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Autoinstall Remarks

This README.md provides some useful tips for enhancing the autoinstall process.

1. User Based Configuration

The following must be added to autoinstall.yaml (root node) to provide system user based settings.

user-data:
    users:
      - name: user1
        groups: sudo, users, admin
      - name: user2
        groups: users
    late-commands:
      - usermod -a -G docker user2

2. Network Configuration / Netplan

In multi NIC setup environments it is also advisable to configure the netplan networking inside autoinstall.yaml.

2.1 Single Interface Configuration

For a single network interface with DHCP:

network:
  ethernets:
    eth0:
      dhcp4: yes
  version: 2

2.2 Multiple Interface Configuration

For environments with multiple network interfaces, you can configure them individually:

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: networkd
  ethernets:
    eth0:
      match:
        macaddress: "52:54:00:12:34:56"
      set-name: eth0
      dhcp4: yes
      dhcp6: no
      mtu: 1500
    eth1:
      match:
        macaddress: "52:54:00:12:34:57"
      set-name: eth1
      addresses:
        - 192.168.1.10/24
      routes:
        - to: 192.168.1.0/24
          via: 192.168.1.1
      nameservers:
        addresses:
          - 8.8.8.8
          - 8.8.4.4
    eth2:
      match:
        macaddress: "52:54:00:12:34:58"
      set-name: eth2
      addresses:
        - 10.0.0.10/24
      dhcp4: no

This configuration demonstrates:

  • eth0: DHCP configuration with custom MTU
  • eth1: Static IP with custom routes and DNS servers
  • eth2: Static IP without DHCP

3. Useful Tips

3.1 Password Hash Generation

To generate a password hash for the identity.password field, use:

mkpasswd --method=yescrypt

This will prompt you for a password and generate a yescrypt hash compatible with modern Ubuntu systems.

3.2 Testing Autoinstall Configuration

Before deploying, validate your autoinstall.yaml syntax:

# Check YAML syntax
yamllint autoinstall.yaml

# Or use Python to validate
python3 -c "import yaml; yaml.safe_load(open('autoinstall.yaml'))"

3.3 MAC Address Discovery

To find MAC addresses for your network interfaces before installation:

ip link show

Or from a running system:

ip addr | grep ether

3.4 Debugging Autoinstall

If the autoinstall process fails:

  1. Press Ctrl+Alt+F2 during installation to access a debug shell
  2. Check logs in /var/log/installer/
  3. Review the autoinstall configuration: cat /autoinstall.yaml
  4. Verify network connectivity: ping -c 3 8.8.8.8

3.5 Late Commands Best Practices

Use late-commands for post-installation tasks:

late-commands:
  - curtin in-target --target=/target -- apt-get update
  - curtin in-target --target=/target -- apt-get upgrade -y
  - curtin in-target --target=/target -- systemctl enable ssh
  - echo "Installation completed at $(date)" > /target/var/log/autoinstall-completion.log

3.6 Network Interface Naming

To ensure consistent network interface naming:

  1. Use MAC address matching with match.macaddress
  2. Specify the desired name with set-name
  3. This prevents interface names from changing between reboots

3.7 Storage Configuration

For custom storage layouts, refer to Ubuntu's autoinstall documentation. The default direct layout is suitable for most single-disk installations. For complex setups (RAID, LVM, encryption), consider using the lvm or custom storage configuration.

4. Additional Resources