Provided by: cobbler-common_2.2.2-0ubuntu33_all bug

NAME

       cobbler - a provisioning and update server

       cobbler is a provisioning (installation) and update server.  It
       supports deployments via PXE (network booting), virtualization (Xen,
       QEMU/KVM, or VMware), and re-installs of existing Linux systems.  The
       latter two features are enabled by usage of 'koan' on the remote
       system.  Update server features include yum mirroring and integration
       of those mirrors with kickstart.  Cobbler has a command line interface,
       Web UI, and extensive Python and XMLRPC APIs for integration with
       external scripts and applications.

SYNOPSIS

       cobbler command [subcommand] [--arg1=value1] [--arg2=value2]

DESCRIPTION

       Cobbler manages provisioning using a tiered concept of Distributions,
       Profiles, Systems, and (optionally) Images and Repositories.

       Distributions contain information about what kernel and initrd are
       used, plus metadata (required kernel parameters, etc).

       Profiles associate a Distribution with a kickstart file and optionally
       customize the metadata further.

       Systems associate a MAC, IP, and other networking details with a
       profile and optionally customize the metadata further.

       Repositories contain yum mirror information.  Using cobbler to mirror
       repositories is an optional feature, though provisioning and package
       management share a lot in common.

       Images are a catch-all concept for things that do not play nicely in
       the "distribution" category.  Most users will not need these records
       initially and these are described later in the document.

       The main advantage of cobbler is that it glues together many disjoint
       technologies and concepts and abstracts the user from the need to
       understand them.   It allows the systems administrator to concentrate
       on what he needs to do, and not how it is done.

       This manpage will focus on the cobbler command line tool for use in
       configuring cobbler.  There is also mention of the Cobbler WebUI which
       is usable for day-to-day operation of Cobbler once
       installed/configured.  Docs on the API and XMLRPC components are
       available online at http://fedorahosted.org/cobbler.

       Most users will be interested in the Web UI and should set it up,
       though the command line is needed for initial configuration -- in
       particular "cobbler check" and "cobbler import", as well as the repo
       mirroring features.  All of these are described later in the
       documentation.

SEE ALSO

       For help in building kickstarts, try using the "system-config-
       kickstart" tool, or install a new system and look at the
       /root/anaconda-ks.cfg file left over from the installer.  General
       kickstart questions can also be asked at kickstart-list@redhat.com.
       Cobbler ships some kickstart templates in /etc/cobbler that may also
       prove helpful.

       Also see the aforementioned webpages for additional documentation, user
       contributed tips, and so on.

COBBLER USAGE

   SETUP
       After installing, run "cobbler check" to verify that cobbler's
       ecosystem is configured correctly.   Cobbler check will direct you on
       how to modify it's config files using a text editor.

       Any problems detected should be corrected, with the potential exception
       of DHCP related warnings where you will need to use your judgement as
       to whether they apply to your environment.  Run "cobbler sync" after
       making any changes to the configuration files to ensure those changes
       are applied to the environment.

       It is especially important that the server name field be accurate in
       /etc/cobbler/settings, without this field being correct, kickstart
       trees will not be found, and automated installations will fail.

       For PXE, if DHCP is to be run from the cobbler server, the dhcp
       configuration file should be changed as suggested by "cobbler check".
       If DHCP is not run locally, the "next-server" field on the DHCP server
       should at minimum point to the cobbler server's IP and the filename
       should be set to "pxelinux.0".  Alternatively, cobbler can also
       generate your dhcp configuration file if you want to run dhcp locally
       -- this is covered in a later section.  If you don't already have a
       DHCP setup managed by some other tool, allowing cobbler to manage your
       DHCP environment will prove to be useful as it can manage DHCP
       reservations and other data.  If you already have a DHCP setup, moving
       an existing setup to be managed from within cobbler is relatively
       painless -- though usage of the DHCP management feature is entirely
       optional.  If you are not interested in network booting via PXE and
       just want to use koan to install virtual systems or replace existing
       ones, DHCP configuration can be totally ignored.  Koan also has a live
       CD (see koan's manpage) capability that can be used to simulate PXE
       environments.

   DISTRIBUTIONS
       This first step towards configurating what you want to install is to
       add a distribution record to cobbler's configuration.

       If there is an rsync mirror, DVD, NFS, or filesystem tree available
       that you would rather import instead, skip down to the documentation
       about the "import" command.  It's really a lot easier to follow the
       import workflow -- it only requires waiting for the mirror content to
       be copied and/or scanned.  Imported mirrors also save time during
       install since they don't have to hit external install sources.

       If you want to be explicit with distribution definition, however,
       here's how it works:

       cobbler distro add --name=string --kernel=path --initrd=path
       [--kopts=string] [--kopts-post=string] [--ksmeta=string]
       [--arch=x86|x86_64|ia64] [--breed=redhat|debian|suse]
       [--template-files=string]

       name
           a string identifying the distribution, this should be something
           like "rhel4".

       kernel
           An absolute filesystem path to a kernel image

       initrd
           An absolute filesystem path to a initrd image

       kopts
           Sets kernel command-line arguments that the distro, and
           profiles/systems dependant on it, will use.  To remove a kernel
           argument that may be added by a higher cobbler object (or in the
           global settings), you can prefix it with a "!".

           Example: --kopts="foo=bar baz=3 asdf !gulp"

           This example passes the arguments "foo=bar baz=3 asdf" but will
           make sure "gulp" is not passed even if it was requested at a level
           higher up in the cobbler configuration.

       kopts-post
           This is just like --kopts, though it governs kernel options on the
           installed OS, as opposed to kernel options fed to the installer.
           The syntax is exactly the same.  This requires some special
           snippets to be found in your kickstart template in order for this
           to work.  Kickstart templating is described later on in this
           document.

           Example: "noapic"

       arch
           Sets the architecture for the PXE bootloader and also controls how
           koan's --replace-self option will operate.

           The default setting ('standard') will use pxelinux.   Set to 'ia64'
           to use elilo.  'ppc' and 'ppc64' use yaboot.  's390x' is not
           PXEable, but koan supports it for reinstalls.

           'x86' and 'x86_64' effectively do the same thing as standard.

           If you perform a cobbler import, the arch field will be auto-
           assigned.

       ksmeta
           This is an advanced feature that sets kickstart variables to
           substitute, thus enabling kickstart files to be treated as
           templates.  Templates are powered using Cheetah and are described
           further along in this manpage as well as on the Cobbler Wiki.

           Example: --ksmeta="foo=bar baz=3 asdf"

           See the section on "Kickstart Templating" for further information.

       breed
           Controls how various physical and virtual parameters, including
           kernel arguments for automatic installation, are to be treated.
           Defaults to "redhat", which is a suitable value for Fedora and
           CentOS as well.  It means anything redhat based.

