AIMS: Automated Installation Management Service¶

AIMS provides Linux network PXE/UEFI boot service for both interactive and automated (kickstart) installation of supported Linux versions at CERN.

Interactive installations¶

Make sure that your system Operating System in CERN Network Database is set to LINUX.

(NOT 'Linux CC7', 'Windows and Linux' or similar..)

If not: set it to LINUX then wait 15-20 minutes for change propagation accross different CERN infrastructure data providers.

Boot your system from network (usually activated on most systems by pressing F12 after system reset).

Initial AIMS menu should appear on screen:

Press ENTER within 5 seconds in order to continue network boot process, main AIMS menu screen will display:

Navigate the menu with cursor keys then select desired option by pressing ENTER.

Boot media will be downloaded from the server
and system installation will start in same way as if your system would have been booted from local USB/CD media.

## Automated installations ### Kickstart Automated installation uses kickstart installation method for detailed guide, please see:

### AIMS kickstart installation #### Software installation Install aims2 client package by running as root:

yum install aims2-client

on your system.

Here follows an example command session for performing an unattended kickstart installation using AIMS:

#### Add your system to AIMS with the kickstart file:

aims2 addhost <i>hostname</i> --kickstart ~/hostname.ks
Host HOSTNAME registered with aims.

#### Register for booting with selected boot image

aims2 pxeon <i>hostname</i> CC7_X86_64
Host HOSTNAME enabled for CC7_X86_64 (bios).

List of available boot images can be obtained by running:

aims2 showimg \*
Image NAME                    ,Arch   ,UEFI,Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CC74_X86_64                   ,x86_64 ,Y   ,CERN CENTOS 7.4 X86_64
CC75_X86_64                   ,x86_64 ,Y   ,CERN CENTOS 7.5 X86_64
CC7_X86_64                    ,x86_64 ,Y   ,CERN CENTOS 7 X86_64 (LATEST)
[...]

#### Check the registration

aims2 showhost <i>hostname</i> --all
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hostname:           HOSTNAME
Interface HWADDR:   XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
PXE status:         ON
PXE boot options:   none
PXE boot type:      BIOS
PXE boot target:    CC7_X86_64
PXE noexpiry:       N
PXE boot legacy:    N
Registered by:      jpolok
Registered at:      2018/10/04 09:20:55
Enabled at:         2018/10/04 09:24:13
Booted at:          ????/??/?? ??:??:??
Disabled at:        ????/??/?? ??:??:??
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#### Boot the system Your system will boot over the network from AIMS server and execute unattended kickstart installation.
NOTE:
The kickstart file must contain following line in post section:

%post
/usr/bin/curl -4 --max-time 20 --output /root/aims2-deregistration-ipv4.txt --silent http://aims.cern.ch/aims/reboot

in order to tell the server to stop serving installation media and allow the system to reboot from local disk.

More information about aims2

Aims2 client command, use:

# man aims2

for more information.

Other documentation:
AIMS2 client documentation
Please check [Legacy workaround documentation for some specific cases where the usual BIOS workflow is not enough.](/installation/aims/aims2lgcyworkaround).