FAI from CD with static IP address; $NIC1 is not defined

[Schulze, Jan]

Hi,

I am trying to do an automated Debian Bullseye installation from CD. We do not use a DHCP server, so the IP address has to be set statically.

I have added the following kernel boot parameters:
HOSTNAME=<hostname> DOMAIN=<domainname> ip=<hostip>::<gateway>:<netmask>:<hostname>::off

I have not added an interface name to the "ip" parameter, because there are multiple interfaces, but only one with a cable/link. 
FAI does not use Predictable Network Interface Names during installation, and the interface with cable/link is sometimes named eth0, sometimes eth1 and so on.
When leaving the interface name empty, the first interface with an active link is used.

During installation, the network is functioning. In /var/log/fai/dmesg.log I am seeing messages like

eth1: NIC Link is Up, 1000 Mbps Full Duplex
... and later
eno3 renamed from eth1

Also, additional packages are being retrieved from a remote mirror.

However, error.log contains the following:
$NIC1 is not defined. Cannot add ethernet to /etc/network/interfaces

And after reboot, the network is not set up.

The varianble $NIC1 seems to be set in /usr/lib/fai/get-boot-info. I modified that script for debugging purposes in the NFSROOT. 
For starters, I added a simple echo statement that logs to boot.log: echo "foo" >> $bootlog
I also have verified, that the modified version ends up on the CD in LiveOS/squashfs.img. 
However, my modifications seem to have no effect, my foo does not appear in boot.log.

I am a little bit lost. Is "get-boot-info" not the right place to look? Am I missing something?

Regards
--
Jan Schulze