Multicast
From SystemImager
Contents |
Image deployment using Multicast transport (flamethrower)
Image server configuration
- Instal systemimager-flamethrower RPM
- Configure flamethrower
The key file to install an image using the multicast transport is /etc/systemimager/flamethrower.conf.
- Check if the following option are present in your configuration:
START_FLAMETHROWER_DAEMON = yes
FLAMETHROWER_DIRECTORY_PORTBASE = 9000
...or a custom port if you cannot use the default.
INTERFACE = eth0
...or the correct interface in your image server to communicate with the clients.
The other options are useful for performance tunings and they will be not fully documented here. Usually the default parameters work well on most any cases. For more informations read the comments in the file (it's very well commented!).
- Check if BOEL binaries are distributed by flamethrower. At the end of /etc/systemimager/flamethrower.conf you should have an entry like the following:
[boot-x86_64-standard] DIR = /usr/share/systemimager/boot/x86_64/standard
or:
[boot-i386-standard] DIR = /usr/share/systemimager/boot/i386/standard
Replace the correct architecture(s) you need to support and specify the opportune directory in your image server.
- For each image you need to distribute you should have two entries (always at the end of the configuration file):
[Imagename] DIR = /var/lib/systemimager/images/Imagename
and:
[override_Imagename] DIR = /var/lib/systemimager/overrides/Imagename
Add the two definitions if they are not present (replace Imagename with the name of your image). You can distribute more images at the same time with flamethrower, simply add more entries for the images you need to distribute.
- Start the flamethrower daemon on your image server:
# /etc/init.d/systemimager-server-flamethrowerd start
Configure the clients to use multicast
Define the following option in the kernel boot paramenters:
FLAMETHROWER_DIRECTORY_PORTBASE=9000
Typically you need to edit the file /etc/systemimager/pxelinux.cfg/syslinux.cfg and add that option to the kernel boot arguments if you have configured a boot server. See the following example:
DEFAULT systemimager # # Uncomment next line to send pxelinux boot prompt over serial port 0. # NOTE: Be sure your serial port speed is appropriate (57600, 9600, etc.) # # SERIAL 0 57600 DISPLAY message.txt PROMPT 1 TIMEOUT 50 # Add the following to the append line above to use your first serial port # (ttyS0) as a console in addition to your monitor (tty0). NOTE: Be sure # your serial port speed is appropriate (57600, 9600, etc.) # # console=ttyS0,57600 # Add the following to the append line above to increase the size of your tmpfs # filesystem. About 100MB larger than your image size should suffice. # # Other tmpfs mount options are also supported. See the FAQ for details. # tmpfs_size=800M # ramdisk_size=80000 LABEL systemimager KERNEL kernel APPEND vga=extended initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/ram FLAMETHROWER_DIRECTORY_PORTBASE=9000 MONITOR_SERVER=172.16.36.1 MONITOR_CONSOLE=yes SKIP_LOCAL_CFG=y
Installation
Boot the clients and enjoy the auto-installation!
