Differences between revisions 18 and 19
Revision 18 as of 2012-04-05 10:49:05
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Editor: ?AndreasMundt
Comment: add hint about network interfaces, clean up
Revision 19 as of 2012-04-05 10:51:05
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Editor: ?AndreasMundt
Comment: cosmetics
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== RAID1 == === RAID1 ===
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== Diskless Clients == === Diskless Clients ===

Translation(s): none


Debian-LAN Setup_A

Network Topology

  • The mainserver with two network cards acts as a gateway to the external network. It serves the central services to the LAN and optionally the root file system for diskless machines. The home directories are mounted via kerberized NFSv4.

Machine Types

  • mainserver (10.0.0.1)

    • DNS and DHCP for the internal network.
    • Kerberos KDC
    • LDAP
    • Home directories distributed via NFSv4 (sec=krb5i by default for all clients as soon as 638157 is fixed)

    • Squid proxy
    • apt-cacher-ng
  • workstation (10.0.0.50 ... 10.0.0.149)

    • LXDE and Gnome desktop enviroment
    • customized package selection
  • diskless (workstation) (10.0.0.150 ... 10.0.0.249)

    • same features as workstation (see below on how to activate)

Details and Hints

After installation of the mainserver: Make sure your networks are connected to the right interfaces: Fixed IP address 10.0.0.1 to the internal network, DHCP to the outside world (internet/router).

User and Machine Management

  • The script debian-lan is provided to manage users and groups in LDAP (using ldapscripts).

  • debian-lan also helps with adding machines to dhcpd.conf and copying the Kerberos keytabs to the machines (machine principals).

To install a client machine, you have to add the hardware MAC address to /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf. This can be done by hand or with help of the command:

debian-lan add2dhcp

The command lists all (non-local and not yet known) MAC addresses found in the syslog and prompts for skipping the address, adding it as workstation or as diskless machine.

Distributing Kerberos keytabs to clients: After the installation of a workstation from the mainserver, use the command:

debian-lan addmachine workstationXX

on the mainserver to copy the Kerberos keytab to workstationXX. Diskless clients do not need this procedure to be activated.

Adding users: Use the command:

debian-lan adduser <list of usernames separated by spaces>

or

debian-lan adduser <path to file>

to add users. The file is a simple text file containing on each line a single username and optionally the user's password separated by spaces. If you omit the password, debian-lan will create a random password and append it to the user's line in the file.

Removing users: Use the command deluser in the debian-lan script.

For more details take a look at the debian-lan script itself.

RAID1

To use a RAID1 on the server, add the class RAID and replace LVM*_A with the corresponding RAIDLVM*_A class in class/50-host-classes.

Diskless Clients

/!\ The FAI classes DISKLESS_* work only on the mainserver, making the classes independent has not been done yet.

The mainserver might serve the root file system for diskless machines. To enable diskless machines, install the mainserver with the partitioning scheme LVM6_A replaced by LVM7_A in class/50-host-classes, which will add another partition for /opt, and add the class DISKLESS_SERVER. After installation and the creation of the FAI nfsroot (fai-setup), execute:

export LC_ALL=C
fai -vNu diskless dirinstall /opt/live/filesystem.dir/ |tee /var/log/fai/fai-diskless.log

This will install the chroot of the diskless machines in /opt. In addition, swaping over the network is activated and the PXE configuration prepared. Unknown machines and the disklessXX hosts will be booted as diskless clients.

Known Issues and Work-Arounds

  • Installation of munin-node fails during the mainserver FAI-installation because of 612481 (still relevant on squeeze) → install munin-node after the FAI installation.

  • munin-node-configure does not link all available (i.e. working) plugins during installation → add missing links (use munin-node-configure --shell to get links for available plugins).

  • NFSv4 not kerberized: 638157 → apply patch.