To keep the interested parties up to date, I offer the following setup notes and install details of my e-smith/Linux-HA experiment. Initially, I had assumed I would be working from my connection point (in this case I will be splitting a cable-modem connection) back until I reached the file server. After laying out all the pieces, I realized this would not be the best utilization of my resources. Using the 4.1b3 CD, I set up my file server machine which has 1 NIC and is configured for server only, no net access and DHCP enabled (DHCP is critical to simplify network installs!). I created an ibay that I named install and mounted the CDROM to the html folder in the rc.local script. I also disabled boot from CD in the BIOS once the machine was set up. I now have the install CD being served up via HTTP so I can perform network installs. The NIC is connected to a small hub. Next, I moved on to the first of the authentication servers. These are the machines that will have the HA techniques applied to them. I am looking at the file server as just network storage and will not be applying HA to it as their is already enough hardware solutions (a combination of RAID5 and network connected tape backup machines) to satisfy my need for redundancy and restoration. Taking a tip from Charlie, I modified the KS.CFG on the NETBOOT.IMG floppy to point to "HTTP://192.168.1.1/INSTALL"; and installed the e-smith disc to the new server via the network. This is a major benefit to me as it reduces my hardware load and simplifies the inevitable re-install that are inherent to any computer experiment. This worked flawlessly. My next step will be to create a storage ibay on the file server and mount it to the authentication server. This will be done so that all ibay created on the authentication server (as well as user home directories) will be physically located on the file server. As soon as that is done I will be moving on to the second server. How is anyone else doing on this? Eric Womack Cirque du Soleil (US) Inc. 3300 Las Vegas Blvd, South Las Vegas, NV
