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I am trying to install ubuntu 18.04 server on a segregated network not connected to the internet, I will connect to a public network later to download packages.

When installing, Ubuntu forces me to pick a mirror and download archive components. Which will never work as I am offline. I just need to install the OS right now and download other components later.

When installing RHEL or CentOS, I don't have to download components during install.

How can I disable this? or is there a different image I need to use? I am using this image located here: https://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/

EDIT:

I should have mentioned this is a PXE install via UEFI (Not BIOS). The path of install should be

  1. Boot VM to PXE network to get DHCP from PXE server
  2. Install OS with PXE DHCP address (Which will never have public internet access)
  3. Change port network / vlan to production network post install
  4. Configure an IP address post install

Do I need to adjust my PXE append statement? Is there a way to bypass the installer forcing me to perform an install from the ubuntu archive?

Workaround:

Well, I needed to add a secondary network interface onto the production network for internet access. Now the system has two network interfaces, one of which I would need to remove post install. This works for a virtual network, but defiantly does not work for our bare metal systems. Why must I be connected to the internet?! Is there anyway around this? I have seen guides that you can create a custom image with packages already installed. But those guides are not very clear on how to create an image, also not clear on if those images will work for PXE install.

Note: I appreciate people linking me to this post Install 18.04 server without network connection but like I said in the comment, this did not work. I tried downloading the image, and still, the installer forces me to provide an archive address. This is after trying to give a bogus ip address. There is no way around this.

Dave
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  • Thanks for the link, unfortunately same issue. Is there a specific guide I should be following on how to PXE boot + install offline? Maybe I need to use a different append? This is my statement now APPEND initrd=http://10.10.10.10/pxe/linux/ubuntu18_04/install/netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz method=http://10.10.10.10/pxe/linux/ubuntu18_04 – Dave Mar 09 '21 at 12:19
  • Seems like you are trying to kludge the 18.04 Server installer to work for a use case ("offline") that it's not designed for. Depending upon your organization's policy limitations, you might consider using a local archive, or bootstrapping, or using the Debian installer instead. – user535733 Mar 09 '21 at 16:26
  • @user535733 is there an append statement for PXE config to point the Ubuntu system to a local archive? I can try deploying but I dont see how I can define an archive. – Dave Mar 09 '21 at 20:35

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