This has been a standard technique in Unix [BSD, AIX, Solaris and HP-UX] for diskless servers since the early days (pre-Linus).
In linux PXE booting from servers is best supported via LTSP project: http://www.ltsp.org/ http://www.kegel.com/linux/pxe.html http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/1639.html It is very fun, especially with older hardware and nice fast networking. Additional fiber channel RAID for shared disk I/O on a switched backplane makes these systems nice and swift. On 2/12/10, Dazed_75 <lthiels...@gmail.com> wrote: > Turns out the two PXE servers I built do totally different things and really > should be called PXE based Install Servers AND I can imagine a third which > might more properly be described as a PXE Boot Server. BTW, for those who > do not know, PXE stands for Pre-eXecution Environment and really does let > you boot a machine from the network. Anyway, here are the three types I > mentioned: > > 1. from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PXEInstallMultiDistro I built a > server that does PXE boots from files stored entirely on the PXE server. > Those files came from .iso files that had been previously mounted and the > necessary material extracted when the server is set up. The .iso files > need > not be kept since they are not used during a PXE boot. The booting is > generally into a Live environment with the option of installing. > 2. from > > http://www.howtoforge.com/install-multiple-linux-distributions-via-pxe-the-easy-wayI > built a PXE server that does PXE boots using only a few files resident > on > the PXE server and retrieves most of the material from the internet EVERY > TIME a client uses the PXE based boot. These all seem to boot directly > to > an installer (no live environment). > 3. I have not seen any article for this but I can imagine PXE booting > being used simply to boot a system where the OS and Application files > only > live on the PXE server. Configuration and user files could live locally > or > on the server. I suspect PXE is never used this way but do not know. > > BTW, the server I built for #2 only works for some of the distributions it > purports to. Both the Fedora and CentOS installs fail because the install > procedures ask for information that the client doing the booting cannot > provide. Ubuntu Karmic and Mandriva seem to work fine. The single entry > for Karmic appears able to install all the core distributions (i.e. Ubuntu, > Kubuntu, etc). The Mandriva install lets you choose KDE, GNOME, or CUSTOM > (whatever that means). > > It seems to me that method 1 is superior for speed and bandwidth > considerations. Method 2 seems better for the ability to install variations > of configuration or distro builds. I suspect it would be possible to do > both in a single PXE server though it would be more work. > > What I would like to see for method #1 is that the .iso files were retained > for use in burning discs either on the PXE server or a client on the net > (not a PXE function) AND might be mounted by the PXE server function rather > than having to extract files when building the server. Since all three uses > only require reading the .iso's I would think they could be shared. > > Opinions? And is anyone interested in this? > > -- > Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry > > The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, > that I wish it always to be kept alive. > - Thomas Jefferson > -- Skype: (623)239-3392 AT&T: (503)754-4452 http://obnosis.110mb.com/nuke/index.php http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Arizona --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
