- How can I append the Linux kernel boot time parameters to the DRBL clients ?
^TOP^
| | | You can modify the
/tftpboot/nbi_img/pxelinux.cfg/default
It's almost similar to grub syntax. And if you are familiar with syslinux, it's the same thing.
Say, if you want to append "vga=791" for client, you can find the "label drbl", and modify or append the "append" like
------------
append initrd=initrd-pxe.img ramdisk_size=12288 devfs=nomount drblthincli=off selinux=0 vga=791
------------
|
- How can I debug in the PXE initrd when clients boot ?
^TOP^
| | | In the early stage in PXE initrd when client boots, there is NO log file. However, you can try to debug by:
1. edit /usr/lib/mkpxeinitrd-net/initrd-skel/linuxrc
or
"/usr/lib/mkpxeinitrd-net/initrd-skel/linuxrc/udhcpc-post"
insert some code to debug, or just put a shell (/bin/sh) so you can enter the shell.
2. run "/opt/drbl/sbin/mknic-nbi" to generate the PXE initrd.
3. reboot the client, then you can see some logs or enter the shell.
|
- How can I start a DRBL client service (e.g. cron, sysklogd, klogd...) in the server ?
^TOP^
| | | Only some necessary services of DRBL client are on, so if you need more services, like cron, sysklogd, klogd..., then:
In DRBL server, take service "cron" as an example, run:
/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-client-service cron on
Then
(1) Reboot the clients, or
(2) Run /opt/drbl/bin/drbl-doit -u root "/etc/init.d/cron start"
if clients are already on.
|
- How can I run vmplayer in the DRBL client machine ?
^TOP^
| | | Here we take vmware-player 1.0.0-19317 as an example, and this method only works in the CPU arch matches each other in the server and client:
0. Make sure client's kernel is same with server, i.e.
For server, "uname -r"
For client, "cat /tftpboot/nbi_img/kernel_version_in_initrd.txt"
These two must match each other.
The CPU arch must be the same, too.
For server, "uname -m"
For client, "cat /tftpboot/nbi_img/client_kernel_arch.txt"
These two must match each other.
If not, you have to run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv -i" again, and let kernel of
client is same with that of server, or reinstall the kernel in the server to make it same with that in client.
1. wget http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmplayer/VMware-player-1.0.1-19317.i386.rpm
Or get the in http://www.vmware.com
2. sudo rpm -Uvh VMware-player-1.0.1-19317.i386.rpm
3. sudo vmware-config.pl
4. sudo /opt/drbl/sbin/dcs , then choose "others" -> re_deploy
or
run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drblpush -i" again.
5. Just in case, remove the file /etc/vmware/not_configured in every client by:
sudo /opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-rm-host /etc/vmware/not_configured
6. sudo /opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-client-service vmware on
7. If client is already on, you can run
sudo /opt/drbl/bin/drbl-doit "/etc/init.d/vmware start"
or
reboot the client
8. login client, run vmplayer
The principle is:
(a) The client must have the modules "vmmon" and "vmnet" that vmware need, and they exist in the client's kernel modules. For example, in CentOS 4.2, they exist in /tftpboot/node_root/lib/modules/2.6.9-22.0.1.EL/misc.
(b) The file "/tftpboot/nodes/$IP/etc/vmware/not_configured" should not exist if well configured (by vmware-config.pl).
|
- When I reboot the DRBL client in Ubuntu Breezy Linux, it hangs, What should I do ?
^TOP^
| | | This is a kernel problem, check this for more details:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=85379
Maybe "reboot=h" will work for you, you can try to put it in /tftpboot/nbi_img/pxelinux.cfg/default like this:
---------------
label drbl
MENU DEFAULT
# MENU HIDE
MENU LABEL Clonezilla: unicast restore to primary IDE HD partition 1 (hda1)
# MENU PASSWD
kernel vmlinuz-pxe
append initrd=initrd-pxe.img ramdisk_size=12288 devfs=nomount drblthincli=off selinux=0 reboot=h
---------------
|
- How can I put my own kernel for DRBL clients ?
^TOP^
| | | Ex: The kernel you compiled yourself: name is 2.6.11-1.steven with CPU arch i686.
a. Put these files to DRBL server
1. 3 filres in /boot
System.map-2.6.11-1.steven
config-2.6.11-1.steven
vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.steven
2. put the kernel and modules in /lib/modules, like:
/lib/modules/2.6.11-1.steven
b. depmod -a 2.6.11-1.steven
c. /opt/drbl/sbin/mknic-nbi -k 2.6.11-1.steven -i i686
-k: specifly the kernel name
-i: specify the CPU arch for DRBL clients, such as i386/i586/i686
Now you can boot the client to use the i686 kenrel 2.6.11-1.steven.
|
- How can I create module for some hardware, like Nvidia, ATI VGA card, to use in client ?
