151 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
151 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Preseeded Debian Install
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date: 2017-02-25 22:00:00
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---
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Since I tend to reinstall my laptop quite often -each time I have to use it
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for work more or less-, I wanted to automate a large portion of the
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installation process, from the installation itself to the configuration.
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I delegated the configuration part to SaltStack, which I will cover in a
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future post, once I figured out everything I needed. This first part will
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cover the Debian installation, using the *preseed* mechanism that is available
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in the Debian Installer.
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Preseeding a Debian install allows the installer to skip questions that
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are already answered in the preseed file, to install packages, etc...
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Here is an example of a preseed file that is generated by the current
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version of the build script
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```
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## Localization
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d-i debian-installer/language string en
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d-i debian-installer/country string GB
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d-i debian-installer/locale string en_GB.UTF-8
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## Keyboard selection.
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d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap select ch(fr)
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## Network configuration
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d-i netcfg/choose_interface select auto
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d-i netcfg/get_hostname string debian
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d-i netcfg/get_domain string srv.inf3.ch
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d-i netcfg/hostname string debian
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d-i netcfg/domain string
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## Account setup
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# No root login (Use sudo)
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d-i passwd/root-login boolean false
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# Create the "administrator" user
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d-i passwd/user-fullname string valdor
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d-i passwd/username string valdor
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d-i passwd/user-password password valdor
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d-i passwd/user-password-again password valdor
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## Time configuration
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d-i clock-setup/utc boolean true
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d-i time/zone string Europe/Zurich
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d-i clock-setup/ntp boolean true
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d-i clock-setup/ntp-server string 0.debian.pool.ntp.org
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## Partitioning
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d-i partman-auto/method string crypto
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d-i partman-lvm/device_remove_lvm boolean true
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d-i partman-md/device_remove_md boolean true
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d-i partman-lvm/confirm boolean true
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d-i partman-lvm/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
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d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select atomic
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d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
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d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
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d-i partman/confirm boolean true
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d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
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d-i partman-md/confirm boolean true
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d-i partman-partitioning/confirm_write_new_label boolean true
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d-i partman/choose_partition select finish
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d-i partman/confirm boolean true
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d-i partman/confirm_nooverwrite boolean true
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## Base system installation
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d-i mirror/country string manual
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d-i mirror/http/hostname string httpredir.debian.org
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d-i mirror/http/directory string /debian/
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d-i mirror/http/proxy string
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d-i mirror/suite string jessie
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## Apt setup
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d-i apt-setup/non-free boolean false
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d-i apt-setup/contrib boolean false
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d-i apt-setup/services-select multiselect security, updates
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d-i apt-setup/security_host string security.debian.org
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## Package selection
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tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard ssh-server
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d-i pkgsel/include string salt-minion plymouth plymouth-themes
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d-i pkgsel/upgrade select full-upgrade
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# Lets just help debian know which packages are important and used
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popularity-contest popularity-contest/participate boolean true
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## Boot loader installation
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d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean true
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d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean true
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d-i grub-installer/bootdev string default
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## Finishing up the installation
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# Avoid that last message about the install being complete.
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d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note
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# Copy minion configuration file
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d-i preseed/late_command string cp -a /cdrom/preseed/minion /target/etc/salt/; cp -ar /cdrom/preseed /target/home
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```
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This preseed file will discard everything on the hard-drives, create an
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encrypted setup (this will be the only input needed during the installation,
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to get a password for the encrypted root), create the user with a default
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password which will be changed on first boot by SaltStack, install the
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Salt minion and the needed configuration file, ...
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But as I wanted to create an installation medium that can be reused to
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install other computers, such as my workstation or other playthings, I
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needed to find a tool that can generate an USB installer easily. After
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some searches, I found a script by [Antoine Catton](https://github.com/acatton/debian-preseeded-iso)
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that can generate ISO files using a Debian official ISO.
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I had to change the build script to add parts that I needed for my project,
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such as the capability to generate multiple preseed configuration files
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using a Mustache template so that I can select whether I want to create an
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user automatically or if I want to use Debian Jessie or Debian Stretch
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for example. The final scripts can be found on my [Git repository](https://github.com/tschwery/debian-preseeded-iso).
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The mechanism is really simple and uses Mustache to generate a number of
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preseed files based on a template. Every generated file is then added to
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the ISOLINUX menu configuration. The only difference between the entries,
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apart from the title, is the preseed configuration that is passed to the
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installer.
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```
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label install-stretch-autouser
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menu label ^Install Stretch $TARGETNAME (auto user)
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kernel /install.amd/vmlinuz
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append vga=788 initrd=/install.amd/initrd.gz auto=true file=/cdrom/preseed-stretch-autouser.cfg
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```
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This allows me to generate install medium easily, without special tools.
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The generated ISO can be used for a physical computer after burning the
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ISO to an USB key, or for a virtual machine using directly the ISO file
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as a virtual CD.
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The script is available on my [Git repository](https://github.com/tschwery/debian-preseeded-iso)
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and will be kept updated as needed.
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