cobbler.conf - Man Page

No changes to the settings.

No changes to the settings.

NOTE:

• cache_enabled and lazy_start are new optional settings.

No changes to the settings.

• default_virt_file_size is now a float as intended.
• We added the proxies key for first-level Uyuni & SUSE Manager support. It is optional, so you can ignore it if you don't run one of the two solutions or a derivative of it.

• After community feedback we changed the default of the auto-migration to be disabled. It can be re-enabled via the already known methods cobbler-settings-Tool, the settings file key auto_migrate_settings and the Daemon flag. We have decided to not change the flag for existing installations.

• There is a new setting bootloaders_shim_location. For details please refer to the appropriate section below.

• The setting enable_gpxe was replaced with enable_ipxe.
• The settings.d directory (/etc/cobbler/settings.d/) was deprecated and will be removed in the future.
• There is a new CLI tool called cobbler-settings which can be used to validate and migrate settings files from differente versions and to modify keys in the current settings file. Have a look at the migration matrix in the next paragraph to see the supported migration paths. Furthermore the auto migration feature can be enabled or disabled.
• A new settings auto migration feature was implemented which automatically updates the settings when installing a new version. A backup of the old settings file will be created in the same folder beforehand.

• We require the extension .yaml on our settings file to indicate the format of the file to editors and comply to standards of the YAML specification.
• We require the usage of booleans in the format of True and False. If you have old integer style booleans with 1 and 0 this is fine but you may should convert them as soon as possible. We may decide in a future version to enforce our new way in a stricter manner. Automatic conversion is only done on a best-effort/available-resources basis.
• We enforce the types of values to the keys. Additional unexpected keys will throw errors. If you have those used in Cobbler please report this in our issue tracker. We have decided to go this way to be able to rely on the existence of the values. This gives us the freedom to write fewer access checks to the settings without losing stability.

If True Cobbler will auto migrate the settings file after upgrading from older versions. The current settings are backed up in the same folder before the upgrade.

default: True

If True, Cobbler will allow insertions of system records that duplicate the --dns-name information of other system records. In general, this is undesirable and should be left False.

default: False

If True, Cobbler will allow insertions of system records that duplicate the IP address information of other system records. In general, this is undesirable and should be left False.

default: False

If True, Cobbler will allow insertions of system records that duplicate the mac address information of other system records. In general, this is undesirable.

default: False

If True, Cobbler will allow settings to be changed dynamically without a restart of the cobblerd daemon. You can only change this variable by manually editing the settings file, and you MUST restart cobblerd after changing it.

default: False

Always write DHCP entries, regardless if netboot is enabled.

default: False

By default, installs are not set to send installation logs to the Cobbler server. With anamon_enabled, automatic installation templates may use the pre_anamon snippet to allow remote live monitoring of their installations from the Cobbler server. Installation logs will be stored under /var/log/cobbler/anamon/.

NOTE:

default: False

How long the authentication token is valid for, in seconds.

default: 3600

If using authn_pam in the modules.conf, this can be configured to change the PAM service authentication will be tested against.

default: "login"

If no autoinstall template is specified to profile add, use this template.

default: default.ks

This is a directory of files that Cobbler uses to make templating easier. See the Wiki for more information. Changing this directory should not be required.

default: /var/lib/cobbler/snippets

This is a directory of files that Cobbler uses to make templating easier. See the Wiki for more information. Changing this directory should not be required.

default: /var/lib/cobbler/templates

Set to path of bind chroot to create bind-chroot compatible bind configuration files.

default: ""

Set to the ip address of the master bind DNS server for creating secondary bind configuration files.

default: 127.0.0.1

Set to path where zonefiles of bind/named server are located.

default: "@@bind_zonefiles@@"

Location of templates used for boot loader config generation.

default: "/etc/cobbler/boot_loader_conf"

A directory that "cobbler mkloaders" copies the built bootloaders into. "cobbler sync" searches for bootloaders in this directory.

default: /var/lib/cobbler/loaders

This Python Glob will be responsible for finding the installed shim folder. If you haven't have shim installed this bootloader link will be skipped. If the Glob is not precise enough a message will be logged and the link will also be skipped.

default: Depending on your distro. See values below.