^TOP^
| | | 1. If the client uses different kernel with that of server, install the kernel in the server which client is using. Here we take 2.6.12-10-686 as an example.
If you do not know the kernel name and CPU arch, run
cat /tftpboot/nbi_img/kernel_version_in_initrd.txt
cat /tftpboot/nbi_img/client_kernel_arch.txt
to get that.
2. Boot the server to the kernel 2.6.12-10-686
3. Compile and install the module for your hardware, such as download the necessary source from NVidia or ATI website
4. Run
/opt/drbl/sbin/mknic-nbi -k 2.6.12-10-686 -i i686
5. Boot the client, the client now will have the compiled modules.
|
- How can I share the printer in the server to clients ?
^TOP^
| | | Take Fedora Core 3 as an example:
Assume the DRBL server IP address is 192.168.0.254,
1. Installed the driver and setup the local printer in DRBL server (such as via LPT PORT)¡Aand config the CUPS to share the printer (Note: in Fedora Core 3, the default setting of CUPS is DENY ALL¡Aso remember to open that to clents in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf).
2. In DRBL server, config the CUPS network printer¡Awhich means set the local printer as network printer. The path is CUPS ipp://192.168.0.254/printers/epsonc60 (You can find the string in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf)¡Aand set the network printer as the default printer. Here epsonc60 is just an example, so use yours.
3. Run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drblpush -i" again
4. Boot the client, you will see the network printer, which is the default printer.
|
- How can I insert bios flash program and firmware to the freedos so that I can upgrade the BIOS in client ?
^TOP^
| | | Take Asus A8V-MX (client's motherboard) as an example (use the freedos 1.0-8drbl or later version provided by DRBL):
In server:
1. Download
bios firmware:
wget http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939/A8V-MX/A8V-MX-0503.zip
and flash program:
wget http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939/A8V-MX/AFUDOS217.zip
2. unzip them:
unzip A8V-MX-0503.zip
unzip AFUDOS217.zip
3. put them into a directory:
mkdir bios
mv AFUDOS.exe A8V-MX-ASUS-0503.ROM bios
4. As root, run /opt/drbl/sbin/insert-file-fdos.sh to put them into the freedos image in /tftpboot/nbi_img/:
/opt/drbl/sbin/insert-file-fdos.sh bios
Then a modified freedos image "/tftpboot/nbi_img/fdos1440_drbl.img" is created.
In client:
5. Now you can PXE boot the client into freedos, and the programs you put are in A:\DRBL\BIOS. You can follow your BIOS manual to upgrade the bios.
|
- How to get Japanese (Chinene, Korean) input method in English environment ?
^TOP^
| | | Take Fedora Core 4 as an example:
Find a user, say it's john, login as John
0. cd ~/
1. mkdir -p ~/.xinput.d
2. ln -s /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/scim ~/.xinput.d/default
To apply this setting to all users,
0. login in the server as root
1. cd ~john/.xinput.d
2. /opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-cp-user -d .xinput.d default
If in the future, you want to remove the directory .xinput.d for every user, run
/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-rm-user .xinput.d
If you want to make new user can apply this, you can try to add that setting in /etc/skel in the server like this:
0. in server, as root
1. cd /etc/skel
2. mkdir -p ~/.xinput.d
3. ln -s /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/scim ~/.xinput.d/default
Therefore, if you add new user later, that file will be automatically copied.
|
- How can I hide the mounted NFS icons in my KDE desktop environment ?
^TOP^
| | | In KDE desktop, right click mouse -> configure desktop -> behavior -> device icons -> uncheck "Mounted NFS Share"
If you want to modify the config file for user, just edit the file in his/her home directory:
~/.kde/share/config/kdesktoprc
[Media]
exclude=media/hdd_mounted,media/nfs_mounted,media/floppy5_unmounted,media/hdd_unmounted
To edit the system file, this one:
/usr/share/config/kdesktoprc
...
[Media]
enabled=true
exclude=media/hdd_mounted,media/floppy5_unmounted,media/floppy_unmounted,media/hdd_unmounted/nfs_mounted,media
|
- How can I make a local apt mirror in my Debian or Ubuntu DRBL server and use that as an apt repository ?
