Great references. Thanks Lisa! I may not live long enough to read all that
they refer to though. :)
I should have realized that my number 3 was basically the thin client idea.
I just never looked into that side to see it was (or coould be) based on
PXE.
I still wonder about building a PXE server that could do all three. Granted
you might never want to do that in a production environment, but I think it
might be very interesting for a lab or installfest type project.
On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 8:33 AM, Lisa Kachold <
lisakachold@obnosis.com>wrote:
> This has been a standard technique in Unix [BSD, AIX, Solaris and
> HP-UX] for diskless servers since the early days (pre-Linus).
>
> In linux PXE booting from servers is best supported via LTSP project:
>
> http://www.ltsp.org/
> http://www.kegel.com/linux/pxe.html
> http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/1639.html
>
> It is very fun, especially with older hardware and nice fast networking.
>
> Additional fiber channel RAID for shared disk I/O on a switched
> backplane makes these systems nice and swift.
>
> On 2/12/10, Dazed_75 <lthielster@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Turns out the two PXE servers I built do totally different things and
> really
> > should be called PXE based Install Servers AND I can imagine a third
> which
> > might more properly be described as a PXE Boot Server. BTW, for those
> who
> > do not know, PXE stands for Pre-eXecution Environment and really does let
> > you boot a machine from the network. Anyway, here are the three types I
> > mentioned:
> >
> > 1. from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PXEInstallMultiDistro I
> built a
> > server that does PXE boots from files stored entirely on the PXE
> server.
> > Those files came from .iso files that had been previously mounted and
> the
> > necessary material extracted when the server is set up. The .iso
> files
> > need
> > not be kept since they are not used during a PXE boot. The booting is
> > generally into a Live environment with the option of installing.
> > 2. from
> >
> >
> http://www.howtoforge.com/install-multiple-linux-distributions-via-pxe-the-easy-wayI
> > built a PXE server that does PXE boots using only a few files resident
> > on
> > the PXE server and retrieves most of the material from the internet
> EVERY
> > TIME a client uses the PXE based boot. These all seem to boot
> directly
> > to
> > an installer (no live environment).
> > 3. I have not seen any article for this but I can imagine PXE booting
> > being used simply to boot a system where the OS and Application files
> > only
> > live on the PXE server. Configuration and user files could live
> locally
> > or
> > on the server. I suspect PXE is never used this way but do not know.
> >
> > BTW, the server I built for #2 only works for some of the distributions
> it
> > purports to. Both the Fedora and CentOS installs fail because the
> install
> > procedures ask for information that the client doing the booting cannot
> > provide. Ubuntu Karmic and Mandriva seem to work fine. The single entry
> > for Karmic appears able to install all the core distributions (i.e.
> Ubuntu,
> > Kubuntu, etc). The Mandriva install lets you choose KDE, GNOME, or
> CUSTOM
> > (whatever that means).
> >
> > It seems to me that method 1 is superior for speed and bandwidth
> > considerations. Method 2 seems better for the ability to install
> variations
> > of configuration or distro builds. I suspect it would be possible to do
> > both in a single PXE server though it would be more work.
> >
> > What I would like to see for method #1 is that the .iso files were
> retained
> > for use in burning discs either on the PXE server or a client on the net
> > (not a PXE function) AND might be mounted by the PXE server function
> rather
> > than having to extract files when building the server. Since all three
> uses
> > only require reading the .iso's I would think they could be shared.
> >
> > Opinions? And is anyone interested in this?
> >
> > --
> > Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
> >
> > The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain
> occasions,
> > that I wish it always to be kept alive.
> > - Thomas Jefferson
> >
>
>
> --
> Skype: (623)239-3392
> AT&T: (503)754-4452
> http://obnosis.110mb.com/nuke/index.php
> http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Arizona
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>
--
Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions,
that I wish it always to be kept alive.
- Thomas Jefferson
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list -
PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
(text/plain)