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==The Debian preseed setup==
At first some basics. To use a so called "preseed" file it is good to know what it is. The Debian installation is done with the "Debian Installer", short d-i. This d-i normally is a ncurses based console application that asks you some questions about your timezone, your partition setup, your network and so on. All this questions could be answered trough a preseed file. In this file some or all questions could be answerdanswered.
Now it is good to know that if you do not answer a question or if a question pops up which is not in the preseed file, the d-i wait waits until you give a right answer. So it is a really good thing because you could leave some thing something open and use the same preseed file for different hardware boxes e.g. one hardware have has one network interface, another hardware has four network interfaces.
Also it is good to know that you can use the preseed file to answer questions from any Debian package which is using the debconf interface, for example postfix.
===How to start the preseed setup===
Simply download the Netinstall CD from a Debian mirror put it in your cdrom-drive an and boot the computerserver. After booting from the CD you should see the Debian Grub Boot menu. In this menu you should select the "Advanced Option" and in the following menu place your cursor on "Automated install" - '''but do not press enter!'''
You have to edit this boot menu entry by pressing the '''TAB''' key. Now you can append the '''URL''' option to the end of this boot line. Now press enter and continue the setup. Here is an example and a screen shot.
[[Image:Notbuu_1_preseed.png|200px|thumb|Grub menu screen]]
As an example here is our preseed file:
===During the preseed setup===
If the d-i faces a question where it founds finds no answer in the preseed file it will hold on until you answer the question. The d-i will not cancel the installation process.
This is an interesting feature because you could use one file for different hardware setups. For example, if you have not configured that the d-i to always use uses the eth0 device during setup and there is more then one network card in your hardware, the d-i will wait until you choose one device.
[[Image:Notbuu_2_preseed.png|200px|thumb|d-i wait for answer]]
====Additional informations====
At our site we use different preseed files for different purposes. As example one preseed for VMWare (Guest) servers etc...
All our preseed files are placed on a webserver but you should know that it is also possible to integrate the preseed process into a self made Debian installation medium.
The apt-proxy setup is as easy as 1-2-3 go.
Here is the preseed file, please note the that I have removed the comments but I make some explanations for clearer understanding:
<pre>
d-i netcfg/wireless_wep string
d-i mirror/country string enter information manually
''#This is our APT-PROXY address''
d-i mirror/http/hostname string youraptproxy:9999
d-i mirror/http/directory string /debian
d-i mirror/suite string stable
d-i clock-setup/ntp boolean true
''#NTP Server''
d-i clock-setup/ntp-server string yourtimeserver
''#The partition setup – be careful! #By default the OpenVZ debian packages are using /var/lib/vz''
d-i partman-auto/method string lvm
d-i partman-auto/purge_lvm_from_device boolean true
d-i apt-setup/contrib boolean true
d-i apt-setup/security_host youraptproxy:9999
''#Our private internal repository for some packages''
d-i apt-setup/local0/repository string \
http://yourprivaterepository:10000/debian hns stable
d-i apt-setup/local0/key string http://yourprivaterepository:10000/PublicKey
d-i passwd/make-user boolean false
''#The encrypted root password (this is only an example :) )''
d-i passwd/root-password-crypted password $1$v4rfe7wv$gEkbCLxCPhKaj92s.uJbD1
d-i grub-installer/only_debian boolean true
d-i grub-installer/with_other_os boolean true
tasksel tasksel/first multiselect standard
''#Additional base packages''
d-i pkgsel/include string openssh-server build-essential vim snmpd lib32z1-dev rsync ntp ntpdate
d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note
xserver-xorg xserver-xorg/config/monitor/mode-list \
select 1024x768 @ 60 Hz
''#Packages that gets installed AFTER the base installation#hns* packages are build by our own to fasten the setup and management''
d-i preseed/late_command string apt-install hp-health hp-snmp-agents hpsmh \
hp-smh-templates hpacucli cpqacuxe ethtool linux-headers-2.6-openvz-amd64 \