Oh, great timing!
I'm working on pretty much the same question. I have used FAI and
Opsware, and homebrewed scripts to do provisioning in the past. I have
never been all that happy with any of them, and am taking another look
at the problem to try to get to as simple and portable a solution as
possible.
I am planning to ask the list to criticize the classes that implement
the various bits. (Is this the right list for that?) I would like the
classes to be 'state of the art'. My own competence with puppet leans
heavily towards 'exec { "some script I wrote": }' and I would like to
get past that.
I intend to create a completely worked out example that addresses
installing to
VirtualBox VMs and real hardware.
The programs I will use are:
dnsmasq for DNS, DHCP, and BOOTP
apache as file server (preseed.cfg, kickstart.cfg, random scripts)
apt-cacher-ng for local apt-proxy
gpxe, undionly.kpxe, pxeboot.0 for booting
redhat kickstart and debian preseed capable kernel/initrd for
install
And the slightly clever bit:
wget or curl to throw triggers into log files
swatch on the logs to trigger state changes, including signing
certs
puppet for configuration beyond the basic install
So how is this a simplification?
1. dnsmasq is much better suited to provisioning than
the combination of named, dhcpd, and tftpd (IMHO)
2. no giant frameworks in sight
3. each component is familiar.
4. modular, none of the components know or care about
the others so they can be versioned or replaced without
problems.
The thinking behind this is:
1. dnsmasqd provides mac/ip/hostname assignments
dnsmasqd configured by puppet class
after provisioning these will show up as facts
2. boot config provides OS and Disk partitions
boot configuration configured by puppet classes
after provisioning these will also show up as facts
3. puppet takes over after the first reboot
puppet bootstrapping set up during install (%post or
last.sh)
puppet style can be nodeless, masterless, whatever
4. flipping a symlink (manually or through a frontend)
configures a client install for the next time it boots.
On 02/22/2011 10:47 AM, David Kavanagh wrote:
I'm about to start playing with Kickstart. I never really had to
provision bare servers beyond a normal OS install, so I need something
to use along with Puppet. Is there a general consensus on what the
best option is?
I'd need to set up the node with IP/hostname/role. (I have a custom
fact for role). I figured I'd simply ssh in to write the role file,
but if I'd rather not use dhcp, I suppose I'll need to get the network
interface configured in another way. What do folks generally do here?
David
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