Anton Aylward wrote:
Per Jessen said the following on 03/20/2013 01:25 PM:
What I have done in the past (for a lot less machines though):
install machine#0, configure etc. Boot up a rescue system, create tar-copy of the installed system. Put tar-copy on USB or elsewhere where it is easily accessible.
for m in machine[123456789] do boot rescue, partition, create filesystem, mount, untar. configure MAC-address. run lilo done
I'm not sure we're talking the same thing.
* what does 'boot rescue' mean?
Boot a rescue mini-system, could be just the openSUSE NET install system.
* 'create file system' where
On the partition to be installed. (implicitly created with fdisk).
* 'mount' what where and how?
Mount the newly created filesystem on /mnt.
I'm assuming that what you mean is
1. Take the bootable usb to the target machine and boot with it 2. Run fdisk on the target machine's hard disk to set up swap and FS 3. Run mkswap & mkfs on the targets machine's hard drive 4. do magic.
Yep, that's about it. The bootable/rescue USB could be just the network install ISO. If you boot that with ssh=1, it will not auto-start yast.
I suspect the magic involves having a machine image - what you are terming the tar file
Correct.
- as well as the bootable image on the usb stick.
That is already booted, it's not needed for anything else.
I'd expect that tar file to be about 10G, so we have a non-trivial usb stick, call a 32G.
32Gb is not _that_ unusual, is it? 16Gb are readily available at the checkout in the local supermarket these days. I see a 64Gb stick is CHF39 at my usual supplier.
Is this what you mean?
COS IT ISN'T WHAT I WAS THINKING OF!
Ooops, sorry. :-)
I was assuming that the same image that I was running on the USB stick could be 'ghosted' onto the hard drive. Yes that raises questions about the disk layout but its fast!
Not a lot faster than what I just described, methinks. The only difference I see is that your 'dd'-copy will automatically create the partition and the filesystem. When you assume a target disk format, you can easily script the partitioning (sfdisk) and filesystem creation, and run that from the install shell.
I was aiming for "Fast and Simple" maybe doing this over lunch. For a hundred machines with five sticks. FAST!
If a system image is 20Gb uncompressed, copying it from USB to harddisk will take at least 10 minutes (USB 2.0), most probably longer. Anyway, like I said, no big difference between the two methods. -- Per Jessen, Zürich (7.6°C) http://www.dns24.ch/ - free DNS hosting, made in Switzerland. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org