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Goal

Using the latest LTS server iso (alternate), which at the time of writing is ubuntu-18.04.1-server-amd64.iso, I want to be able to do an installation, using a preseed and a kickstart file hosted on a webserver, however I cannot use DHCP.

So I am looking for a way to manually set the IP address when booting up the installer.

Steps previously taken

I have tried using the ip kernel parameter. I've tried the various forms of it, leaving out some fields and other times leaving them empty – the options are detected during boot-up (see below screenshot), but they do not seem to come into affect. I've also both tried adding it before and after the two dashes.

Syslog screenshot

I have tried this with the 16.04 server iso as well.

Note

It is not possible for me to use TFTF, PXE or anything like that. Also, I do not want to have to make custom installers, I want to be able to use the iso from the mirror.

Final remarks

If this is simply no longer possible, could someone please refer me to where this change was documented? I can not find any information indicating so.

David Foerster
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fabby
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    Please do not post screenshots of the terminal. Paste the text directly to your question and apply code formatting. – Melebius Oct 12 '18 at 10:27
  • Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. ;-) What do you mean by "boot"? PXE boot or USB Boot or something else entirely? P.S.* Cool user name though! >:-)** – Fabby Oct 14 '18 at 21:07
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    Posting this as a comment because I don't remember explicitly, but I believe that invocation at the kernel is specifically for NFS mounts - meaning - you'd have to pass it the nfsroot= as well otherwise it defaults to TFTP & DHCP. – Mark Oct 14 '18 at 22:59
  • Have you considered temporarily creating a DHCP server in your network that will assign the IP you want to the MAC address of your device? – Katu Oct 15 '18 at 12:41
  • @Fabby Yes, I am USB booting. The network guys are not too fond of the idea of a second TFTP/PXE server competing in the working environment. EDIT: I am actually USB booting over ILO/IPMI. I upload the .iso file to the IPMI and the IPMI is able to pass it through to the BIOS – fabby Oct 22 '18 at 08:44
  • @Mark is it understood correctly that I need to append my kernel parameters with the following: nfsroot= ip=xxx:xxx:xxx:xxxx and so on. Leaving the nfsroot parameter blank. – fabby Oct 22 '18 at 08:53
  • @Katu unfortuantly my hands are tied in that department. I am but a pawn in the grand scheme of things. Jokes aside, I've discussed similar solutions with my network department, but they insist on static assignemt. It is to be noted that we have an active DHCP server making discoveries and requests but only for the IPMI network. The server will therefore get an invalid/unusable IP adresse once configured with DHCP. – fabby Oct 22 '18 at 08:57
  • If you're USB booting, you need to create a custom distro that defaults to static IP... Rinse and repeat for every install! Show the network guys this question: It's possible, but an enormous amount of work per install**. Easier to have a meeting with the network guys and come up with a solution that works for everyone. – Fabby Oct 23 '18 at 10:08
  • @Fabby I believe the point of this is to have ONE installer (USB or CD/DVD image hardly matters, if I'm correct) that can install multiple computers, specifying the IP address at the time of installation, preferably by just adding a kernel parameter. Are you saying that it is no longer possible to set the IP as a kernel parameter, if so, when was this changed and where is the change documented? – Tobias Oct 25 '18 at 11:00
  • I'm sorry for the poor comment: custom distro means you could prompt for the up address during install and what I meant to convene is : repeat for every version of Ubuntu you want to install... @tobias – Fabby Oct 25 '18 at 18:08

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