Operating system answer files

Operating system answer files allow you to perform unattended installations of supported Linux distributions. Use the OS Installation Tasks tab to manage these files.

The OS Installation Tasks tab lists the available answer files for operating system installation. Linux Scripting Toolkit provides files for unattended installation for all of the supported operating systems, as shown in Table 1. Although these files cannot be modified, you can use them as a template for a creating a new task by using the Create option to create an unattended installation file for your scenario.

Table 1 lists the unattended installation files supplied with the Linux Scripting Toolkit and the operating systems to which they apply.

Linux Scripting Toolkit also provides answer files for native uEFI mode deployments of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1/SP2/SP3/SP4 x64 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 x64. The answer file determines whether the installation performed is a native uEFI installation or a legacy installation. The answer files for native uEFI installations are noted in Unattended installation files supplied with the Linux Scripting Toolkit. If you want to customize an installation file for uEFI installation, you must ensure that the file contains an entry for /boot/efi. This entry can be commented out, but it must remain visible in the file.

Table 1. Unattended installation files supplied with Linux Scripting Toolkit
File name Operating system
rhel4.ks Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
rhel5.ks Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
rhel5_xen.ks Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 with Xen
rhel6.ks Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
rhel6_efi.ks Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 in native uEFI mode
rhel7.ks Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
rhel7_efi.ks Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 in native uEFI mode
sles9.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
sles10.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
sles10x64.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 x64
sles10_xen.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Xen
sles10x64_xen.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 x64 with Xen
sles11.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1/SP2/SP3/SP4
sles11_xen.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1/SP2/SP3/SP4 with Xen
sles11x64.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1/SP2/SP3/SP4 x64
sles11x64_efi.xml SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 11 SP1 x64 in UEFI mode
sles11x64_xen.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1/SP2/SP3/SP4 x64 with Xen
sles11sp2x64_efi.xml SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 11 SP2 x64 in UEFI mode
sles11sp3x64_efi.xml SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 11 SP2 x64 in UEFI mode
sles11sp3x64_efi_forsecurebootonly.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1/SP2/SP3/SP4 SP3 x64 in UEFI Secure boot mode
sles11sp4x64_efi_forsecurebootonly.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 in UEFI Secure boot mode
sles12x64_efi_forsecurebootonly.xml SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 x64 in UEFI Secure boot mode
esx3.ks VMware ESX Server
esx4.ks VMware ESX Server
From the OS Installation Tasks tab, you can perform the following actions:
View
Opens a window that displays the contents of the selected file. You cannot modify the file from this window.
Create
Opens a window to create a new file. This window prompts you for a name for the new file and provides a list of the available files that can be used as templates.
Modify
Modifies the contents of the selected file. Note that this option is not available for the unattended installation files supplied with Linux Scripting Toolkit. If you want to customize these files, you must create a new file based on the supplied file by using the Create option.
Delete
Deletes the selected file. Note that this option is not available for the unattended installation files supplied with Linux Scripting Toolkit. Only user-created tasks can be deleted.