The parmfile—Automating the System Configuration

The installation process can be partly automated by specifying the crucial parameters in the parmfile. The parmfile contains all the data required for network setup and DASD configuration. In addition to that, it can be used to set up the connection method to the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installation system and the YaST instance running there. User interaction is thus limited to the actual YaST installation controlled by YaST dialogs.

The following parameters can be passed to the installation routine, which takes them as default values for installation. All IP addresses, server names, and numerical values are just examples. Replace these values with the ones needed in your installation scenario.

The number of lines in the parmfile is limited to 10. Specify more than one parameter on a line. Parameter names are not case-sensitive. Separate the parameters by spaces. You may specify the parameters in any order. Always keep the PARAMETER=value string together in one line. For example:

Hostname=s390zvm01.suse.de HostIP=10.11.134.65

	Using IPv6 during the Installation
By default you can only assign IPv4 network addresses to your machine. To enable IPv6 during installation, enter one of the following parameters at the bootprompt: `ipv6=1` (accept IPv4 and IPv6) or `ipv6only=1` (accept IPv6 only).

Some of the following parameters are required. If they are missing, the automatic process pauses and asks you to enter the value manually.

General Parameters

AutoYaST=<URL> Manual=0: The AutoYaST parameter specifies the location of the autoinst.xml control file for automatic installation. The Manual parameter controls if the other parameters are only default values that still must be acknowledged by the user. Set this parameter to 0 if all values should be accepted and no questions asked. Setting AutoYaST implies setting Manual to 0.
Info=<URL>: Specifies a location for a file from which to read additional options. This helps to overcome the limitations of 10 lines (and 80 characters per line under z/VM) for the parmfile. More documentation on the Info file can be found in Section “Creating the info File” (Chapter 5, Automated Installation, ↑Installation and Administration). Since the Info file can typically only be accessed through the network on System z, you cannot use it to specify options required to setup the network, i.e. options described in Section A.2.2, “Configuring the Network Interface”. Also other linuxrc specific options such as for debugging have to be specified in the parmfile to be effective.

Creating a File with Autoinstallation Information

	Creating a File with Autoinstallation Information
At the very end of the installation of a system you can check Clone This System for Autoyast. This creates a ready-to-use profile as `/root/autoinst.xml` that can be used to create clones of this particular installation. To create an autoinstallation file from scratch or to edit an existing one, use the YaST module Autoinstallation. For more information about AutoYaST, refer to Chapter Automated Installation (↑Installation and Administration).

At the very end of the installation of a system you can check Clone This System for Autoyast. This creates a ready-to-use profile as /root/autoinst.xml that can be used to create clones of this particular installation. To create an autoinstallation file from scratch or to edit an existing one, use the YaST module Autoinstallation. For more information about AutoYaST, refer to Chapter Automated Installation (↑Installation and Administration).

Configuring the Network Interface

	Configuring the Network Interface
The settings discussed in this section apply only to the network interface used during installation. Configure additional network interfaces in the installed system by following the instructions given in Section “Configuring a Network Connection Manually” (Chapter 30, Basic Networking, ↑Installation and Administration).

Hostname=zseries.example.com

Enter the fully qualified hostname.

Domain=example.com

Domain search path for DNS. Allows you to use short host names instead of fully qualified ones.

HostIP=192.168.1.2

Enter the IP address of the interface to configure.

Gateway=192.168.1.3

Specify the gateway to use.

Nameserver=192.168.1.4

Specify the DNS server in charge.

InstNetDev=osa

Enter the type of interface to configure. Possible values are osa, hsi. ctc, escon, and iucv. (CTC, ESCON, and IUCV are no longer officially supported).

For the interfaces of type hsi and osa, specify an appropriate netmask and an optional broadcast address:

Netmask=255.255.255.0
Broadcast=192.168.255.255

For the interfaces of type ctc, escon, and iucv (CTC, ESCON, and IUCV are no longer officially supported), enter the IP address of the peer:

Pointopoint=192.168.55.20

OsaInterface=<lcs|qdio> OsaMedium=<eth|tr>

For osa network devices, specify the host interface (qdio or lcs) and the physical medium (eth for ethernet or tr for token ring).

Layer2=<0|1>

For osa QDIO ethernet devices, specify whether to enable OSI Layer 2 support.

OSAHWAddr=02:00:65:00:01:09

For Layer 2-enabled osa QDIO ethernet devices, specify the manual MAC address. Note that this is distinct from HWAddr, which contains the default MAC address as detected by linuxrc.

PortNo=<0|1>

For osa network devices, specify the port number (provided the device supports this feature). The default value is 0.

