OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
Hello everybody, I would like to know if it's possible to use OpenBSD as RIS-Server to install WIndows via Network. I played around with this for 2 weeks now but I can't figure out how it gets done. Something is missing (maybe a dhcp-option?! :( ) I use OpenBSD to provide kinda anything to connected PCs (remote install, diagnostics, secure hdd formating (0,1,0 and other standards)). Also I face problems to provide VistaPE (it wont realy boot, bootloader comes up but then the bcd seams to be corrupted in soem way). So if somebody here also administrates Widnows-Servers (I don't know that much about 'em :/) and knows how to emulate a RIS please tell me. I would love to replace the Windows Box (the Imaging-Server was already replaced). The only things I've found with google where people using MS RIS to install OpenBSD (scarry, or? :p) but not vice versa. Kind regards, Sebastian
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 4:52 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello everybody, > > I would like to know if it's possible to use OpenBSD as RIS-Server to > install WIndows via Network. I played around with this for 2 weeks now but > I can't figure out how it gets done. Something is missing (maybe a > dhcp-option?! :( ) > > I use OpenBSD to provide kinda anything to connected PCs (remote install, > diagnostics, secure hdd formating (0,1,0 and other standards)). > Also I face problems to provide VistaPE (it wont realy boot, bootloader > comes up but then the bcd seams to be corrupted in soem way). > > So if somebody here also administrates Widnows-Servers (I don't know that > much about 'em :/) and knows how to emulate a RIS please tell me. I would > love to replace the Windows Box (the Imaging-Server was already replaced). > > > The only things I've found with google where people using MS RIS to > install OpenBSD (scarry, or? :p) but not vice versa. > > > Kind regards, > Sebastian I'm very curious to know myself, if you get it working or find out how, please post here or undeadly.org. Something like this would be very handy for the work I do too.
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 10:52:49AM +0200, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hello everybody, > > I would like to know if it's possible to use OpenBSD as RIS-Server to > install WIndows via Network. I played around with this for 2 weeks now but > I can't figure out how it gets done. Something is missing (maybe a > dhcp-option?! :( ) > > I use OpenBSD to provide kinda anything to connected PCs (remote install, > diagnostics, secure hdd formating (0,1,0 and other standards)). > Also I face problems to provide VistaPE (it wont realy boot, bootloader > comes up but then the bcd seams to be corrupted in soem way). > > So if somebody here also administrates Widnows-Servers (I don't know that > much about 'em :/) and knows how to emulate a RIS please tell me. I would > love to replace the Windows Box (the Imaging-Server was already replaced). > > The only things I've found with google where people using MS RIS to > install OpenBSD (scarry, or? :p) but not vice versa. This isn't RIS, so if you're tied to that technology, ignore me, but I think this solution is a superior way to accomplish the same goal: I install all my Windows systems using http://unattended.sourceforge.net/. Not only does it let me script my Windows install, but also all my application installs as well and I can have different application sets for different machines. There's no need to keep it on similar hardware like with ghost/sysprep. All this requires is the stock dhcpd and tftpd along with samba (from ports) from the OpenBSD system serving it. While it's not trivial to set up, the instructions are very clear and you shouldn't have any major trouble. -Dan -- "Burnished gallows set with red Caress the fevered, empty mind Of man who hangs bloodied and blind To reach for wisdom, not for bread." -- Deoridhe Grimsdaughter
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 9:15 AM, Dan Brosemer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 10:52:49AM +0200, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> Hello everybody, >> >> I would like to know if it's possible to use OpenBSD as RIS-Server to >> install WIndows via Network. I played around with this for 2 weeks now but >> I can't figure out how it gets done. Something is missing (maybe a >> dhcp-option?! :( ) >> >> I use OpenBSD to provide kinda anything to connected PCs (remote install, >> diagnostics, secure hdd formating (0,1,0 and other standards)). >> Also I face problems to provide VistaPE (it wont realy boot, bootloader >> comes up but then the bcd seams to be corrupted in soem way). >> >> So if somebody here also administrates Widnows-Servers (I don't know that >> much about 'em :/) and knows how to emulate a RIS please tell me. I would >> love to replace the Windows Box (the Imaging-Server was already replaced). >> >> The only things I've found with google where people using MS RIS to >> install OpenBSD (scarry, or? :p) but not vice versa. > > This isn't RIS, so if you're tied to that technology, ignore me, but I think > this solution is a superior way to accomplish the same goal: > > I install all my Windows systems using http://unattended.sourceforge.net/. > Not only does it let me script my Windows install, but also all my > application installs as well and I can have different application sets for > different machines. There's no need to keep it on similar hardware like > with ghost/sysprep. > > All this requires is the stock dhcpd and tftpd along with samba (from ports) > from the OpenBSD system serving it. While it's not trivial to set up, the > instructions are very clear and you shouldn't have any major trouble. I didn't know about this, looks great. Were you able to do it via PXE booting?
