From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 18 20:11:17 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0683F16A4CF for ; Sat, 18 Sep 2004 20:11:17 +0000 (GMT) Received: from forrie.com (forrie.ne.client2.attbi.com [24.147.45.106]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3876143D1D for ; Sat, 18 Sep 2004 20:11:16 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from forrie@forrie.com) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (i-25.forrie.net. [192.168.1.25]) by forrie.com with ESMTP id i8IKB7he044904 for ; Sat, 18 Sep 2004 16:11:09 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from forrie@forrie.com) Message-ID: <414C965A.6060101@forrie.com> Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 16:11:06 -0400 From: Forrest Aldrich User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.8 (Windows/20040917) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-RAVMilter-Version: 8.3.0(snapshot 20010925) (forrie.ne.client2.attbi.com) X-MailScanner-LocalNet: Found to be clean Subject: Automating FreeBSD Installation(s)... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 20:11:17 -0000 I've read several articles out there that address different means to automate (or standardize, for internal purposes) FreeBSD installations. One article (which was older) spoke of scripting sysinstall via an install.cfg with some custom pkg modules to do edits. The other, exploiting the PXE capability of the newer (Intel) NICs. I'm interested in what people are doing now - what has had the better success rate, etc. I realize this is all dependent upon one's environment - mine will be more ISP-related, but will require some flexibility for different servers. I've also heard of people utilizing GNU CFEngine for this type of procedure, which I find interesting - it's a complex package, but seems to be very functional if you have time/patience to apply it. Thanks...