dcode · November 20, 2015 18:06 · Nov 20, 2015
diff --git a/cobbler-pi.md b/cobbler-pi.md
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+### Requirements:
+- Raspberry Pi (I used the B+ model)
+- Enough hard drive space for install media (I mounted a 16 GB USB3 drive at `/var/www/cobbler/`)
+
+
+### Installation
+The problem with installing cobbler on a Raspberry Pi, is that it depends on the
+syslinux package, which is not available for ARM architectures. More importantly,
+we specifically need the x86 version of syslinux anyway, because it provides the
+files that will be used to PXE boot systems (which in my case is x86_64 arch).
+
+We can download the x86_64 version and force it to install. This satisfies the
+dependencies and doesn't matter to us that the architecture doesn't match.
+
+```
+cd ${HOME}
+curl -L -O -J 'ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/archive.fedoraproject.org/fedora/linux/releases/20/Everything/x86_64/os/Packages/s/syslinux-4.05-7.fc20.x86_64.rpm'
+sudo rpm -vi --nodeps --ignorearch syslinux-4.05-7.fc20.x86_64.rpm
+```
+
+Now we can install cobbler and additional components.
+
+> **NOTE**: cobbler-web is the optional web interface. Everything will work just
+ fine from the command line. I'm also installing dnsmasq as a local, minimal
+ DHCP/DNS server for cobbler to manage. You can otherwise configure another
+ DHCP server to handle this for you.
+
+```
+sudo yum install -y cobbler rsync pykickstart cobbler-web dnsmasq 
+```
+
+```
+sudo systemctl enable cobblerd
+sudo systemctl start cobblerd
+sudo systemctl status cobblerd
+sudo systemctl enable httpd
+sudo systemctl start httpd
+```
+
+Last installation item is to create the tftpboot directory for cobbler to serve
+the PXE files from
+```
+mkdir /tftpboot
+```
+
+### Configuration
+Next, we need to do the initial configuration of cobbler. These instructions are 
+mostly taken from the [Cobbler Docs][cobbler_docs].
+
+If you want to manage DHCP and DNS using dnsmasq, as I did, change the following
+in `/etc/cobbler/modules.conf`. Alternatively, cobbler will manage ISC bind and 
+ISC dhcp servers.
+```
+[dns]
+module = manage_dnsmasq
+
+[dhcp]
+module = manage_dnsmasq
+```
+
+Next, we need to generate a new default password that will be used in kickstarts
+for things like root password and others. Each system can still be given a
+specified password, this is just the default. Use the following `openssl` 
+command to generate the new value.
+
+```
+openssl passwd -1
+```
+
+Now that we've generated the password we'll use, let's start configuring the
+cobbler settings file (`/etc/cobbler/settings`). Find the following lines and
+either uncomment them or change them to reflect the following settings. You can 
+omit the comments if you wish.
+
+```
+# This is the default password that will be embedded in kickstarts
+# Replace with value generated with openssl above
+default_password_crypted: "$1$mF86/UHC$WvcIcX2t6crBz2onWxyac."
+
+# This turns out DHCP management with dnsmasq
+manage_dhcp: 1
+
+# This turns on DNS management with dnsmasq
+manage_dns: 1
+
+# This points to the IP of the TFTP server which provides the PXE boot files
+# This should be this server
+next_server: 192.168.42.13
+
+# This points to the address of the cobbler server. This is used by scripts
+# in the kickstart during the client install process
+server: 192.168.42.13
+
+```
+
+Lastly, we need to configure the dnsmasq configuration template in 
+`/etc/cobbler/dnsmasq.template`. You only need to change one line to match
+the network you are using.
+
+```
+dhcp-range=192.168.42.200,192.168.42.250
+```
+
+That's it! Let's restart the cobbler service.
+
+```
+
+sudo systemctl restart cobblerd
+sudo cobbler signature update
+sudo cobbler sync
+```
+
+Next, you'll need to download some installation media, mount it, and import it
+into cobbler. Cobbler will autodetect several distributions and select the
+correct information
+
+In my test case, I wanted to import CentOS 7.1 minimal iso. The problem is that
+cobbler 2.4.4 does not support this distro via the automatic detection yet. 
+Updated signatures are available on the project's GitHub page and we can update
+them manually like so:
+
+```
+curl http://cobbler.github.io/signatures/latest.json | \
+ tee /var/lib/cobbler/distro_signatures.json \
+ /etc/cobbler/distro_signatures.json
+```
+
+Now we can import the distro
+```
+cd ${HOME}
+curl -L -O -J 'http://mirrors.usinternet.com/centos/7/isos/x86_64/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1503-01.iso'
+
+mount -t iso9660 -o loop,ro CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1503-01.iso /mnt
+cobbler import --name=centos7.1 --arch=x86_64 --breed=redhat --os-version=rhel7 --path=/mnt```
+
+This will run for a while and hopefully report with a successful status. Confirm
+the distro is now available.
+
+```
+$ cobbler distro list
+   CentOS-7.1-x86_64
+```
+
+[cobbler_docs]: http://cobbler.github.io/manuals/2.4.0/2_-_Cobbler_Quickstart_Guide.html