UEFI BOOT_DISK full image gives "error populating transaction, anaconda"

Support
1

After the “starting package installation process” message, I get
“error population transaction, anaconda is retrying 1/10”
repeats to “…10/10”

This is Katello 3.16 Installation on a vanilla centos 7.8.2003 install. Nothing else installed.

foreman-installer --scenario katello --foreman-proxy-http true --foreman-proxy-httpboot true --foreman-proxy-tftp true (with boot_disk as true in the answer file)

I should start by saying I have done so much with foreman in the last week, build system, push packages using puppet, batch remote commands. However there was one thing that bugged me which was my boot_disk clients did not use UEFI boot after install.

I was hoping that the solution was here “Bootdisk 17.0 with EFI support”. But while it creates a uefi ISO, the ISO (flashed to USB drive) the installation fails mid way (see title)

I am doing what I think is “full host boot disk”. The resulting ISO is 64MB in size.
Where should the source packages be ? This is key to solving the issue.

Now I hate to demonstrate my ignorance but please help me out on this one unknown variable (for me)
When I am adding a host, the second tab (OS) asks “PXE loader”. What should I be putting?

Also under the templates tab of my OS I have
Finish template = KS default finish
iPXE template = KS default iPX
Provisioning template = KS default
PXEGrub template = KS default PXE Grub
PXEGrub2 template= KS default PXE Grub 2
PXELinux template = KS default PXE Linux
User data template = KS default user data

There is no “Boot disk embedded template” as I think that is only for “Generic subnet bootdisk” option

Going to a terminal on the failed build, I see the network is up and able to resolve and ping the foreman server,

2

Sure it is not a coincidence but anaconda has now breezed past the packages when I changed
Media Selection from “Synced Content” to “All Media” (after configuring "installation media for the OS)

So rather than installing from my repo, it is installing from a centos7 mirror. Not a production solution for me because we have an air gaped network. my testing environment in not air gaped.

3

Uh, lot of confusion here. Various bits here and there. Where should I start?

I haven’t seen this one, this looks like a YUM/DNF error? Some repositories missing? Maybe a screenshot?

Anaconda installs EFI partitioning if the system is EFI, otherwise it installs BIOS parititons. There is no switch, Anaconda cannot install EFI with BIOS and vice versa.

When booting from network, you need to set PXE loader to either “PXELinux BIOS” for BIOS systems or “Grub2 UEFI” or “Grub2 UEFI HTTP” depending on if you want to do PXE or HTTP UEFI boot. However, in case of Full Host Bootdisk (the big one - 60 MB) the bootloader is actually present in the ISO therefore PXE loader setting is ignored - you can have it at “None” or whatever.

That is correct, in Full Host Bootdisk only “Provisioning” template is used, all the other ones are unused. When generating the image, both PXELinux and PXEGrub2 templates are used tho to generate configuration that is embedded on the disk. Few replacements are made in the bootdisk plugin tho, it’s a bit hacky, yeah. :slight_smile: :love_letter: :beers:

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4

Thanks. You have clarified an uncertainty. One down, two more to go …one of them You have already replied to (I about to read it)