Installation on a headless host: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:36, 4 April 2025

This page documents an easy installation procedure for Alpine Linux on a headless host i.e a system without keyboard, mouse & display to interact with but otherwise available only through a network connection. Somebody has to insert the Install media and power up the headless host. This procedure applies to all platforms.

Headless bootstrap overlay file

The Headless bootstrap repo provides a ready-to-use overlay file to bootstrap a headless system.

While straightforward in default use-case, many optional settings and advanced modes are detailed on repo homepage (unattended installs scripting, secured logon, ssh keys configuration, gadget-modes, etc).

Note: The author of above repo macmpi also maintains a number of raspberrypi* packages for Alpine Linux.

To Install Alpine Linux on a headless host, just add headless.apkovl.tar.gz overlay file as-is (along with optional config files) at the root of customizable boot device, or of a side media.

If using wifi networking, create a file wpa_supplicant.conf in the same location as follows:

Contents of wpa_supplicant.conf

country=FR

network={
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	ssid="mySSID"
	psk="myPassPhrase"
}

Alternately, wpa_passphrase utility from wpa_supplicant package can be used to create the encrypted version of the above file as follows:

$ wpa_passphrase 'mySSID' 'myPassPhrase' > wpa_supplicant.conf

The above encrypted version of the wpa_supplicant.conf file may be placed in the same location.

Boot the system with the above setup: usual Installation steps can then be performed remotely using ssh

To find the ip of your headless host, one may use the nmap tool from nmap package as follows: $ nmap -v -sn 192.168.1.0/24

Alternative custom install media preparation steps

A Custom install media for a headless host can be created using a customizable boot device as per the below process.

Note: Instead of customizable boot device, if a read-only boot media is used, then storing the configs require either a separate storage media or server location.

