Hello, I will described with more details how we are using unattended and wpkg with a mysql database :
I have put some screenshots and modifed scripts in a zip file at the following address : ftp://support.geneva.msf.org/Permanent/IT/deployment_docs.zip The database is organized in several tables : computers, packages, users, computer_package, unattended, ... You can see the database shema in the screenshot database_schema.jpg. Let's take as example the deployment of a new machine called GVA-TEST. 1) First of all we need to enter information about the new PC in the database, to do this we connect to the web server running on the deployment server and insert a record for the machine (screenshot : insert_computer.jpg) 2) Then we add packages for this machine (screenshot insert_computer_package.jpg). I also use a perl script (package_base.pl) to add the standard packages deployed on every computer, instead of manually adding each package. The list of packages belonging to the 'base' installation is defined in the table packagegroup_package with group_id='base'. 3) Boot the PC with the unattended linux boot disk. The config.pl script has been modified in order to run a custom query on the database. This is useful to get the computer name based on the mac address with a query like "SELECT computer_name FROM computers WHERE mac_address = '$macaddr'" The type and name of the windows domain to join is also queried in the database. Some standard information is queried in the unattended table, as it is implemented in unattended. We use this for localadmin password, partition_commands, product_id, ... 4) Unattended deploys the OS and at the end installs the wpkg service which is started after the last reboot. 5) The xml files for wpkg are generated every minute via a php page (query_hosts.php, query_profiles, query_packages.php), and the shell scrip getxml.sh. An important remark is that we have decided not to use the wpkg profiles. Each computer has an associated profile. We think it is easier to manage the idea of profile directly in the database. As you can see in the attached script files, it is not very professionally done, not very clean code, ... But I see it as a first usable step. The idea to have everything in the database and not bother editing xml files or csv files is very interesting and allows the database to be used for other part of IT management : inventory, asset tracking, help-desk calls. The database can be extended with more tables, and the web-based front-end could potentially be very powerful. I hope this explanation gives you an idea of how the solution is implemented. Any suggestions and feedback would be very appreciated, Best Regards, Robert Hatt. ______________________________ Robert Hatt MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES Département IT Rue de Lausanne 78 1211 Genève 21 Tél : +41 22 849 84 44 Fax : +41 22 849 84 88 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tomasz Chmielewski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wpkg-users-admin@ cc lists.sourceforge [email protected] .net Subject Re: [wpkg-users] wpkg and unattended 09.11.2005 10:48 [EMAIL PROTECTED] schrieb: > Hello, > > We are using unattended and wpkg with mysql. > Almost all data about computers, users, packages is stored in the database. > The wpkg XML files are generated by a script from the database. > We use dadabik as a web-based front-end to the database, which is very easy > to install and use. > > The process to deploy a new PC is quite simple (everything is done through > the web interface) : > > 1) Enter the data about the computer : mac address, computer name, domain > name, model name, username, ... > 2) Add packages for this computer. > 3) Boot the pc with the linux boot disk > 4) Enter domain admin password. > 5) Wait. > 6) Done ! > > As I am alone on this project, beside my normal help-desk job the solution > is still a little bit rudimentary but it works well. > The next step would be to create a more powerful web-based interface to the > database. > > If people are interested in this solution, I would be glad to give more > details about it. of course we are all interested. WPKG certainly needs a good web-interface. -- Tomek http://wpkg.org ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Tame your development challenges with Apache's Geronimo App Server. Download it for free - -and be entered to win a 42" plasma tv or your very own Sony(tm)PSP. Click here to play: http://sourceforge.net/geronimo.php _______________________________________________ wpkg-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wpkg-users ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Tame your development challenges with Apache's Geronimo App Server. Download it for free - -and be entered to win a 42" plasma tv or your very own Sony(tm)PSP. Click here to play: http://sourceforge.net/geronimo.php _______________________________________________ wpkg-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wpkg-users
