Diskless workstations

[Stephen Smoogen]

Is it is simple to rename .snapshot to soemthing else. The NFS server is
a netapp :)

On Thu, 2003-07-24 at 10:11, Daniel J Walsh wrote:
> This diskless is a single /root directory containing all files and a 
> /.snapshot directory containing
> files that are specific to the client. (A very small subset).  It then 
> uses mount -o bind to mount the
> snapshot files over the /root files on the client.  You need to do a 
> chroot on the server to up2date it
> or rpm install it.    It will not support older versions of RH.  It 
> should work on RH9 or greater and
> it might work on RH8.
> 
> Dan
> 
> 
> Stephen Smoogen wrote:
> 
> >Thanks I will try to look at this next week. What I am trying to figure
> >out is the best/fastest way to set up new diskless clients that have
> >'full' installs.
> >
> >Currently we have two systems here. 
> >
> >The first is  where /usr and some other directories are stored on the
> >master tree and then the few remaining (/lib /var /etc /initrd etc) are
> >seperate per machine. This is very fast to bring up a new machine
> >because the date to be copied is small (20-40 megs on average). However
> >it is a pain in the ass to update as all the clients have to be rebuilt
> >after errata that change /etc, /lib etc occur.
> >
> >The second is much more disk intensive but easier to maintain. In this
> >version each client gets a complete install in an NFS tree. This allows
> >for a lot of customization per client (some can run 7.1 while others run
> >9.0). Maintenance is much easier because RPM can be run on each of the
> >trees seperately. However installs are SLOW because they are either
> >server side using a chroot anaconda (which I havent gotten working
> >seamlessly) or the client is doing all the writes via NFS.
> >
> >
> >On Thu, 2003-07-24 at 07:23, Daniel J Walsh wrote:
> >  
> >
> >>I have been working on a package called redhat-config-netboot that 
> >>allows you to setup diskless environments
> >>using NFS, as well as network installations.  It is based somewhat off 
> >>of LTSB.  It is basically a series of scripts and python code that sets 
> >>up a PXE boot environment and an diskless NFS partition.  
> >>
> >>ftp://people.redhat.com/dwalsh/netboot
> >>
> >>Comments welcome.
> >>
> >>Dan
> >>
> >>Chuck Wolber wrote:
> >>
> >>    
> >>
> >>> 
> >>>
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>>>No we do everything via NFS at the moment. Using a big ramdisk would cut
> >>>>into why all the machines have so much memory and CPU's. Basically the
> >>>>idea is that all CPU cycles are local and all data is foreign. The
> >>>>approach to this seems to follow either SGI or Sun ways of doing
> >>>>diskless clients. I like the Sun way of doing it (with each client
> >>>>getting its own tree) versus the SGI where most is common with the
> >>>>server and clients need a rebuild if server code changes.
> >>>>   
> >>>>
> >>>>        
> >>>>
> >>>Can a user move to another workstation and resume their session? I've seen 
> >>>this done with RFID tags that automatically detach your session if you 
> >>>move away from the terminal and re-attach you when you move closer.
> >>>
> >>>-Chuck
> >>>
> >>> 
> >>>
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>--
> >>Rhl-devel-list mailing list
> >>Rhl-devel-list at redhat.com
> >>http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhl-devel-list
> >>    
> >>
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Stephen John Smoogen		smoogen at lanl.gov
Los Alamos National Labrador  CCN-5 Sched 5/40  PH: 4-0645 (note new #)
Ta-03 SM-1498 MailStop B255 DP 10S  Los Alamos, NM 87545
-- So shines a good deed in a weary world. = Willy Wonka --