^TOP^
| | | 1. Use the mirror tools to mirror the files in the server, such as:
a. mkdir -p /opt/apt/drbl-core
b. cd /opt/apt/drbl-core; lftp -e "o ftp://linux.nchc.org.tw/dists/drbl-core/ && mirror -e dists && mirror -e pool && quit"
2. edit /etc/apt/sources.list, add a line like this:
----------------------------------------
deb file:/opt/apt/drbl-core/drbl-core drbl stable
----------------------------------------
3. Follow the standard installation procedure to finish it.
|
- How can I hide the mounted NFS share icons in KDE desktop ?
^TOP^
| | | To apply to the whole system, you can modify
/usr/share/config/kdesktoprc
...
[Media]
enabled=true
exclude=media/hdd_mounted,media/floppy5_unmounted,media/floppy_unmounted,media/hdd_unmounted/nfs_mounted,media
append
To
...
[Media]
enabled=true
exclude=media/hdd_mounted,media/floppy5_unmounted,media/floppy_unmounted,media/hdd_unmounted/nfs_mounted,media
----------
I.e. append the nfs_mounted,media, then those new login user won't have NFS share icons. But those already user, you can ask them to modify manually by:
1. right click in the desktop -> configure desktop -> behavior -> device icons -> uncheck "mounted NFS share"
Or you can modify their ~/.kde/share/config/kdesktoprc as the above.
|
- How can I debug the clonezilla if it fails ?
^TOP^
| | | 0. use /opt/drbl/sbin/dcs to switch the mode you want, like clonezilla-start -> save disk, then you will got a complete drbl-ocs command like:
"/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-ocs --clients-to-wait 1 -x -z3 -l en startdisk save".
1. in server, run /opt/drbl/sbin/dcs -> remote-linux-txt
2. boots the client
3. When client shows the text mode login prompt, in server, run the above command you got, this time, add two extra parameters:"-p true -nogui", like: "/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-ocs -p true -nogui -v --clients-to-wait 1 -x -z3 -l en startdisk save".
4. login client
5. in client, run "bash -x /etc/rc1.d/S19ocs-run -d start" to get the verbose messages when runing clonezilla.
|
- When I use clonezilla to clone MS windows, there is no any problem when saving an image from template machine. However, after the image is restored to another machine, it fails to boot, the error message is "Missing Operating System" or just a blinking underscore. What's going on ?
^TOP^
| | | Usually this is because GNU/Linux and M$ windows interpret the CHS (cylinder, head, sector) value of harddrive differently. Some possible solutions:
1. Maybe you can change the IDE harddrive setting in BIOS, try to use LBA instead of auto mode.
2. Try to choose
[ ] -j0 Use dd to create partition table instead of sfdisk
and
[ ] -t1 Client restores the prebuilt MBR from syslinux (For Windows only)
when you restore the image.
3. You can try to boot the machine with MS Windows 9x bootable floppy, and in the DOS command prompt, run: "fdisk /mbr".
4. You can try to boot the machine with MS Windows XP installation CD, enter recovery mode (by pressing F10 key in MS XP, for example), then in the console, run "fixmbr" to fix it. Maybe another command "fixboot" will help, too. For more info, refer to this doc
5. Use ntfsreloc to adjust FS geometry on NTFS partitions. For more info, refer to http://www.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php?id=contrib:ntfsreloc
|
- How can I calibrate the clock of clients ?
^TOP^
| | | You have to install and turn on the ntp server. Take Ubuntu as an example,
1. install ntp service in the server by "apt-get install ntp"
2. re-deploy clients by /opt/drbl/sbin/dcs -> others -> re-deploy
3. turn on the ntp server for client by "/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-client-service ntp on"
Then everytime when client boot, the service will query the ntp server to calibrate time.
|
- How can I restore the image from small harddisk to larger one ?
^TOP^
| | | Clonezilla is NOT able to restore the image from LARGE harddisk to smaller one, but it CAN restore the image from small harddisk to larger one. Three choices are available. Here they are:
Choice (1).
0. Save the image in the Clonezilla server.
1. Do a normal restoration to target machine by clonezilla.
2. When clone is finished, use gparted to resize or move the partition. You can install gparted in the DRBL server, then boot the client into remote-linux-gra (dcs -> remote-linux-gra) mode, login client as root, run gparted to do that. Or you can use gparted LiveCD or LiveUSB to do that. A gparted-clonezilla dual boot live CD is available, for more info, check http://gparted.free.fr/GParted-Clonezilla/ or http://www.icewalkers.com/jump.php?AID=2917&src=home.
Choice (2).
