Help needed replicating Linux boxes

[Slowburn]

Hi there, dumb newbie speaking.

I work for a training company; we need a way of rebuilding our Linux boxes
at the end of each course, to get the boxes back to a known configuration
once the students have finished breaking them. For our Solaris boxes we have
built flash archive images which we can load by booting from a NFS server
across the LAN. Is there an equivalent for Linux?

I would prefer to have one "image" that all machines will load (and then set
their IP address/hostname etc. dynamically). However, a bespoke static image
per machine would also be acceptable if there is no other option. Or if I
can boot and load from CD, that too would be acceptable. Is there an
equivalent of Norton Ghost for Linux?

We are using Red Hat, probably something pretty back level like 7.2... we
can use pretty much any version of Red Hat though. We don't use much Linux
functionality (we deliver training on a 3rd party NMS product, not Linux, as
you will have gathered!) so we could probably survive with a fairly minimal
installation.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful. If you
prefer to reply off list, mail me at:
usm (at) rjmellor (dot) com

Thanks!
Rob

[Alex Butcher]

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:13:09 +0100, Slowburn wrote:

> I work for a training company; we need a way of rebuilding our Linux boxes
> at the end of each course, to get the boxes back to a known configuration
> once the students have finished breaking them. For our Solaris boxes we have
> built flash archive images which we can load by booting from a NFS server
> across the LAN. Is there an equivalent for Linux?

The Red Hat equivalent of Solaris' JumpStart functionality is KickStart.
RH document it in the customization manual
<http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/ch-kickstart2.html>.

The slickest way to do this is using DHCP and TFTP, and tying
configurations to individual machines' MAC addresses.

> I would prefer to have one "image" that all machines will load (and then set
> their IP address/hostname etc. dynamically). However, a bespoke static image
> per machine would also be acceptable if there is no other option. Or if I
> can boot and load from CD, that too would be acceptable. Is there an
> equivalent of Norton Ghost for Linux?

If you don't want to use KickStart, there's Ghost equivalents -
<http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/> and <http://www.microwerks.net/~hugo/> spring
to mind.

[snip]

> Thanks!
> Rob

Best Regards,
Alex.
--
Alex Butcher Brainbench MVP for Internet Security: www.brainbench.com
Bristol, UK Need reliable and secure network systems?
PGP/GnuPG ID:0x271fd950 <http://www.assursys.com/>

[Steve Naïve]

"Slowburn" <Father.Vivian.Oblivion@SaintAlfonzosPancakeBreakfa st.com>
wrote in news:bkv40o$68tdn$1@ID-177093.news.uni-berlin.de:

> Hi there, dumb newbie speaking.
>
> I work for a training company; we need a way of rebuilding our Linux
> boxes at the end of each course, to get the boxes back to a known
> configuration once the students have finished breaking them. For our
> Solaris boxes we have built flash archive images which we can load by
> booting from a NFS server across the LAN. Is there an equivalent for
> Linux?

Have a look at the very quick Dolly. From the beowulf list;

>> I am actually more concerned about how I can go about cloning the nodes
>> efficiently...with the least amount of anxiety
>
>For cloning we use our own tool called "Dolly". It uses a virtual TCP
>chain to distribute large files or partitions from one node to all the
>other nodes in a cluster. It works very well if you have a switched
>network.
>
>For documentation, source codes and a list of publications, see [1]
>and search for "Dolly". If you want to try a more recent version of
>the source, write me personally (I did not yet have the time to update
>the webpage).
>
>We use Dolly to clone our 128 node cluster "xibalba" [2,3]. Cloning a
>20 GB disk to all nodes takes less than 30 minutes (with two 100
>MBit/s NICs per node).
>
>[1] http://www.cs.inf.ethz.ch/CoPs/patagonia/
>[2] http://www.xibalba.inf.ethz.ch/
>[3] http://www.inf.ethz.ch/research/next/infrastructure.html

--
SteveN
Please remove the N from my email address to reply

[root]

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:13:09 +0100, Slowburn wrote:

> Hi there, dumb newbie speaking.
>
> I work for a training company; we need a way of rebuilding our Linux boxes
> at the end of each course, to get the boxes back to a known configuration
> once the students have finished breaking them. For our Solaris boxes we have
> built flash archive images which we can load by booting from a NFS server
> across the LAN. Is there an equivalent for Linux?
>
> I would prefer to have one "image" that all machines will load (and then set
> their IP address/hostname etc. dynamically). However, a bespoke static image
> per machine would also be acceptable if there is no other option. Or if I
> can boot and load from CD, that too would be acceptable. Is there an
> equivalent of Norton Ghost for Linux?
>
> We are using Red Hat, probably something pretty back level like 7.2... we
> can use pretty much any version of Red Hat though. We don't use much Linux
> functionality (we deliver training on a 3rd party NMS product, not Linux, as
> you will have gathered!) so we could probably survive with a fairly minimal
> installation.
>
> If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful. If you
> prefer to reply off list, mail me at:
> usm (at) rjmellor (dot) com
>
> Thanks!
> Rob

If the machines are all the same you can the PXES project to diskless
boot, then use an NFS mount re-install just like the Suns. Thats what I do
- but only any good if the boxes are same/similar.

