<s>
Cobbler	B-Device
is	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
provisioning	O
server	O
that	O
facilitates	O
and	O
automates	O
the	O
network-based	O
system	O
installation	B-Application
of	O
multiple	O
computer	B-General_Concept
operating	I-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
from	O
a	O
central	O
point	O
using	O
services	O
such	O
as	O
DHCP	B-Protocol
,	O
TFTP	B-Device
,	O
and	O
DNS	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
be	O
configured	O
for	O
PXE	B-Device
,	O
reinstallations	O
,	O
and	O
virtualized	O
guests	O
using	O
Xen	B-Operating_System
,	O
KVM	B-Application
or	O
VMware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cobbler	B-Device
interacts	O
with	O
the	O
koan	O
program	O
for	O
re-installation	O
and	O
virtualization	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
koan	O
and	O
Cobbler	B-Device
use	O
libvirt	B-Language
to	O
integrate	O
with	O
different	O
virtualization	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cobbler	B-Device
is	O
able	O
to	O
manage	O
complex	O
network	O
scenarios	O
like	O
bridging	B-Protocol
on	O
a	O
bonded	B-Architecture
Ethernet	O
link	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Cobbler	B-Device
project	O
was	O
born	O
at	O
Red	O
Hat	O
and	O
led	O
by	O
Michael	O
DeHaan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cobbler	B-Device
builds	O
on	O
the	O
Kickstart	B-Application
mechanism	O
and	O
offers	O
installation	B-Application
profiles	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
applied	O
to	O
one	O
or	O
many	O
machines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
features	O
integration	O
with	O
Yum	B-Application
to	O
aid	O
in	O
machine	O
installs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cobbler	B-Device
has	O
features	O
to	O
dynamically	O
change	O
the	O
information	O
contained	O
in	O
a	O
kickstart	B-Application
template	O
(	O
definition	O
)	O
,	O
either	O
by	O
passing	O
variables	O
called	O
ksmeta	O
or	O
by	O
using	O
so-called	O
snippets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
could	O
be	O
inherited	O
from	O
the	O
system	O
's	O
Cobbler	B-Device
profile	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Snippets	O
can	O
be	O
dynamic	O
Python	B-Language
code	I-Language
that	O
expands	O
the	O
limited	O
functionality	O
of	O
Anaconda	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
combination	O
of	O
profiles	O
,	O
ksmeta	O
and	O
snippets	O
gives	O
Cobbler	B-Device
high	O
flexibility	O
;	O
complexity	O
is	O
avoided	O
by	O
keeping	O
the	O
actual	O
"	O
code	O
"	O
in	O
the	O
snippets	O
,	O
of	O
which	O
there	O
can	O
be	O
one	O
for	O
each	O
task	O
in	O
an	O
installation	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
examples	O
for	O
network	O
setup	O
or	O
disk	O
partitioning	O
;	O
keeping	O
common	O
code	O
in	O
snippets	O
helps	O
minimize	O
the	O
size	O
of	O
the	O
kickstart	B-Application
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cobbler	B-Device
was	O
originally	O
targeted	O
for	O
RPM-based	O
installs	O
via	O
Kickstart	B-Application
and	O
Anaconda	B-Language
and	O
was	O
previously	O
hosted	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Fedora	O
Project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
Jan	O
19	O
,	O
2011	O
,	O
Cobbler	B-Device
has	O
been	O
packaged	O
for	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2012	O
,	O
Canonical	O
Ltd	O
has	O
used	O
Cobbler	B-Device
for	O
test	O
automation	O
of	O
OpenStack	B-Application
on	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Red	O
Hat	O
's	O
systems	B-Application
management	I-Application
application	O
,	O
Satellite	B-Application
,	O
used	O
Cobbler	B-Device
for	O
provisioning	O
up	O
until	O
RedHat	O
Satellite	B-Application
6.0	O
.	O
</s>
