It looks like I have some more experimenting to do. I like the USB idea more than bunches
of burned CDs but it still leaves me with iso version issues that I was trying to avoid.
Then again, once everything is in place I don't think that there will be frequent
changes. The question becomes whether the livecd is worth the effort.
Thanks so much for your help,
Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: cobbler-bounces(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
[mailto:cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org] On Behalf Of Michael DeHaan
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 9:32 AM
To: cobbler mailing list
Subject: Re: Cobbler LiveCD question
Flink, Timothy wrote:
Thanks, that helps a lot. I couldn't figure out if something
wasn't working much less how to fix it. This would also explain why I had to modify
the base.cfg in order to get the livecd to even build.
Hmm, yes, I need to move that page back to "Developer Docs" and add some
clarifications. Thanks.
I've been using the iso generated by "cobbler buildiso"
and that does work but I was hoping for an option that wasn't quite so static. Since I
don't have access to the DHCP servers, I figured that the livecd would be a good
option. The wiki page I found did mention that buildiso was an easier option, but that the
livecd was more flexible (
https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/CobblerLiveCd)
Out of curiosity, is the livecd an idea that has pretty much been depreciated and will be
going away or might it come back if the issues with grubby are resolved?
I think the only real technical problem is the grubby problem, but
building the live CD was a support problem for some users, and it's
easier to just have buildiso for that reason. Another problem is the
live CD sometimes didn't detect certain storage controllers that the
normal installer environment would detect.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=457488
Would the livecd work with F8 and older livecd files from git or have
there been other changes to cobbler which would prevent the livecd from working?
Shouldn't be, though I'd say F10 should work equally well.
FWIW, there's only 3 different things different when we invoke koan from
the live CD:
if self.live_cd:
cmd.append("--bad-image-okay")
cmd.append("--boot-filesystem=/dev/sda1")
cmd.append("--config-file=/tmp/boot/boot/grub/grub.conf")
It's the --bad-image-okay flag that is broken...
(For you, a cleaner route might be to just use "cobbler buildiso" and
then convert the ISO into a USB image, to save from burning some
discs. Things still remain somewhat static but they save from wasting
CD's... also note that new images are only required when adding new
profiles or system entries ... the kickstarts themselves are generated
remotely from the cobbler server)
Thanks,
Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: cobbler-bounces(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
[mailto:cobbler-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org] On Behalf Of Michael DeHaan
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 6:48 AM
To: cobbler mailing list
Subject: Re: Cobbler LiveCD question
Flink, Timothy wrote:
> I'm new to cobbler and I am trying to get the LiveCD working as I am not able to
change the dhcp server. I apologize if there are docs about this, but I wasn't able to
find them.
>
> What is procedure for starting an install using the LiveCD?
>
> I have been able to build the iso and when I try booting from the iso in vmware, I
get a login prompt for FC9. From there, I can log in as root/cobbler but have no idea what
to do after that.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tim
> _______________________________________________
> cobbler mailing list
> cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
>
https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
>
>
The live CD itself is not something the Wiki or manpages advertises
anymore, if it does -- let me know, I need to edit them.
Ultimately I liked the live CD because it was effectively a PXE
simulator, but it had two problems:
(A) a newer version of grubby caused one of the less-well-documented
flags we were using to stop working
(B) it was too hard for many folks to build.
As a result, we made something much simpler, which builds much faster,
and does not require livecd builds.
This is "cobbler buildiso" (see "cobbler buildiso --help" for
details).
It covers /most/ functionality of the live CD and effectively presents
the same menu you'd get when PXE'ing without a MAC address in Cobbler --
the cobbler boot menu.
(FWIW, with the livecd, it's probably done ... root/cobbler should get
you a login, and "reboot" is probably missing at the end of the template
-- that all being said, the problems with grubby mean that on /most/
platforms, it doesn't work anymore, and folks should just use "cobbler
buildiso" -- the only real functionality lost is being able to sign a
system to boot to a specific profile, as with PXE -- though it is
possible to include system records in the PXE menus using the buildiso
command).
Hope that helps?
--Michael
_______________________________________________
cobbler mailing list
cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
_______________________________________________
cobbler mailing list
cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
_______________________________________________
cobbler mailing list
cobbler(a)lists.fedorahosted.org
https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler