After Workstation has received a new Anaconda version, it is Server's turn. Before wasting time and effort or using them incorrectly, I think it makes sense to determine in detail what requirements we have regarding configurability.
I think at least the following list of topics would be worth working on.
1.
==
Of the current items in the main menu, keyboard layout, installation destination, network configuration, and root/user account seem indispensable to me. In my opinion, all the others are superfluous.
Under the current item “Software Selection,” you can first choose between Server and Minimum. According to our technical specifications, we only want to offer Server and nothing else. ‘Minimum’ is a remnant from before 2014 and is currently part of the “Everything” image.
The options mostly relate to services. We want to install these using Ansible Script and configure them to suit the server. It is not possible to install the services properly using Anaconda Installation, as server-specific preparations must be made (e.g., setting up LV or BTRFS subvolumes), which is not possible at this stage. That leaves the “Hardware Support” option for special cases. I remember using this last time about 20 years ago. I suspect that this option is also superfluous. And I doubt that this point is still actively maintained.
=== Proposal ad 1:
=== We are removing the “Software Selection” menu item without replacement.
2.
==
I also consider menu item 2, “Software Source,” to be superfluous. For the DVD version, it is the installation medium, and for a network-based installation, it is the nearest mirror server. Perhaps it would be useful to display a pop-up if no mirror server can be found.
=== Proposal ad 2:
=== We are removing the “Software Source” menu item without replacement.
3.
==
The timeserver and time zone configuration is a typical post-installation task and is already included in our documentation.
=== Proposal ad 3:
=== We are removing the “Time / Timezone” menu item without replacement.
4.
==
For years, we have been installing the same set of packages over and over again. We do not take advantage of the flexible installation options offered by Anaconda. And the current technical concept does not (any longer) provide for such optionality. We should check whether it would be advantageous and possible to flush a complete root file system instead. This would significantly speed up the installation process.
=== Task ad 4.
=== We check whether it is feasible and advantageous to flush a complete root file system instead of installing each package individually.
5.
==
We should check whether it is also advantageous for Server Edition (as it is for Workstation) to boot for types of interactive installations a kind of headless live image and use this as a basis for the further installation process.
Maybe we can evolve this into an advanced rescue system where the server either boot into such a termional session or starts a remote access server, so the admin can access it.
=== Task ad 5.
=== Evaluation of the feasibility and usefulness of a minimal server live image.
Feel free to add further topics to this list.
--
Peter Boy
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Pboy
PBoy(a)fedoraproject.org
Timezone: CET (UTC+1) / CEST (UTC+2)
Fedora Server Edition Working Group member
Fedora Docs team contributor and board member
Java developer and enthusiast
Here's a quick recap of my experience at Flock. This will go on my blog
and the Fedora planet once the fedora-fr.org website works again...
I was able to go to Flock this year, once again. This year, Flock was
set at Prague and, luckily, the flight there was easier than last year's
flight to Rochester. From the airport, it was easy to get to the Vienna
House hotel where Flock was taking place. In the lobby, I met Peter Boy,
my fellow Server SIG member, who had arrived 2 minutes before I did.
After checking in and taking a short rest, we met again at the hotel's
restaurent and, over dinner, discussed the outline of our talk and what
slides we would show during it.
The next day was the first day of Flock and, in the morning, we got to
witness the FPL exchange between Matthew Miller and Jef Spaleta, the
FESCO Q&A and other talks. I choose not to have lunch and spent the time
creating the slides for our talk. After lunch, I went back to the
conferences, got to see the end of Peter's talk on Documentation and
showed him the slides. We went through our talk, deciding who would take
the lead on each section. Once we had that pinned down, I uploaded the
presentation to the schedule and went on to attend more talks.
On Friday, I had a short chat with Jef Spaleta, the new Fedora Project
Leader, during breakfast and then went to the Anaconda talk. Peter and I
then did our Server talk, which I felt went pretty well. We then
retreated to a staff room where we had a discussion about Cockpit with
Stephen Gallagher and Aleksandra Fedorova.
In the afternoon, I just followed the talks. I bumped into Neal Gompa,
who had a prototype of Framework's Laptop 12 and he let me handle it for
a few minutes. The evening was Flock's social event and we went on a
boat cruise, which made for an excellant opportunity to take a few
photos.
Saturday was more of the same. I went to the talks in the morning and,
early in the afternoon, left for the airport to catch my flight, which
was uneventful all the way back to Paris.
Emmanuel