On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 9:27 AM, <t...@terralogic.net> wrote: <snip> > Do we have rescue media? I've done this before. I've built multiboot > machines but not this century. I suggested he go read the multiboot howto > because it explains the boot process work He was off too thia. > There are a lot of ways to rescue a machine. My personal favorite is systemrescuecd. It can also be made to boot off of a USB device or PXE (I have integrated it with FOG at home and at work).
> But the thing is we should have downloadable FDD, USB, CD & DVD media with > the proper utilities and procedures documented so that anyone can do this. > If I were challenged today to boot from something other than the HDD and > bring up a VM and then start working with the disk image and fix the boot > records and then have the VM load and boot it... then I would be challenged. > Next how about if or without the VM involved (but a VM makes sense) then > bypass the bios and just boot the partition? > This is doable, though you did not mention which VM technology needed to be installed. There is more than one, they are not all compatible, and most require certain kernel modules, and all have hardware requirements. Also, not all computers support PXE (network) boot, and not all computers can boot from USB (anything from the last 4 years should be able to do so, but before that it is hit and miss. > Next. If a machine can boot from ANYTHING then it can boot from ANYTHING > else which has suitable device drivers. I've needed to do this. I haven't > looked hard but I have not found procedures written up or even well > documented which tell people how to do this basic stuff. > The reason is that this is not basic stuff. Boot loaders, MBR, BIOS, EFI, PXE, NFS. If you don't know what all of these mean then it will be more challenging. How many people do you know who understand half of those acronyms? There are few of my technical friends who know them all (outside of CLUG I can count on one hand the number of people I know who do this sort of thing). In my experience, I have been able to find documentation whenever I have needed it. The trick is knowing exactly what you want to do, because that makes Googling a lot easier. > Here is a simple example. Suppose we want to boot a machine from the net. > We are dealing with a well meaning but inexperianced person. If we have > media the machine can boot from then it should boot. Next there should be a > simple command line Q&A script whereby the person is prompted through network > config if necessary because there sure will not be DHCP and instructions how > to set up TFTP in pretty much any hosts. Next the procedures to actually > PING the TFTP server should be in place so that the guy KNOWS if he's got it > configured properly because likely its the first time for him and he might > even have a boss yelling at him. > Booting from the network is in no way a "simple example". You need to be in control of a configurable DHCP server (so not the ones you find in typical consumer routers), you need a TFTP server, you need hardware that supports PXE (not wireless, and not all wired adaptors), and usually some sort of network storage like NFS. > When finally he gets the TFTP or WHATEVER running we should be able to check > a magic number and confirm. > I have no idea what this means. Magic numbers and TFTP? > After we checksum the boot image we boot it. > > What is wrong with this? We are the experts and we should be able to easily > jump a boot from one device to another. > I do utilize a variety of boot devices and methods on a pretty regular if not daily basis. This sort of thing happens all the time. The problem is that it is not a point and click deploy which puts this versatility beyond a lot of users. > > On Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 07:21:41PM -0600, Mel Walters wrote: >> So who else was planning on presenting at the meeting, and what? >> ================================================================ >> >> >> >> On Sun, 2011-10-30 at 09:07 -0600, Mel Walters wrote: >> > I was looking forward to the talk on Running FOSS Accounting Software in >> > the Real World. >> > >> > Kin, you are still on for this? ? >> > >> > ==== >> > My stuff will be not much more than some show and tell. >> > * Samples of books >> > * Recent successes and why they might have happened. >> > * Any challenges still present and possible paths around them. >> > The question period (or interest) will determine if it can extend a few >> > min. >> > >> > Mel >> > >> > On Thu, 2011-10-27 at 09:21 -0600, Dafydd Crosby wrote: >> > > Meeting is next Wednesday. Anyone have something they'd like to present? >> > > >> > > -Dafydd >> > > >> > > _______________________________________________ >> > > clug-talk mailing list >> > > clug-talk@clug.ca >> > > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca >> > > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) >> > > **Please remove these lines when replying >> > >> > >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> clug-talk mailing list >> clug-talk@clug.ca >> http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca >> Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) >> **Please remove these lines when replying > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > clug-talk@clug.ca > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying > _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list clug-talk@clug.ca http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