           There is limited experimental support for specifying "debian",
           "ubuntu", or "suse", which treats the kickstart file as a different
           format and changes the kernel arguments appropriately.   Support
           for other types of distributions is possible in the future.  See
           the Wiki for the latest information about support for these
           distributions.

           The file used for the answer file, regardless of the breed setting,
           is the value used for --kickstart when creating the profile.  In
           other words, if another distro calls their answer file something
           other than a "kickstart", the kickstart parameter still governs
           where that answer file is.

       os-version
           Generally this field can be ignored.   It is intended to alter some
           hardware setup for virtualized instances when provisioning guests
           with koan.  The valid options for --os-version vary depending on
           what is specified for --breed.  If you specify an invalid option,
           the error message will contain a list of valid os versions that can
           be used.  If you do not know the os version or it does not appear
           in the list, omitting this argument or using "other" should be
           perfectly fine.  Largely this is needed to support older
           distributions in virtualized settings, such as "rhel2.1", one of
           the OS choices if the breed is set to "redhat".  If you do not
           encounter any problems with virtualized instances, this option can
           be safely ignored.

       owners
           Users with small sites and a limited number of admins can probably
           ignore this option.  All cobbler objects (distros, profiles,
           systems, and repos) can take a --owners parameter to specify what
           cobbler users can edit particular objects.  This only applies to
           the Cobbler WebUI and XMLRPC interface, not the "cobbler" command
           line tool run from the shell.  Furthermore, this is only respected
           by the "authz_ownership" module which must be enabled in
           /etc/cobbler/modules.conf.  The value for --owners is a space
           seperated list of users and groups as specified in
           /etc/cobbler/users.conf.  For more information see the users.conf
           file as well as the Cobbler Wiki.  In the default Cobbler
           configuration, this value is completely ignored, as is users.conf.

       template-files
           This feature allows cobbler to be used as a configuration
           management system.  The argument is a space delimited string of
           key=value pairs. Each key is the path to a template file, each
           value is the path to install the file on the system.  This is
           described in further detail on the Cobbler Wiki and is implemented
           using special code in the post install.  Koan also can retrieve
           these files from a cobbler server on demand, effectively allowing
           cobbler to function as a lightweight templated configuration
           management system.

       redhat-management-key
           If you're using Red Hat Network, Red Hat Satellite Server, or
           Spacewalk, you can store your authentication keys here and Cobbler
           can add the neccessary authentication code to your kickstart where
           the snippet named "redhat_register" is included.  Read more about
           setup in /etc/cobbler/settings.

   PROFILES
       A profile associates a distribution to additional specialized options,
       such as a kickstart automation file.  Profiles are the core unit of
       provisioning and at least one profile must exist for every distribution
       to be provisioned.  A profile might represent, for instance, a web
       server or desktop configuration.  In this way, profiles define a role
       to be performed.

       cobbler profile add --name=string --distro=string [--kickstart=path]
       [--kopts=string] [--ksmeta=string] [--virt-file-size=gigabytes]
       [--virt-ram=megabytes] [--virt-type=string] [--virt-cpus=integer]
       [--virt-path=string] [--virt-bridge=string] [--server-override]
       [--parent=profile]

       Arguments are the same as listed for distributions, save for the
       removal of "arch" and "breed", and with the additions listed below:

       name
           A descriptive name.  This could be something like "rhel5webservers"
           or "f9desktops".

       distro
           The name of a previously defined cobbler distribution. This value
           is required.

       kickstart
           Local filesystem path to a kickstart file.  http:// URLs (even
           CGI's) are also accepted, but a local file path is recommended, so
           that the kickstart templating engine can be taken advantage of.

           If this parameter is not provided, the kickstart file will default
           to /var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts/default.ks.  This file is initially
           blank, meaning default kickstarts are not automated "out of the
           box".  Admins can change the default.ks if they desire.

           When using kickstart files, they can be placed anywhere on the
           filesystem, but the recommended path is
           /var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts.   If using the webapp to create new
           kickstarts, this is where the web application will put them.

       nameservers
           If your nameservers are not provided by DHCP, you can specify a
           space seperated list of addresses here to configure each of the
           installed nodes to use them (provided the kickstarts used are
           installed on a per-system basis).   Users with DHCP setups should
           not need to use this option.  This is available to set in profiles
           to avoid having to set it repeatedly for each system record.

       virt-file-size
           (Virt-only) How large the disk image should be in Gigabytes.  The
           default is "5".  This can be a space seperated list (ex: "5,6,7")
           to allow for multiple disks of different sizes depending on what is
           given to --virt-path.  This should be input as a integer or decimal
           value without units.

       virt-ram
           (Virt-only) How many megabytes of RAM to consume.  The default is
           512 MB.  This should be input as an integer without units.

       virt-type
           (Virt-only) Koan can install images using either Xen paravirt
           ("xenpv") or QEMU/KVM ("qemu").  Choose one or the other strings to
           specify, or values will default to attempting to find a compatible
           installation type on the client system ("auto").  See the "koan"
           manpage for more documentation.  The default virt-type can be
           configured in the cobbler settings file such that this parameter
           does not have to be provided.  Other virtualization types are
           supported, for information on those options (such as VMware), see
           the Cobbler Wiki.

       virt-cpus
           (Virt-only) How many virtual CPUs should koan give the virtual
           machine?  The default is 1.  This is an integer.

       virt-path
           (Virt-only) Where to store the virtual image on the host system.
           Except for advanced cases, this parameter can usually be omitted.
           For disk images, the value is usually an absolute path to an
           existing directory with an optional file name component.  There is
           support for specifying partitions "/dev/sda4" or volume groups
           "VolGroup00", etc.

           For multiple disks, seperate the values with commas such as
           "VolGroup00,VolGroup00" or "/dev/sda4,/dev/sda5".  Both those
           examples would create two disks for the VM.

       virt-bridge
           (Virt-only) This specifies the default bridge to use for all
           systems defined under this profile.  If not specified, it will
           assume the default value in the cobbler settings file, which as
           shipped in the RPM is 'xenbr0'.  If using KVM, this is most likely
           not correct.  You may want to override this setting in the system
           object.  Bridge settings are important as they define how outside
           networking will reach the guest.  For more information on bridge
           setup, see the Cobbler Wiki, where there is a section describing
           koan usage.

       repos
           This is a space delimited list of all the repos (created with
           "cobbler repo add" and updated with "cobbler reposync") that this
           profile can make use of during kickstart installation.  For
           example, an example might be --repos="fc6i386updates fc6i386extras"
           if the profile wants to access these two mirrors that are already
           mirrored on the cobbler server.  Repo management is described in
           greater depth later in the manpage.

       parent
           This is an advanced feature.

