machine (assuming you've set up a DHCP/BOOTP boot server). From there you can perform network-based installs, hardware testing, or cluster provisioning, without even inserting so much as a floppy or a CD. PXE is not recommended for a production LAN as accidental PXE-first booting on a production machine could prove catastrophic if a new OS is installed over a user's or administrator's production machine. For more information on PXE check these sites: www.linux-mag.com/2002-10/netbooting_01.html and ftp://download.intel.com/labs/manage/wfm/download/pxespec.pdf.
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