I want to set up a cluster using FAI

[Axel Freyn]

Hi Alind,
On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 02:39:39PM +0530, alind sharma wrote:
> 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.
Look at http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/fai-guide/ch-impatient.html 

- you need to run "fai-setup -v" in order to create the
  Debian-installation which will be used during the installation process
  on the clients. It will be stored by default in /srv/fai/nfsroot, I
  think
- you have to create the fai-configuration in /srv/fai/config. As a
  first start, you can use e.g. 
  "cp -a /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/examples/simple/* /srv/fai/config/"
- Now I don't know infiniband - is it possible to boot over infiniband? 
  Analogous to pxe-boot on ethernet? If yes, you can configure your
  master in a way, that the clients can boot by infiniband. (for
  ethernet, that's the steps:
  - installing and configuring the dhcp-Server
  - installing a TFTP-Server, from which the clients get a kernel and an
    initial ramdisk
  If you can't (or won't boot over infinband), you have to configure
  another way how to boot the clients - e.g. by a bootable CD (see
http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/fai-guide/ch-booting.html#s-cdboot)

> 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.
No, it's not necessary to create a mirror. The complete FAI-Installation
uses "normal" apt-get, so you can use all sources.list which are
normally supported by Debian.

HTH,

Axel

> 
> 
> 
> 
> 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
> >