I did a remote install of centos a few months ago. Assuming you have ssh access and if you can get /etc/grub.conf to load the DVD install image, you can append the kernel line with
vnc vncconnect=xx.xx.xx.xx headless ip=dhcp ksdevice=eth0
where xx.xx.xx.xx is the ip of the machine running the vnc client.
Then on the client machine, run
vncviewer -listen
Provided grub.conf loads the DVD w/ modified kernel args, anaconda (f10 install) will establish a vnc connection with the client computer.
If you don't have dhcp, there are additional kernel arguments:
ip=192.168.0.xx netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.0.1 dns=xx.xx.xx.xx hostname=localhost
I haven't tried this (did something similar with centos), but I believe that's the route you need to go. The crappy part is, if grub hangs, you'll probably have to hook up the monitor and keyboard.
More info here: fedoraproject.org: sn-remoteaccess-installation
hi thanks for the advice. It's a trade off between lugging a monitor across town (london) vs software hassle. Looks like general consensus though is that the monitor option is probably easiest. Kickstart looks interesting though - but probably overkill for a single-server set up. Cheers. – None – 2008-12-12T18:13:44.307