| Chapter 8. Legacy and foreign Configuration formats | ||
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| Chapter 8. Legacy and foreign Configuration formats | ||
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Table of Contents
ALICE, SuSEs former auto-installation system was a system built around the auto-installation features that were available with YaST1. In order to be able to use existing ALICE configuration files and resources, a special option is provided in the configuration system will let you convert ALICE configuration files into a control file readable by AutoYaST.
ALICE uses YaST1 for the installation of a Linux System. This is
done by creating a boot medium with the needed control file (info)
from a set of configuration files maintained in a CVS repository. The
info file has the traditional format used with YaST1.
The system configuration is done almost entirely after the system is installed and is initiated using the %post section of the ALICE RPM package.
Each of ALICE modules perform certain tasks and requires one or multiple configuration files. The modules are shell scripts that are invoked after installation of the machine to setup different services on the client.
YaST2 offers an extensive and rich interface to the installed system which replaces most of the modules that were available with ALICE The following is a list of all ALICE modules, their function and how their functionality is provided by YaST2 modules which are already available or which can be integrated easily:
The modules prepare_alice and make_all provided the base and main scripts of all ALICE modules. The module prepare_alice is called right after the initial installation process - which is done after YaST1 has finished installation packages.
With YaST2, the alternative to these modules is part of the system and is not an addition or extension. This means that YaST2 configures the system in one single process and not, as with ALICE in two different, independent steps.
The following table show how the result of some ALICE modules can be accomplished with YaST2
Table 8.1. ALICE vs. YaST2 modules
| Module | ALICE | YaST2 | Concerned files |
|---|---|---|---|
| User configuration | Adding users is performed without any consistency checks. | Using YaST2 users module | /etc/passwd |
| Group configuration | Adding groups is performed without any consistency checks. | Using YaST2 users module | /etc/group |
| Services | X | - | /etc/services |
| Inetd | X | Using the inetd module | /etc/inetd.conf |
| Syslog | X | /etc/syslog.conf | |
| Lilo | X | X | /etc/lilo.conf |
| SNMP | X | - | /etc/ucdsnmpd.conf |
| Cron | X | - | /etc/crontab |
| hosts | X | X | /etc/hosts |
| Routing | X | X | /etc/route.conf |
| Printer | X | X | /etc/printcap |
| SSH | X | - | /etc/ssh |
| Kernel modules | X | X | /etc/modules.conf |
ALICE completed most of the configuration using the system
configuration file /etc/rc.config. This interface to the
system does not exist anymore with new SuSE products. Instead,
configuration options are now available in /etc/sysconfig.
Entries in /etc/sysconfig can be easily set and
modified using YaST2 and AutoYaST. For network services it is recommended to use the
relevant YaST2 modules dealing with networking , rather than modifying
/etc/sysconfig/network directly.
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| 7.4. System Configuration |  | 8.2. Redhat Kickstart |