For the most part I want the installation to be automated, but would like to do a little customization for each install before starting. The reasons for this are:
We want one image for multiple global sites. All sites have different subnets. Our corporate policy is to assign all servers with static IP’s and not to have dhcp servers accessible to the server network. We were offering the option to customize partition also, but I think with esxi we will drop that. My example script was just a test to see if I could pass value to variable in python like we were doing in the original bash script. See below. I snipped out parts not pertaining to my question. If there is a better way of doing this, please advise. Thanks.
< start ks snip>
accepteula
# keyboard us
# Read network information from a file we are going to populate in the %pre section
# of this kixstart script.
%include /tmp/networkconfig
%include /tmp/partconfig
auth --enablemd5 --enableshadow
install cdrom
rootpw --iscrypted <encryptpass>
timezone --utc 'GMT'
# Read partition information from a file we are going to populate in the %pre section
# This allows me to create local vmfs with "hostname:storage1" and I've adjusted the sizes
# on my service console partitions.
%pre --interpreter=bash
#################################
### Get network information ###
#################################
# Clear screen prior to prompting for input and change to virtual terminal 1
# vSphere will only work on tty1 to read input
exec </dev/tty1 >/dev/tty1
chvt 1
header ()
{
clear
echo
echo "################################################################"
echo "### companyname VMWare ESX 4.0 Scripted Install ###"
echo "### ###"
echo -e "### \033[31m \033[5m** WARNING ALL VISIBLE SAN LUNS WILL BE EREASED ** \033[0m ###"
echo "### ###"
echo "### ** BE SURE ETH0 NETWORK INTERFACE IS CONNECTED ** ###"
echo "### company Engineering Script Version 1.5 ###"
echo "### ###"
echo -e "### \033[31m \033[5m ** BE SURE TO DISCONNECT ALL SAN FIBER CABLES ** \033[0m ###"
echo "################################################################"
echo
}
# Get user input
while [ "$fqdn" == "" ] ;do
header
echo "Please Enter FQDN for ESX Host below:"
echo -n "Ex: hostname.companynamex.com : "
read fqdn
done
while [ "$ipnew" == "" ] ;do
header
echo "*** Important *** note: This scripted install assumes "
echo "eth0 network adapter is connected and linked."
echo ""
echo -n "Please Enter Service Console IP Address: "
read ipnew
done
while [ "$companynamemask" == "" ] ;do
header
echo ""
echo -n "Please Enter Service Console IP Subnet Mask: "
read companynamemask
done
while [ "$companynamegatew" == "" ] ;do
header
echo ""
echo -n "Please Enter Service Console Default gateway: "
read companynamegatew
done
while [ "$companynamepdns" == "" ] ;do
header
echo ""
echo -n "Please Enter Primary DNS Server: "
read companynamepdns
done
while [ "$companynamesdns" == "" ] ;do
header
echo ""
echo -n "Please Enter Secondary DNS Server: "
read companynamesdns
done
echo ""
echo -n "Please Confirm the Service Console IP Settings:"
echo ""
echo ""
echo -n "ESX Host name: $fqdn"
echo ""
echo -n "IP: $ipnew"
echo ""
echo -n "Subnet Mask: $companynamemask"
echo ""
echo -n "Gateway: $companynamegatew"
echo ""
echo -n "Pri DNS: $companynamepdns"
echo ""
echo -n "Sec DNS: $companynamesdns"
echo ""
echo ""
echo -e " \033[31m \033[5m *** WARNING ALL VISIBLE/SAN LUNS WILL BE EREASED *** \033[0m"
echo -e " \033[31m \033[5m *** DISCONNECT ALL FIBER SAN CABLES NOW!! *** \033[0m"
while [ "$check1" != "true" ]
do
echo ""
echo -n "Is the above information correct (type y or n) ? "
read opt
case $opt in
"yes"|"y"|"no"|"n") check1="true"
;;
*) check=1"false"
;;
esac
done
if [ "$opt" != "yes" ] && [ "$opt" != "y" ] ; then
echo ""
echo "##############################################"
echo "company ESX 4.0 Installation FAILED !!!!! "
echo ""
echo "Please reboot the ESX Host to Restart Installation."
echo "##############################################"
read instfail
exit 1
fi
< mid snip>
EOF
# Write the networkconfig file to be used by the Weasel install
# Using the "--addvmportgroup=0" option because another script will define my specific port groups
cat <<EOF> /tmp/networkconfig
network --device=vmnic0 --bootproto=static --ip=$ipnew --netmask=$companynamemask --gateway=$companynamegatew --nameserver="$companynamepdns,$companynamesdns" --hostname=$fqdn --vlanid=0 --addvmportgroup=0
EOF
<end snip>
