Workaround for Anaconda network timeout and spanning tree with kickstart installations

If you are running spanning tree you can get in trouble with anaconda network initialization. Spanning tree needs about a 30 seconds to bring the switch port up, so you could get a dhcp timeout. Add following to the kernel boot parameters:

dhcptimeout=60

Sample:

        #Install CentOS 5.4 x86
        label install_centos54_x86
        menu label ^CentOS 5.4 x86
        menu default
        kernel repo/CentOS/releases/5.4/i386/isolinux/vmlinuz
        ipappend 2
        append initrd=repo/CentOS/releases/5.4/i386/isolinux/initrd.img ramdisk_size=8192 ip=dhcp ks=http://kickstartserver/configs/centos_54_x86/ks.cfg ksdevice=bootif noshell unattended=yes dhcptimeout=60

• Anaconda Boot Options
• nicdelay and linksleep May Be of Assistance