Booting the customizable boot device on some computer with a display and keyboard attached, or in a virtual machine, and doing an intermediate "diskless" setup of just the boot media (more details below), i.e. using the offical setup-alpine to configure the system's network, possibly for dhcp if needed, a ssh server, and a login user.
Choosing "disks=none" for now, yet, configure to store configs on the customizable boot device.
Use lbu commit to store the configs as local backup. Then your completed setup, including its securely created own private keys, will readily get (re)loaded on every subsequent (headless) boot from your custom-build <hostname>.apkovl.tar.gz stored on the customizable boot device.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-This page documents the Installation procedure for Alpine Linux on a headless host i.e a system without a keyboard, mouse & display to interract with but  otherwise available only through a network connection.
+This page documents an easy installation procedure for Alpine Linux on a headless host i.e a system without keyboard, mouse & display to interact with but otherwise available only through a network connection. Somebody has to insert the Install media and power up the headless host. This procedure applies to '''all''' platforms.
-{{Note| These steps still require physical access to the headless machine. Somebody has to insert the installation medium and power up the headless server.}}
+== Headless bootstrap overlay file ==
-== Custom install media preperation steps==
+The [https://github.com/macmpi/alpine-linux-headless-bootstrap Headless bootstrap] repo provides a ready-to-use overlay file to bootstrap a headless system.
-A Custom-made headless [[Diskless Mode#Apkovl|apkovl]] file can be created as per the below process.
+While straightforward in default use-case, many optional settings and advanced modes are detailed on repo homepage (unattended installs scripting, secured logon, ssh keys configuration, gadget-modes, etc).
-{{Todo|Verification of the below steps and adding missing details(if any) is needed}}
-* Booting the install media on some computer with a display and keyboard attached, or in a virtual machine, and doing an intermediate "diskless" setup of just the boot media (more details below), i.e. using the offical <code>[[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-alpine|setup-alpine]]</code> to configure the system's network, possibly for dhcp if needed, a ssh server, and a login user.
-* Choosing "disks=none" for now, yet, configure to store configs on the boot media (if it is writable, otherwise on a separate storage media).
-* Use <code>[[Alpine_local_backup|lbu commit]]</code> to store the configs as local backup. Then your completed setup, including its securely created own private keys, will readily get (re)loaded on every subsequent (headless) boot from your custom-build <code><hostname>.apkovl.tar.gz</code> stored on the boot media (or on an auxilary media or server location, in case the boot media is read-only).
-== Headless bootstrap ==
+{{Note|The author of above repo macmpi also maintains a number of {{pkg|raspberrypi*|arch=|maintainer=macmpi}} packages for Alpine Linux.}}
-{{Note| The solution is from [https://github.com/macmpi/alpine-linux-headless-bootstrap github repository] whose author macmpi is also the maintainer of a number of {{pkg|raspberrypi*|arch=|maintainer=macmpi}} packages.}}
+To Install Alpine Linux on a headless host, just add [https://github.com/macmpi/alpine-linux-headless-bootstrap  headless.apkovl.tar.gz] overlay file as-is (along with optional config files) at the root of [[Create a Bootable Device|customizable boot device]], or of a side media.
-To Install Alpine Linux on a headless host, a bootstrapping configuration overlay file [https://github.com/macmpi/alpine-linux-headless-bootstrap  headless.apkovl.tar.gz] may be added as-is at the root of Alpine Linux [[Installation#Preparing_installation_media|Installation media]].
+If using wifi networking, create a file {{Path|wpa_supplicant.conf}} in the same location as follows:{{Cat|wpa_supplicant.conf|<nowiki>country=FR
-To enable wifi, create a file {{Path|wpa_supplicant.conf}} in the install media as follows:{{Cat|wpa_supplicant.conf|<nowiki>country=FR
 network={
@@ Line 25: / Line 19: @@
 }</nowiki>}}
-Alternately, <code>wpa_passphrase</code> utility from {{pkg|wpa_supplicant}} package can be used to create the encrypted version of the above file as follows:{{Codeline| wpa_passphrase 'mySSID' 'myPassPhrase' > wpa_supplicant.conf}}
+Alternately, <code>wpa_passphrase</code> utility from {{pkg|wpa_supplicant}} package can be used to create the encrypted version of the above file as follows:{{Cmd|$ wpa_passphrase 'mySSID' 'myPassPhrase' > wpa_supplicant.conf}}
-The above encrypted version of the {{Path|wpa_supplicant.conf}} file may be placed in the Install media.
+The above encrypted version of the {{Path|wpa_supplicant.conf}} file may be placed in the same location.
+Boot the system with the above setup: usual [[Installation#Installation_Step_Details|Installation steps]] can then be performed remotely using {{ic|ssh}}
+To find the ip of your headless host, one may use the {{ic|nmap}} tool from {{pkg|nmap}} package as follows: {{Codeline|$ nmap -v -sn 192.168.1.0/24}}
+== Alternative custom install media preparation steps==
+A Custom install media for a headless host can be created using a [[Create a Bootable Device|customizable boot device]] as per the below process.
+{{Note|Instead of [[Create a Bootable Device|customizable boot device]], if a read-only boot media is used, then storing the configs require either a separate storage media or server location.}}
-With the above setup, the usual [[Installation#Installation_Step_Details|Installation steps]] can be performed remotely using <code>ssh</code>. Use the {{ic|nmap}} tool from {{pkg|nmap}} package as follows: {{Codeline|nmap -v -sn 192.168.1.0/24}} to find the ip of your headless host.
+* Booting the [[Create a Bootable Device|customizable boot device]] on some computer with a display and keyboard attached, or in a virtual machine, and doing an intermediate "diskless" setup of just the boot media (more details below), i.e. using the offical <code>[[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-alpine|setup-alpine]]</code> to configure the system's network, possibly for dhcp if needed, a ssh server, and a login user.
+* Choosing "disks=none" for now, yet, configure to store configs on the customizable boot device.
+* Use <code>[[Alpine_local_backup|lbu commit]]</code> to store the configs as local backup. Then your completed setup, including its securely created own private keys, will readily get (re)loaded on every subsequent (headless) boot from your custom-build <code><hostname>.apkovl.tar.gz</code> stored on the customizable boot device.
 ==See also==
+* [[Create a Bootable Device|Customizable boot device page]]
+* [[Diskless Mode#Apkovl|Diskless page with information on apkovl]]
+* [[Alpine local backup]]
+* [https://github.com/macmpi/alpine-linux-headless-bootstrap/ Bootstrap Alpine Linux on a headless system] using pre-built <code>apkovl</code> overlay file.
-* [https://github.com/macmpi/alpine-linux-headless-bootstrap/ Bootstrap Alpine Linux on a headless system] using pre-built <code>apkovl</code> overlay file.
+[[Category:Installation]]