0. Save the image in the Clonezilla server.
1. Prepare a partition table (manually created by fdisk in the target machine, then use "sfdisk -d /dev/hda > pt.sf", or you can manually edit that file if you are familiar with that), and backup /home/partimag/$IMA_NAME/pt.sf, then overwrite the /home/partimag/$IMA_NAME/pt.sf.
2. Now use dcs -> clonezilla-start -> clonezilla-restore-disk in server, remember to choose option -r (Resize the partition when restoration finishes).
3. boot the client,
Choice (3).
0. Save the image in the Clonezilla server.
1. Boot the target machine as remote-linux-txt (dcs -> remote-linux-txt).
2. Login in as root in the target machine, use fdisk to create the partitions you want. Remember every partition size should be larger than that in the image file.
3. Now use dcs -> clonezilla-start -> clonezilla-restore-disk in server, remember to choose option -k (Do NOT create partition in target harddisk in client), and option -r (Resize the partition when restoration finishes).
4. boot the client,
That's all. The above scenario I am assuming you are cloning M$ windows (ntfs or fat) or Linux ext2/ext3, since that resize action need ntfsresize (already in /opt/drbl/sbin/), parted and resize2fs. These programs are already in DRBL environment. For other file systems, such as reiserfs, xfs or jfs, you have to install those resize programs in the server, and maybe manually resize is necessary after clone.
|
- What's the difference between clonezilla and G4L or G4U ?
^TOP^
| | | If file system is supported (ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs, fat, ntfs), only used blocks in harddisk are saved and restored. This increase the clone efficiency. For unsupported file system, sector-to-sector copy is done by dd in Clonezilla. This is different from G4U or G4L.
|
- How can I change the yum repository in OpenSuSE/SuSe before I run drblsrv ?
^TOP^
| | | 1. Remove all *.repo in /etc/yum.repos.d/ to avoid confusion,
rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/*
2. Edit the *.repo in /opt/drbl/setup/yum-repos/, change opensuse*.repo or drbl*.repo. For example, for OpenSuSE 10.2, you can modify /opt/drbl/setup/yum-repos/opensuse-updates-10.2.repo as the following:
--------------------------------------------------------------
[updates]
name=OpenSuSE $releasever updates packages
baseurl=http://ftp.twaren.net/Linux/SuSE/update/$releasever/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
--------------------------------------------------------------
and /opt/drbl/setup/yum-repos/opensuse-10.2.repo as:
--------------------------------------------------------------
[base]
name=OpenSuSE $releasever packages
baseurl=http://ftp.twaren.net/Linux/OpenSuSE/distribution/$releasever/repo/oss/suse/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
--------------------------------------------------------------
|
- How can I assign the kernel to let client use that ?
^TOP^
| | | Two methods are available when you install DRBL, one is to use the running kernel in the server, the other one is to use the kernel package (rpm or deb):
(1)/opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv-offline -s `uname -r`
This means you will let client use the same kernel which DRBL server is running.
(2)To use some kernel rpm or deb to let client use, you have to download the kernel package first, for example, download kernel-2.6.18-8.1.4.el5.i686.rpm from any rpm repository, then:
/opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv-offline -k kernel-2.6.18-8.1.4.el5.i686.rpm
The kernel you specify for client to use must comply with the CPU arch of client. If you are not sure, you can try to use i586 kernel. However, you will lose the optimization.
For more options about drblsrv-offline, you can run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv-offline -h" to show that.
|
- If my client computer only supports RPL instead of PXE, can it work with DRBL ?
^TOP^
| | | Yes, if your network card is supported by etherboot. The following explains how to use a RPL client in DRBL environment in Debian.
1. Setup a DRBL server with everything ready
2. apt-get install rpld
3. edit /etc/rpld.conf, make it like:
--------------------------------
HOST
{
ethernet = 44:4d:50:00:01:8e; // This is the mac address of the client
FILE
{
path = "/tftpboot/nbi_img/rtl8139.zrom";
load = 0x1000;
};
execute = 0x1006;
};
rtl8139.zrom can be found in /opt/drbl-etherboot/ or from http://www.rom-o-matic.org.
If it's not Realtek chipset, replace the right one for your NIC of client.
4. Edit /etc/default/rpld, make it like:
START_RPLD=yes
(actually 4 is not necessary if you manually start rpld)
5. Find the network card connecting to clients, for example, eth1, then start rpld by
/usr/sbin/rpld -i eth1
|
- I am sure that the GNU/Linux I have is compatible with the GNU/Linux distribution which DRBL supports, how can I install drbl on that ?
