Hi Last week i started implementing an netinstall-script for debian machines. I am no debian developer, but using debian for quite a while. However i didn't like the state of our linux machines, we where working on, some are in a really poor condition, software wise. So having some nice new machines at hand which support pxe boot over ethernet by an bios boot option, it was quite naturally to start with this small project.
First i tried "fai", but while i liked the concept of classes it was to much of a hassle and the number of scripts and dependencies was to much to understand in 4 hours (after which i gave up). There was also an other project which had an equal goal, but i forgot the name. It seemed to me that its development had cheased. But the death knell to fai was that it is currently not supporting "debconf". With the fallback or override database debconf was the tool i was looking for. Even if there could be room for a little improvement, it is quite possible to install a debian system fully automatic without pressing any key (ok at least one, to agree, to have a new parititon table written :) Ok a short overview over the two stage process: first stage 1. the machine has to boot over network via pxe/dhcp. 2. there will be a new partition written to the disk and a basic debian system will be debootstraped to the disk. 3. a kernel is installed 4. grub gets installed 5. the second stage skript gets installed 6. a debconf database is copyied to the system second stage 1. the machine boots the new installed system 2. apt-get update 3. apt-get install debconf (which is a special crafted version without the dialog) 4. a special crafted package is installed with dependencies on all required packages The whole process is "nearly working". Some things are missing such as that nis does not add +::: to the corresponding files and such packages like gpm or debconf asking for manual input. Especially debconf with its initial dialog when first installed was annoying (although it is the tool which made this whole thing possible ironically ;) Nearly every package i installed used debconf or wasn't posting any silly questions. gpm was the only package which wasn't easy to install (even with debwrap), since it's running in cycles through the configuration. I would like to have some feedback, especially on the topic of doing automatic updates with an cron job. I would also like to hear of some hints if there is an other tool which does the job (debix, skolelinux,...: haven't looked at them. The websites of the subprojects seem still to be hit by the security incedent :( ) better than these puny script files. I think the whole automatic management thing (which is also the reason behind the whole "enterprise" discussion) has a lot of potential. Having the ability to reconfigure large clusters or workstation installations is *really* helpful. Tim PS: The order of the instructions in the second stage is not quite correct, but it is just for the idea how the whole stuff works out.
netinst.sh
Description: Bourne shell script
unconfigured.sh
Description: Bourne shell script
