I want to set up a cluster using FAI

[alind sharma]

Hi Axel,
Thanks for the immediate reply. I can imagine not having slave-1  installed.
So how to go for automatic installation to all 15 slaves from master. I have
installed fai-server and fai-quickstart on master.  I have infiniband on the
slave-master network. I have copied the /etc/apt/sources.list to
/etc/fai/apt/sources.list
What to do next.
My fai config file is as follows:

LOGUSER=fai
FAI_LOGPROTO=ssh
FAI_CONFIGDIR=/srv/fai/config
MNTPOINT=/media/mirror
FAI=/var/lib/fai/config

I have removed the commented entries for the sack of clarity. Is it required
to make a mirror. Cant it access from the sources.list entries directly.




2009/9/23 Axel Freyn <axel-freyn at gmx.de>

> Hi Alind,
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 01:59:51PM +0530, alind sharma wrote:
> > Hi Everybody.
> > This is my first mail to fai mailing list.
> > I want to setup a cluster using FAI.
> >
> >    - I have install debian (squeeze) on master node and same on a slave
> >    node.
> >    -  We have a local debian repository using loop-mounted debian images
> on
> >    another machine. Lets name it as deb_repo_machine.
> >    - The master node is directly connected using ethernet card to
> >    deb_repo_machine (master ip : 196.20.1.12, deb_repo_machine ip =
> >    196.20.1.3).
> >    - The master has infiniband network and is connected to another 16
> slave
> >    machines using infiniband network.
> >    - I have configured the slave node 1 (master infiniband ip :
> 196.168.1.1
> >    slave_1 infiniband ip : 196.168.1.2) such as it can directly ping and
> update
> >    from deb_repo_machine.
> >    - Master's home is nfs mounted as home on slave-1.
> >    - NIS server is established on master for user accounts and groups.
> >
> > I want to use FAI so that I can replicate the configuration of slave-1 on
> > each other slave nodes (15 more on number, total 16 slave nodes I have).
> I
> > want to use the same sources.list file that is available in salve-1
> (which
> > is basically same as master's sources.list).
> > I have installed fai-server, fai-doc . I am unable to  understand the fai
> > guide available in debian repo. What to do next.
> To my understanding, your project is not in the spirit of FAI:-) The
> idea of FAI is:
>  - you create on your master node a configuration.
>  - then, you boot your (uninstalled) slaves either from network oder
>   from CD or USB-Key or.. (just a minimal Debian)
>  - during this first boot, the slaves connect themselves to the master
>   and read the configuration. Using these informations, the slaves do
>   the complete Debian-Installation (including partitioning of the
>   discs, installing packages, copying the configuration files).
>
> My problem with your configuration is, that apparently you already
> installed slave 1 by hand - which is against this idea:-) So maybe FAI
> is not exactly what you are looking for.
>
> So I would suggest, either to install all slaves by FAI (so: not copying
> anything from slave 1), or to use e.g. cfengine (cfengine (has nothing
> to do with FAI:-) is a tool which just copies configuration files etc
> between slaves which are already installed), or you use some mirroring
> software to clone the hard-disc of slave 1 to the other 15 slaves.
> The question is, what your precise goals are...
>
>
> HTH,
>
> Axel
>



-- 
Alind Sharma
Scientist 'C'
CAIR,DRDO.
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