How to perform unattended auto-installation in SuSE using AutoYaST control xml file?

Question

I am building SuSE (SLES 11 SP1)appliances using KIWI and was looking for a way to perform an unattended installation in them. Moreover, I need to perform partitioning based on the hardware (no. of disks, their capacity, etc).

I came across SuSE's AutoYaST feature that suggests that I can put my installation instructions in an xml file(called the autoyast profile) in the generated ISO. Also, I needed a location to put my partitioning script (possibly utilizing fdisk command). The SuSE documentation at http://doc.opensuse.org/projects/YaST/openSUSE10.3/autoinstall/createprofile.scripts.html clearly says that With SUSE Linux 10.0 and all following versions it's possible to change the partitioning with fdisk in your pre-script

I read that it can be done if:

1. The xml file autoinst.xml is put on the root of the cd.
2. the script (called a pre-script in this case) is embedded inside the xml file
3. while booting from cd, the boot parameter autoyast=file:///autoinst.xml is given.

My autoinst.xml file looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE profile>
<profile xmlns="http://www.suse.com/1.0/yast2ns" xmlns:config="http://www.suse.com/1.0/configns">
<scripts>
 <pre-scripts config:type="list">
  <script>
   <filename>pre.sh</filename>
   <interpreter>shell</interpreter>
   <feedback config:type="boolean">true</feedback>
   <source><![CDATA[
    #!/bin/sh
    touch /root/pre-output
    echo "Running pre-install script" > /root/pre-output
    fdisk -l >>/root/pre-output
    ]]>
   </source>
  </script>
 </pre-scripts>
</scripts>
</profile>

As you can clearly see, the script is meant is produce output that can be easily verified. But this is not happening. I have included the packages autoyast2 and autoyast2-installation in the appliance. On booting with the specified boot parameter, I am taken to an error screen that says "calling the YaST module 'inst_netprobe' has failed" The logs mentioned in the error (/var/log/YaST2/y2log) are no good. They just say the same thing that calling the module inst_netprobe failed.

After selecting NEXT, installation proceeds normally and ends at the login prompt. After login I'm not seeing any of the changes that the pre-script was meant to produce, suggesting it wasn't called.

Can someone point out if I am missing something?

1. Am i missing a package related to AutoYaST?
2. Is my location ("/" on the ISO) correct for putting my xml file?
3. Is the xml file correctly formatted or is it missing something? I took this sample from the example given at the end of the documentaion link i provided above.
4. Is the way of invocation correct? (giving autoyast=file:///autoinst.xml) ?

Also, if anyone has done autoinstallation using AutoYaST on SLES 11, could you please share some pointers?

Answer 1

This error could happen when the package yast2-network is not installed.

Answer 2

This happened to me in SLES11 SP2 when I updated yast2*rpm, which has already dependencies on bind-utils. Sso you need to install bind-utils*rpm