22.4. Kickstart commands for network configuration

--no-activate - do not activate this device in the installation environment.

By default, Anaconda activates the first network device in the Kickstart file regardless of the --activate option. You can disable the default setting by using the --no-activate option.

--bootproto= - One of dhcp, bootp, ibft, or static. The default option is dhcp; the dhcp and bootp options are treated the same. To disable ipv4 configuration of the device, use --noipv4 option.

The DHCP method uses a DHCP server system to obtain its networking configuration. The BOOTP method is similar, requiring a BOOTP server to supply the networking configuration. To direct a system to use DHCP:

network --bootproto=dhcp

To direct a machine to use BOOTP to obtain its networking configuration, use the following line in the Kickstart file:

network --bootproto=bootp

To direct a machine to use the configuration specified in iBFT, use:

network --bootproto=ibft

The static method requires that you specify at least the IP address and netmask in the Kickstart file. This information is static and is used during and after the installation.

All static networking configuration information must be specified on one line; you cannot wrap lines by using a backslash (\) as you can on a command line.

network --bootproto=static --ip=10.0.2.15 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.0.2.254 --nameserver=10.0.2.1

You can also configure multiple nameservers at the same time. To do so, use the --nameserver= option once, and specify each of their IP addresses, separated by commas:

network --bootproto=static --ip=10.0.2.15 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.0.2.254 --nameserver=192.168.2.1,192.168.3.1

--device= - specifies the device to be configured (and eventually activated in Anaconda) with the network command.

If the --device= option is missing on the first use of the network command, the value of the inst.ks.device= Anaconda boot option is used, if available. This is considered deprecated behavior; in most cases, you should always specify a --device= for every network command.

The behavior of any subsequent network command in the same Kickstart file is unspecified if its --device= option is missing. Verify you specify this option for any network command beyond the first.

You can specify a device to be activated in any of the following ways:

For example:

network --bootproto=dhcp --device=em1

--ipv4-dns-search/--ipv6-dns-search - Set the DNS search domains manually. You must use these options together with --device options and mirror their respective NetworkManager properties, for example:

network --device ens3 --ipv4-dns-search domain1.example.com,domain2.example.com

--hostname= - Used to configure the target system’s host name. The host name can either be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the format hostname.domainname, or a short host name without the domain. Many networks have a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service that automatically supplies connected systems with a domain name. To allow the DHCP service to assign the domain name to this machine, specify only the short host name.

When using static IP and host name configuration, it depends on the planned system use case whether to use a short name or FQDN. Red Hat Identity Management configures FQDN during provisioning but some 3rd party software products may require a short name. In either case, to ensure availability of both forms in all situations, add an entry for the host in /etc/hosts in the format IP FQDN short-alias.

Host names can only contain alphanumeric characters and - or .. Host name should be equal to or less than 64 characters. Host names cannot start or end with - and .. To be compliant with DNS, each part of a FQDN should be equal to or less than 63 characters and the FQDN total length, including dots, should not exceed 255 characters.

If you only want to configure the target system’s host name, use the --hostname option in the network command and do not include any other option.

If you provide additional options when configuring the host name, the network command configures a device by using the options specified. If you do not specify which device to configure by using the --device option, the default --device link value is used. Additionally, if you do not specify the protocol by using the --bootproto option, the device is configured to use DHCP by default.

--bondslaves= - When this option is used, the bond device specified by the --device= option is created using secondary devices defined in the --bondslaves= option. For example:

network --device=bond0 --bondslaves=em1,em2

The above command creates a bond device named bond0 by using the em1 and em2 interfaces as its secondary devices.

--bondopts= - a list of optional parameters for a bonded interface, which is specified by using the --bondslaves= and --device= options. Options in this list must be separated by commas (“,”) or semicolons (“;”). If an option itself contains a comma, use a semicolon to separate the options. For example:

network --bondopts=mode=active-backup,balance-rr;primary=eth1

--interfacename= - Specify a custom interface name for a virtual LAN device. This option should be used when the default name generated by the --vlanid= option is not desirable. This option must be used along with --vlanid=. For example:

network --device=em1 --vlanid=171 --interfacename=vlan171

The above command creates a virtual LAN interface named vlan171 on the em1 device with an ID of 171.

The interface name can be arbitrary (for example, my-vlan), but in specific cases, the following conventions must be followed:

--bridgeslaves= - When this option is used, the network bridge with device name specified by using the --device= option will be created and devices defined in the --bridgeslaves= option will be added to the bridge. For example:

network --device=bridge0 --bridgeslaves=em1

--bridgeopts= - An optional comma-separated list of parameters for the bridged interface. Available values are stp, priority, forward-delay, hello-time, max-age, and ageing-time. For information about these parameters, see the bridge setting table in the nm-settings(5) man page or at Network Configuration Setting Specification.

Also see the Configuring and managing networking document for general information about network bridging.