^TOP^
| | | Yes, the only difference is in step <2b> when you install DRBL. You can use drblsrv-offline to make it. For example, Scientific Linux 5.0 is compatible with Fedora or CentOS, you can make it by:
a. Follow the installation doc in the website, in step <2a>, install DRBL rpm package drbl-current.rpm
b. cp /opt/drbl/setup/yum-repos/drbl.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
c. It is recommended to turn on GPG key checking, i.e. set
gpgcheck=1
in /etc/yum.repos.d/sl.repo and /etc/yum.repos.d/sl-security.repo
d. Run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv-offline -r" to see which required packagesshould be installed in DRBL server.
e. yum install dhcp tftp-server nfs-utils ypserv ypbind yp-tools mkinitrd ntp firstboot iptables wget dialog initscripts rsync parted tcpdump bc grub dos2unix curl lftp openssh-server openssh-clients coreutils gzip bzip2 nc file ethtool net-tools syslinux
yum install mkpxeinitrd-net clonezilla drbl-partimage drbl-ntfsprogs drbl-chntpw drbl-lzop udpcast drbl-etherboot freedos
yum install lvm2 ntfs-3g
f. /opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv-offline -s `uname -r`
This command means you will let client use the same running kernel in the DRBL server. If you want to assign some kernel rpm to let client use, you have to download the kernel rpm first, for example, kernel-2.6.18-8.1.4.el5.i686.rpm, then run:
/opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv-offline -k kernel-2.6.18-8.1.4.el5.i686.rpm
The kernel you specify for client to use must comply with the CPU arch of client. If you are not sure, try to use i586 kernel is a good idea. However, you will lost the optimization.
For more options about drblsrv-offline, you can run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drblsrv-offline -h" to show that.
g. /opt/drbl/sbin/drblpush -i
You might see some warning messages, but normally it's fine to live with that.
|
- I put a script file like "myscript.sh" in /opt/drbl/share/ocs/prerun or /opt/drbl/share/ocs/postrun, and I check the option "-o0/--run-prerun-dir", or "-o1/--run-postrun-dir", but mscript.sh is not run. Why ?
^TOP^
| | | This is the file name issue, and it normally happens in Deiban or Ubuntu, and won't be in RedHat-like distributions. The main reason is, in DRBL/Clonezilla, the programs in /opt/drbl/share/ocs/prerun or /opt/drbl/share/ocs/postrun are run by the program "run-parts". The file name for run-parts in Debian only accepts that the names must consist entirely of upper and lower case letters, digits, underscores, and hyphens. Therefore your file name has an illegal character ".", therefore run-parts won't run it.
BTW, you can test it by:
run-parts --test /opt/drbl/share/ocs/postrun
For more info, check this:
http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/45/index.de.html
|
- What if I have 2 or more casper files (filesystem.squashfs) in my system, how can I assign clonezilla live to boot ?
^TOP^
| | | This normally happens when you put a clonezilla live or Debian live in your harddisk, and use clonezilla live CD/USB to boot the system. You can add boot parameter (Ex. bootfrom=/dev/hdc) when booting your clonezilla live. i.e.
1. Boot clonezilla live,
2. In isolinux boot menu, when you see "press [TAB] to edit options", press Tab key.
3. Append the boot parameter, for example, your Clonezilla live CD is /dev/hdc, then you can force casper to use the capser system in /dev/hdc by appending "bootfrom=/dev/hdc", make it like:
vmlinuz initrd=initrd.gz boot=casper vga=788 bootfrom=/dev/hdc
|
- How can I compile a kernel module in the DRBL client so that I can use it for DRBL clients ?
^TOP^
| | | 1. Make sure the client's IP address where you want to compile, you can get the ip address by:
/sbin/ifconfig -a
In this case, we take 192.168.120.1 for example.
2. In DRBL server, edit /etc/exports, find the following:
/tftpboot/node_root 192.168.120.1(ro,sync,async,no_root_squash,subtree_check)
Modify it, change ro to be rw like this:
/tftpboot/node_root 192.168.120.1(rw,sync,async,no_root_squash,subtree_check)
3. Reload your nfs service, like
/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server reload (in Debian-like system)
or
/etc/init.d/nfs reload (in RedHat-like system)
4. Now you can start to compile the module in you DRBL client, and install that in the system (make, make install...).
5. ///NOTE/// When you finish the compilation and installation, before rebooting the client, remember to restore the /etc/exports in the server, i.e. change rw to ro as you have done in step 2, and run step 3 to make it work. If you do not do it, you might mess the system up.
|
- How can I mirror drbl packages ?
^TOP^
| | | Since rsync serice is not available in free.nchc.org.tw, lftp is recommended. You can use the following script to mirror that. Remember to change the settings.