           Profiles may inherit from other profiles in lieu of specifing
           --distro.  Inherited profiles will override any settings specified
           in their parent, with the exception of --ksmeta (templating) and
           --kopts (kernel options), which will be blended together.

           Example:  If profile A has --kopts="x=7 y=2", B inherits from A,
           and B has --kopts="x=9 z=2", the actual kernel options that will be
           used for B are "x=9 y=2 z=2".

           Example:  If profile B has --virt-ram=256 and A has --virt-ram of
           512, profile B will use the value 256.  Example:  If profile A has
           a --virt-file-size of 5 and B does not specify a size, B will use
           the value from A.

       server-override
           This parameter should be useful only in select circumstances.  If
           machines are on a subnet that cannot access the cobbler server
           using the name/IP as configured in the cobbler settings file, use
           this parameter to override that server name.   See also --dhcp-tag
           for configuring the next server and DHCP informmation of the system
           if you are also using Cobbler to help manage your DHCP
           configuration.

   SYSTEMS
       System records map a piece of hardware (or a virtual machine) with the
       cobbler profile to be assigned to run on it.  This may be thought of as
       chosing a role for a specific system.

       Note that if provisioning via koan and PXE menus alone, it is not
       required to create system records in cobbler, though they are useful
       when system specific customizations are required.   One such
       customization would be defining the MAC address.  If there is a
       specific role inteded for a given machine, system records should be
       created for it.

       System commands have a wider variety of control offered over network
       details.  In order to use these to the fullest possible extent, the
       kickstart template used by cobbler must contain certain kickstart
       snippets (sections of code specifically written for Cobbler to make
       these values become reality).   Compare your kickstart templates with
       the stock ones in /var/lib/cobbler/kickstarts if you have upgraded, to
       make sure you can take advantage of all options to their fullest
       potential.  If you are a new cobbler user, base your kickstarts off of
       these templates.  Non-kickstart based distributions, while supported by
       Cobbler, may not be able to use all of these features.

       Read more about networking setup at:
       https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/AdvancedNetworking

       cobbler system add --name=string --profile=string [--mac=macaddress]
       [--ip=ipaddress] [--hostname=hostname] [--kopts=string]
       [--ksmeta=string] [--kickstart=path] [--netboot-enabled=Y/N]
       [--server-override=string] [--gateway=string] [--dns-name=string]
       [--static-routes=string] [--power-address=string] [--power-type=string]
       [--power-user=string] [--power-password=string] [--power-id=string]

       Adds a cobbler System to the configuration.  Arguments are specified as
       per "profile add" with the following changes:

       name
           The system name works like the name option for other commands.

           If the name looks like a MAC address or an IP, the name will
           implicitly be used for either --mac or --ip of the first interface,
           respectively.   However, it's usually better to give a descriptive
           name -- don't rely on this behavior.

           A system created with name "default" has special semantics.  If a
           default system object exists, it sets all undefined systems to PXE
           to a specific profile.  Without a "default" system name created,
           PXE will fall through to local boot for unconfigured systems.

           When using "default" name, don't specify any other arguments than
           --profile ... they won't be used.

       --mac
           Specifying a mac address via --mac allows the system object to boot
           directly to a specific profile via PXE, bypassing cobbler's PXE
           menu.  If the name of the cobbler system already looks like a mac
           address, this is inferred from the system name and does not need to
           be specified.

           MAC addresses have the format AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF. It's higly
           recommended to register your MAC-addresses in Cobbler if you're
           using static adressing with multiple interfaces, or if you are
           using any of the advanced networking features like bonding, bridges
           or VLANs.

           Cobbler does contain a feature (enabled in /etc/cobbler/settings)
           that can automatically add new system records when it finds
           profiles being provisioned on hardware it has seen before.  This
           may help if you do not have a report of all the MAC addresses in
           your datacenter/lab configuration.

       --ip
           If cobbler is configured to generate a DHCP configuratition (see
           advanced section), use this setting to define a specific IP for
           this system in DHCP.  Leaving off this parameter will result in no
           DHCP management for this particular system.

           Example: --ip=192.168.1.50

           Note for Itanium users:  this setting is always required for IA64
           regardless of whether DHCP management is enabled.

           If DHCP management is disabled and the interface is labelled
           --static=1, this setting will be used for static IP configuration.

           Special feature: To control the default PXE behavior for an entire
           subnet, this field can also be passed in using CIDR notation.  If
           --ip is CIDR, do not specify any other arguments other than --name
           and --profile.

           When using the CIDR notation trick, don't specify any arguments
           other than --name and --profile... they won't be used.

       --dns-name
           If using the DNS management feature (see advanced section --
           cobbler supports auto-setup of BIND and dnsmasq), use this to
           define a hostname for the system to receive from DNS.

           Example: --dns-name=mycomputer.example.com

           This is a per-interface parameter.  If you have multiple
           interfaces, it may be different for each interface, for example,
           assume a DMZ / dual-homed setup.

       --gateway and --subnet
           If you are using static IP configurations and the interface is
           flagged --static=1, these will be applied.

           Subnet is a per-interface parameter.  Because of the way gateway is
           stored on the installed OS, gateway is a global parameter.  You may
           usse --static-routes for per-interface customizations if required.

       --hostname
           This field corresponds to the hostname set in a systems
           /etc/sysconfig/network file.  This has no bearing on DNS, even when
           manage_dns is enabled.  Use --dns-name instead for that feature.

           This parameter is assigned once per system, it is not a per-
           interface setting.

       --power-address, --power-type, --power-user, --power-password,
       --power-id
           Cobbler contains features that enable integration with power
           management for easier installation, reinstallation, and management
           of machines in a datacenter environment.  These parameters are
           described online at
           https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/PowerManagement.  If you have
           a power-managed datacenter/lab setup, usage of these features may
           be something you are interested in.

       --static
           Indicates that this interface is statically configured.  Many
           fields (such as gateway/subnet) will not be used unless this field
           is enabled.

           This is a per-interface setting.

       --static-routes
           This is a space delimited list of ip/mask:gateway routing
           information in that format.  Most systems will not need this
           information.

           This is a per-interface setting.

       --virt-bridge
           (Virt-only) While --virt-bridge is present in the profile object
           (see above), here it works on an interface by interface basis.
           For instance it would be possible to have --virt-bridge0=xenbr0 and
           --virt-bridge1=xenbr1.  If not specified in cobbler for each
           interface, koan will use the value as specified in the profile for
           each interface, which may not always be what is intended, but will
           be sufficient in most cases.

           This is a per-interface setting.

       --kickstart
           While it is recommended that the --kickstart parameter is only used
           within for the "profile add" command, there are limited scenarios
           when an install base switching to cobbler may have legacy
           kickstarts created on a per-system basis (one kickstart for each
           system, nothing shared) and may not want to immediately make use of
           the cobbler templating system.  This allows specifing a kickstart
           for use on a per-system basis.  Creation of a parent profile is
           still required.  If the kickstart is a filesystem location, it will
           still be treated as a cobbler template.

