Ubuntu Kickstart networking deprecated since v18.04+

[Dave]

Ubuntu Kickstart no longer works in performing unattended installs of Ubuntu Server 18.04+ (Bionic) because the networking configuration fails due to the original networking parameters being based on SystemV whereas Ubuntu 18.04+ uses Netplan YAML syntax. Kickstart remains an installable package in the repos for Ubuntu Artful, Bionic, and Cosmic, however it cannot perform the desired automated installs for post-Xenial distros.

[Dave (davefl)]

Please note: Preseeding is not an option for unattended network installations because network configuration only works for CD-ROM and USB. (Source: https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/installation-guide/arm64/apbs04.html#preseed-network)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Martijn Brinkers (m-brinkers)]

Kickstart works with the non-GUI 18.04 installer (ubuntu-18.04.3-server-amd64.iso)

[Dave (davefl)]

Hi Martin, the main functionality of Kickstart may work with Ubuntu 18.04, but the networking portion of Kickstart does not work at all and needs to be updated for SystemV. Please see my above bug description.

[Dave (davefl)]

Correction: SystemD, not Init-V

[James Osborne (jjo93sa)]

Adding some information from my testing today with 18.04.3 server in a KVM-based VM. In my kickstart file, I have the following line:

network --bootproto=static --device=52:54:00:14:32:fb --ip=10.10.20.251 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=10.10.20.1 --nameserver=10.10.20.1,1.1.1.1 --hostname=test6

Upon inspection of the VM, all the network configuration looks good (except as below), and the hostname is set as well. I have network connectivity.

However, the nameservers are not set in the netplan YAML file. If I manually add them and apply the configuration, DNS works. I've also checked /etc/resolv.conf and the requested configured name servers are not present there either, so I'm not sure what kickstart is doing with the parameters.

In summary, all network configuration apart from name servers seems to be made successfully, but perhaps I'm doing something incorrect?

[James Osborne (jjo93sa)]

Oh, and it seems that NTP settings in the kickstart configuration also do not propagate into the VM config. AFAIK, this stanza should configure the NTP server:

# System timezone
timezone --utc Etc/UTC --ntpservers=10.10.40.20

The timezone is correctly configured, but the server not.

[Dave (davefl)]

James, is there anyway we can get Kickstart updated to include automatic configuration of the DNS servers? I believe this is the only holdup I have from being able to leverage Kickstart to it's fullest since my network uses private DNS servers. Thanks and appreciate the follow-up in all of this!