[lug] Redhat NFS installs: Substitute http?

[D. Stimits]

John Hernandez wrote:

> I think the fundamental problem is that the iso files need to reside on
> a filesystem (which NFS provides, but HTTP does not); that way linux can
> use the loop driver to mount it, providing the same interface to the
> installer as a local CD.  The solution would be to use the loop mount
> somewhere inside the docroot on the HTTP server.  Mount the ISO images
> on the HTTP server using something like
>
> mount -o ro,loop -t iso9660 psyche-disc1.iso $docroot/disc1
>
> mount -o ro,loop -t iso9660 psyche-disc2.iso $docroot/disc2
>
> mount -o ro,loop -t iso9660 psyche-disc3.iso $docroot/disc3


I'm kind of just playing around with this, but have so far done the loop 
mount. I'm trying to figure out how to describe on the machine being 
installed to how to find http-based ISO's. Kickstart seems to have 
http-based configs available this way, but I have not found how to do a 
non-NFS remote install so far as ISO's are concerned. I don't have a CD 
burner, and currently NFS is removed, but I do have a 100 Mbit network. 
I'm thinking there must be a way to have an install floppy created, such 
that I can point it at the ISO's on the local network served on Apache 
(or alternatively, ftp). It isn't a big deal if I can't do this, but I 
would like to use web based install if it exists. To succeed, I would 
need to somehow create the floppy that lets me continue the install via web.

D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi.com

>
> -John
>
> D. Stimits wrote:
>
> | I know RH is installable by NFS, but I hate to add NFS support to the
> | machine doing the export...does anyone know if placing the ISO's on a
> | web server would work? I know that kickstart has some http support, but
> | it seems that direct ISO install does not work this way. It would be so
> | darn easy if one could install from an ISO over a web URL.
> |
> | D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi.com
> |
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