[ILUG] RedHat Installation via NFS vs FTP

[Raymond Kelly]

Cormac McClean wrote:
> 2. Install via NFS (put the CD Rom in my own PC and run it from there);

> a) Can I run multiple installations via NFS, or will the CD Rom in my
> machine
> be fully engaged by one machine, so it will have to be done one at a
> time,
> therefore there is no point in installing via NFS.
> b) What's this about P
> c) Am I misunderstanding the concept of installation via NFS?

answer to 
a: yes you can have multiple installs going on simultaneously
Though be warned that if you have the cd in an ide drive you'll
absolutely Murder the machine acting as the server unslees you are going
to mount an iso image of the cd via loopback & then server from there.
which IMHO works much much better.
"mount -t iso9660 -o loop /full_path_to_iso_image /mount_point" is how
you do the loop mount thing, adding an ro flag to this could be a good
idea

b: only relevant you you have one of those PCMCIA things in the system
which you're installing to 
 
> The PCs can be left to run over-night so the installation via FTP isn't
> a problem (unless simultaneously trying to install 10-20 PCs from
> ftp.esat.net is?).

If you're going to do that I'd recommend that you go through a
transparent proxy which will cache quite large ftp objects otherwise
you're going to be a not popular person for raiding all of someone elses
BW on them.
plus it'll be shite slow even if ftping from a local machine.
 
> Answers to the above questions or any advice as to the best approach to
> take would be greatly appreciated. The problem is that I am unfamiliar
> with the NFS installation - I've checked my manual (RH 5.2) and nothing
> there; I'm also trying the on-line manual / FAQs but if anyone knew
> of the top of their head that would be great.

at it's most simple level all you'll need to have an nfs server is a
line with the directory which you want to share off in  /etc/exports , 

as an example, my setup here (all red hat 6.0 & 6.1 machines) is 

esmine.ray:/home/ray>mount
/dev/hda1 on / type ext2 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
/dev/hda3 on /cache type ext2 (rw)
/dev/hda6 on /home/ftp type ext2 (rw)
/dev/hda5 on /usr type ext2 (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0622)
/home/ftp/iso/6.1-i386.iso on /cdrom type iso9660 (rw,loop=/dev/loop0)

 & the relevant bit from /etc/exports just reads as follows

/cdrom 

as an aside, I'm not too sure as to how secure this is on an untrusted
network but as this particular system doesn't have access to the outside
world & V\V I'm not too worried about it. 


now going back to sleep !

	Ray ...

-- 
Raymond Kelly: ray at phbrink.ie : Systems Administrator:
PH Brink International, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway, Ireland:
TEL: +353 91 771181: Mobile: +353 87 2886761 (Caller ID only):