TC Server and clients

[Rich]

Hi guillaumetld
You can probably do the install from your location, but I don't have the knowledge on how to do it.
Maybe someone else on the forum can provide some guidance.

[guillaumetld]

When using tc-terminal-server command, i am asked "boot options ?". I never add something here. Maybe i can use an install option, but i dont know the good one.

Do you know the command to use for a frugal install with a CD boot ? (i can try the same ?).

[Rich]

Hi guillaumetld
I can't give you specifics, but I will give you a brief overview of what a frugal install looks like.

The workstations disk needs the following:
A partition formatted with a Linux file system (EXT2,EXT3, or EXT4)
A bootloader (grub-0.97-splash.tcz for this example)
A /tce directory for any apps you wish to load when booting locally
The file  /boot/grub/menu.lst  tells grub where to find Tinycore and any extra boot codes you need
The  /boot  directory should have the files  bzImage  and  tinycore.gz

I won't go into any more detail than that because I don't want to give you bad information.

[guillaumetld]

Is it possible then to do a script beginning after PXE boot and containing the install instructions ?

[Rich]

Hi guillaumetld
I don't see why not. If the workstations will only be running Tinycore and the hard drives don't contain
anything important, that would help to simplify things since you could reformat instead of
repartitioning.

[guillaumetld]

I can reformat the thin stations, it's not a problem !

[Rich]

Hi guillaumetld
You said you have a workstation by the server and the the disk can be reformatted, so that's
convenient and we can't hurt the workstation. Since none of our more skilled members have stepped
up I'll give it a shot. I've never tried to do a remote installation so this is new to me too.

You will need the following extensions for the workstation
util-linux-ng.tcz
grub-0.97-splash.tcz

You'll need to access the workstation, so that needs to be set up. I personally use dropbear on
my file server and access it from my local machine using openssh.

Assuming the workstations hard drive is hda
Format the drive

Code: [Select]

mkfs.ext3 /mnt/hda1Install grub

Code: [Select]

grub
grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit
You now need to copy  bzImage  and  tinycore.gz  to  /mnt/hda1/boot. You'll have to copy those from
the directory the workstation booted from.

Create your local tce directory

Code: [Select]

mkdir /mnt/hda1/tceCopy the files and subdirectories from the tce directory the workstation reads when booting remotely
to  /mnt/hda1/tce.

Things I've probably missed:
1. Some of these steps may require you to be root
2. Some of these steps may require you to mount or unmount the drive first
3. You might need to set up a password if using SSH

Things to watch out for
1. How to handle the workstations backup.tgz. Local versus remote settings.
2. When remote booting, making sure remote and NOT local /tce directory is found.

If any of these steps are incorrect you should receive an error message. I'm afraid that's the best I
can offer for now, no promises that it will work. If anyone spots any errors please say so and I'll
correct this post.  Good luck guillaumetld

[guillaumetld]

Thank you very much, i'll check this as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, i have a problem with the backup on my server.
I made a frugal install on it, and i would like to save the /netboot directory created during tc-terminal-server.

When i make a backup of hda1, and when i restore it, it's ok, but i would like to have the restoration on boot. I disabled the "norestore" option on a conf file (dont remember which one), but it still doesn't works.

[Rich]

Hi guillaumetld
If your  netboot  directory is in the root directory, all you should have to do is add the line
netboot
without a leading / to your  /opt/.filetool.lst file and it will automatically be backed up and restored.
If it's located at  /mnt/hda1/netboot  then add
mnt/hda1/netboot
instead, once again, no leading / .

[guillaumetld]

I did that, but it doesn't work.

[Rich]

H guillaumetld
Please post the result of
cat /proc/cmdline

[guillaumetld]

initrd=/boot/tinycore.gz quiet opt=hda1 home=hda1 waitsub=5:UUID="ed0652c4-c513-46b0-8efc-56566fb900e1" tce=UUID="ed0652c4-c513-46b0-8efc-56566fb900e1" BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/bzImage

[Rich]

Hi guillaumetld
What is the result of
sudo find / -name mydata.tgz

[guillaumetld]

/mnt/hda1/mydata.tgz
/mnt/hda1/tce/mydata.tgz

[Rich]

Hi guillaumetld
Your problem appears to be that you are backing up to the hard drive and restoring from a non-existant
mydata.tgz file from a USB drive. Is the server booting from the hard drive or the USB drive?