Each of the interfaces requires certain setup options:

Interfaces ctc and escon (CTC and ESCON are no longer officially supported):
```
ReadChannel=0.0.0424
WriteChannel=0.0.0425
```
ReadChannel specifies the READ channel to use. WriteChannel specifies the WRITE channel.

For the ctc interface (no longer officially supported), specify the protocol that should be used for this interface:

CTCProtocol=<0/1/2>

Valid entries would be:

`0`	Compatibility mode, also for non-Linux peers other than OS/390 and z/OS (this is the default mode)
`1`	Extended mode
`2`	Compatibility mode with OS/390 and z/OS

Network device type osa with interface lcs:
```
ReadChannel=0.0.0124
Portname=1
```
ReadChannel stands for the channel number used in this setup. A second port number can be derived from this by adding one to ReadChannel. Portnumber is used to specify the relative port.
Interface iucv:
```
IUCVPeer=PARTNER
```
Enter the name of the peer machine.
Network device type osa with interface qdio for OSA-Express Gigabit Ethernet and OSA-Express High-speed Token Ring:
```
ReadChannel=0.0.0524
WriteChannel=0.0.0525
DataChannel=0.0.0526
Portname=FEF400
```
For ReadChannel, enter the number of the READ channel. For WriteChannel, enter the number of the WRITE channel. DataChannel specifies the DATA channel. For Portname, enter an appropriate port name. Make sure that the READ channel carries an even device number.
Interface hsi for HiperSockets and VM guest LANs:
```
ReadChannel=0.0.0624
WriteChannel=0.0.0625
DataChannel=0.0.0626
```
For ReadChannel, enter the appropriate number for the READ channel. For WriteChannel and DataChannel, enter the WRITE and DATA channel numbers.

Specifying the Installation Source and YaST Interface

Install=nfs://server/directory/DVD1/

Specify the location of the installation source to use. Possible protocols are nfs, smb (Samba/CIFS), ftp, and http.

If an ftp or smb URL is given, specify the username and password with the URL. These parameters are optional and anonymous or guest login is assumed if they are not given.

Install=ftp://user:password@server/directory/DVD1/

In case of a Samba or CIFS installation, you can also specify the domain that should be used:

Install=smb://workdomain;user:password@server/directory/DVD1/

UseSSH=1 UseVNC=1 Display_IP=192.168.42.42

Depending on which parameter you give, a remote X server, SSH, or VNC will be used for installation. UseSSH enables SSH installation, UseVNC starts a VNC server on the installing machine, and Display_IP causes the installing system to try to connect to an X server at the given address. Only one of these parameters should be set at any time.

	X Authentication Mechanism
The direct installation with the X Window System relies on a primitive authentication mechanism based on hostnames. This mechanism is disabled on current SUSE Linux Enterprise Server versions. Installation with SSH or VNC is preferred.

To allow a connection between YaST and the remote X server, run xhost <IP address> with the address of the installing machine on the remote machine.

For VNC, specify a password of six to eight characters to use for installation:

VNCPassword=<a password>

For SSH, specify a password of six to eight characters to use for installation:

SSHPassword=<a password>

Example Parmfiles

For an automatic installation with AutoYaST in an LPAR, it is preferable that the parmfile has just one long line. If multiple lines are desired for readability, use blank characters at the beginning and end of each line. The maximum number of lines in a parmfile is 10.

To receive potential error messages on the console, use

linuxrcstderr=/dev/console

Example A.6. Parmfile for Installation with NFS, VNC, and IUCV and AutoYaST with HTTP

ramdisk_size=131072 root=/dev/ram1 ro init=/linuxrc TERM=dumb 
instnetdev=iucv iucvpeer=ROUTER01 pointopoint=192.168.0.1 
hostip=192.168.0.2 
nameserver=192.168.0.3
 install=nfs://192.168.0.4/SLES/SLES-10-s390x/DVD1
autoyast=http://192.168.0.5/autoinst.xml 
 linuxrcstderr=/dev/console usevnc=1
vncpassword=testin

Example A.7. Parmfile for Installation with NFS, SSH, and HSI and AutoYaST with NFS

ramdisk_size=131072 root=/dev/ram1 ro init=/linuxrc TERM=dumb
AutoYast=nfs://192.168.1.1/autoinst/s390.xml
Hostname=zseries.example.com HostIP=192.168.1.2
Gateway=192.168.1.3 Nameserver=192.168.1.4
InstNetDev=hsi layer2=0
Netmask=255.255.255.128 Broadcast=192.168.1.255
readchannel=0.0.702c writechannel=0.0.702d datachannel=0.0.702e
 install=nfs://192.168.1.5/SLES-10-s390x/DVD1/
 UseSSH=1 SSHPassword=testing linuxrcstderr=/dev/console