Diskless workstations

[Chuck Wolber]

> 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.

Pretty intuitive and straightforward approach. If I read your README
correctly, it looks as if you install an OS on a machine that will be a
similar configuration to the diskless machines and then upload that image
at boot time to the diskless clients.

My only comment so far is, why are you locking things down by MAC address?  
Wouldn't end user authentication be a more appropriate method (RFID is
what comes to mind, but PAM is a good abstraction model)? It seems like
you're really marrying the hardware to the software in several ways.  Why
can't I boot from a floppy and load my workstation image onto my laptop
(which happens to have 1GB of RAM) if I'm in a meeting "down the hall"  
without having to update a dhcpd.conf file.

-Chuck


-- 
Quantum Linux Laboratories - ACCELERATING Business with Open Technology
   * Education			| -=^ Ad Astra Per Aspera ^=-
   * Integration		| http://www.quantumlinux.com
   * Support			| chuckw at quantumlinux.com