[PATCH datacenter-manager v3 24/38] docs: add documentation for auto-installer integration

Christoph Heiss
2026-04-03T16:56:29Z

* use concrete URL in example
* add section about templating and token authentication

Changes v1 -> v2:
* new patch

docs/automated-installations.rst | 124 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
docs/index.rst | 1 +
2 files changed, 125 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 docs/automated-installations.rst

diff --git a/docs/automated-installations.rst b/docs/automated-installations.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c0f828
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/automated-installations.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+.. _automated_installations:
+
+Automated Installations
+=======================
+
+The Proxmox Datacenter Manager provides integration with the automated
+installer for all Proxmox products.
+
+A detailed documentation of all available options can be found on `our dedicated
+wiki page <https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation>`_.
+
+.. _autoinst_overview:
+
+Overview
+~~~~~~~~
+
+The overview shows all past and ongoing installations done using the Proxmox
+Datacenter Manager. It allows access to the raw system information data as sent
+by the automated installer before the actual installation, and (if configured)
+post-installation notification hook data, containing extensive information about
+the newly installed system.
+
+.. _autoinst_answers:
+
+Prepared Answers
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This view provides an overview over all defined answer files and allows editing,
+copying into new answers and deleting them. For a quick overview, it shows
+whether an answer is the default and what target filters have been defined for
+that particular configuration.
+
+Target filter
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Target filter allow you to control what systems should match.
+
+`Filters`_ are key-value pairs in the format ``key=format``, with keys being
+`JSON Pointers`_, and match systems based the identifying information sent by
+the installer as JSON document. An example of such a document is provided `on
+the wiki
+<https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation#System_information_POST_data>`_.
+
+JSON Pointers allow for identifying specific values within a JSON document. For
+example, to match only Proxmox VE installations by the product name, a filter
+entry like ``/product/product=pve`` can be used.
+
+Values are *globs* and use the same syntax as the automated installer itself.
+The following special characters can be used in filters:
+
+* ``?`` -- matches any single character
+* ``*`` -- matches any number of characters, can be none
+* ``[a]``, ``[abc]``, ``[0-9]`` -- matches any single character inside the
+ brackets, ranges are possible
+
+* ``[!a]`` -- negate the filter, any single character but the ones specified
+
+A prepared answer can be also set as default, in which case it will be used if
+no other more specific answer matches based on its configured target filters.
+
+.. _autoinst_preparing_iso:
+
+Templating
+^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Certain fields support templating via `Handlebars`_ and definable *counters*.
+Counters are automatically incremented each time an answer file is served to a
+client, allowing for easy provisioning of unique fields, such as per-system
+hostnames.
+
+The following counter is automatically defined when creating a new prepared
+answer configuration:
+
+* ``installation-nr`` -- The current counter value of the number of
+ installations done with this particular answer configuration.
+
+This mechanism allows templating on the following fields for prepared answer
+configurations:
+
+* **Administrator email address**
+* **Hostname/FQDN**
+* **Network IP address (CIDR)**
+* **Network gateway**
+* **DNS Server address**
+
+Authentication token management
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+To use the automated installer integration of Proxmox Datacenter Manager, an
+installation process must authenticate itself. This also provides for an
+additional scoping mechanism for prepared answer configurations.
+
+The automated installer integration uses a dedicated token mechanism, separate
+from the normal API tokens.
+
+Preparing an ISO
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+To use an installation ISO of a Proxmox product with the Proxmox Datacenter
+Manager functionality, the ISO must be appropriately prepared to `fetch an
+answer via HTTP`_ from the Proxmox Datacenter Manager using the
+``proxmox-auto-install-assistant`` tool, available from the Proxmox VE package
+repositories.
+
+The `target URL`_ for the automated installer must point to
+``https://<pdm>/api2/json/auto-install/answer``, where ``<pdm>`` is the address
+under which the Proxmox Datacenter Manager is reachable from the systems to be
+installed.
+
+For example:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+ proxmox-auto-install-assistant prepare-iso /path/to/source.iso \
+ --fetch-from http \
+ --url 'https://datacenter.example.com/api2/json/auto-install/answer' \
+ --cert-fingerprint 'ab:cd:ef:12:34:56:78:90:a1:b2:c3:d4:e5:f6:7a:8b:9c:0d:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:21:43:65:87:09:af:bd:ce' \
+ --answer-auth-token 'mytoken!ee2a5901-1910-4eb0-b0a2-c914f4adbb75'
+
+.. _JSON Pointers: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6901
+.. _fetch an answer via HTTP: https://pve.proxmox.com/edwiki/Automated_Installation#Answer_Fetched_via_HTTP
+.. _Filters: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation#Filters
+.. _target URL: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Automated_Installation#Answer_Fetched_via_HTTP
+.. _Handlebars: https://handlebarsjs.com/guide/
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 8398f57..2fc8a5d 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
web-ui.rst
sdn-integration.rst
remotes.rst
+ automated-installations.rst
views.rst
access-control.rst
sysadmin.rst
--
2.53.0