• (open)SUSE: "/usr/share/efi/*/"
• Debian/Ubuntu: "/usr/lib/shim/"
• CentOS/Fedora: "/boot/efi/EFI/*/"

This is a Python Regex which is responsible to find exactly a single match in all files found by the Python Glob in bootloaders_shim_folder. If more or fewer files are found a message will be logged.

default: Depending on your distro. See values below.

• (open)SUSE: "shim\.efi"
• Debian/Ubuntu: "shim*.efi.signed"
• CentOS/Fedora: "shim*.efi"

The directory where Cobbler looks for GRUB modules that are required for "cobbler mkloaders".

default: Depends on your distribution. See values below.

• (open)SUSE: "/usr/share/grub2"
• Debian/Ubuntu: "/usr/lib/grub"
• CentOS/Fedora: "/usr/lib/grub"

The directory where Cobbler looks for syslinux modules that are required for "cobbler mkloaders".

default: Depends on your distribution. See values below.

• (open)SUSE: "/usr/share/syslinux"
• Debian/Ubuntu: "/usr/lib/syslinux/modules/bios/"
• CentOS/Fedora: "/usr/share/syslinux"

A list of all modules "cobbler mkloaders" includes when building grub loaders. Typically, a grub loader uses the modules for PXE or HTTP Boot.

default: Omited for readablity, please refer to the settings.yaml file in our GitHub repository.

This is a mapping that has the following structure:

<loader name>:
   binary_name: filename
   extra_modules:
     - extra-module
   mod_dir: <different folder name then loader name>
   use_secure_boot_grub: True

The keys extra_modules, mod_dir and use_secure_boot_grub are optional. Under normal circumstances this setting does not need adjustments.

default: Omited for readablity, please refer to the settings.yaml file in our GitHub repository.

The location where Cobbler searches for GRUB configuration files.

default: /var/lib/cobbler/grub_config

Email out a report when Cobbler finishes installing a system.

• enabled: Set to true to turn this feature on
• email: Which addresses to email
• ignorelist: A list of prefixes that defines mail topics that should not be sent.
• sender: Optional
• smtp_server: Used to specify another server for an MTA.
• subject: Use the default subject unless overridden.

defaults:

build_reporting_enabled: false
build_reporting_sender: ""
build_reporting_email: [ 'root@localhost' ]
build_reporting_smtp_server: "localhost"
build_reporting_subject: ""
build_reporting_ignorelist: [ "" ]

Used for caching the intermediate files for ISO-Building. You may want to use a SSD, a tmpfs or something which does not persist across reboots and can be easily thrown away but is also fast.

default: /var/cache/cobbler/buildiso

Cheetah-language autoinstall templates can import Python modules. while this is a useful feature, it is not safe to allow them to import anything they want. This whitelists which modules can be imported through Cheetah. Users can expand this as needed but should never allow modules such as subprocess or those that allow access to the filesystem as Cheetah templates are evaluated by cobblerd as code.

default:

• random
• re
• time
• netaddr

If set to True, all commands to the API (not directly to the XML-RPC server) will go over HTTPS instead of plain text. Be sure to change the http_port setting to the correct value for the web server.

default: False

If set to True, all commands will be forced to use the localhost address instead of using the above value which can force commands like cobbler sync to open a connection to a remote address if one is in the configuration and would traceback.

default: False

Used for replicating the Cobbler instance.

default: ""

Convert hostnames to IP addresses (where possible) so DNS isn't a requirement for various tasks to work correctly.

default: False

Default createrepo_flags to use for new repositories.

default: "-c cache -s sha"

Configure all installed systems to use these name servers by default unless defined differently in the profile. For DHCP configurations you probably do not want to supply this.

defaults:

default_name_servers: []
default_name_servers_search: []

if using the authz_ownership module, objects created without specifying an owner are assigned to this owner and/or group.

default:

• admin

Cobbler has various sample automatic installation templates stored in /var/lib/cobbler/templates/. This controls what install (root) password is set up for those systems that reference this variable. The factory default is "cobbler" and Cobbler check will warn if this is not changed. The simplest way to change the password is to run openssl passwd -1 and put the output between the "".

default: "$1$mF86/UHC$WvcIcX2t6crBz2onWxyac."

