Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 19:08:01 -0500 (EST) From: jfieber@cs.smith.edu (John Fieber) To: smp@rick.systemsix.com (Steve Passe) Cc: doc@freebsd.org, martin@innovus.com Subject: Re: your mail Message-ID: <199503210008.TAA22773@grendel.csc.smith.edu> In-Reply-To: <199503200039.RAA01896@rick.systemsix.com> from "Steve Passe" at Mar 19, 95 05:39:15 pm
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Steve Passe writes: > Here is my outline for a cookbook approach to setting up DISKLESS > nodes under FreeBSD 2.x. Please send comments, suggestions, etc. I am most > interested in technical issues, not grammer. In particular, the following I think this and http://www.freebsd.org/How/tutorials/diskless.FAQ need to be sorted out. This goes into great detail (too much in places I think) while the latter is a little brief on some points of interest but gives a little more discussion of what and why. I can't comment too much on the technical details since I'm not in a position to test the instructions (no ethernet), but I have a couple other comments. > <ETHERNET_ADDR> = address of your ethernet card in hex: nn.nn.nn.nn.nn.nn > <DOMAIN_ADDR> = domain portion of address space, eg. 192.168.666 > <DOMAIN_NETMASK> = network mask for your domain > <DNS_ADDR> = address of DNS service > <GW_ADDR> = address of gateway > <HOST_ADDR> = hostddress > <CLIENT_ADDR> = client's address > <DOMAIN_NAME> = name of your domain > <HOST_NAME> = name of file/swap server > <CLIENT_NAME> = name of DISKLESS node This is good. > # [ build a common DISKLESS kernel: ] > # cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf > # [ create DISKLESS: ] > --------------------------------- cut -------------------------------------- > # DISKLESS -- DISKLESS machine with NFS disks > # > # DISKLESS,v 1.00 > # > > machine "i386" > cpu "I386_CPU" > cpu "I486_CPU" > cpu "I586_CPU" > ident DISKLESS > maxusers 10 > > options MATH_EMULATE #Support for x87 emulation [snip] I think it is a bad idea to include the whole config file since *many* things in here have absolutely nothing to do with diskless booting. Only include relevant lines to avoid confusion. > # config DISKLESS > # cd /usr/src/sys/compile/DISKLESS > # make depend > # make > # cp kernel /usr/rootfs/common What is needed here is a reference to the (currently non-existant) tutorial on configuring and building kernels. Hmmm... I have the names Glen Foster <gfoster@osmre.gov> and Jeff Aitken <jaitken@vt.edu> down as volunteers for this project. > # [ patch rc: ] > --------------------------------- cut -------------------------------------- > diff -r1.1 rc > 66c66,67 > < mount -a -t nonfs > --- > > ##mount -a -t nonfs > > mount -a > 230c231 > < mount -a -t nfs >/dev/null 2>&1 & # XXX shouldn't need background > --- > > ##mount -a -t nfs >/dev/null 2>&1 & # XXX shouldn't need background > --------------------------------- end -------------------------------------- If you must include a diff, a context diff would be much more helpful for people who have a different version or have changed the files in question. General comments: The steps are all there, but if someone's system and/or setup is a little different these steps may not work. Examples are a Good Thing, but with out any discussion (and the one comments included here don't constitute discussion), they are of limited value. Its the old differece between giving someone a fish, and teaching them to fish. In this situation, a description of what and *why* things are done will allow someone to transfer the knowledge into a new setting, such as using something other than FreeBSD as the server (or client). Knowing the *why* for the changes is critical in solving unexpected problems that arise along the way. You should work with Martin Renters <martin@innovus.com> to come up with a version narrated version of this. I think it is an extremely valuable document to have in our (slowly) growing bag of tutorials! -john === jfieber@cs.smith.edu ================================================ =================================== Come up and be a kite! --K. Bush ===
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