Greetings,
2009/4/27 Peter Van Biesen <[email protected]>: > Hi Richard, > > thanks for your reply. > > I'm calling it thin client as the image I'm building is meant only to run rdp > , citrix ica or nx clients. I've tested some ready-made configurations ( eg. > thinstation ) but I'd like to have more control over what it's doing. It > should autodiscover if its on the internet or on the local network. That's > also the reason I need the image on local storage. Plug the device in on the > local network and it will automatically be updated to the latest version of > the image. Of course, pxe doesn't work on the internet either so I'll need to > configure grub too every time a new image is downloaded. > > The second reason for local storage is our remote offices. The leased line > has low bandwith, so I don't want a nfs connection over that nor do I want a > download of new images. The local image should remain there untill it is > plugged in in our head offices' network. In fact, I want the devices to be > able to run on their own if no dhcp/nfs server can be reached. Every month, > someone passes by the remote offices, so just replacing all devices with > other ones that have been updated and then plugging those in in the head > office to update and using them for another remote office ... would be the > easiest no-brain solution. > > So you see, nfs is not really an option. > You could consider having a boot option that performed a test for update with custom boot param. This is how I do vmware desktop sessions where the snapshots are stored on the client and the master big chunks are stored on the server. I just do a simple test for a variable in a release file and if the master on network does not match the client I perform an update. > Thanks for the link, I'm downloading the iso right now. I'll see if it is > useful. > > I'll continue reading through the debian live scripts as the documentation is > rather thin. > Perhaps you could run a base image in persistence and just inject a small amount of settings. Here is the link for persistence in the manual: http://live.debian.net/manual/html/persistence.html If the boot param hook= was operational it to could be leveraged to provide a solution as well. hook= has a bug report filed about it being broken. But I believe that it would be the best option to custom script a solution that does what you want. Let us know what you find out for your solution. Thanks. > Kindest regards, > > Peter. > > On Saturday 25 April 2009 04:41:27 Richard Nelson wrote: >> Greetings, >> >> On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 3:47 AM, Peter Van Biesen >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Hi, >> > >> > I'm preparing a live image for a thin client installation. The thin client >> > has 1Gb of local storage and we have about 20 running in 'the field' at >> > the moment. I'd like to have a way to automatically update them. I >> > currently use a netboot and the standard nfs mount. However, when the nfs >> > server goes down, all thin clients go down. >> >> Well without knowing the layout I would say make a redundant nfs >> setup. I run a setup with several hundred units and I have a >> proximity nfs server and a failsafe nfs server in case the proximity >> fails. The user selects the boot server via pxe boot menu. You could >> also have the proximity nfs also double as a dhcp. >> >> fwiw: I like to call netboot clients Not So Thin (NST) clients. >> >> > If the dhcp/tftp server goes down, the clients continue running but >> > starting new ones failes ( this is not a problem as this affects only few >> > clients ). >> > >> > What I'd like to do is >> > - pxe boot >> > - get kernel and initrd from tftp server >> > - get the id of the latest filesystem.squashfs from a webserver >> > If the id is newer than the one on local storage ( /dev/hda1 ), download >> > it from the webserver >> > If not, keep the one on local storage >> > - mount and use the filesystem from local storage >> >> As I recall seems like http://www.ulteo.com/home/en/home?autolang=en >> used to do something similar to what you describe. >> >> On systems I want to upgrade that use local storage I keep them in >> groups in my dhcp.conf file and I move them to the new location when I >> am ready. I like keeping all the images on the server and not the >> clients. Also I like a plain fs type so I can just chroot in for fleet >> modifications. >> >> ymmv: The only reason I ever looked at a local storage was for offline >> clients or low bandwidth (and I always come back to usb stick for >> that). So with this model I expect users who want to upgrade to plug >> in to the network with pxe boot set at a higher boot priority and then >> I give them a pxe boot menu with a test for update option that boots a >> basic netboot with a custom rc.local designed to check versions then >> upgrade if need be and then reboot. >> >> > >> > Is this possible with the current installation or should I write my own >> > scipts ? >> >> Well even in the above example you would need to craft your own >> rc.local for testing what you want. So there will most likely be some >> custom scripting needed. >> >> > >> > Thanks in advance, >> > >> >> Hope this reply helps. >> >> > Peter. >> > -- >> > Peter Van Biesen >> > Sysadmin VAPH >> > >> > tel: +32 (0) 2 225 85 70 >> > fax: +32 (0) 2 225 85 88 >> > e-mail: [email protected] >> > PGP: http://www.vaph.be/pgpkeys >> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> > DISCLAIMER : >> > De personeelsleden van het agentschap doen hun best om in e-mails >> > betrouwbare informatie te geven. Toch kan niemand rechten doen gelden op >> > basis van deze inhoud. Als in de e-mail een stellingname voorkomt, is >> > dat niet noodzakelijk het standpunt van het agentschap. Rechtsgeldige >> > beslissingen of officiele standpunten worden alleen per brief toegestuurd. >> > >> > >> > -- >> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] >> > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact >> > [email protected] >> > >> > >> >> > > > > -- > Peter Van Biesen > Sysadmin VAPH > > tel: +32 (0) 2 225 85 70 > fax: +32 (0) 2 225 85 88 > e-mail: [email protected] > PGP: http://www.vaph.be/pgpkeys > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > DISCLAIMER : > De personeelsleden van het agentschap doen hun best om in e-mails > betrouwbare informatie te geven. Toch kan niemand rechten doen gelden op > basis van deze inhoud. Als in de e-mail een stellingname voorkomt, is > dat niet noodzakelijk het standpunt van het agentschap. Rechtsgeldige > beslissingen of officiele standpunten worden alleen per brief toegestuurd. > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected]