The default template type to use in the absence of any other detected template. If you do not specify the template with #template=<template_type> on the first line of your templates/snippets, Cobbler will assume try to use the following template engine to parse the templates.

NOTE:

Current valid values are: cheetah, jinja2

default: "cheetah"

For libvirt based installs in Koan, if no virt-bridge is specified, which bridge do we try? For EL 4/5 hosts this should be xenbr0, for all versions of Fedora, try virbr0. This can be overridden on a per-profile basis or at the Koan command line though this saves typing to just set it here to the most common option.

default: xenbr0

The on-disk format for the virtualization disk.

default: raw

Use this as the default disk size for virt guests (GB).

default: 5.0

Use this as the default memory size for virt guests (MB).

default: 512

If Koan is invoked without --virt-type and no virt-type is set on the profile/system, what virtualization type should be assumed?

Current valid values are:

• xenpv
• xenfv
• qemu
• vmware

NOTE: this does not change what virt_type is chosen by import.

default: xenpv

Enable iPXE booting? Enabling this option will cause Cobbler to copy the undionly.kpxe file to the TFTP root directory, and if a profile/system is configured to boot via iPXE it will chain load off pxelinux.0.

default: False

Controls whether Cobbler will add each new profile entry to the default PXE boot menu. This can be over-ridden on a per-profile basis when adding/editing profiles with --enable-menu=False/True. Users should ordinarily leave this setting enabled unless they are concerned with accidental reinstall from users who select an entry at the PXE boot menu. Adding a password to the boot menus templates may also be a good solution to prevent unwanted reinstallations.

default: True

Allows the definition of additional keys that are not contained in the schema validation. During validation these keys are ignored. This is useful if you develop a plugin for Cobbler that adds additional settings.

default: []

Change this port if Apache is not running plain text on port 80. Most people can leave this alone.

default: 80

Include other configuration snippets with this regular expression. This is a list of folders.

default: [ "/etc/cobbler/settings.d/*.settings" ]

NOTE:

Folder to search for the ISO templates. These will build the boot-menu of the built ISO.

default: /etc/cobbler/iso

This is a directory of files that Cobbler uses to include files into Jinja2 templates. Per default this settings is commented out.

default: /var/lib/cobbler/jinja2

Kernel options that should be present in every Cobbler installation. Kernel options can also be applied at the distro/profile/system level.

default: {}

Configuration options if using the authn_ldap module. See the Wiki for details. This can be ignored if you are not using LDAP for WebUI/XML-RPC authentication.

defaults:

ldap_server: "ldap.example.com"
ldap_base_dn: "DC=example,DC=com"
ldap_port: 389
ldap_tls: true
ldap_anonymous_bind: true
ldap_search_bind_dn: ''
ldap_search_passwd: ''
ldap_search_prefix: 'uid='
ldap_tls_cacertdir: ''
ldap_tls_cacertfile: ''
ldap_tls_certfile: ''
ldap_tls_keyfile: ''
ldap_tls_reqcert: 'hard'
ldap_tls_cipher_suite: ''

When using the Bind9 DNS server, you can enable or disable if the BMCs should receive own DNS entries.

default: False

Set to True to enable Cobbler's DHCP management features. The choice of DHCP management engine is in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf.

default: True

Set to true to enable DHCP IPv6 address configuration generation. This currently only works with manager.isc DHCP module (isc dhcpd6 daemon). See /etc/cobbler/modules.conf whether this isc module is chosen for dhcp generation.

default: False

Set to true to enable DHCP IPv6 address configuration generation. This currently only works with manager.isc DHCP module (isc dhcpd6 daemon). See /etc/cobbler/modules.conf whether this isc module is chosen for dhcp generation.

default: False

Set to True to enable Cobbler's DNS management features. The choice of DNS management engine is in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf.

default: False

If using BIND (named) for DNS management in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf and manage_dns is enabled (above), this lists which zones are managed. See DNS management for more information.

