Actually, from what I've been able to tell, Puppet + Cobbler is exactly how the stateless project handles the configuration of the diskless hosts.
On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 7:04 PM, Miguel Costa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Michael DeHaan wrote: > > Miguel Costa wrote: > > Michael DeHaan wrote: > > > > I use cobbler to provision xen guests and perceus (http://www.perceus.org) > to provision stateless images on nodes of hpc clusters, which are probably > different from thin clients only in the use they are given :). From where I > stand, it would be great if cobbler could manage something similar (I guess > that's why I'm on both these lists :) ) > > > What does Perceus do that Cobbler does not in your usage? > > well, in a nutshell, at least the way I use them (I might me missing some > feature) > > cobbler: I create profiles, which are essentially managed kickstarts, and > assign them to systems. When this system boots from pxe (or is created by > koan --virt), it gets installed according to that profile. I usually use > cobbler only once per system. > > perceus: I create "capsules", which are stateless system images, and assign > them to nodes. When the nodes boot from pxe, the capsule is transferred to > the node, where it runs from ram (so the node can be diskless). Perceus is > used every time the nodes boot. > > With systems provisioned with cobbler, the result is a bunch of independent > systems, which without other configuration management tools will each follow > their own way, at least until they are reinstalled. For xen guests, this is > precisely what I need, since each system is used for different purposes. > > With nodes provisioned with perceus, the configuration is controlled by the > capsule which resides on the server. I just change the capsule on the server > and push the changes to the nodes, or reboot the nodes for more drastic > changes. The bottom line is that I only manage two systems, the server and > the capsule, which just happens to run on a large number of nodes. For a hpc > cluster, this is precisely what I need, since each node is used only to > compute and send results home. > > > In this case, the capsule seems very analogous to a config management > profile that Stateless Project was attempting, right? I'm probably missing > some of the finer points. If I am, can you explain further? > FWIW I recently shot out an email to Cobbler-list about having cobbler > dynamically generate the external_nodes information for Puppet, so it will > make it easier to link cobbler profiles with puppet profiles. Look for that > in a future release. If that's unrelated that's ok :) > > From the little I saw of puppet, yes, I think it achieves the same effect > (stateless), and probably in a more effective manner, but I guess the best > way to see the difference is to look at the diskless case. You can't manage > diskless nodes (or thin clients, etc.) with cobbler + puppet, can you? > > This is just to illustrate what I think is different in the two approaches > - in practice, nodes/thin clients/etc. usually have some kind of > non-volatile memory, so if cobbler + puppet achieve the same effect with > less network usage and faster boot times, all the better > > miguel > > P.S. capsules also allow us to boot different versions or distributions at > will, without reinstallation - something like a repository of livecd images > that boot from the network. This doesn't sound very useful, but one can > think of situations where machines are used for different purposes at > different times, e.g. as desktops during the day and compute nodes during > the night, where this kind of separation might have some advantages > > > > > Perceus doesn't have a web interface though :) > > miguel > > > --Michael > > > > > -- > Miguel Costa > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Neoscopio, S.A. > > Telefone: (+351) 220 301 500 > Telemóvel: (+351) 93 317 11 62 > Fax: (+351) 220 301 511 > *_E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Parque Tecnológico da UP > Rua Actor Ferreira da Silva, 100 > 4200-298 Porto > > *www.neoscopio.com* <http://www.neoscopio.com> <http://www.neoscopio.com> > > > > > -- > Miguel Costa > ------------------------------ > Neoscopio, S.A. > > Telefone: (+351) 220 301 500 > Telemóvel: (+351) 93 317 11 62 > Fax: (+351) 220 301 511 > *E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Parque Tecnológico da UP > Rua Actor Ferreira da Silva, 100 > 4200-298 Porto > > *www.neoscopio.com* <http://www.neoscopio.com> >
_______________________________________________ Stateless-list mailing list [email protected] http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/stateless-list
