The small addition of the read time for DDR is nothing compared to the time required to install the packages over the network. That's at least the same amount of reading, plus network time.
I agree about the problem of keeping multiple masters. We keep just one per version, and use a first-boot process to install additional packages via yum as needed, or let the admins install what they need manually. It's still faster, by quite a lot. Unfortunately, I don't have time today to run measurements, but our base system clone process takes less than 30 minutes from beginning to end. All this said, we have been seriously considering going to a kickstart based method, but my experience with it has not been encouraging. Aside from taking longer, it seems to be fairly fragile and requires more manual effort. Our clone method consists of running a VM-based dialog, waiting for the copies to finish (run asynchronously in a service machine), and then autologging the new guest. -----Original Message----- From: Linux on 390 Port [mailto:linux-...@vm.marist.edu] On Behalf Of Rob van der Heij Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 9:16 AM To: LINUX-390@VM.MARIST.EDU Subject: Re: [LINUX-390] To kick or to clone ... that is the question On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Hall, Ken (GTS)<ken_h...@ml.com> wrote: > How could it be faster? > > Cloning involves simply copying the disks, that's one pass with DDR. Copying a disk requires reading and writing. Formatting just requires (short) writes. Depending on your configuration, you may not notice the extra resource usage in the elapsed time. But it's probably more whether you spend the time while you're waiting for it. Once you get into the business of holding several different golden masters to copy from, things get more complicated. Back then we used a very bare minimum that was copied to the new root disk, and the required additional packages were added on top of it. That approach allows for a stock supply of copied root disks ready to use. -Rob ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@vm.marist.edu with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message w/attachments (message) may be privileged, confidential or proprietary, and if you are not an intended recipient, please notify the sender, do not use or share it and delete it. Unless specifically indicated, this message is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of any investment products or other financial product or service, an official confirmation of any transaction, or an official statement of Merrill Lynch. Subject to applicable law, Merrill Lynch may monitor, review and retain e-communications (EC) traveling through its networks/systems. The laws of the country of each sender/recipient may impact the handling of EC, and EC may be archived, supervised and produced in countries other than the country in which you are located. This message cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. References to "Merrill Lynch" are references to any company in the Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. group of companies, which are wholly-owned by Bank of America Corporation. Securities and Insurance Products: * Are Not FDIC Insured * Are Not Bank Guaranteed * May Lose Value * Are Not a Bank Deposit * Are Not a Condition to Any Banking Service or Activity * Are Not Insured by Any Federal Government Agency. Attachments that are part of this E-communication may have additional important disclosures and disclaimers, which you should read. This message is subject to terms available at the following link: http://www.ml.com/e-communications_terms/. By messaging with Merrill Lynch you consent to the foregoing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@vm.marist.edu with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