defaults:

manage_forward_zones: []
manage_reverse_zones: []

Whether or not to manage the genders file. For more information on that visit: github.com/chaos/genders

default: False

Set to True to enable Cobbler's RSYNC management features.

default: False

Set to True to enable Cobbler's TFTP management features. The choice of TFTP management engine is in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf.

default: True

Cobbler has a feature that allows for integration with config management systems such as Puppet. The following parameters work in conjunction with --mgmt-classes and are described in further detail at Configuration Management Integrations.

mgmt_classes: []
mgmt_parameters:
    from_cobbler: true

If using Cobbler with manage_dhcp_v4, put the IP address of the Cobbler server here so that PXE booting guests can find it. If you do not set this correctly, this will be manifested in TFTP open timeouts.

default: 127.0.0.1

If using Cobbler with manage_dhcp_v6, put the IP address of the Cobbler server here so that PXE booting guests can find it. If you do not set this correctly, this will be manifested in TFTP open timeouts.

default: ::1

This enables or disables the replacement (or removal) of records in the DNS zone for systems created (or removed) by Cobbler.

NOTE:

default: False

The logfile to document what records are added or removed in the DNS zone for systems.

NOTE:

• Required: No
• Default: /var/log/cobbler/nsupdate.log

NOTE:

The functionality this settings is related to is currently not tested due to tech-debt. Please use it with caution. This note will be removed once we were able to look deeper into this functionality of Cobbler.

• Required: No
• Default: hmac-sha512

NOTE:

The functionality this settings is related to is currently not tested due to tech-debt. Please use it with caution. This note will be removed once we were able to look deeper into this functionality of Cobbler.

• Required: No
• Default: []

Settings for power management features. These settings are optional. See Power Management to learn more.

Choices (refer to the fence-agents project for a complete list):

• apc_snmp
• bladecenter
• bullpap
• drac
• ether_wake
• ilo
• integrity
• ipmilan
• ipmilanplus
• lpar
• rsa
• virsh
• wti

default: ipmilanplus

This key is used by Uyuni (or one of its derivatives) for the Proxy scenario. More information can be found here

Cobbler only evaluates this if the key has a list of strings as value. An empty list means you don't have any proxies configured in your Uyuni setup.

default: []

External proxy which is used by the following commands: reposync, signature update

defaults:

http: http://192.168.1.1:8080
https: https://192.168.1.1:8443

Internal proxy which is used by systems to reach Cobbler for kickstarts.

e.g.: proxy_url_int: http://10.0.0.1:8080

default: ""

If enabled, this setting ensures that puppet is installed during machine provision, a client certificate is generated and a certificate signing request is made with the puppet master server.

default: False

Choose whether to enable puppet parameterized classes or not. Puppet versions prior to 2.6.5 do not support parameters.

default: True

Choose a --server argument when running puppetd/puppet agent during autoinstall.

default: 'puppet'

Let Cobbler know that you're using a newer version of puppet. Choose version 3 to use: 'puppet agent'; version 2 uses status quo: 'puppetd'.

default: 2

Location of the puppet executable, used for revoking certificates.

default: "/usr/bin/puppet"

If this setting is set to True, Cobbler systems that pxe boot will request at the end of their installation to toggle the --netboot-enabled record in the Cobbler system record. This eliminates the potential for a PXE boot loop if the system is set to PXE first in it's BIOS order. Enable this if PXE is first in your BIOS boot order, otherwise leave this disabled. See the manpage for --netboot-enabled.

default: True

If this setting is set to True, triggers will be executed when systems will request to toggle the --netboot-enabled record at the end of their installation.

default: True

If using authn_spacewalk in modules.conf to let Cobbler authenticate against Satellite/Spacewalk's auth system, by default it will not allow per user access into Cobbler Web and Cobbler XML-RPC. In order to permit this, the following setting must be enabled HOWEVER doing so will permit all Spacewalk/Satellite users of certain types to edit all of Cobbler's configuration. these roles are: config_admin and org_admin. Users should turn this on only if they want this behavior and do not have a cross-multi-org separation concern. If you have a single org in your satellite, it's probably safe to turn this on and then you can use CobblerWeb alongside a Satellite install.