       --netboot-enabled
           If set false, the system will be provisionable through koan but not
           through standard PXE.  This will allow the system to fall back to
           default PXE boot behavior without deleting the cobbler system
           object.  The default value allows PXE.   Cobbler contains a PXE
           boot loop prevention feature (pxe_just_once, can be enabled in
           /etc/cobbler/settings) that can automatically trip off this value
           after a system gets done installing.  This can prevent installs
           from appearing in an endless loop when the system is set to PXE
           first in the BIOS order.

       --ldap-enabled, --ldap-type
           Cobbler contains features that enable ldap management for easier
           configuration after system provisioning. If set true, koan will run
           the ldap command as defined by the systems ldap_type. The default
           value is false.

       --monit-enabled
           If set true, koan will reload monit after each configuration run.
           The default value is false.

       --repos-enabled
           If set true, koan can reconfigure repositories after installation.
           This is described further on the Cobbler Wiki,
           https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/ManageYumRepos.

       --dhcp-tag
           If you are setting up a PXE environment with multiple
           subnets/gateways, and are using cobbler to manage a DHCP
           configuration, you will probably want to use this option.  If not,
           it canbe ignored.

           By default, the dhcp tag for all systems is "default" and means
           that in the DHCP template files the systems will expand out where
           $insert_cobbler_systems_definitions is found in the DHCP template.
           However, you may want certain systems to expand out in other places
           in the DHCP config file.  Setting --dhcp-tag=subnet2 for instance,
           will cause that system to expand out where
           $insert_cobbler_system_definitions_subnet2 is found, allowing you
           to insert directives to specify different subnets (or other
           parameters) before the DHCP configuration entries for those
           particular systems.

           This is described further on the Cobbler Wiki.

       --interface
           By default flags like --ip, --mac, --dhcp-tag, --dns-name,
           --subnet, --virt-bridge, and --static-routes operate on the first
           network interface defined for a system (eth0).  However, cobbler
           supports an arbitrary number of interfaces.  Using --interface=eth1
           for instance, will allow creating and editing of a second
           interface.

           Interface naming notes:

           Additional interfaces can be specified (for example: eth1, or any
           name you like, as long as it does not conflict with any reserved
           names such as kernel module names) for use with the edit command.
           Defining VLANs this way is also supported, of you want to add VLAN
           5 on interface eth0, simply name your interface eth0:5.

           Example:

           cobbler system edit --name=foo --ip=192.168.1.50
           --mac=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:A0 cobbler system edit --name=foo
           --interface=eth0 --ip=192.168.1.51 --mac=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:A1 cobbler
           system report foo

           Interfaces can be deleted using the --delete-interface option.

           Example:

           cobbler system edit --name=foo --interface=eth2 --delete-interface

       --interface-type, --interface-master and --bonding-opts/--bridge-opts
           One of the other advanced networking features supported by Cobbler
           is NIC bonding and bridging. You can use this to bond multiple
           physical network interfaces to one single logical interface to
           reduce single points of failure in your network, or to create
           bridged interfaces for things like tunnels and virtual machine
           networks. Supported values for the --interface-type parameter are
           "bond", "bond_slave", "bridge" and "bridge_slave". If one of the
           "_slave" options is specified, you also need to define the master-
           interface for this bond using --interface-master=INTERFACE. Bonding
           and bridge options for the master-interface may be specified using
           --bonding-opts="foo=1 bar=2" or --bridge-opts="foo=1 bar=2",
           respectively.

           Note: The options "master" and "slave" are deprecated, and are
           assumed to me "bond" and "bond_slave" when encountered. When a
           system object is saved, the deprecated values will be overwritten
           with the new, correct values.

           Example:

           cobbler system edit --name=foo --interface=eth0
           --mac=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:00 --interface-type=bond_slave
           --interface-master=bond0 cobbler system edit --name=foo
           --interface=eth1 --mac=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:01
           --interface-type=bond_slave --interface-master=bond0 cobbler system
           edit --name=foo --interface=bond0 --interface-type=bond
           --bonding-opts="mode=active-backup miimon=100" --ip=192.168.0.63
           --subnet=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.0.1 --static=1

           More information about networking setup is available at
           https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/AdvancedNetworking

           To review what networking configuration you have for any object,
           run "cobbler system report" at any time:

           Example:

           cobbler system report --name=foo

   REPOSITORIES
       Repository mirroring allows cobbler to mirror not only install trees
       ("cobbler import" does this for you) but also optional packages, 3rd
       party content, and even updates.   Mirroring all of this content
       locally on your network will result in faster, more up-to-date
       installations and faster updates.  If you are only provisioning a home
       setup, this will probably be overkill, though it can be very useful for
       larger setups (labs, datacenters, etc).

       cobbler repo add --mirror=url --name=string [--rpmlist=list]
       [--creatrepo-flags=string] [--keep-updated=Y/N] [--priority=number]
       [--arch=string] [--mirror-locally=Y/N] [--breed=yum|rsync|rhn]

       mirror
           The addresss of the yum mirror.  This can be an rsync:// URL, an
           ssh location, or a http:// or ftp:// mirror location.  Filesystem
           paths also work.

           The mirror address should specify an exact repository to mirror --
           just one architecture and just one distribution.  If you have a
           seperate repo to mirror for a different arch, add that repo
           seperately.

           Here's an example of what looks like a good URL:

           rsync://yourmirror.example.com/fedora-linux-core/updates/6/i386
           (for rsync protocol)
           http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/extras/6/i386/ (for http://)
           user@yourmirror.example.com/fedora-linux-core/updates/6/i386  (for
           SSH)

           Experimental support is also provided for mirroring RHN content
           when you need a fast local mirror.  The mirror syntax for this is
           --mirror=rhn://channel-name and you must have entitlements for this
           to work.  This requires the cobbler server to be installed on RHEL5
           or later.  You will also need a version of yum-utils equal or
           greater to 1.0.4.

       name
           This name is used as the save location for the mirror.  If the
           mirror represented, say, Fedora Core 6 i386 updates, a good name
           would be "fc6i386updates".  Again, be specific.

           This name corresponds with values given to the --repos parameter of
           "cobbler profile add".  If a profile has a --repos value that
           matches the name given here, that repo can be automatically set up
           during provisioning (when supported) and installed systems will
           also use the boot server as a mirror (unless
           "yum_post_install_mirror" is disabled in the settings file).  By
           default the provisioning server will act as a mirror to systems it
           installs, which may not be desirable for laptop configurations,
           etc.

           Distros that can make use of yum repositories during kickstart
           include FC6 and later, RHEL 5 and later, and derivative
           distributions.

