autoinstall from CD /network/etc does just that - a clean install. 1. make changes on your golden client 2. run si_prepareclient on the golden client 3. run si_getimage on the image server
Now you are ready to autoinstall. For differential updates, you: 4. run si_updateclient on all the other machines running that image Maybe you just didn't see the si_updateclient tool? I believe there is also an si_pushimage command, but haven't looked into it - it sounds like it would b an alternative to si_prepareclient (which pulls an image). Patrick On 2007-7-18 13:27, Thomas Krause wrote: > Hello again, > > 1.) I now installed SystemImager in a test environment (debian server + > kubuntu client) and so far it looks very promising. However at least in my > test environment SI does always create a client from scratch (recreate all > partitions and files), instead of transferring only the differences. How > can I change it, so that SI checks if the partitions it would create are > the same that are already there and then sync only the files that have > changed. Is there a built-in way to do that? I'm using PXE to start the > update process. > > 2.) It would be nice, if I could "mark" a client for reinstallation so that > it will get a new image the next time it boots. However once the client has > a new image, I want to automatically restart the client and "unmark" it on > the server, so that it will not receive the update again after the restart. > Is there already a way to signal the server when the client has finished > its update or do I have to implement that myself (somehow) in the > autoinstallscript. I can implement the (un)marking stuff by myself, I just > need a way to run a script on the server when the client is finished. > > 3.) Thank you (and Paul) for your help so far. It really helped me to > understand how all the different parts of SI are working together. > > Btw: The partitioning works now fine with different hard disks. I had some > problems at first because SI apparently always wants to resize the last > partition on the disk (if you are using the default config), which was the > swap partition in my case. But after moving the data partition to the end > (I hate parted now) it runs perfectly with the standard settings that > si_prepareclient generates. > > Thomas Krause > > P.S.: Does anyone have experience in running SystemImager on Gentoo and > maybe even has an ebuild that I could use to install SI on our real server? > > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- > Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Im Auftrag von Andrea > Righi > Gesendet: Dienstag, 17. Juli 2007 10:45 > An: [email protected] > Betreff: Re: [sisuite-users] Using SystemImager in a school environment > > Thomas Krause wrote: > > 1. Do you think that SI is suitable for this kind of scenario? > > Yes. > > > 2. If I understand correctly SI is file-based, meaning that unlike > > typical imaging programs (ghost, etc.) it copies files (or better: file > > deltas) to the server and not whole partitions. If that is the case, > > then how does SI work on a fresh client with an empty hard drive? Do you > > store additional partition infos? And if yes, how do you handle > > differing hard disk sizes (e.g. client hard disk is smaller or larger > > than original hard disk)? > > SI can be used to perform the first installation of fresh clients, > re-installations to restore the operating system in a well known state and > to > keep in sync any number of clients with an image of a filesystem (with > optional > deltas). > > The partitioning schema of your clients is defined in > /etc/systemimager/autoinstallscript.conf of your golden client. In your > image > server it'll be > /var/lib/systemimager/<your_image>/etc/systemimager/autoinstallscript.conf > (there's an autoinstallscript.conf for each image). > > In this (xml) configuration file you can define the size of your > partitions. If > you've disks with different sizes you can use the attribute > unit_of_measurement="%" (it can be set to "MB" or "%"). > > See `man autoinstallscript.conf` for details. > > > 3. On feature of SI is that clients can run the SI client directly > > over PXE, which I find easier than running from one PC to another with a > > CD. IIRC you have to enable this for specific clients first. What > > happens with clients which are not enabled? Will they boot normally from > > their hard disk (that would allow me to simply enable PXE permanently > > for all clients in the bios). Also how will this conflict with the > > existing PXE server for diskless clients? Ideally I would be able to > > differentiate between diskless PXE clients, and the image update PXE > > clients by MAC-Address. > > It can be done easily with si_mkclientnetboot (see man si_mkclientnetboot > for > details). With this command you can define the clients that you want to > image > over PXE with SI. The other clients will use a different PXE config file > and they'll boot with your diskless configuration, or directly to the local > disk, > etc, etc... > > > 4. How well does SI work with different hardware. I guess this is > > mainly determined by the os itself (Kubuntu 7.04 in this case), but > > there seems to be some things SI can help me with (SystemConfigurator?). > > One of the things I want to do is to run my golden master client on a > > Virtual Machine (VirtualBox), so that I can make changes at home without > > having to use a separate computer. Do you think this is possible, or are > > the differences between real and virtual hardware to big? > > Hardware heterogeneity is very well supported (at least in our testing > environments :-)). I usually perform my tests using VMWare machines so I > don't > see any problem if you run your golden client or your image server (or > both) in > a virtual environment. > > Regards, > -Andrea > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express > Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take > control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. > http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ > _______________________________________________ > sisuite-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sisuite-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express > Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take > control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. > http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ > _______________________________________________ > sisuite-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sisuite-users -- Patrick Dowler Tel/Tél: (250) 363-6914 | fax/télécopieur: (250) 363-0045 Canadian Astronomy Data Centre | Centre canadien de donnees astronomiques National Research Council Canada | Conseil national de recherches Canada Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada 5071 West Saanich Road | 5071, chemin West Saanich Victoria, BC | Victoria (C.-B.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ _______________________________________________ sisuite-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sisuite-users
