Installing Cobbler on Manjaro

In this tutorial, we will be learning how to install and configure Cobbler on Manjaro. Cobbler is a Linux installation server that automates the installation process of Linux distributions.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

  • Manjaro installed and updated
  • Root access or sudo privileges

Step 1: Installing Cobbler

To install Cobbler, we will use the pacman package manager. Open your terminal and run the following command:

sudo pacman -S cobbler

This command will install Cobbler and its dependencies.

Step 2: Configuring Cobbler

  1. Open the cobbler config file in a text editor:
sudo nano /etc/cobbler/settings
  1. In the cobbler settings file, uncomment the following lines:
# server: ....
# next_server: ....
# manage_dhcp: ....
# module_disabled: ....
# restart_daemons: dhcpd

  1. Replace the IP addresses with your own IP address.

  2. Uncomment the password line in your cobbler configuration file by removing the # symbol:

default_password_crypted: "YOUR PASSWORD HASH HERE"
  1. Replace “YOUR PASSWORD HASH HERE” with your hashed password. To create a hashed password, run the following command in the terminal:
openssl passwd -1

  1. Enter your password and copy the generated hash.

  2. After entering the hashed password, save the file and close your text editor.

Step 3: Starting Cobbler Service

Now that we’ve installed and configured Cobbler, we will start the service.

  1. Run the following command in your terminal:
sudo systemctl start cobblerd
  1. Then, start the Cobbler service:
sudo systemctl start cobblerd

You can verify the service's status by running this command:

sudo systemctl status cobblerd

Step 4: Testing Cobbler

Now that Cobbler is running, you can test it by running the following command in the terminal:

sudo cobbler check

This command will check if Cobbler is properly installed and configured.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Cobbler on Manjaro. You can now use Cobbler to automate the Linux installation process.