1 |
Good Morning :) |
2 |
|
3 |
> We have a clusters of machine and would like to setup network booting. At |
4 |
> this time, we have to go to the data center and boot the machine manually. |
5 |
> We would like to manage it as best as we could where we can save time and |
6 |
> money. I heard network booting is a good way to go. I'm not sure how does |
7 |
> network booting work, and also not sure if this is possible with Gentoo |
8 |
> operating system. Sorry for the dumb questions, I am totally new to |
9 |
> Networking. |
10 |
|
11 |
We've got probably 500+ machines deployed in total using a network |
12 |
boot environment at my work - http://www.bytemark.co.uk. It's simple |
13 |
enough, although some of the concepts can be a little hard to grasp |
14 |
when you're just getting started; leads to interesting possibilities |
15 |
as you can give customers access, a la |
16 |
http://www.bytemark.co.uk/dhshell |
17 |
|
18 |
* DHCP - each range of IPs (subnet) needs to be able to |
19 |
broadcast + obtain leases. |
20 |
This is easily accomplished with ip-helper-address, if |
21 |
you're using Cisco ;) |
22 |
Saves running a DHCP server on every VLAN! |
23 |
|
24 |
* TFTP - something to dish up the kernels, something which has |
25 |
the pxelinux.cfg tree. |
26 |
|
27 |
When the systems boot, they will obtain a DHCP lease and you need to |
28 |
configure the boxes to try and boot off their internal NICs before |
29 |
trying local disks or CD-ROM drives. Additional values are passed in |
30 |
the DHCP lease to tell the boxes where the TFTP server is, you can |
31 |
have simple menus via PXELINUX. |
32 |
|
33 |
It's helpful to have console access (IP KVMs, serial lines) to |
34 |
interface with all this. It's also helpful to have PDUs which take |
35 |
SNMP commands so you can cycle the boxes on demand, or IPMI / iLOM I |
36 |
guess. |
37 |
|
38 |
How you choose to boot the images from that point is up to you ;) |
39 |
We've got things deployed so that network booting is there as a method |
40 |
for installing servers, for rescuing data when required, for fixing |
41 |
'common' problems like b0rked kernel upgrades and firewall rules gone |
42 |
slightly awry. |
43 |
|
44 |
Thus, you may have quite a lot of reconfiguration to do: |
45 |
|
46 |
* Configure boxes via BIOS to boot off NICs |
47 |
* Install hardware to ensure remote powercycle capability |
48 |
* Install hardware to give you serial/console access. |
49 |
|
50 |
I'd be happy to try and answer any specific questions you may have :) |
51 |
|
52 |
Alex |
53 |
-- |
54 |
gentoo-cluster@l.g.o mailing list |