On 4/30/07, Kam Leo <kam.leo(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 4/30/07, Stefan van der Eijk <stefan(a)eijk.nu> wrote:
> On 4/30/07, Kam Leo <kam.leo(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 4/30/07, Stefan van der Eijk <stefan(a)eijk.nu> wrote:
> > > On 4/30/07, Kam Leo <kam.leo(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > On 4/30/07, Stefan van der Eijk <stefan(a)eijk.nu> wrote:
> > > > > Hi,
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm trying to get FC6 working on a diskless system. I hope
this is the
> > > > > correct list to discuss this topic, if not please ignore this
message.
> > > > >
> > > > > As I mentioned, I'm trying to get FC6 to work in a diskless
system. To
> > > > > do this I first installed FC6 in a VMware (with disk). I'm
using that
> > > > > as the "example" system.
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm following the instructions provided in the documentation
of the
> > > > > system-config-netboot-0.1.41-1.FC6 package. After rsyncing over
the
> > > > > files to the NFS server, setting up DHCP and TFTP servers
it's time
> > > > > for the first attempt. The diskless client is a vmware,
confgured to
> > > > > boot over the network (PXE).
> > > > >
> > > > > With the first attempt, the system stops with the following
error:
> > > > > "Mounting rot filesystem: /nfsroots/fc6-diskless/root from
192.168.254.254
> > > > > mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on
> > > > > 192.168.254.254:/nfsroots/fc6-diskless/root,
> > > > > missing codepage r other error
> > > > > In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try dmesg | tail
or
> > > > > so."
> > > > >
> > > > > For screenshot see:
http://eijk.homelinux.org/~stefan/fc-diskless/1.jpg
> > > > >
> > > > > As mentioned in
> > > > >
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Diskless_Frontend#Redhat_and_Fedora_...
> > > > > /sbin/mount.nfs is missing in the initrd.img. This patch adds
it
> > > > > (although I'm not sure if mount.nfs4 should be added too):
> > > > >
> > > > > # diff -ur
/usr/share/system-config-netboot/diskless/updateDiskless.orig
> > > > > /usr/share/system-config-netboot/diskless/updateDiskless
> > > > > ---
/usr/share/system-config-netboot/diskless/updateDiskless.orig
> > > > > 2007-04-29 23:18:24.000000000 +0200
> > > > > +++ /usr/share/system-config-netboot/diskless/updateDiskless
> > > > > 2007-04-29 23:18:50.000000000 +0200
> > > > > @@ -114,7 +114,7 @@
> > > > > done;
> > > > > #/bin/cp "$ROOT"/usr/share/hwdata/pcitable
$MNTPOINT/usr/share/hwdata/ || die;
> > > > > # disklessrc now uses modules.pcimap, not pcitable
> > > > > -BINS="/sbin/busybox.anaconda /sbin/insmod /sbin/modprobe
/sbin/rmmod
> > > > > /sbin/dhclient /bin/bash /bin/mount /sbin/route /sbin/ip
/usr/bin/expr
> > > > > /sbin/lspci /sbin/ifconfig /sbin/consoletype /sbin/pivot_root
> > > > > /bin/hostname /bin/domainname /usr/bin/host"
> > > > > +BINS="/sbin/busybox.anaconda /sbin/insmod /sbin/modprobe
/sbin/rmmod
> > > > > /sbin/dhclient /bin/bash /bin/mount /sbin/mount.nfs
/sbin/mount.nfs4
> > > > > /sbin/route /sbin/ip /usr/bin/expr /sbin/lspci /sbin/ifconfig
> > > > > /sbin/consoletype /sbin/pivot_root /bin/hostname
/bin/domainname
> > > > > /usr/bin/host"
> > > > > # Set up links to all the busybox functions -
> > > > > # may be different for different versions of busybox!
> > > > > if [ ! -e $ROOT/sbin/busybox.anaconda ]; then
> > > > >
> > > > > 2nd attempt ended with it complaining that it couldn't
pivot_root.
> > > > > Seems that /.oldroot directory isn't created. For screenshot
see:
> > > > >
http://eijk.homelinux.org/~stefan/fc-diskless/2.jpg
> > > > >
> > > > > After making that directory it also complains that /.snapshot
isn't
> > > > > made either. Starting udev takes ages,
> > > > >
http://eijk.homelinux.org/~stefan/fc-diskless/3.jpg
> > > > >
> > > > > I didn't wait for it to finish, just made the directory on
the NFS
> > > > > server and reset the vmware.
> > > > >
> > > > >
http://eijk.homelinux.org/~stefan/fc-diskless/4.jpg
> > > > >
> > > > > After re-reading the .html pages in
> > > > > /usr/share/doc/system-config-netboot-0.1.41/ I followed the
> > > > > instructions to create a client. Changed the pxe config to
reflect
> > > > > this.