--------------------------------
#!/bin/sh
# Settings
URL="ftp://free.nchc.org.tw/drbl-core"
local_mirror_dir="/var/www/drbl-core"
[ ! -d $local_mirror_dir ] && mkdir -p $local_mirror_dir
# start mirror...
lftp -e "o $URL && lcd $local_mirror_dir/ && mirror -e --exclude old --exclude legacy --exclude RPMS.drbl-legacy --exclude SRPMS.drbl-legacy && quit"
--------------------------------
|
- There is an existing DHCP service in my environment, so it's impossible for me to use the dhcp service comes with DRBL server. Any solution ?
^TOP^
| | | Basically there are 4 solutions:
- Use different port to run DHCP service in DRBL server, this won't conflict with your existing DHCP service. This can be done after you install and configure your DRBL server. Here we take Debian as an example. Make sure your DRBL is version 1.9.0-35 or later:
- Edit your /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf in drbl server, add these two lines:
local-port 1067;
remote-port 1068;
Then restart dhcp service like this:
/etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart
- Run this command on DRBL server:
/opt/drbl/sbin/mknic-nbi --udhcpc-port 1068
- Create Etherboot boot floppy or iso file, which will be used to boot the clients. Use this website http://www.rom-o-matic.net, choose network card and the type you want to create, and the most important is to choose "3. (optional) To customize ROM configuration press:", then check "ALTERNATE_DHCP_PORTS_1067_1068". You will get a dsk for iso file which you can put in the floppy or CD to boot it.
For more details, refer to this discussion.
- Another solution is to provide static IP addresses to your DRBL clients by locking them with MAC address. The can be done when you run drblpush to configure your DRBL environment. By doing this, the DHCP service in DRBL server will only provide IP address to your specifiy clients.
- If you still need to provide floating IP address to your DRBL cient, you can try to use DRBL 1.8.0-15 or newer version. By uncomment the 'allow members of "DRBL-Client";' in /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf, the DHCP service in DRBL server will only provide IP address to PXE, Etherboot or DRBL client. This mechanism won't affect your existing DHCP service. However, you have to make sure all the PXE or Etherboot clients are DRBL clients.
- You can merge the dhcpd.conf in DRBL server with your existing DHCP services. Then remove the DHCP service in DRBL server.
There are some other possibilities to solve this problem. If you need some example, you can refer to this discussion:
https://sourceforge.net/forum/message.php?msg_id=5341768
Thanks to Nikolay Kasatkin.
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- How can I remaster Clonezilla iso file ?
^TOP^
| | | There are many tools that you can use them to remaster Clonezilla iso, for example:
1. http://littlesvr.ca/isomaster/
2. A script provide by Casual J. Programmer
http://www.freewebs.com/casualprogrammer/Downloads/editCZCD
You can use that to mount Clonezilla live iso as filesystem, and copy the contents to a r/w location. There any part of the Live-CD can be modified, then made into a new iso image to burn to CD. Thanks to Casual for providing this program.
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- How can I put the kickstart file for netinstall GNU/Linux ?
^TOP^
| | | 0. Make sure you already put the netinstall in your DRBL server. If not, run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-netinstall -i all" followed by "/opt/drbl/sbin/generate-pxe-menu". Then use /opt/drbl/sbin/dcs to switch the netinstall.
1. Put your kickstart file in your http or ftp server, in the example, we put ks.cfg in apache server 192.168.120.254.
2. Take CentOS 5.1 as an example, edit /tftpboot/nbi_img/pxelinux.cfg/default, put "ks=http://192.168.120.254/ks.cfg" like this:
label netinstall-CentOS-5.1-i386
# MENU DEFAULT
# MENU HIDE
MENU LABEL CentOS 5.1 i386 installation via network
# MENU PASSWD
kernel vmlinuz-netinstall-CentOS-5.1-i386
append initrd=initrd-netinstall-CentOS-5.1-i386.img ramdisk_size=65535 ks=http://192.168.120.254/ks.cfg
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- How can I configure FreeBSD network installation in DRBL server ?
^TOP^
| | | Take FreeBSD 7.0 as an example, and here we assume the client IP address is 192.168.120.2:
1. Download FreeBSD 7.0 boot ISO:
wget ftp://ftp.twaren.net/BSD/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/7.0/7.0-RELEASE-i386-bootonly.iso
2. mount -o loop 7.0-RELEASE-i386-bootonly.iso /mnt
3. mkdir /pxeroot/
4. cp -a /mnt/boot /pxeroot/
cp /mnt/boot/pxeboot /tftpboot/nbi_img/FreeBSD-7.0-pxeboot.0
(You must have the file end with .0, since this tells pxelinux that it is a PXE image)
Add the following in /pxeboot/boot/loader.conf:
---------
vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/md0c"
---------
which means that the later booting process will use a ramdisk as root instead of NFS.
