Proxmox Install, Is Using Kickstart Possible?

[Toby C]

Hello,

I am trying to configure a Proxmox ISO for installation on some servers that have recently been purchased. Can a kickstart file be used during the Proxmox install? As Proxmox is based on Debian I imagine this is not possible? I have done quite a lot of searching online and I have been unable to find an answer to this question.

Toby

 

[Hannes Laimer]

Hey,

no, kickstart is not possible. But you can take a look at [1], should be what you are looking for.

[1] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation

 

[Toby C]

Thank you for the help, much appreciated. I will read the guide.

 

[Toby C]

Is there a guide where I can read the full list of options it is possible to set in the answer file?

 

[Hannes Laimer]

I think [1] should mention everything, for a complete overview you can take a look at [2], the structs/enums there describe all available fields and possibly formats they expect.

[1] https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation
[2] https://git.proxmox.com/?p=pve-inst...be7714082c8397e87c6d595a;hb=refs/heads/master

 

[Toby C]

Thank you Hannes. Can you please share some documentation on what the best way to run a post installation script is? There are some additional setup tasks I need to run that I do not think are possible by using the answer file alone.

 

[Toby C]

Might someone know the answer to this question?

 

[cheiss]

Can you please share some documentation on what the best way to run a post installation script is?

This is not possible. The recommended way is to use dedicated tools for this, like for example Ansible. There are many of them out there.

Once the post-hook functionality is applied & appears in ISOs, you can get a notification when an installation is finished with all information needed (e.g. their SSH public host keys) to completely automate any further steps after an installtion.

 

[Toby C]

Thanks for the help. I am trying to prepare an ISO using the following command:

proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso /path/to/source.iso --fetch-from iso --answer-file /path/to/answer.toml

Does the answer file have to be combined with the original ISO file prior to running this command? If yes, can you please tell me what the best way to do this is?

Alternatively, is possible to simply source the answer file from a separate directory without having to actually put iniside the ISO? I don't think this will work but I am curious if this is possible?

 

[cheiss]

Does the answer file have to be combined with the original ISO file prior to running this command?

No, the command you gave does everything - our guide for Answer included in the ISO would say so, if you'd have to do anything else.
Have you not simply just tried booting the resulting ISO? That would have clarified your question pretty quckly, I think

Alternatively, is possible to simply source the answer file from a separate directory without having to actually put iniside the ISO?

For this please see the next section in our documentation: Answer on Separate Partition

 

[Peritann]

You can’t use a traditional kickstart file with Proxmox since it’s not designed that way like some other distributions. Proxmox has its own installer and configuration methods. If you’re looking to automate the setup, you might want to look into using cloud-init or the Proxmox API for post-installation configuration instead.

 

[Toby C]

No, the command you gave does everything - our guide for Answer included in the ISO would say so, if you'd have to do anything else.
Have you not simply just tried booting the resulting ISO? That would have clarified your question pretty quckly, I think


For this please see the next section in our documentation: Answer on Separate Partition

Thanks for answering my question. I have tried using the command to build an ISO but the settings I used in the answer file have not been picked up when I try and install a computer using the ISO. I just wanted to check that I was not doing anything stupid. I think there may be something wrong with the media I am using so I am going to try again with a new flash drive and see if that works.

 

[cheiss]

I have tried using the command to build an ISO but the settings I used in the answer file have not been picked up when I try and install a computer using the ISO.

What was the exact error message(s) the installer gave you, when you tried to boot the prepared ISO? That might help troubleshooting this.

I think there may be something wrong with the media I am using so I am going to try again with a new flash drive and see if that works.

Things like Ventoy and similar often have issues, I'd also suggest using dd directly if it's an option. The Prepare Installation Media section from our admin guide also applies to auto-installation-prepared ISOs.