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I've been working on a custom project using vagrant and CentOS Linux release 7.2.1511 (Core) virtual box and now I'd like start testing it on real hardware, to do that I intend to use a couple of headless boxes. Couple of questions though:

  • What's the typical way to install centos on these type of headless servers?
  • Is it possible to have minimal user interaction while it's installing Centos on these boxes? Right now I'm just gonna use 2 boxes but I'd like to know what's the right way to install massively of many servers effectively
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Most people plug in a screen. That said, in theory you'd use kickstart to create a template for the initial install. I've worked in places where we had some custom scripts that installed the appropriate image on a system based off its mac address over pxe - setting things like hostname and so on.

Assuming these systems are identical, you'd basically have one kickstart file with minimal changes (hostname comes to mind)

I'd include some flavour of configuration management in your initial build so you can manage your headless servers... well headlessly. We used to use salt at my last workplace, though there's many options here. Post initial install, you'd manage all your systems with the config management system rather than SSHing into each one of them individually. You can also do things like update systems in stages (so testing servers get updated first)

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  • how does this compare to hooking up drives to a workstation and writing an image file? does linux have something like sysprepped image capture.
    – jiggunjer
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 3:24
  • You could still use kickstart and pre/post install scripts with that. The nice thing about kickstart + config management is you can replicate the setup in a predictable manner with the most recent packages at any time. You wouldn't be stuck to one 'golden' image, and paired with a local repository gives you more control. Imaging is fine for 2, 3 or 4 servers. Kickstart would let you do as many servers as need by simultaneously, without tying up a workstation. pair that with pxe and some other clever scripting and you might just be able to get any system up just by booting it without an OS. I
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 3:46
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We've used cobbler for this task with success. The key here is to have a good kickstart file.

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