> > I want to add an autodiscovery feature. I have some questions how to > start: > > > > - What kind of initrd shall be used? > > o Use livecd-tools to build the initrd+kernel from Fedora/RHEL/CentOS? > > * Minimum size is 150MB > > * Easy to maintain and regenerate > > o Create a small busy-box initrd+kernel > > * Minimum size is 20MB > > * Harder to understand > > * Requires more indepth linux knowledge > > - Which API to use? > > o HTTP services? > > o XMLRPC read/write API? (listens currently only on localhost) > > - Instead of creating something new extend koan with a new --discover > function? > > > > I take it you're more interested in auto-discovering what's on the > network than where the cobbler server is, but anyway, some background > info: > > I wrote the opposite kind of auto-discovery feature (using Avahi MDNS) > into koan a while back for implementation of the koan live CD, which has > been replaced by "cobbler buildiso" because it's much easier and > reliable. The auto-discovery feature, however, is still in the code. You > can read a bit about it here: > https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/KoanAndAvahiServiceDiscovery > > Somewhat related, cobbler also has an auto-registration feature here > that will allow new machines, set to boot a "default" profile, to > register themselves (with the mac address as the initial name) in > cobbler so you can reassign them with simple commands like "cobbler > system edit --name=$macaddress --profile=foo". This allows you to use a > simple basic kickstart, install systems to a very basic profile, and get > them registered. However, this does currently require an installation to > register them for the first time. See more here: > https://fedorahosted.org/cobbler/wiki/AutoRegistration > > While koan's live CD didn't pan out, making a live image that simply > calls cobbler's registration API without doing an install might be a > very useful feature, especially when coupled with some very basic > instructions about how to set that up for the default profile in > cobbler. It could perhaps be written to learn more about the system than > the registration API currently allows, and storing more in Cobbler, > though we have to be careful to only create new system records ... if we > allow overwriting of existing ones, it's a potential security concern as > there's no good way to authenticate bare-metal hardware :) > > I'd look over the auto-registration info and see if that is enough, or > if you think a live CD based approach (and existing those APIs) might be > able to accomplish more.
Maybe I should call it auto-provision instead of auto-discovery. The new network code requires that all physical NICs have a MAC assigned. I want to have an auto-provision of the NICs with a MACs for all detected NICs. I have also thought about making the auto-provision-live-cd similar to buildiso option so you may build the auto-provision-live-cd using the kernel of the distro you want to match the hardware-discovery. Regards, Peter This e-mail and any attachment is for authorised use by the intended recipient(s) only. It may contain proprietary material, confidential information and/or be subject to legal privilege. It should not be copied, disclosed to, retained or used by, any other party. If you are not an intended recipient then please promptly delete this e-mail and any attachment and all copies and inform the sender. Thank you. _______________________________________________ cobbler mailing list [email protected] https://fedorahosted.org/mailman/listinfo/cobbler
