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PXE CentOS Rescue Mode

Here is a quick how to get CentOS Rescue mode via your PXE server.

This article assumes you already have:

1. A working pxelinux style PXE server.

2. A working DHCP server.

On your PXE server:

# mkdir -p /tftpboot/images/centos/4.4/

Copy vmlinuz and initrd.img from /images/pxeboot/ directory on "disc 1" to /tftpboot/images/centos/4.4/

1. The config files

Http Method

Create a kickstart config file (ks.cfg) and place it on your web server.

# Kickstart configuration file CentOS 4.4 Rescue Mode
#
#System  language
#
lang en_US.UTF-8
#
#Language modules to install
#
langsupport --default=en_US.UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8
#
#System keyboard
#
keyboard us
#
#System mouse
#
mouse none
#
#Retrieve rescue system from NFS
#
# nfs --server=$yournfsserverip  --dir=/directory/that/contains/disc1/CentOS/RPMS/
#
#Retrieve rescue system from http
#
url --url http://$yourwebserver/directory/that/contains/disc1/CentOS/RPMS/
#
#Network information
#
network --bootproto=dhcp

Entry for the PXE menu.

LABEL CentOS 4.4 Rescue via HTTP
        KERNEL images/centos/4.4/vmlinuz
        MENU LABEL ^CentOS 4.4 Rescue via HTTP
        APPEND initrd=images/centos/4.4/initrd.img ramdisk_size=10000 text rescue ks=http://$yourwebserver/path/to/your/ks.cfg

NFS Method

Create a kickstart config file (ks.cfg) and place it on your NFS server.

# Kickstart configuration file CentOS 4.4 Rescue Mode
#
#System  language
#
lang en_US.UTF-8
#
#Language modules to install
#
langsupport --default=en_US.UTF-8 en_US.UTF-8
#
#System keyboard
#
keyboard us
#
#System mouse
#
mouse none
#
#Retrieve rescue system from NFS
#
nfs --server=$yournfsserverip  --dir=/directory/that/contains/disc1/CentOS/RPMS/
#
#Retrieve rescue system from http
#
# url --url http://$yourwebserver/directory/that/contains/disc1/CentOS/RPMS/
#
#Network information
#
network --bootproto=dhcp

Entry for the PXE menu.

LABEL CentOS 4.4 Rescue via NFS
        KERNEL images/centos/4.4/vmlinuz
        MENU LABEL ^CentOS 4.4 Rescue via NFS
        APPEND initrd=images/centos/4.4/initrd.img ramdisk_size=10000 text rescue ks=nfs:$yournfsserverip:/path/to/your/ks.cfg