Using FAI to build custom Debian install and iso?

[Dan Peterson]

Howdy,

I've played with PGI a bit but that project seems to
be completely dead and I don't think it does
everything that I'd like.  I think FAI will do
everything I need, but I'm not too familiar with it
quite yet and am just becoming acquainted with Debian
so please forgive me if some of these questions are
idiotic.

In a couple months, I am going to be going around the
country to my company's different regional sales
offices and doing an installation in each replacing
aging hardware and software.

What I'd like to do is create a Debian based
installer (preferably TUI) that needs very little to
no interaction from the user (me in most cases) --
perhaps the only information needed being the box's
hostname and network configuration information.  I'd
like to have a pre-configured partition layout (with
percentages of the entire disk space being allocated
for specific filesystems if possible?) and reiserfs on
each of the filesystems.

Ideally, I'd like to have an iso that I could burn
onto a cdrom, ship out to the office so it's there
when I arrive (and which I can leave in case of
disaster).

>From what I've read in the FAI docs is that there
needs to be a local NFS server available for the
custom files to be pulled down.  This is where I am
uncertain if FAI will be suitable for my situation.  I
am not going to have an externally accessible NFS
server, but I do have a local mirror of stable on an
FTP server which I can enable and disable remotely. 
Can FAI use FTP to copy everything that it needs or am
I out of luck with the lack of a local NFS server?

I would really appreciate any suggestions anyone might
have.

Thanks in advance,

Dan

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com