About: FAI Graphical User Interface

[Cajus Pollmeier]

Hi,

yes - as some of you wrote - the new version of gosa (2.4) has build- 
in support to manage FAI aspects for clients. Since it is mainly a  
tool for administrating data in LDAP directories, it adds LDAP  
support to FAI using a single hook. So the running nfs-root is able  
to get everything it needs from a centralized directory (and its  
slaves) - wherever the server actually providing the nfs-root is  
located.

The directory contrib/fai/goto-fai of the original gosa tar-ball  
contains an example debian package which can be added to your nfs- 
root to provide LDAP <-> fai functionality. The example works this way:

* Client gets started by a method choosen by you
* Gets ldap=<base64-encoded URI to your LDAP server and base> via  
kernel parameters
* Sets up the install-root as usual
* Overrides confdir task to
    - check if the client is already registered in your LDAP
    - performs a hardware detection, pushes its information to
      an incoming area of your LDAP and waits for activation/class
      assignement in case of newly added systems
    - call the ldap2fai script which populates the config space

It is not yet very easy to deploy yet, since it has some service  
overhead, but the advantages are that you've one place to configure  
users (including application-, printer-assignements, etc.), groups  
and various types of systems in one place. SVN trunk is shortly able  
to let you assign "junior administrators" who can assign pre-defined  
fai class bundles (called fai profiles in gosa) to your clients. So  
simple tasks can be easily delegated.

Thomas and me presented it on the LWE, and I guess there will be  
several opportunities to do so again. What-so-ever - blame me, try it  
out or make it better - feedback is welcome ;-)

gosa 2.4 is part of Debian unstable, a sarge package will pop up on  
the FTP server, today.

Cheers,
Cajus

Relevant URLs:
http://gosa.gonicus.de
ftp://oss.gonicus.de/pub/gosa