> > > > >
> > > > > label fc6
> > > > > KERNEL vmlinuz
> > > > > APPEND initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 init=disklessrc
> > > > > NFSROOT=192.168.254.254:/nfsroots/fc6-diskless
ramdisk_size=19102
> > > > > ETHERNET=eth0 SNAPSHOT=fc6-diskless
> > > > >
> > > > > resulting in this:
http://eijk.homelinux.org/~stefan/fc-diskless/5.jpg
> > > > >
> > > > > added "ramdisk_blocksize=1024", from
> > > > >
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Diskless_Frontend#Redhat_and_Fedora_...
> > > > >
> > > > > The end result is a FC6 diskless client that hangs on starting
udev.
> > > > >
http://eijk.homelinux.org/~stefan/fc-diskless/6.jpg
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm wondering what I've missed in the documentation and
what I'm doing
> > > > > wrong. I feel that I'm already correcting too many things
myself -->
> > > > > this stuff should be made in a way that it just works and is
trivial
> > > > > to set up. As the package version/release is still the same in
> > > > > rawhide, I guess this same package is going to be shipped with
FC7.
> > > > >
> > > > > What would be the best way to move forward? Shall I start with
filing
> > > > > some bugreports? Or is this not the right time to do so (freeze
for
> > > > > fc7)?
> > > > >
> > > > > with kind regards,
> > > > >
> > > > > Stefan van der Eijk
> > > >
> > > > Have you considered using Linux Terminal Server,
> > > >
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ltsp/ ?
> > >
> > > No, I didn't, I was expecting (!!) that the redhat tools would be
able
> > > to do the job.
> >
> > Wait a second! Where does it state that the fedora Project offer a
> > diskless client. It is certainly not listed in their download section.
>
> Hmmm. strange, as the software I was trying to use is part of fedora's
> main (or is it called core?) distro. Check:
>
>
http://ftp.surfnet.nl/ftp/pub/os/Linux/distr/fedora/6/i386/os/Fedora/RPMS...
>
> or I must be mistaken that this not part of the fedora project.
> Perhaps you can explain it to me, I'm new here.
Because you were having such difficulty reading and comprehending I
thought you would appreciate a turnkey solution or pre-built
distribution.
:-) I guess I was hoping that the system-config-netboot package would
be a turnkey solution from Fedora / RedHat. After the troubles I've
been having with it, I wonder if anybody has had any success with it.
Seems that it's not in RHEL5 either.
Thanks for the link.
Seems that I didn't mis anything in there. Still don't understand why
the snapshot/files file doesn't get created here.
> > > Are there ltsp packages available in Fedora or would I
need to cook my own?
> > Did you try the LSTP project's home page? I found this there:
> >
http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/DownLoads#Ltsp_5_on_Other_distri...
> >
> > Or try this howto:
> >
http://osl.birzeit.edu:8080/wiki2/index.php/LTSP_guide_on_Fedora
> >
> > If you are not satisfied with that solution take a look at the Ubuntu
> > canned solutions, Edubuntu 6.10 or 7.04 (just released),
> >
http://www.edubuntu.org/ .
>
> :-) Being a seasoned Mandriva user, now looking into fedora as it's
So you're a short timer!
Yes. Just evaluating if Fedora will work for me, since Mandriva
doesn't for this stuff. With Mandriva the client system comes up fine,
but dhcp can't be used for bringing up the NIC in the final system.
i.e. there are 3 points when the system can ask for information from
the dhcp server --> PXE stage, initrd stage (to mount the nfsroot) and
final system (service network start). Seems the last one needs to be
static, otherwise the nfsroot is killed when the dhcp client starts.
Perhaps this is solved with Fedora.
> also a rpm based distro, I wasn't expecting to be pointed to
an other
> distro that quickly on this list :-).
The first two references are for Fedora. If Fedora Core offered an
LTSP distribution I would have pointed you directly to it.
I thought so too :-)
I had a brief look at LTSP when I was trying to get this working on
Mandriva. They have something called draktermserv to setup ltsp. First
impression of that tool was that it would take quite some effort to
get it to work properly. It also wasn't high priority for the
maintainers of the package.
I gave you the other references because I want people to use
GNU/Linux. The
distribution is a matter of preference. Personally, I like Fedora;
others find it too technical.
:-) I don't mind things being too technical, as long as I'm able to
get fixes back upstream. Seems that hasn't been happening with this
fedora package (comments on the mythtv wiki never made it back into
fedora).
> Perhaps I could try iscsi too, how hard would it be to setup an
iscsi
> target on my storage server and install a diskless FC6 client on it?
You are the determining factor. Have fun!
Sure, thanks! :-)
regards,
Stefan