16.3. Setting Up an HTTP-Based Fedora Installation Server

Problem

You want your own local Fedora installation server so you can plug-in and provision new systems with a minimum of fuss, and you prefer running an HTTP server.

Solution

First, download the Fedora DVD ISO. Visit fedoraproject.org (http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora.html) to find a download site. If you use BitTorrent, it will verify file integrity for you; otherwise, be sure to compare the checksum manually when the download is finished:

	$ sha1sum F-7-i386-DVD.iso
	96b13dbbc9f3bc569ddad9745f64b9cdb43ea9ae  F-7-i386-DVD.iso

The correct checksum is posted in the same download directory as the ISO.

You may write the ISO to a DVD as a backup, but you won't need the DVD to operate your installation server, just the ISO.

Install the Lighttpd HTTP server to power your nice installation server. On Debian, install it with this command:

	# aptitude install lighttpd lighttpd-doc

On Fedora:

	# yum install lighttpd

You can store your Fedora ISO anywhere on this server, but you need to mount it in a web directory, such as /var/www/fedora. Use the loopback device to mount it; for example:

	# mount -o loop F-7-i386-DVD.iso /var/www/fedora

You should now see files in here, instead of a single giant file:

	$ ls /var/www/fedora
	Fedora      isolinux         RPM-GPG-KEY   RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-test
	fedora.css  README-BURNING-ISOS-en_US.txt  RPM-GPG-KEY-beta    RPM-GPG-KEY-rawhide
	GPL         RELEASE-NOTES-en_US.html       RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora  stylesheet-images
	images      repodata                       RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide  TRANS.TBL

Now, you can use the installation boot media we created in the previous recipes and install new systems from your own local Fedora installation server.

Discussion

This is a quick way to make a single copy of Fedora Linux available to your network, which should be a lot faster than an installation over the Internet, and kinder to the official download mirrors.

Make sure your Fedora directory is world-readable, but writable only by the owner. It's not necessary for root to own this directory, so you can make it owned by your HTTP user.

Your clients should run yum update immediately after installation to bring their systems up-to-date.

See Also