autoinstall seems broken

[jes...@pogolinux.com]

So far I have the following issues with Autoinstall, not sure if they are
bugs or not:

Root Password is not being set right. I'm requesting md5 passwords in my
autoyast config xml file, however it seems that DES is used instead, and my
root account gets no password.

Xconfig is not used. I have the configuration set up for a Vesa monitor,
1024x768x60HZ and a default depth of 16. However once the system is
installed, it tries to use 640x480 and 8bit color. Also I can't seem to
get the installer to install in graphical mode.

Network Config is not used. I have set up eth0 to be DHCP configured,
however once the system is installed, NONE of my network devices are
configured, and I have to do it by hand.

I seriously question the quality of an Enterprise product if simple things
like autoinstall doesn't work.

--
Jesse Keating
Lead Engineer - Pogo Linux

[No Spam!]

I'm guessing that you've got your AuoYaST file configured incorrectly.
We used to install about 40+ servers a month, with customized
configurations via DHCP/PXE boot without error.

1. The password that you place in your AutoYaST file is typically the
encrypted password. It's stuffed right into /etc/passwd on
installation. It's not possible to take an MD5 hash and convert it to a
DES hash - so it doesn't make sense what you say about your setup. It
could be that the password you are providing isn't long enough to be
considered an MD5 or DES hash, and so its discarded - not sure, since
I've never tried putting a bogus string in for a password myself.

2. Not sure what you are doing with your X config, but if I had to
guess, it sounds like perhaps you are providing monitor settings but not
video card settings - and hence the system is configuring your card for
some "base" setting - hence your resolution and color depth.

3. Your network config - not sure about what's going on with that. It
could be a wide range of things, from modules not being loaded, to very
simple things.

In the future you'll get a better response/answers if you post the XML
file you are trying to use, or at least parts of it. Its much easier to
debug a problem when folks can look at the cause of it.