PXE: how to slip custom preseed.cfg?

Question

linux

There is a DHCP and TFTP server, it contains the unpacked netboot.tar.gz from the Debian website. The machines successfully connect to it, and the Debian installation starts exactly as if it were running locally. Is it possible to slip a response file to the installer to fully (or almost completely) automate the installation? I need to get identically configured machines at the output (DHCP network, disk auto-partitioning, standard hostname) - then I will just roll some custom settings, software, etc. through Ansible.

Answer 1

Yes, you can.
Upload your preseed somewhere and change the boot line in the PXE config, something like this should be:

LABEL ubuntu
    menu ubuntu install
    kernel images/ubuntu/ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux
    append vga=788 initrd=images/ubuntu/ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz --- auto=true url=http://ваш-сервер/preseed.cfg quiet

it is clear that options and other things can be different, this detail is important:
auto=true url=http://ваш-сервер/preseed.cfg