Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 19:06:41 -0800 (PST) From: Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com> Cc: Julian Elischer <julian@whistle.com>, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@critter.freebsd.dk>, Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/kern kern_mib.c Message-ID: <199901260306.TAA12075@apollo.backplane.com> References: <88277.917316664@zippy.cdrom.com>
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:> What's the solution?
:
:And the assumption here is that you're working from a shared /etc for
:all diskless nodes, right? Furthermore, you probably don't want your
:details in /etc/rc.conf even if you could have it local because you're
:DHCP'ing for all that information and already know which interfaces to
:bring up, correct?
:
:Before we start suggesting solutions, let's just make sure we all
:agree on the definition of the problem. :)
:
:- Jordan
Ok, basically I'm working on the situation where you have one or
more 'diskless' workstations, aka BOOTP workstations, and one
server.
We want all the workstations to operate without having to create
a root environment for each one, so the server needs to export
/ and /usr read-only to all of the diskless workstations. Or,
if the server is security concious, it might make a *single* root
environment and export that as root, read-only to all the diskless
workstations.
From the workstation's point of view, the following is configured prior
to /etc/rc being run by the kernel:
* vfs.nfs.diskless_valid will be non-zero
* vfs.nfs.diskless_rootpath will be configured
* vfs.nfs_diskless_swappath may be configured
* one of the machine's ethernet interfaces will be configured
with an IP address, netmask, and default route
* an NFS root will be mounted
* an NFS swap partition may be mounted.
Here's the problem:
* The workstations cannot simply run the server's /etc configuration
scripts
* The workstations may also have different environments
What we need is an /etc/rc, /etc/rc.conf solution that allows the rc
script to distinguish the type of boot occuring and to distinguish
between workstations. For example, in a poor-man's network the
server's root drive will be NFS exported and mounted by BOOTP on the
workstations.
Goals:
* /etc/rc and /etc/rc.conf operate almost normally
* /etc/rc.local /etc/rc.conf.local are *NOT* accessed, but instead
replaced with a workstation-specific ( aka IP-address-specific )
rc.local and rc.conf.local
* System boots pretty much normally using the global rc and rc.conf,
and the per-workstation rc.local and rc.conf.local overrides.
Problem:
* /etc/rc must recognize the diskless boot early ( easy ) and run
/etc/rc.diskless to setup the basic environment such that the rest
of /etc/rc can run 'normally'.
* /etc/rc.diskless must somehow cause /etc/rc.conf to use
/conf/IPADDRESS/rc.conf.local as the local override instead of
/etc/rc.conf.local.
* We can make /etc/rc deal with /conf/IPADDRESS/rc.local vs
/etc/rc.local, no need for rc.conf specifics there.
* We want any stand-alone executions of /etc/rc.conf to also return
the correct configuration, not just when we run it from /etc/rc.
So local variables in /etc/rc that are detected by /etc/rc.conf
will not work. ( aka 'ndc restart' and other administrative scripts
run /etc/rc.conf ).
It would also be nice if /etc/rc could run /etc/rc.conf *BEFORE* trying
to do the fsck's and other mounts and such, which would allow us to
override their operation with a conf variable instead of a hack. But
I didn't change the ordering because I was worried it would break
existing installations.
-Matt
Matthew Dillon
<dillon@backplane.com>
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