Prepare a host to be a Lab Management Manager node

Lab Management 2.3 provides a kickstart configuration file that makes it is easier for on-site customers to create the Manager node.

Lab Management Manager software is provided as a compressed tar file with some essential packages such as Apache web server and mod_python included.

Note: To reduce the chance of conflicts with the packages included in the Lab Management software, it is important to install Lab Management on a dedicated machine with a minimal set of installed packages.

To make the package selection easier when installing the Manager server, a kicsktart configuration file, ks.cfg, is provided for each supported OS version. You can use this file to install the OS from a downloaded OS DVD image.

Note: The packages selected in the ks.cfg file are the minimum required to run the Lab Management Manager software. You can add additional packages such as Gnome or KDE graphic environment packages, as long as they don't conflict with the packages bundled in the Lab Management manager software.

Currently Lab Management Manager software is only supported on 32-bit versions of RHEL 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 and 64-bit versions of RHEL 6.0 and 6.1 operating systems. Theoretically it should also run on 32 bit versions of CentOS 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4, but we have not tested it.

These instructions are applicable to running the Manager on a physical node or as an ESX guest.

If you are installing a physical machine as a Manager node, the best way to kickstart your server using the ks.cfg file is to download it from a Web server or NFS server. For this, you need to connect your server to a subnet from where you can access your Web server or NFS server.
1. Boot the node into the BIOS setup menu, and configure the boot order to boot from CD-ROM before local hard disk.
2. Insert the OS DVD disc in the DVD drive and reboot the server.
3. when the server reboots, enter this command at the boot prompt: boot: linux ks=http://servername/path/to/ks.cfg Or, if you use NFS, enter: boot: linux ks=nfs:servername:/path/to/ks.cfg.
  If your Manager node is on a subnet without a DHCP server, but with unrestricted access from this subnet to your web server or NFS server, you can manually specify network configuration as boot arguments:
```
boot: linux ip=10.1.1.10 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway= 10.1.1.1 \
ks=nfs:servername:/path/to/ks.cfg
```
  If your machine is located on an subnet without a DHCP server and with restricted access from this subnet to other networks, you need to make the ks.cfg file available to this machine locally -- for example, on a floppy or USB drive. To use ks.cfg on a floppy drive, enter:
```
boot: linux ks=floppy
```
If your Manager node is an ESX/ESXi guest, (a feature available since Lab Management 2.3), install the OS as you would on a on physical host. However, both DVD and floppy devices can be image files.
Once the Manager node is installed and running, you need to install additional VMware packages.
1. Directly download these packages from the VMware site (32-bit or 64-bit depending on the OS version of the manager):
  - VMware-vSphere-CLI-4.0.0-140463.i386.tar.gz -- or a later build)
  - VMware-server-1.0.10 -- You need this only if the manager node is a physical host and we will be running Active Directory image as a guest and you'll be running an Active Directory image as a guest on the manager node)
2. Install VMware-vSphere-CLI as follows:
```
# cd /tmp
# tar zxf VMware-vSphere-CLI-4.0.0-140463.i386.tar.gz
# cd vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib
# vmware-install.pl --prefix=/usr/local/vmware-vicli --default
```
  Read and accept the EULA.
  Note: The executable binaries should be located in the /usr/local/vmware-vicli/bin directory, which is a path hardcoded in the Lab Management script.