3.5. Reprovisioning
Reinstalling an existing system is referred to as reprovisioning. Reprovisioning can be done using the Red Hat Satellite web interface, and the system will use the same system profile that it had before it was reprovisioned. This will preserve information and settings about the system such as entitlements, system groups and subscribed channels.
A system being reprovisioned with a different major Red Hat Enterprise Linux version as the one currently in the system will preserve the system profile, entitlements and server groups. However, because the base channel changed, all child channels are lost.
If the kickstart profile chosen for reprovisioning contains an activation key, reprovisioning will execute all the instructions in the activation key without removing any existing relationships the system has. The system will retain it's system profile, channel subscriptions, organization and group affiliations. The system will just be added to any additional organizations, groups or any additional packages the activation key contains.
Reprovisioning can be scheduled from the Provisioning tab while viewing a system. To configure additional options, go to the Advanced Configurations page, which allows the configuration of details such as kernel options, networking information, and package profile synchronization. The Kernel Options section provides access to the kernel options used during kickstart and Post Kernel Options are the kernel options that will be used after the kickstart is complete and the system is booting for the first time.
Example 3.2. Configuring Kernel Options and Post Kernel Options
This example describes the difference between kernel options and post kernel options in the reprovisioning configuration process.
To establish a VNC connection to monitor the kickstart remotely, include
vnc vncpassword=PASSWORD in the Kernel Options line.
To boot the kernel of the resulting system with the
noapic kernel option, add noapic to the Post Kernel Options line.
Procedure 3.15. File Preservation
The File Preservation feature can be used to keep files from being lost during a reprovisioning. This feature stores files temporarily during the kickstart and restores them after the reprovisioning is complete.
Note
File preservation lists are only available on wizard-style kickstarts, and can only be used during reprovisioning.
- Go to
and create a list of files to preserve. - Go to
and associate the file preservation list with a kickstart by selecting the desired profile. - Go to
and select the file preservation list.
