PXE vs PXE

[Dazed_75]

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 at 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 at 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
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-- 
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
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