Rod.. Whitworth wrote:
What I am looking for are comments from people who have tried some of
these techniques and have experience on some facets of competeting ways
to do the job.
I use djm's flashboot on several x86 platforms, including:
o VIA EPIA based systems
o PCengines.ch WRAP boards (similar to Soekris)
o Intel TSRMT2 'telco' servers
I decided on this method (flash contents build RAMdisk,
everything is run from ramdisk and flash is RO mount)
based on some of my requirements (see below).
We install these devices in unfriendly areas as POP
routers and VLAN aggregation routers in closets
with little or no environmental controls. They are
typically powered by -48vdc battery banks.
On a TSRMT2 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) it goes from typing 'reboot<CR>'
to passing data again (PF/CARP/VLANs/etc) in about 45
seconds (512M of DRAM on the box).
I also prefer the flashboot method as it allows me
to rebuild the kernel/ramdisk and simply copy over
a single file (the built kernel with ramdisk attached)
instead of having to worry about multiple files.
This makes provisioning of devices much easier
as it acts more like a network appliance device
with a single 'firmware image' that other people
can understand.
I use a 128M CF card only because I got good pricing
on them. I use IDE to CF adapters for the non-native
CF boards like some of the EPIAs and TSRMT2(built-in
SCSI).
My built and compressed kernel (with ramdisk)
comes out to ~8M, and extracts to a 20M ramdisk
image with 15M in use right now.
Using spinning storage begs the question as to whether either flavour
will automatically spin down when idle for some time? Alternatively can
I do this another way?
I just didnt want moving parts, they break :) I decided to use
flashboot after an EPIA based router took a 10ft fall from
a closet one day and it killed the HDD (don't ask why it fell).
So: I do not seek HOW-TO guidance but I do wish to avoid re-inventing
(re-discovering ?) the wheel on every step. We don't all need to make
individual progress through repeating Newton's work to figure not to
sit under ripe apples.
The info on the flashboot page should be enough to
get you going.
I have not been back for a while and I have been making minor
customizations to it internally (one command to build for all my
platforms, etc). I have also added a few other programs that
I like to have out there. Out of the box it did 99% of what I was
looking for and allowed me to quickly prototype a replacement box.
After you start to work with the scripts a bit, you get the
hang of it and can make it easily scripted/automated.
I have even thought of making the filesystem on the CF cards
MSDOS so that the CF can be mounted on windows machines and
other people can copy over images with drag n drop.
I can get the 4801 working with any of the above storage. Who wants to
plug one or another as a lay-down best choice?
I certainly don't know if my method is the 'best', I would
say it is the 'best for me' based on my requirements
(no moving parts for storage, single file to upgrade the
device, fast/easy power recovery/no fsck)
Good luck!
cheers,
--
jason