default: False

This setting is only used by the code that supports using Uyuni/SUSE Manager/Spacewalk/Satellite authentication within Cobbler Web and Cobbler XML-RPC.

default: "xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com"

Specify the default Red Hat authorization key to use to register system. If left blank, no registration will be attempted. Similarly you can set the --redhat-management-key to blank on any system to keep it from trying to register.

default: ""

If set to True, allows /usr/bin/cobbler-register (part of the Koan package) to be used to remotely add new Cobbler system records to Cobbler. This effectively allows for registration of new hardware from system records.

default: False

When a puppet managed machine is reinstalled it is necessary to remove the puppet certificate from the puppet master server before a new certificate is signed (see above). Enabling the following feature will ensure that the certificate for the machine to be installed is removed from the puppet master server if the puppet master server is running on the same machine as Cobbler. This requires puppet_auto_setup above to be enabled

default: False

Replication rsync options for repos set to override default value of -avzH.

default: "-avzH"

replication rsync options for distros, autoinstalls, snippets set to override default value of -avzH.

default: "-avzH"

Flags to use for yum's reposync. If your version of yum reposync does not support -l, you may need to remove that option.

default: "-l -n -d"

Flags to use for rysync's reposync. If archive mode (-a,--archive) is used then createrepo is not ran after the rsync as it pulls down the repodata as well. This allows older OS's to mirror modular repos using rsync.

default: "-rltDv --copy-unsafe-links"

When DHCP and DNS management are enabled, cobbler sync can automatically restart those services to apply changes. The exception for this is if using ISC for DHCP, then OMAPI eliminates the need for a restart. omapi, however, is experimental and not recommended for most configurations. If DHCP and DNS are going to be managed, but hosted on a box that is not on this server, disable restarts here and write some other script to ensure that the config files get copied/rsynced to the destination box. This can be done by modifying the restart services trigger. Note that if manage_dhcp and manage_dns are disabled, the respective parameter will have no effect. Most users should not need to change this.

defaults:

restart_dns: true
restart_dhcp: true

Install triggers are scripts in /var/lib/cobbler/triggers/install that are triggered in autoinstall pre and post sections. Any executable script in those directories is run. They can be used to send email or perform other actions. They are currently run as root so if you do not need this functionality you can disable it, though this will also disable cobbler status which uses a logging trigger to audit install progress.

default: true

enables a trigger which version controls all changes to /var/lib/cobbler when add, edit, or sync events are performed. This can be used to revert to previous database versions, generate RSS feeds, or for other auditing or backup purposes. Git and Mercurial are currently supported, but Git is the recommend SCM for use with this feature.

default:

scm_track_enabled: false
scm_track_mode: "git"
scm_track_author: "cobbler <cobbler@localhost>"
scm_push_script: "/bin/true"

Sort and indent JSON output to make it more human-readable.

default: False

This is the address of the Cobbler server -- as it is used by systems during the install process, it must be the address or hostname of the system as those systems can see the server. if you have a server that appears differently to different subnets (dual homed, etc), you need to read the --server-override section of the manpage for how that works.

default: 127.0.0.1

When puppet starts on a system after installation it needs to have its certificate signed by the puppet master server. Enabling the following feature will ensure that the puppet server signs the certificate after installation if the puppet master server is running on the same machine as Cobbler. This requires puppet_auto_setup above to be enabled.

default: false

The cobbler import workflow is powered by this file. Its location can be set with this config option.

default: /var/lib/cobbler/distro_signatures.json

Updates to the signatures may happen more often then we have releases. To enable you to import new version we provide the most up to date signatures we offer on this like. You may host this file for yourself and adjust it for your needs.

default: https://cobbler.github.io/signatures/3.0.x/latest.json

This variable contains the location of the tftpboot directory. If this directory is not present Cobbler does not start.