Redhats auto installer thingi works, but it would take a while to get it
rigt

[Steve Naïve]

"Slowburn" <Father.Vivian.Oblivion@SaintAlfonzosPancakeBreakfa st.com>
wrote in news:bkv40o$68tdn$1@ID-177093.news.uni-berlin.de:

> Hi there, dumb newbie speaking.
>
> I work for a training company; we need a way of rebuilding our Linux
> boxes at the end of each course, to get the boxes back to a known
> configuration once the students have finished breaking them. For our
> Solaris boxes we have built flash archive images which we can load by
> booting from a NFS server across the LAN. Is there an equivalent for
> Linux?
>
> I would prefer to have one "image" that all machines will load (and
> then set their IP address/hostname etc. dynamically). However, a
> bespoke static image per machine would also be acceptable if there is
> no other option. Or if I can boot and load from CD, that too would be
> acceptable. Is there an equivalent of Norton Ghost for Linux?

Alternatively (to Dolly) ... Have a look at
http://www.beowulf.org/pipermail/beowulf/2002-September/004449.html
which discusses the use of kickstart, yum, and PXE for your purpose.
Quoted performance is 60 nodes in 10 minutes (but that's with Gb ethernet)

All it needs is a server and a boot floppy (not even a boot floppy if the
ethernet supports PXE)

--
SteveN
Please remove the N from my email address to reply

[Dave Pickles]

Slowburn wrote:

> Is there an
> equivalent of Norton Ghost for Linux?

Ghost will happily copy Linux disks (EXT3 partitions at least - haven't
tried anything more exotic).
--
Dave

[Rob Mellor]

"Alex Butcher" <alex.butcher.news0903a@assursys.co.uk> wrote in message
news:pan.2003.09.25.16.20.18.38671@assursys.co.uk. ..
> On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:13:09 +0100, Slowburn wrote:
>
>
> The slickest way to do this is using DHCP and TFTP, and tying
> configurations to individual machines' MAC addresses.
>

Would that mean having one preserved image per machine, or could I have one
image, download it to all machines and then automagically set hostname/IP
address by referencing the MAC address somehow? Is their best practice for
this sort of shennanigans?

>
> If you don't want to use KickStart, there's Ghost equivalents -
> <http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/> and <http://www.microwerks.net/~hugo/> spring
> to mind.
>

Cheers Alex, these look really good. I particularly like the look of
Mindi/Mondo. My machines don't have CD-Rs in, but I may be able write an
image to hard disk and then send it to a machine with a CD-R... if the
resulting CD(s) are bootable then Bob is very much my uncle, although I'll
still want a natty way of assigning hostname/IP address as above.

Thanks for the help, excellent food for thought!

Rob

[Rob Mellor]

"Steve Naïve" <steveN@hogg.org> wrote in message
news:Xns9401B23A657D9BLANK@195.8.68.222...
> "Slowburn" <Father.Vivian.Oblivion@SaintAlfonzosPancakeBreakfa st.com>
> wrote in news:bkv40o$68tdn$1@ID-177093.news.uni-berlin.de:
>
>
> Have a look at the very quick Dolly. From the beowulf list;
[snip]
>

Thanks Steve, it does look impressive. I wonder how it will perform on a bus
network? I'm sure it would still work, but I wonder if the switched ethernet
functionality is key to its performance? Oh well, one way to find out...

Rob

[Rob Mellor]

"root" <root@home.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2003.09.25.16.37.59.933534@home.com...
>
> If the machines are all the same you can the PXES project to diskless
> boot, then use an NFS mount re-install just like the Suns. Thats what I do
> - but only any good if the boxes are same/similar.
>

Well, the machines are all identical, so no problems there, but I'm not sure
I quite get your method; I thought PXES was a thin client/X-client jobber...
ok so that gets my boxes up and running, but how do I do the "NFS mount
re-install"? More to the point, can I automate it/do it unattended?

Sorry if I am being dense!
Rob

[Alex Butcher]

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 15:41:42 +0100, Rob Mellor wrote:

>
> "Alex Butcher" <alex.butcher.news0903a@assursys.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:pan.2003.09.25.16.20.18.38671@assursys.co.uk. ..
>> On Thu, 25 Sep 2003 17:13:09 +0100, Slowburn wrote:
>>
>>
>> The slickest way to do this is using DHCP and TFTP, and tying
>> configurations to individual machines' MAC addresses.
>>
>
> Would that mean having one preserved image per machine, or could I have one
> image, download it to all machines and then automagically set hostname/IP
> address by referencing the MAC address somehow? Is their best practice for
> this sort of shennanigans?

First of all, using DHCP, you can statically assign an IP address to a
given MAC address (which is also the best way to handle servers which
should remain on a fixed IP address) in a DHCP environment.

Secondly, Kickstart works by having configuration file for each IP address
(or MAC address - I can't remember which, but it doesn't really matter, as
above) and a single unified source of Red Hat installation images
available via NFS, FTP or, I think, SMB.

Kickstart is probably most useful in labs or "enterprise" workstation
environments.

> Rob

HTH,
Alex.
--
Alex Butcher Brainbench MVP for Internet Security: www.brainbench.com
Bristol, UK Need reliable and secure network systems?
PGP/GnuPG ID:0x271fd950 <http://www.assursys.com/>