           See the documentation on "cobbler profile add" for more
           information.

       rpm-list
           By specifying a space-delimited list of package names for
           --rpm-list, one can decide to mirror only a part of a repo (the
           list of packages given, plus dependencies).  This may be helpful in
           conserving time/space/bandwidth.  For instance, when mirroring FC6
           Extras, it may be desired to mirror just cobbler and koan, and skip
           all of the game packages.  To do this, use --rpm-list="cobbler
           koan".

           This option only works for http:// and ftp:// repositories (as it
           is powered by yumdownloader).  It will be ignored for other mirror
           types, such as local paths and rsync:// mirrors.

       createrepo-flags
           Specifies optional flags to feed into the createrepo tool, which is
           called when "cobbler reposync" is run for the given repository.
           The defaults are '-c cache'.

       keep-updated
           Specifies that the named repository should not be updated during a
           normal "cobbler reposync".    The repo may still be updated by
           name.   The repo should be synced at least once before disabling
           this feature See "cobbler reposync" below.

       mirror-locally
           When set to "N", specifies that this yum repo is to be referenced
           directly via kickstarts and not mirrored locally on the cobbler
           server.  Only http:// and ftp:// mirror urls are supported when
           using --mirror-locally=N, you cannot use filesystem URLs.

       priority
           Specifies the priority of the repository (the lower the number, the
           higher the priority), which applies to installed machines using the
           repositories that also have the yum priorities plugin installed.
           The default priority for the plugin is 99, as is that of all
           cobbler mirrored repositories.

       arch
           Specifies what architecture the repository should use.  By default
           the current system arch (of the server) is used, which may not be
           desirable.  Using this to override the default arch allows
           mirroring of source repositories (using --arch=src).

       yumopts
           Sets values for additional yum options that the repo should use on
           installed systems.  For instance if a yum plugin takes a certain
           parameter "alpha" and "beta", use something like --yumopts="alpha=2
           beta=3".

       breed
           Ordinarily cobbler's repo system will understand what you mean
           without supplying this parameter, though you can set it explicitly
           if needed.

   MANAGEMENT CLASSES
       Management classes allows cobbler to function as an configuration
       management system. Cobbler currently supports the following resource
       types:

       1. Packages
       2. Files

       Resources are executed in the order listed above.

       cobbler mgmtclass add --name=string --comment=string [--packages=list]
       [--files=list]

       name
           The name of the mgmtclass. Use this name when adding a management
           class to a system, profile, or distro. To add a mgmtclass to an
           existing system use something like (cobbler system edit
           --name="madhatter" --mgmt-classes="http mysql").

       comment
           A comment that describes the functions of the management class.

       packages
           Specifies a list of package resources required by the management
           class.

       files
           Specifies a list of file resources required by the management
           class.

MANAGEMENT RESOURCES

       Resources are the lego blocks of configuration management. Resources
       are grouped together via Management Classes, which are then linked to a
       system. Cobbler supports two (2) resource types. Resources are
       configured in the order listed below.

       1. Packages
       2. Files

   PACKAGE RESOURCES
       Package resources are managed using cobbler package add

       Actions

       install
           Install the package. [Default]

       uninstall
           Uninstall the package.

       Attributes

       installer
           Which package manager to use, vaild options [rpm|yum].

       version
           Which version of the package to install.

       Examples

       cobbler package add --name=string --comment=string
       [--action=install|uninstall] --installer=string [--version=string]

   FILE RESOURCES
       Actions

       create
           Create the file. [Default]

       remove
           Remove the file.

       Attributes

       mode
           Permission mode (as in chmod).

       group
           The group owner of the file.

       user
           The user for the file.

       path
           The path for the file.

       template
           The template for the file.

       Examples

       cobbler file add --name=string --comment=string [--action=string]
       --mode=string --group=string --user=string --path=string
       [--template=string]

   DISPLAYING CONFIGURATION ENTRIES
       The following commands are usable regardless of how you are using
       cobbler.  "report" gives detailed configuration info. "list" just lists
       the names of items in the configuration.  Run these commands to check
       how you have cobbler configured.

       cobbler list

       cobbler distro|profile|system|repo|image|mgmtclass|package|file list

       cobbler report

       cobbler distro|profile|system|repo|image|mgmtclass|package|file report
       --name=[object-name]

       Alternatively, you could look at the configuration files in
       /var/lib/cobbler to see the same information.

   DELETING CONFIGURATION ENTRIES
       If you want to remove a specific object, use the remove command with
       the name that was used to add it.

       cobbler distro remove --name=string

       cobbler profile remove --name=string

       cobbler system remove --name=string

       cobbler repo remove --name=string

       cobbler image remove --name=string

       cobbler mgmtclass remove --name=string

       cobbler package remove --name=string

       cobbler file remove --name=string

   EDITING
       If you want to change a particular setting without doing an "add"
       again, use the "edit" command, using the same name you gave when you
       added the item.  Anything supplied in the parameter list will overwrite
       the settings in the existing object, preserving settings not mentioned.

       cobbler distro|profile|system|repo|image|mgmtclass|package|file edit
       --name=string [parameterlist]

   COPYING
       Objects can also be copied:

       cobbler distro|profile|system|repo|image|mgmtclass|package|file copy
       --name=oldname --newname=newname

   RENAMING
       Objects can also be renamed, as long as other objects don't reference
       them.

       cobbler distro|profile|system|repo|image|mgmtclass|package|file rename
       --name=oldname --newname=newname

   REPLICATING
       Cobbler can replicate configurations from a master cobbler server.
       Each cobbler server is still expected to have a locally relevant
       /etc/cobbler/cobbler.conf and modules.conf, as these files are not
       synced.

       This feature is intended for load-balancing, disaster-recovery, backup,
       or multiple geography support.

       cobbler replicate --master=cobbler.example.org [--distros=pattern]
       [--profiles=pattern] [--systems=pattern] [--repos-pattern]
       [--images=pattern] [--prune] [--omit-data]

       Cobbler can replicate data from a central server.

       Objects that need to be replicated should be specified with a pattern,
       such as --profiles="webservers* dbservers*" or
       --systems="*.example.org".   All objects matched by the pattern, and
       all dependencies of those objects matched by the pattern (recursively)
       will be transferred from the remote server to the central server.  This
       is to say if you intend to transfer "*.example.org" and the definition
       of the systems have not changed, but a profile above them has changed,
       the changes to that profile will also be transferred.

       In the case where objects are more recent on the local server, those
       changes will not be overridden locally.

       Common data locations will be rsync'ed from the master server unless
       --omit-data is specified.

       To delete objects that are no longer present on the master server, use
       --prune.  Warning:  this will delete all object types not present on
       the remote server from the local server, and is recursive.   If you use
       prune, it is best to manage cobbler centrally and not expect changes
       made on the slave servers to be preserved.   It is not currently
       possible to just prune objects of a specific type.