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would like to know if it's possible to use OpenBSD as RIS-Server to install WIndows via Network. I played around with this for 2 weeks now but I can't figure out how it gets done. Something is missing (maybe a dhcp-option?! :( ) Are you able to boot to your PXE server? That's the first step. Make sure your PXE server can get DHCP requests, even if it's not the DHCP server. If nothing else, you should (in theory) be able to copy over the REMOTEINSTALL tree from your RIS server and share it via tftp and Samba and make something work. Also I face problems to provide VistaPE (it wont realy boot, bootloader comes up but then the bcd seams to be corrupted in soem way). Vista is a different animal to install. I haven't worked on remote installing Vista (I'm working with Server 2008, relatively the same) booting from a Server 2003 SP2 with MS RIS/WDS hybrid-mode installed. RIS installing 2000/XP formats the disk and copies files over from the file system and starts setup. WDS installing Vista/2008 formats the disk and unpacks the WIM file onto the disk and starts setup. You won't be able to just copy the Vista DVD to your server and do a remote install, you'll need to download the BDD2007 and/or WAIK kit to make network-installable WIM files. My biggest hurdles moving from RIS to WDS were adding network drivers to the boot image for DL360 G5 servers (the normal drivers won't work) and moving my skill set from winnt.sif (2003) to unattend.xml (2008). So if somebody here also administrates Widnows-Servers (I don't know that much about 'em :/) and knows how to emulate a RIS please tell me. I would love to replace the Windows Box (the Imaging-Server was already replaced). The "unattended" project mentioned earlier looks good, I haven't used it. I don't know if it'll do Vista installs, if that's a requirement. I guess my question is, if you have a working RIS solution, why not continue using it? You seem to already be a Windows shop on the desktops, it doesn't seem like having a Windows server around would be that terrible.
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 10:17:17AM -0400, Richard Daemon wrote: > On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 9:15 AM, Dan Brosemer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I didn't know about this, looks great. Were you able to do it via PXE booting? Absolutely. It's nothing-but-net. I can even get it to read the hostname from DHCP and select an unattended configuration based on that. My installs go something like this: pxelinux boot prompt: win It asks me for a username to mount the share with. It asks me for a password to mount the share with. It asks me for a password to join the domain. Now, the machine just goes and installs itself including all applications and patches including as many reboots as needed. I really can't rave about it enough, and it works beautifully with an OpenBSD server. -Dan -- "Burnished gallows set with red Caress the fevered, empty mind Of man who hangs bloodied and blind To reach for wisdom, not for bread." -- Deoridhe Grimsdaughter
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 4:06 PM, Dan Brosemer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 10:17:17AM -0400, Richard Daemon wrote: >> On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 9:15 AM, Dan Brosemer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> I didn't know about this, looks great. Were you able to do it via PXE >> booting? > > Absolutely. It's nothing-but-net. I can even get it to read the hostname > from DHCP and select an unattended configuration based on that. > > My installs go something like this: > > pxelinux boot prompt: win > It asks me for a username to mount the share with. > It asks me for a password to mount the share with. > It asks me for a password to join the domain. > > Now, the machine just goes and installs itself including all applications > and patches including as many reboots as needed. > > I really can't rave about it enough, and it works beautifully with an > OpenBSD server. Sweet! I'm going to give this a try, this is something I've been looking for, for a while. pxelinux boot prompt? Should work with OpenBSD's pxeboot the same way?
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 04:33:23PM -0400, Richard Daemon wrote: > On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 4:06 PM, Dan Brosemer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 10:17:17AM -0400, Richard Daemon wrote: > >> On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 9:15 AM, Dan Brosemer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > >> I didn't know about this, looks great. Were you able to do it via PXE > >> booting? > > > > Absolutely. It's nothing-but-net. I can even get it to read the hostname > > from DHCP and select an unattended configuration based on that. > > > > My installs go something like this: > > > > pxelinux boot prompt: win > > It asks me for a username to mount the share with. > > It asks me for a password to mount the share with. > > It asks me for a password to join the domain. > > > > Now, the machine just goes and installs itself including all applications > > and patches including as many reboots as needed. > > > > I really can't rave about it enough, and it works beautifully with an > > OpenBSD server. > > Sweet! I'm going to give this a try, this is something I've been > looking for, for a while. > > pxelinux boot prompt? Should work with OpenBSD's pxeboot the same way? Actually, no. OpenBSD's pxeboot is what you want to boot OpenBSD's kernel. With unattended, you boot a linux environment off the network to begin your install (it mounts the samba share, copies files, etc.) so you use pxelinux. There are ways if you google for it to chain pxeboot off pxelinux so you can keep one environment for installing OpenBSD by and Windows over the network. -Dan -- "Burnished gallows set with red Caress the fevered, empty mind Of man who hangs bloodied and blind To reach for wisdom, not for bread." -- Deoridhe Grimsdaughter
Re: OpenBSD as MS RIS-Server alternative?
Richard Daemon wrote: > Sweet! I'm going to give this a try, this is something I've been > looking for, for a while. > > pxelinux boot prompt? Should work with OpenBSD's pxeboot the same way? No comment. I'm a novice at all that, but have been using an OpenBSD-running Soekris unit as a portable PXE jukebox. For the last month and a half, I was serving up OpenBSD 4.2 and Debian 4. The CF size I have limits me to the contents of two smaller ISO images, or less. I'd like to try more releases at the same time and have all of the release, not just the net install. I've generally done net install via the regular mirrors. When it was just one system, I could one system use all the space and also serve up parts via anon ftp from the same unit. If you serve Debian or any Debian-based distros, especially in a hostile environment (e.g. blocking most mirror sites, non-HTTP ports and dropping connections) I strongly recommend using Apt-Cacher. If you have the disk space and/or things are really very hostile, then pre-load the cache in a more amenable environment. Be warned that apt-cacher will spawn a lot of processes. Squid will work fine for both installations, but in my (mis-)configuration provides little or no gain for speed. YMMV. For the linux installs you can make limited modifications (e.g. partitioning) with Kickstart or if you're tough, preseed. For OpenBSD customizations, I make one or two extra sets and serve those. Regards, -Lars
