5. Import AlmaLinux distribution and create a default profile
Systems managed by cobbler use profiles to be configured for installation. Profiles allow you to configure groups of systems in a common way. E.g. you can have a profile for compute nodes, a profile for login nodes, etc. Cobbler even allows profiles to be related to each other. A profile can inherit settings from a parent profile.
A typical usage is to have a generic AlmaLinux profile and then customized ones for each hardware configuration or use case.
Profiles use a distribution as installation source. To create a system managed by cobbler, we therefore first have to create both a distribution and profile that uses it.
We do this by importing the AlmaLinux Distribution from our ISO file. This will create a distribution and profile within cobbler.
Mount ISO
Mount the ISO as loopback device into a folder, e.g.
/mnt/iso.# mount ISO image [root@master ~]# mkdir -p /mnt/iso [root@master ~]# mount AlmaLinux-8.10-x86_64-dvd.iso /mnt/iso
Import AlmaLinux distribution into cobbler
Run the following command to import a distribution from
/mnt/isointo cobbler. It will copy all necessary files for booting and all other files needed for installation. (this can take some time). You essentially did the same during exercise 2 manually.[root@master ~]# cobbler import --name=almalinux8 --arch=x86_64 --path=/mnt/iso task started: 2025-05-27_051459_import task started (id=Media import, time=Tue May 27 05:14:59 2025) running python triggers from /var/lib/cobbler/triggers/task/import/pre/* running shell triggers from /var/lib/cobbler/triggers/task/import/pre/* shell triggers finished successfully Found a candidate signature: breed=redhat, version=rhel8 Found a matching signature: breed=redhat, version=rhel8 Adding distros from path /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64: creating new distro: almalinux8-x86_64 trying symlink: /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64 -> /var/www/cobbler/links/almalinux8-x86_64 creating new profile: almalinux8-x86_64 associating repos checking for rsync repo(s) checking for rhn repo(s) checking for yum repo(s) starting descent into /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64 for almalinux8-x86_64 processing repo at : /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/AppStream need to process repo/comps: /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/AppStream looking for /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/AppStream/repodata/*comps*.xml Keeping repodata as-is :/var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/AppStream/repodata processing repo at : /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/BaseOS need to process repo/comps: /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/BaseOS looking for /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/BaseOS/repodata/*comps*.xml Keeping repodata as-is :/var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/BaseOS/repodata *** TASK COMPLETE ***
After completion your imported distribution will be listed when you run
cobbler distro list.[root@master ~]# cobbler distro list almalinux8-x86_64
You can see all available
cobbler distrocommands by just entering[root@master ~]# cobbler distro usage ===== cobbler distro add cobbler distro copy cobbler distro edit cobbler distro find cobbler distro list cobbler distro remove cobbler distro rename cobbler distro report
Inspect your imported distribution with the
cobbler distro reportcommand:[root@master ~]# cobbler distro report Name : almalinux8-x86_64 Architecture : x86_64 Automatic Installation Template Metadata : {'tree': 'http://@@http_server@@/cblr/links/almalinux8-x86_64'} TFTP Boot Files : {} Boot loader : grub Breed : redhat Comment : Fetchable Files : {} Initrd : /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/images/pxeboot/initrd.img Kernel : /var/www/cobbler/distro_mirror/almalinux8-x86_64/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz Kernel Options : {} Kernel Options (Post Install) : {} Management Classes : [] OS Version : rhel8 Owners : ['admin'] Redhat Management Key : Remote Boot Initrd : ~ Remote Boot Kernel : ~ Template Files : {}
Here, cobbler detected a RHEL8 distribution.
During the import, cobbler also created a
almalinux8-x86_64profile for you, which uses thealmalinux8-x86_64distribution.[root@master ~]# cobbler profile list almalinux8-x86_64
Similar to
cobbler distro, all available sub-commands ofcobbler profilecan be seen by simply executing it:[root@master ~]# cobbler profile usage ===== cobbler profile add cobbler profile copy cobbler profile dumpvars cobbler profile edit cobbler profile find cobbler profile getks cobbler profile list cobbler profile remove cobbler profile rename cobbler profile report
Looking at a particular profile in detail is done using the
cobbler profile reportcommand:[root@master ~]# cobbler profile report --name=almalinux8-x86_64 Name : almalinux8-x86_64 Automatic Installation Template : sample.ks Automatic Installation Metadata : {} TFTP Boot Files : {} Comment : DHCP Tag : default Distribution : almalinux8-x86_64 Enable gPXE? : False Enable PXE Menu? : True Fetchable Files : {} DHCP Filename Override : <<inherit>> Kernel Options : {} Kernel Options (Post Install) : {} Management Classes : [] Management Parameters : <<inherit>> Name Servers : [] Name Servers Search Path : [] Next Server Override : <<inherit>> Owners : ['admin'] Parent Profile : Proxy : Red Hat Management Key : <<inherit>> Repos : [] Server Override : <<inherit>> Template Files : {} Virt Auto Boot : True Virt Bridge : xenbr0 Virt CPUs : 1 Virt Disk Driver Type : raw Virt File Size(GB) : 5 Virt Path : Virt RAM (MB) : 512 Virt Type : kvm
Unmount ISO
Finally unmount the ISO image.
umount /mnt/iso