"vincenzo romero" <new2xen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello all,
I've deployed new servers - installing new CentOS servers via PXE
booting using its iso distribution stored on an NFS server. For
certain server types; I'd like to install custom applications into a
server and then generate an image of that server, and deploy again via
PXE to another group of servers.
Wanted to find out if anyone can forward any pointers to papers or links on:
1. Best and (cheapest) way to create disk image (that can be used for
over the network installation over PXE) of an existing CentOS server
with all its custom apps and packages ... would this be dd? would
this take a long time?
2. Would like to find out if you can point me to a guide or doc -
that specifically describes this process; most PXE install notes out
there describe the PXE config setup and assumes an ISO image (to
create a new server), as opposed to deploying a "ghosted" image of an
existing server.
3. In a deployment of a "ghosted" image - would the DHCP
automatically request for a new IP address upon completion of the
installation on the target machine (since when I ghost the source
machine, the network information will contain that source's machine IP
address, MAC, etc. etc.)
Unfortunately, I can't give you full details on this. We did something
very similar to what you're asking about in #1 and #2 where I used to
work. I used the setup for installing on systems but someone else did
the initial setup. You need to look at two things: PXE and custom
kickstart. I think Red Hat has some guidance on how to set up both. If
not, Google.
The idea is that the system that needs to get an installation is set to
"boot from LAN" in the BIOS and the PXE server is also setup as a DHCP
server on the same LAN segment. The system being installed does a
normal boot from LAN which contacts the DHCP/PXE server. The DHCP/PXE
server provides the boot image using tftp from the first install CD and
a kickstart file. The kickstart file controls the installation as to
which apps get installed. The setup we used let us pick from several
different possible kickstart files for different configurations so
there's room for customizing the process.
Hopefully, that's enough of a start in the right direction that you can
Google for the details.
As to #3, the idea is to have the source of the ghost image setup for
DHCP booting and not be bound to a particular network card (HWADDR in
the ifcfg-ethX file). The target system gets the ghost image and then
needs to reboot. When it boots, it gets a new IP address via DHCP.
Cheers,
Dave
--
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
-- Ambrose Bierce
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