   REBUILDING CONFIGURATIONS
       cobbler sync

       Cobbler sync is used to repair or rebuild the contents /tftpboot or
       /var/www/cobbler when something has changed behind the scenes.  It
       brings the filesystem up to date with the configuration as understood
       by cobbler.

       Sync should be run whenever files in /var/lib/cobbler are manually
       edited (which is not recommended except for the settings file) or when
       making changes to kickstart files.  In practice, this should not happen
       often, though running sync too many times does not cause any adverse
       effects.

       If using cobbler to manage a DHCP and/or DNS server (see the advanced
       section of this manpage), sync does need to be run after systems are
       added to regenerate and reload the DHCP/DNS configurations.

       The sync process can also be kicked off from the web interface.

EXAMPLES

   IMPORT WORKFLOW
       Import is a very useful command that makes starting out with cobbler
       very quick and easy.

       This example shows how to create a provisioning infrastructure from a
       distribution mirror or DVD ISO.  Then a default PXE configuration is
       created, so that by default systems will PXE boot into a fully
       automated install process for that distribution.

       You can use a network rsync mirror, a mounted DVD location, or a tree
       you have available via a network filesystem.

       Import knows how to autodetect the architecture of what is being
       imported, though to make sure things are named correctly, it's always a
       good idea to specify --arch.  For instance, if you import a
       distribution named "fedora8" from an ISO, and it's an x86_64 ISO,
       specify --arch=x86_64 and the distro will be named "fedora8-x86_64"
       automatically, and the right architecture field will also be set on the
       distribution object.  If you are batch importing an entire mirror
       (containing multiple distributions and arches), you don't have to do
       this, as cobbler will set the names for things based on the paths it
       finds.

       cobbler check

       cobbler import --path=rsync://yourfavoritemirror.com/foo --name=rhel5
       --arch=x86

       # OR

       cobbler import --path=/mnt/dvd --name=rhel5 --arch=x86_64

       # OR (using an eternal NAS box without mirroring)

       cobbler import --path=/path/where/filer/is/mounted --name=anyname
       --available-as=nfs://nfs.example.org:/where/mounted/

       # wait for mirror to rsync...

       cobbler report

       cobbler system add --name=default --profile=name_of_a_profile1

       cobbler system add --name=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
       --profile=name_of_a_profile2

       cobbler sync

   NON-IMPORT (MANUAL) WORKFLOW
       The following example uses a local kernel and initrd file (already
       downloaded), and shows how profiles would be created using two
       different kickstarts -- one for a web server configuration and one for
       a database server.  Then, a machine is assigned to each profile.

       cobbler check

       cobbler distro add --name=rhel4u3 --kernel=/dir1/vmlinuz
       --initrd=/dir1/initrd.img

       cobbler distro add --name=fc5 --kernel=/dir2/vmlinuz
       --initrd=/dir2/initrd.img

       cobbler profile add --name=fc5webservers --distro=fc5-i386
       --kickstart=/dir4/kick.ks
       --kopts="something_to_make_my_gfx_card_work=42
       some_other_parameter=foo"

       cobbler profile add --name=rhel4u3dbservers --distro=rhel4u3
       --kickstart=/dir5/kick.ks

       cobbler system add --name=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF --profile=fc5-webservers

       cobbler system add --name=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FE --profile=rhel4u3-dbservers

       cobbler report

   REPOSITORY MIRRORING WORKFLOW
       The following example shows how to set up a repo mirror for two
       repositories, and create a profile that will auto install those
       repository configurations on provisioned systems using that profile.

       cobbler check

       # set up your cobbler distros here.

       cobbler repo add
       --mirror=http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/core/updates/6/i386/
       --name=fc6i386updates

       cobbler repo add
       --mirror=http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/extras/6/i386/
       --name=fc6i386extras

       cobbler reposync

       cobbler profile add --name=p1 --distro=existing_distro_name
       --kickstart=/etc/cobbler/kickstart_fc6.ks --repos="fc6i386updates
       fc6i386extras"

   VIRTUALIZATION
       For Virt, be sure the distro uses the correct kernel (if paravirt) and
       follow similar steps as above, adding additional parameters as desired:

       cobbler distro add --name=fc7virt [options...]

       Specify reasonable values for the Virt image size (in GB) and RAM
       requirements (in MB):

       cobbler profile add --name=virtwebservers --distro=fc7virt
       --kickstart=path --virt-file-size=10 --virt-ram=512 [...]

       Define systems if desired.  koan can also provision based on the
       profile name.

       cobbler system add --name=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FE --profile=virtwebservers
       [...]

       If you have just installed cobbler, be sure that the "cobblerd" service
       is running and that port 25151 is unblocked.

       See the manpage for koan for the client side steps.

ADVANCED TOPICS

   PXE MENUS
       Cobbler will automatically generate PXE menus for all profiles it has
       defined.  Running "cobbler sync" is required to generate and update
       these menus.

       To access the menus, type "menu" at the "boot:" prompt while a system
       is PXE booting.  If nothing is typed, the network boot will default to
       a local boot.  If "menu" is typed, the user can then choose and
       provision any cobbler profile the system knows about.

       If the association between a system (MAC address) and a profile is
       already known, it may be more useful to just use "system add" commands
       and declare that relationship in cobbler; however many use cases will
       prefer having a PXE system, especially when provisioning is done at the
       same time as installing new physical machines.

       If this behavior is not desired, run "cobbler system add --name=default
       --profile=plugh" to default all PXE booting machines to get a new copy
       of the profile "plugh".  To go back to the menu system, run "cobbler
       system remove --name=default" and then "cobbler sync" to regenerate the
       menus.

       When using PXE menu deployment exclusively, it is not neccessary to
       make cobbler system records, although the two can easily be mixed.

       Additionally, note that all files generated for the pxe menu
       configurations are templatable, so if you wish to change the color
       scheme or equivalent, see the files in /etc/cobbler.

   KICKSTART TEMPLATING
       The --ksmeta options above require more explanation.

       If and only if --kickstart options reference filesystem URLs, --ksmeta
       allows for templating of the kickstart files to achieve advanced
       functions.  If the --ksmeta option for a profile read --ksmeta="foo=7
       bar=llama", anywhere in the kickstart file where the string "$bar"
       appeared would be replaced with the string "llama".

       To apply these changes, "cobbler sync" must be run to generate custom
       kickstarts for each profile/system.

       For NFS and HTTP kickstart URLs, the "--ksmeta" options will have no
       effect. This is a good reason to let cobbler manage your kickstart
       files, though the URL functionality is provided for integration with
       legacy infrastructure, possibly including web apps that already
       generate kickstarts.