Default: /srv/tftpboot

Should new profiles for virtual machines default to auto booting with the physical host when the physical host reboots? This can be overridden on each profile or system object.

default: true

Cobbler's web directory.  Don't change this setting -- see the Wiki on "relocating your Cobbler install" if your /var partition is not large enough.

default: @@webroot@@/cobbler

Directories that will not get wiped and recreated on a cobbler sync.

default:

webdir_whitelist:
  - misc
  - web
  - webui
  - localmirror
  - repo_mirror
  - distro_mirror
  - images
  - links
  - pub
  - repo_profile
  - repo_system
  - svc
  - rendered
  - .link_cache

Set to true to enable the generation of Windows boot files in Cobbler.

default: False

For more information see Windows installation with Cobbler.

Location of templates used for Windows.

default: /etc/cobbler/windows

For more information see Windows installation with Cobbler.

Samba share name for distros

default: DISTRO

For more information see Windows installation with Cobbler.

Cobbler's public XML-RPC listens on this port. Change this only if absolutely needed, as you'll have to start supplying a new port option to Koan if it is not the default.

default: 25151

The default yum priority for all the distros. This is only used if yum-priorities plugin is used. 1 is the maximum value. Tweak with caution.

default: true

cobbler repo add commands set Cobbler up with repository information that can be used during autoinstall and is automatically set up in the Cobbler autoinstall templates. By default, these are only available at install time. To make these repositories usable on installed systems (since Cobbler makes a very convenient mirror) set this to True. Most users can safely set this to True. Users who have a dual homed Cobbler server, or are installing laptops that will not always have access to the Cobbler server may wish to leave this as False. In that case, the Cobbler mirrored yum repos are still accessible at http://cobbler.example.org/cblr/repo_mirror and YUM configuration can still be done manually. This is just a shortcut.

default: True

Flags to use for yumdownloader. Not all versions may support --resolve.

default: "--resolve"

What users can log into Cobbler via the XML-RPC API or the HTTP-API?

Choices:

• authentication.denyall    -- No one
• authentication.configfile -- Use /etc/cobbler/users.digest (default)
• authentication.passthru   -- Ask Apache to handle it (used for kerberos)
• authentication.ldap       -- Authenticate against LDAP
• authentication.spacewalk  -- Ask Spacewalk/Satellite (experimental)
• authentication.pam        -- Use PAM facilities
• (user supplied)  -- You may write your own module

NOTE:

A new web interface is in the making. At the moment we do not have any documentation, yet.

default: authentication.configfile

Hash algorithms:

This parameter has currently only a meaning when the option authentication.configfile is used. The parameter decides what hashfunction algorithm is used for checking the passwords.

Choices:

• blake2b
• blake2s
• sha3_512
• sha3_384
• sha3_256
• sha3_224
• shake_128
• shake_256

default: sha3_512

Once a user has been cleared by the WebUI/XML-RPC, what can they do?

Choices:

• authorization.allowall   -- full access for all authenticated users (default)
• authorization.ownership  -- use users.conf, but add object ownership semantics
• (user supplied)  -- you may write your own module

WARNING:

If you want to further restrict Cobbler with ACLs for various groups, pick authorization.ownership. authorization.allowall does not support ACLs. Configuration file does but does not support object ownership which is useful as an additional layer of control.

NOTE:

A new web interface is in the making. At the moment we do not have any documentation, yet.

default: authorization.allowall

Chooses the DNS management engine if manage_dns is enabled in /etc/cobbler/settings.yaml, which is off by default.

Choices:

• managers.bind    -- default, uses BIND/named
• managers.dnsmasq -- uses dnsmasq, also must select dnsmasq for DHCP below
• managers.ndjbdns -- uses ndjbdns

NOTE:

More configuration is still required in /etc/cobbler

For more information see DNS management.

default: managers.bind

Chooses the DHCP management engine if manage_dhcp is enabled in /etc/cobbler/settings.yaml, which is off by default.

Choices:

• managers.isc     -- default, uses ISC dhcpd
• managers.dnsmasq -- uses dnsmasq, also must select dnsmasq for DNS above

NOTE:

More configuration is still required in /etc/cobbler

For more information see DHCP Management.

default: managers.isc

Chooses the TFTP management engine if manage_tftpd is enabled in /etc/cobbler/settings.yaml, which is on by default.

Choices:

• managers.in_tftpd -- default, uses the system's TFTP server

default: managers.in_tftpd