Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE DESKTOP 11 - DEPLOYMENT GUIDE 17-03-2009 Deployment Manual page 243

• Depending on the desired usage of the preload, some effort should be invested in
configuring firstboot. Find more details about firstboot in
Customized Preinstallations
user to do initial configurations at the first bootup of the system.
• Many additional features can be configured into the image like adding update
repositories, or doing an update at the first bootup. However, it is impossible to
describe all possibilities at this place, and depending on the requirements, the cre-
ation of the preload image requires in depth knowledge of the imaging system KIWI
as well as several other technologies used in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.
The actual image to be deployed should be available from the ftp or http server you
provided on the installation server.
19.2.3 Creating a Initial System to Deploy a
Preload Image
In order to run an automatic deployment, it is necessary to start a initial linux system
on the target computer. During a typical installation, kernel and initial ram filesystem
are read from some boot medium and started by the bios. The needed functionality can
be implemented in the ram filesystem, which together with the kernel will serve as
initial system.
The main features that must be provided by the initial system is to enable access to the
harddisk, and to make a network connection available. Both of these functions are de-
pending on the hardware that you want to deploy on. In principle, it is possible to create
a initial system from scratch, but to ease this task, it is also possible to modify the initial
ram filesystem used by the machine during boot.
The following procedure is just one example how to create the needed initial ram
filesystem. There are many different methods to create such a system, however this one
is not too complex.
1 Do a standard installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on the target
system.
2 Install the package busybox on the system.
3 Create a new ram filesystem with the following command:
(page 197). With this method you can also require the
Automated Deployment of Preload Images
Chapter 17, Deploying
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