Cobbler is a Linux provisioning server that centralizes and simplifies control of services including DHCP, TFTP, and DNS for the purpose of performing network-based operating systems installs. It can be configured for PXE

Preboot Execution Environment

The Preboot eXecution Environment is an environment to boot computers using a network interface independently of data storage devices or installed operating systems.PXE was introduced as part of the Wired for Management framework by Intel and is described in the specification The Preboot...

, reinstallations, and virtualized guests using Xen

Xen

Xen is a virtual-machine monitor providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently....

, KVM

Kernel-based Virtual Machine

Kernel-based Virtual Machine is a virtualization infrastructure for the Linux kernel. KVM supports native virtualization on processors with hardware virtualization extensions....

 or VMware

VMware

VMware, Inc. is a company providing virtualization software founded in 1998 and based in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2004, and operates as a separate software subsidiary ....

. Cobbler interacts with the koan

Koan (disambiguation)

Kōan is a case, story, dialog, question, or statement in the history and lore of Zen Buddhism.Kōan may also refer to:* Kōan , a Japanese era * Kōan , a Japanese era...

 program for re-installation and virtualization support. koan and Cobbler use libvirt

Libvirt

libvirt is an open source API, daemon and management tool for managing platform virtualization. It can be used to manage Linux KVM, Xen, VMware ESX and other virtualization technologies...

 to integrate with different virtualization software.

Cobbler builds on the Kickstart

Kickstart (Linux)

The Red Hat Kickstart installation method is used primarily by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system to automatically perform unattended operating system installation and configuration...

 mechanism and offers installation profiles that can be applied to one or many machines. It also features integration with Yum

Yellow dog Updater, Modified

The Yellowdog Updater, Modified is an open-source command-line package-management utility for RPM-compatible Linux operating systems and has been released under the GNU General Public License. It was developed by Seth Vidal and a group of volunteer programmers...

 to aid in machine installs.

Although Cobbler primarily targets RPM-based installs via Kickstart and anaconda, it can be used to configure a PXE server to boot various non-RPM boot images such as Knoppix

Knoppix

Knoppix, or KNOPPIX , is an operating system based on Debian designed to be run directly from a CD / DVD or a USB key , one of the first of its kind for any operating system. Knoppix was developed by Linux consultant Klaus Knopper. When starting a program, it is loaded from the removable medium...

 and other flavors of Debian

Debian

Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...

.