From owner-freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Mon Oct 3 17:08:29 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D942BAF3731 for ; Mon, 3 Oct 2016 17:08:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org) Received: from kenobi.freebsd.org (kenobi.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::16:76]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BE504DC0 for ; Mon, 3 Oct 2016 17:08:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org) Received: from bugs.freebsd.org ([127.0.1.118]) by kenobi.freebsd.org (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTP id u93H8TaG035876 for ; Mon, 3 Oct 2016 17:08:29 GMT (envelope-from bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org) From: bugzilla-noreply@freebsd.org To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: [Bug 213175] [handbook] Precisions/caveat for 30.8 Diskless Operation Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:08:29 +0000 X-Bugzilla-Reason: AssignedTo X-Bugzilla-Type: new X-Bugzilla-Watch-Reason: None X-Bugzilla-Product: Documentation X-Bugzilla-Component: Documentation X-Bugzilla-Version: Latest X-Bugzilla-Keywords: X-Bugzilla-Severity: Affects Only Me X-Bugzilla-Who: natbsd@instinctive.eu X-Bugzilla-Status: New X-Bugzilla-Resolution: X-Bugzilla-Priority: --- X-Bugzilla-Assigned-To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org X-Bugzilla-Flags: X-Bugzilla-Changed-Fields: bug_id short_desc product version rep_platform op_sys bug_status bug_severity priority component assigned_to reporter Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Bugzilla-URL: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/ Auto-Submitted: auto-generated MIME-Version: 1.0 X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2016 17:08:29 -0000 https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=3D213175 Bug ID: 213175 Summary: [handbook] Precisions/caveat for 30.8 Diskless Operation Product: Documentation Version: Latest Hardware: Any OS: Any Status: New Severity: Affects Only Me Priority: --- Component: Documentation Assignee: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Reporter: natbsd@instinctive.eu Hello, a few days ago I found myself exactly in the situation solved by the Handbo= ok in chapter 30.8 "Diskless Operation with PXE". I'm as impressed as usual wi= th the quality and efficiency of FreeBSD documentation, which made the few slightly-harder points stand out. I'm proposing to help fix these points. I think I will try to submit a patch in a few days, but there could be some helpful discussion prior to making it, so I'm submitting the bug without a patch for now. In case it matters, my situation is that I've been trying to build a silent desktop, in the idea of "NUC" or "nettops", with a fanless low-power CPU, a fanless power unit, and something other than a hard drive for the OS. It se= ems to get a bit hot in there though (~50=C2=B0C on the cores) so I'm a bit afr= aid to burn my SSD, so I decided to try a diskless operation, by having the OS on a NAS in another room. I don't know yet how to deal with /home, as an unauthenticated read-write NFS makes me a bit uneasy even on a wired LAN. The first issue I encountered is in paragraph 30.8.1 "Setting Up the PXE Environment", at step 14. I installed some packages in the root served over NFS. With pkg-ng, that means updating the repository and (by default) keepi= ng a copy of the packages. That made my /var over 130MB. Proceeding to make conf/base/var.cpio.gz, I didn't realize that /var would end-up in a 5MB mfs, which causes enough problems to prevent booting altogether. I would suggest at least mentioning conf/base/var/md_size around the end of 30.8.1 The second issue I encountered is in the same paragraph, step 3 (but it manifests after having solved the previous one. I don't know enough of NFS = to be sure of what is going on, but it seems `-maproot=3Droot` is needed to ha= ve a working system. The symptoms were weird, like the mfs still being at 5 MB (= but the system boots completely), and not having the permission to run /sbin/shutdown. If I hadn't read diskless(8), which mentions `-maproot=3D0`= , and hadn't thought it weird root not having some execute permission, I might st= ill be scratching my head on this. Lastly, I used 10.3-RELEASE .txz archives instead of make buildworld/buildkernel/installworld/installkernel/distribution, but I'm not sure whether it's worth talking about this alternative in the handbook. Hoping this helps, Natasha --=20 You are receiving this mail because: You are the assignee for the bug.=