       Templated kickstart files are processed by the templating
       program/package Cheetah, so anything you can do in a Cheetah template
       can be done to a kickstart template.  Learn more at
       http://www.cheetahtemplate.org/learn.html

       When working with Cheetah, be sure to escape any shell macros that look
       like "$(this)" with something like "\$(this)" or errors may show up
       during the sync process.

       The Cobbler Wiki also contains numerous Cheetah examples that should
       prove useful in using this feature.

   KICKSTART SNIPPETS
       Anywhere a kickstart template mentions SNIPPET::snippet_name, the file
       named /var/lib/cobbler/snippets/snippet_name (if present) will be
       included automatically in the kickstart template.  This serves as a way
       to recycle frequently used kickstart snippets without duplication.
       Snippets can contain templating variables, and the variables will be
       evaluated according to the profile and/or system as one would expect.

       Snippets can also be overridden for specific profile names or system
       names.  This is described on the Cobbler Wiki.

   KICKSTART VALIDATION
       To check for potential errors in kickstarts, prior to installation, use
       "cobbler validateks".  This function will check all profile and system
       kickstarts for detectable errors.  Since pykickstart is not future-
       Anaconda-version aware, there may be some false positives.  It should
       be noted that "cobbler validateks" runs on the rendered kickstart
       output, not kickstart templates themselves.

   DHCP MANAGEMENT
       Cobbler can optionally help you manage DHCP server.  This feature is
       off by default.

       Choose either "management = isc_and_bind" in /etc/cobbler/dhcp.template
       or "management = "dnsmasq" in /etc/cobbler/modules.conf.  Then set
       "manage_dhcp" to 1 in /etc/cobbler/settings.

       This allows DHCP to be managed via "cobbler system add" commands, when
       you specify the mac address and IP address for systems you add into
       cobbler.

       Depending on your choice, cobbler will use /etc/cobbler/dhcpd.template
       or /etc/cobbler/dnsmasq.template as a starting point.  This file must
       be user edited for the user's particular networking environment.  Read
       the file and understand how the particular app (ISC dhcpd or dnsmasq)
       work before proceeding.

       If you already have DHCP configuration data that you would like to
       preserve (say DHCP was manually configured earlier), insert the
       relevant portions of it into the template file, as running "cobbler
       sync" will overwrite your previous configuration.

       NOTE: Itanium systems names also need to be assigned to a distro that
       was created with the "--arch=ia64" parameter. If you have Itanium
       systems, you must (for now) choose 'dhcp_isc' for
       /etc/cobbler/modules.conf and manage_dhcp in the /etc/cobbler/settings
       file, and are required to use --ip when creating the system object in
       order for those systems to PXE.  This is due to an elilo limitation.

       By default, the DHCP configuration file will be updated each time
       "cobbler sync" is run, and not until then, so it is important to
       remember to use "cobbler sync" when using this feature.

       If omapi_enabled is set to 1 in /etc/cobbler/settings, the need to sync
       when adding new system records can be eliminated.    However, the omapi
       feature is experimental and is not recommended for most users.

   DNS CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT
       Cobbler can optionally manage DNS configuration using BIND and dnsmasq.

       Choose either "management = isc_and_bind" or "management = dnsmasq" in
       /etc/cobbler/modules.conf and then enable manage_dns in
       /etc/cobbler/settings.

       This feature is off by default.  If using BIND, you must define the
       zones to be managed with the options 'manage_forward_zones' and
       'manage_reverse_zones'.  (See the Wiki for more information on this).

       If using BIND, Cobbler will use /etc/cobbler/bind.template and
       /etc/cobbler/zone.template as a starting point for the named.conf and
       individual zone files, respectively.  You may drop zone-specific
       template files in /etc/cobbler/zone_templates/name-of-zone which will
       override the default.  These files must be user edited for the user's
       particular networking environment.  Read the file and understand how
       BIND works before proceeding.

       If using dnsmasq, the template is /etc/cobbler/dnsmasq.template.  Read
       this file and understand how dnsmasq works before proceeding.

       All managed files (whether zone files and named.conf for BIND, or
       dnsmasq.conf for dnsmasq) will be updated each time ``cobbler sync'' is
       run, and not until then, so it is important to remember to use
       ``cobbler sync'' when using this feature.

   SERVICE DISCOVERY (AVAHI)
       If the avahi-tools package is installed, cobblerd will broadcast it's
       presence on the network, allowing it to be discovered by koan with the
       koan --server=DISCOVER parameter.

   IMPORTING TREES
       Cobbler can auto-add distributions and profiles from remote sources,
       whether this is a filesystem path or an rsync mirror.  This can save a
       lot of time when setting up a new provisioning environment.  Import is
       a feature that many users will want to take advantage of, and is very
       simple to use.

       After an import is run, cobbler will try to detect the distribution
       type and automatically assign kickstarts.  By default, it will
       provision the system by erasing the hard drive, setting up eth0 for
       dhcp, and using a default password of "cobbler".  If this is
       undesirable, edit the kickstart files in /etc/cobbler to do something
       else or change the kickstart setting after cobbler creates the profile.

       Mirrored content is saved automatically in /var/www/cobbler/ks_mirror.

       Example:  cobbler import --path=rsync://mirrorserver.example.com/path/
       --name=fedora --arch=x86

       Example2:  cobbler import --path=root@192.168.1.10:/stuff --name=bar

       Example3:  cobbler import --path=/mnt/dvd --name=baz --arch=x86_64

       Example4:  cobbler import --path=/path/to/stuff --name=glorp

       Example5:  cobbler import --path=/path/where/filer/is/mounted
       --name=anyname --available-as=nfs://nfs.example.org:/where/mounted/

       Once imported, run a "cobbler list" or "cobbler report" to see what
       you've added.

       By default, the rsync operations will exclude content of certain
       architectures, debug RPMs, and ISO images -- to change what is excluded
       during an import, see /etc/cobbler/rsync.exclude.

       Note that all of the import commands will mirror install tree content
       into /var/www/cobbler unless a network accessible location is given
       with --available-as.  --available-as will be primarily used when
       importing distros stored on an external NAS box, or potentially on
       another partition on the same machine that is already accessible via
       http:// or ftp://.

       For import methods using rsync, additional flags can be passed to rsync
       with the option --rsync-flags.

       Should you want to force the usage of a specific cobbler kickstart
       template for all profiles created by an import, you can feed the option
       --kickstart to import, to bypass the built-in kickstart auto-detection.

   DEFAULT PXE BOOT BEHAVIOR
       What happens when PXE booting a system when cobbler has no record of
       the system being booted?

       By default, cobbler will configure PXE to boot to the contents of
       /etc/cobbler/default.pxe, which (if unmodified) will just fall through
       to the local boot process.  Administrators can modify this file if they
       like to change that behavior.