5. append the following in /tftpboot/nbi_img/pxelinux.cfg/default
---------
label FreeBSD 7.0 netinstall
# MENU DEFAULT
# MENU HIDE
MENU LABEL FreeBSD 7.0 netinstall
# MENU PASSWD
kernel FreeBSD-7.0-pxeboot.0
---------
6. Append one line by edit /etc/exports:
---------
/pxeroot/ 192.168.120.2(ro,sync,async,no_root_squash,subtree_check)
---------
then restart nfs service (Ex. /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart)
PS. If you want to assign different PXE root, you can set an option in dhcpd.conf like this:
option root-path "/freebsd7.0-pxeroot/";
Remember to modify /etc/exports and put the files in the corresponding dir.
Ref: http://www.hack.org/mc/freebsd-x60.html; http://www.fefe.de/netboot/how-to-netboot-installer.html
|
- How can I restore those *.ntfs-img.* images into a partition manually ?
^TOP^
| | | Say if your image is /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/, and the image is /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/hda1.ntfs-img.aa, hda1.ntfs-img.ab..., and you want to restore the image to /dev/hda2.
Before you do it, make sure the partition size of /dev/hda2 is equal to or larger than the original partition size of hda1 image.
Now you can run:
"file /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/hda1.ntfs-img.aa"
to see it's gzip, bzip or lzop image. Say it's gzip, then you can run
cat /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/hda1.ntfs-img.* | gzip -d -c | ntfsclone --restore-image -o /dev/hda2 -
|
- Is that possible I can read the content of a NTFS image created by Clonezilla ?
^TOP^
| | | Yes, but it's not straightforward. Here you are:
1. Prepare a large disk in Linux
2. Say if your image is /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/, and the image is /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/hda1.ntfs-img.aa, hda1.ntfs-img.ab...
run
"file /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/hda1.ntfs-img.aa"
to see it's gzip, bzip or lzop image. Say it's gzip, then you can run
cat /home/partimag/YOURIMAGE/hda1.ntfs-img.* | gzip -d -c | ntfsclone --restore-image -o hda1.img -
Then you will have a "hda1.img" which you can mount it by
mount -o loop -t ntfs hda1.img /mnt
Then all the files are in /mnt/
|
- Is that possible I can put clonezilla live in my harddrive which already has an OS installed ?
^TOP^
| | | Yes.
Here we use grub boot loader as an example. You have to put the clonezilla live files in a FAT, ext2/3, reiserfs or any grub supported partition.
If you do not have such a partition, you can use gparted to resize your partition and create another partition to put clonezilla live. Here we assume you already have a FAT partition /dev/hda4 to put clonezilla live. This is how to do that:
1. Boot the OS in the harddrive, saying it's GNU/Linux.
2. Mount /dev/hda4 as /mnt, you can make it by: mount /dev/hda4 /mnt
3. Download clonezilla live zip file, and unzip all the files in /mnt, make sure you put all the files in /mnt, say, makeboot.bat is in /mnt/, not in any subdir. You can make it by something like: "unzip clonezilla-live-*.zip -d /mnt" (Replace clonezilla-live-*.zip with the file name you just downloaded).
4. Edit your grub config file /boot/grub/menu.lst, and append the following:
-----------
title Clonezilla live
root (hd0,3)
kernel /live/vmlinuz1 boot=live union=aufs vga=788 toram bootfrom=/dev/hda ip=frommedia
initrd /live/initrd1.img
boot
-----------
//NOTE// Here we put an extra param "toram" so that later later you can mount /dev/hda4 as clonezilla image dir if you want.
Remember to check parameters in syslinux/syslinux.cfg from the zip file, copy them to here. It might be different from here, say vmlinuz1 path, username and hostname maybe different.
|
- How to create Clonezilla live from scratch ?
^TOP^
| | | 1. Download Clonezilla live 1.2.0-25 or later version.
2. Boot the downloaded clonezilla live, after language and keyboard are selected, choose "Start_Clonezilla" -> "device-image", then mount a working directory, the space should large enough to put the live CD and some temp files. It's recommended to choose local_dev to mount local partition as /home/partimag, since live-helper will use some low level commands and it might fail in network-based directory. Also make sure the partition is the filesystem of Linux, like ext3 or reiserfs, _NOT_ FAT or NTFS filesystem, because they do not support some file types in Linux.
