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On Sat, 29 Oct 2005 09:45:22 +0100 |
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Ryan Viljoen <ravilj@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> I am wondering what the difference is between using LTSP and Diskless Nodes |
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> is for creating a thin client network. |
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> |
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> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/ltsp.xml |
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> http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/diskless-howto.xml#doc_chap3 |
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> |
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> What would be the advantage of using LTSP. From what I have read (bearing in |
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> mind it is 3:41am [image: :(] ) the seem to offer the same thing. |
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> |
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|
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Bear in mind this reply is from someone that has only done very, very, minor fooling |
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with LTSP, but has run a lot of diskless nodes - using IRIX. |
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|
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LTSP is pretty much limited to x86. It's also pretty well pre-defined, and pre-compiled. |
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The nice thing is the infrastructure is setup, which limits the amount of initial work that |
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needs to be done. The downside is if you want clients other than x86, it tends to get |
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in the way. |
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|
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The diskless howto, is pretty basic, and doesn't expand on more than what is needed to, |
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essentially, bootup the equivlant of a LiveCD. |
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|
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Neither gives you the a client that is a full system booted off a diskless server. |
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|
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Things missing, include - package management for the clients. Full, filesystem support, though |
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LTSP is a bit easier to set up local swap and /tmp. |
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|
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If you have limited needs - where the clients are pretty much static, I'd suggest the following |
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from ease of implementation and support - easiest to more work - |
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|
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- Puppy Linux on a USB stick |
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- Gentoo LiveCD booted from a Catalyst created CD/USB/etc. |
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- LTSP |
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- Gentoo Diskless Howto |
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- Gentoo Diskless cluster |
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|
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For a more robust set of clients, where updates are easy and package management is in |
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effect, the following needs to be created - |
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|
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- a share tree where all clients use the same libs, read only (assumes the same arch). |
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Typically, this includes - /usr /bin /sbin /lib. |
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- a client tree and swap tree for each client - read/write. Usually includes - /var, /etc. |
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/home, /opt, /root. It also includes links to the share tree - /usr /include /lib. |
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- a set of scripts to manage all this in a sane manner on the server. |
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- Package management becomes an issue, thus lots of work would be needed. Typically, |
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it's easier (less thinking, script creation) to provide clients with pre-compiled binaries |
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and do package management in the background on the server, allowing clients |
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read only access to see what is installed. |
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|
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All-in-all, the easiest to implement is a RAM based distribution - Puppy Linux on a local r/w |
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device - USB stick, CF, SD, CD-r/w, DVD-ram, which can be booted from a diskless server, |
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then runs a a standalone unit. It's easy to control what configuration and what aux packages |
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are available - easy to get additional packages. The server can be a development/build system |
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for the clients. |
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|
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Bob |
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- |
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-- |
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