       An easy way to specify a default cobbler profile to PXE boot is to
       create a system named "default".  This will cause
       /etc/cobbler/default.pxe to be ignored.  To restore the previous
       behavior do a "cobbler system remove" on the "default" system.

       cobbler system add --name=default --profile=boot_this

       cobbler system remove --name=default

       As mentioned in earlier sections, it is also possible to control the
       default behavior for a specific network:

       cobbler system add --name=network1 --ip=192.168.0.0/24
       --profile=boot_this

   REPO MANAGEMENT
       This has already been covered a good bit in the command reference
       section.

       Yum repository management is an optional feature, and is not required
       to provision through cobbler.  However, if cobbler is configured to
       mirror certain repositories, it can then be used to associate profiles
       with those repositories.  Systems installed under those profiles will
       then be autoconfigured to use these repository mirrors in
       /etc/yum.repos.d, and if supported (Fedora Core 6 and later) these
       repositories can be leveraged even within Anaconda.  This can be useful
       if (A) you have a large install base, (B) you want fast installation
       and upgrades for your systems, or (C) have some extra software not in a
       standard repository but want provisioned systems to know about that
       repository.

       Make sure there is plenty of space in cobbler's webdir, which defaults
       to /var/www/cobbler.

       cobbler reposync [--tries=N] [--no-fail]

       Cobbler reposync is the command to use to update repos as configured
       with "cobbler repo add".  Mirroring can take a long time, and usage of
       cobbler reposync prior to usage is needed to ensure provisioned systems
       have the files they need to actually use the mirrored repositories.  If
       you just add repos and never run "cobbler reposync", the repos will
       never be mirrored.  This is probably a command you would want to put on
       a crontab, though the frequency of that crontab and where the output
       goes is left up to the systems administrator.

       For those familiar with yum's reposync, cobbler's reposync is (in most
       uses) a wrapper around the yum command.  Please use "cobbler reposync"
       to update cobbler mirrors, as yum's reposync does not perform all
       required steps.  Also cobbler adds support for rsync and SSH locations,
       where as yum's reposync only supports what yum supports (http/ftp).

       If you ever want to update a certain repository you can run:

       cobbler reposync --only="reponame1" ...

       When updating repos by name, a repo will be updated even if it is set
       to be not updated during a regular reposync operation (ex: cobbler repo
       edit --name=reponame1 --keep-updated=0).

       Note that if a cobbler import provides enough information to use the
       boot server as a yum mirror for core packages, cobbler can set up
       kickstarts to use the cobbler server as a mirror instead of the outside
       world.  If this feature is desirable, it can be turned on by setting
       yum_post_install_mirror to 1 in /etc/settings ((and running "cobbler
       sync").  You should not use this feature if machines are provisioned on
       a different VLAN/network than production, or if you are provisioning
       laptops that will want to acquire updates on multiple networks.

       The flags --tries=N (for example, --tries=3) and --no-fail should
       likely be used when putting reposync on a crontab.  They ensure network
       glitches in one repo can be retried and also that a failure to
       synchronize one repo does not stop other repositories from being
       synchronized.

   PXE BOOT LOOP PREVENTION
       If you have your machines set to PXE first in the boot order (ahead of
       hard drives), change the "pxe_just_once" flag in /etc/cobbler/settings
       to 1.  This will set the machines to not PXE on successive boots once
       they complete one install.  To re-enable PXE for a specific system, run
       the following command:

       cobbler system edit --name=name --netboot-enabled=1

   KICKSTART TRACKING
       Cobbler knows how to keep track of the status of kickstarting machines.

       cobbler status

       Using the status command will show when cobbler thinks a machine
       started kickstarting and when it finished, provided the proper snippets
       are found in the kickstart template.   This is a good way to track
       machines that may have gone interactive (or stalled/crashed) during
       kickstarts.

   IMAGES
       Cobbler can help with booting images physically and virtually, though
       the usage of these commands varies substantially by the type of image.
       Non-image based deployments are generally easier to work with and lead
       to more sustaintable infrastructure. See
       https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/AllAboutImages for details on
       things that are offered.  Some manual use of other commands beyond of
       what is typically required of cobbler may be needed to prepare images
       for use with this feature.

   TRIGGERS
       Triggers provide a way to integrate cobbler with arbitrary 3rd party
       software without modifying cobbler's code.  When adding a distro,
       profile, system, or repo, all scripts in /var/lib/cobbler/triggers/add
       are executed for the particular object type.  Each particular file must
       be executable and it is executed with the name of the item being added
       as a parameter.  Deletions work similarly -- delete triggers live in
       /var/lib/cobbler/triggers/delete.  Order of execution is arbitrary, and
       cobbler does not ship with any triggers by default.  There are also
       other kinds of triggers -- these are described on the Cobbler Wiki.
       For larger configurations, triggers should be written in Python -- in
       which case they are installed differently.  This is also documented on
       the Wiki.

   API
       Cobbler also makes itself available as an XMLRPC API for use by higher
       level management software.  Learn more at
       http://fedorahosted.org/cobbler.

   WEB USER INTERFACE
       Most of the day-to-day actions in cobbler's command line can be
       performed in Cobbler's Web UI.  To enable and access the WebUI, see the
       following documentation:

       https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/CobblerWebInterface

   BOOT CD
       Cobbler can build all of it's profiles into a bootable CD image using
       the "cobbler buildiso" command.  This allows for PXE-menu like bringup
       of bare metal in evnvironments where PXE is not possible.  Another more
       advanced method is described in the koan manpage, though this method is
       easier and sufficient for most applications.

   POWER MANAGEMENT
       Cobbler contains a power management feature that allows the user to
       associate system records in cobbler with the power management
       configuration attached to them.  This can ease installation by making
       it easy to reassign systems to new operating systems and then reboot
       those systems.  Read more about this feature at
       https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/PowerManagement

   CONFIG MANAGEMENT INTEGRATION
       Cobbler contains features for integrating an installation environment
       with a configuration management system, which handles the configuration
       of the system after it is installed by allowing changes to
       configuration files and settings.  You can read more about this feature
       at https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/BuiltinConfigManagement and
       https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/UsingCobblerWithConfigManagementSystem.
       Both features may be considered experimental as of time of the 1.4
       release.

EXIT_STATUS

       cobbler's command line returns a zero for success and non-zero for
       failure.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

       Cobbler has a mailing list for user and development-related
       questions/comments at cobbler@lists.fedorahosted.org.  To subscribe,
       visit https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler

       IRC channel:  irc.freenode.net (#cobbler)

       Official web site, bug tracker, and Wiki:
       http://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/

AUTHOR

       Michael DeHaan <mdehaan@redhat.com>

POD ERRORS

       Hey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained
       below:

       Around line 548:
           You forgot a '=back' before '=head3'

       Around line 552:
           =back without =over

                                  2011-11-15                        COBBLER(1)