You can use KVMs direct kernel boot feature to boot things without having an ISO or using PXE. These options can be set in args: in Proxmox. Doing so, we can simply kickstart a CentOS or preseed an Ubuntu installation by passing all necessary options.
UPDATE 2017-11-06
Example:
CentOS
Prepare kernel
Grab CentOS kernel (if not alreay done, then skip this step and adjust paths in qm create command)
wget -O /tmp/vmlinuz http://ftp.hosteurope.de/mirror/centos.org/7/os/x86_64/isolinux/vmlinuz
wget -O /tmp/initrd.img http://ftp.hosteurope.de/mirror/centos.org/7/os/x86_64/isolinux/initrd.img
Create VM
Your milage may vary, please set up according to your cluster and needs (CPU, Memory, Network, …)!
Make sure the
argsare on one single line, even if it is ugly to read
export VM=$(pvesh get /cluster/nextid | grep -oE '[0-9]*')
qm create $VM \
--virtio0 my-pve-vm-storage:32 \
--net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 \
--bootdisk virtio0 \
--ostype l26 \
--memory 1024 \
--balloon 4096 \
--cores 4 \
--args '-kernel /tmp/vmlinuz -initrd /tmp/initrd.img -append "inst.stage2=http://ftp.hosteurope.de/mirror/centos.org/7/os/x86_64/ inst.repo=http://ftp.hosteurope.de/mirror/centos.org/7/os/x86_64/ inst.ks=https://gitlab.com/morph027/kickstart-gitlab-ci-multi-runner/raw/master/gitlab-runner.cfg rd.noverifyssl"'
Ubuntu
Prepare Kernel
Grab Ubuntu kernel (if not alreay done, then skip this step and adjust paths in qm create command)
cd /tmp
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/installer-amd64/current/images/netboot/netboot.tar.gz
tar xzf netboot.tar.gz
mv ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz .
rm -rf ubuntu-installer netboot.tar.gz ldlinux.c32 pxelinux.0 pxelinux.cfg version.info
Create VM
Your milage may vary, please set up according to your cluster and needs (CPU, Memory, Network, …)!
Make sure the
argsare on one single line, even if it is ugly to read
export VM=$(pvesh get /cluster/nextid | grep -oE '[0-9]*')
qm create $VM \
--virtio0 my-pve-vm-storage:32 \
--net0 virtio,bridge=vmbr0 \
--bootdisk virtio0 \
--ostype l26 \
--memory 1024 \
--balloon 4096 \
--cores 4 \
--args '-kernel /tmp/linux -initrd /tmp/initrd.gz -append "preseed/url=https://gitlab.com/morph027/preseed-gitlab-ci-multi-runner/raw/master/gitlab-ci-multi-runner.seed debian-installer/allow_unauthenticated_ssl=true locale=de_DE.UTF-8 debian/priority=critical vga=normal debian-installer/keymap=de console-keymaps-at/keymap=de console-setup/layoutcode=de_DE netcfg/choose_interface=auto localechooser/translation/warn-light=true localechooser/translation/warn-severe=true console-setup/ask_detect=false netcfg/get_hostname=PRESEED FRONTEND_BACKGROUND=original"'
Kickstart/Preseed VM
- start and install
- watch status and delete
args:, when installation is finished (You need to poweroff the virtual machine or the operation is just pending and your vm will end up in an endless installation cycle) - start vm again to boot into new system
qm start $VM \
&& ((while (qm status $VM | grep -o running); do sleep 10; done) && qm set $VM -delete args) \
&& qm start $VM
If you need to have args:, then replace
qm set $VM -delete args
with
pvesh set /nodes/$HOSTNAME/qemu/$VM/config --args "-no-reboot -no-hpet"