3. When Clonezilla live asks you to choose save or restore disk/partition, choose "exit" to enter command line prompt
4. Run "sudo su -" to become root
5. Run "ocs-live-netcfg" to configure the network so that we can access Debian repository later
6. If you want to add more packages in Clonezilla live, and you are sure the packages are included in Debian repository, e.g. ncpfs, you can edit /opt/drbl/conf/drbl.conf, append ncpfs in variable PKG_FROM_DBN_WHICH_OCS_LIVE_NEED.
7. cd /home/partimag/
8. apt-get update; apt-get -y install live-helper cdebootstrap
9. If you want some special kernel version, and you are sure it exists in Debian repository, e.g. kernel 2.6.18-6 or 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1, you can make Debian live by:
create-debian-live -l e -b unstable -k 2.6.18-6 -i customized
or
create-debian-live -l e -b unstable -k 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1 -i customized
("-l e" means to use the live-experimental branch in drbl respository, this also means packages from live-stable, live-testing or live-unstable can be used. "-b unstable" means to use the unstable branch of drbl, this also means packages from stable and testing branches can be used.). You can refer to this URL to check the packages in DRBL repository http://free.nchc.org.tw/drbl-core/pool/drbl/).
If everything runs smooth, you will get a Debian live with file name "debian-live-for-ocs-customized.iso". Later we will use this Debian live as a template for Clonezilla live.
If you want to use the latest kernel, you can just run it without "-k 2.6.18-6" (This method only works for Debian Lenny. For Etch, you have to assign the kernel version), i.e.:
create-debian-live -l e -d lenny -b unstable -i customized
or
create-debian-live -d lenny -i customized
For more options about create-debian-live, you can run "create-debian-live --help".
10. Run:
ocs-iso -s -j debian-live-for-ocs-customized.iso -i customized
ocs-live-dev -c -s -j debian-live-for-ocs-customized.iso -i customized
then 2 files, clonezilla-live-customized.iso and clonezilla-live-customized.zip will be created, respectively.
|
- When I use Clonezilla server edition to do a multicast clone, the client machines just stay in "Please Wait...", any hint ?
^TOP^
| | | Normally you can find the clues in the log files (/var/log/messages or /var/log/daemon.log) about udpcast in your DRBL server. Try to find the keyword "udpcast" in the log files to see the status and why it won't start.
Basically there are some possibilities:
1. The network switch has blocked multicast packets. In this case, you have to enable that in your network switch, or check the "-brdcst" in the advanced parameters when you start multicast clonezilla. On the other hand, nn unmanaged network switch is another good choice in this case.
2. There are more than one network switches in your DRBL environment, and you did not link those switches with cables. If not, do that.
3. You assign the number of clients, but maybe some of them fail to join the multicast clone due to some reason, say, the hardware problem. Check your clients to see if all of them in the same status.
4. Make sure your firewall in the DRBL server does NOT block the multicast packets.
|
- I'd like to translate Clonezilla to other language, how can I help ?
^TOP^
| | | Thanks for that if you'd like to help this. However, please keep in mind that you will be bothered everytime before a new version is release. :)
- Please download DRBL tarball fie: http://free.nchc.org.tw/drbl-core/src/. It is recommended to use the one in the unstable branch if it is available.
- Untar it by something like: tar jvzf drbl-1.9.1-29.tar.bz2
- You will find two files:
- lang/bash/en_US: For DRBL/Clonezilla both
- lang/perl/en_US: For setting up a DRBL server (Clonezilla SE)
So far we haven't use gettext for locales. What you have to do now is just to translate those 2 files and save them as your locale name, e.g. ja_JP for Japanese.
Then post it in the mailing list or email to steven _at_ nchc org tw.
We will include them in the future release if you finish that.
|
- How can I config my DRBL clients to use Active Directory authentication ?
^TOP^
| | |
- Setup DRBL server by "drblsrv -i" and "drblpush -i" as mentioned in http://drbl.sourceforge.net/one4all/ normally.
- Append "compat winbind" to any client's nsswitch.conf, say /tftpboot/nodes/192.168.100.1/etc/nsswitch.conf
- Run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-cp-hosts /tftpboot/nodes/192.168.100.1/etc/nsswitch.conf /etc/"
- Run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-client-service samba on"
- Run "/opt/drbl/sbin/drbl-client-service winbind on"
Ref: https://sourceforge.net/forum/message.php?msg_id=5307193
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DRBL FAQ/Q&A