Manual operating system installation does not scale. PXE boot combined with Kickstart files enables fully automated, hands-free provisioning of bare-metal servers, reducing deployment time from hours to minutes.
Setting Up the PXE Environment
A PXE boot environment requires a DHCP server configured with next-server and filename options, a TFTP server hosting the boot loader and kernel images, and an HTTP or NFS server providing the installation media and Kickstart configuration files.
Kickstart files define every aspect of the installation: disk partitioning, package selection, network configuration, user accounts, and post-installation scripts. Version control these files alongside your infrastructure code to maintain an auditable history of server configurations.
Post-installation scripts in the Kickstart %post section bootstrap configuration management agents, register the server with monitoring systems, and apply initial hardening. This ensures every newly provisioned server is immediately production-ready and compliant with your security baseline.