From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 19 11:15:28 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2B53316A4CE for ; Sun, 19 Sep 2004 11:15:28 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6033543D49 for ; Sun, 19 Sep 2004 11:15:27 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost [IPv6:::1]) i8JBFDka078381 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Sun, 19 Sep 2004 12:15:13 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost)i8JBFCY3078323; Sun, 19 Sep 2004 12:15:12 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew) Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 12:15:12 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: Forrest Aldrich Message-ID: <20040919111512.GC51161@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , Forrest Aldrich , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <414C965A.6060101@forrie.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="1ccMZA6j1vT5UqiK" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <414C965A.6060101@forrie.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.6 (smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:::1]); Sun, 19 Sep 2004 12:15:13 +0100 (BST) X-Virus-Scanned: clamd / ClamAV version devel-20040904, clamav-milter version 0.75l on smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.8 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=2.64 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.64 (2004-01-11) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Automating FreeBSD Installation(s)... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 11:15:28 -0000 --1ccMZA6j1vT5UqiK Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sat, Sep 18, 2004 at 04:11:06PM -0400, Forrest Aldrich wrote: > I've read several articles out there that address different means to=20 > automate (or standardize, for internal purposes) FreeBSD=20 > installations. One article (which was older) spoke of scripting=20 > sysinstall via an install.cfg with some custom pkg modules to do=20 > edits. The other, exploiting the PXE capability of the newer (Intel) NI= Cs. Actually these two aren't necessarily exclusive. PXE allows you to build a mechanism like Solaris Jumpstart -- where systems will automatically install and configure themselves from a network server. One of the ways to work PXE is to combine it with the scripted install capabilities of sysinstall(8). =20 > I'm interested in what people are doing now - what has had the better=20 > success rate, etc. I realize this is all dependent upon one's=20 > environment - mine will be more ISP-related, but will require some=20 > flexibility for different servers. PXE is pretty good, but it depends on having appropriate support supplied via your hardware. Another good system is to build your own customised install CDs (maybe even going to the lengths of building a separate install CD for each server) -- you can include various extra packages as part of your standard install, and you can create a package of your own to install config files in /etc and similar places[1]. Get it right, and installing a system can be automated right down to slapping a CD Rom in the drive and telling the system to boot from it. > I've also heard of people utilizing GNU CFEngine for this type of=20 > procedure, which I find interesting - it's a complex package, but seems= =20 > to be very functional if you have time/patience to apply it. CFEngine is more to do with port-install configuration: managing a whole machine room full of servers from a centralised configuration database. =20 Cheers, Matthew [1] You can even use a FreeSBIE disk -- your OS lives on the (unwritable) CD Rom, and the disk newfs'es and mounts and populates the filesystems using the systems' hard drive as necessary. Very easy to recover from system compromise in that case: just reboot. --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK --1ccMZA6j1vT5UqiK Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFBTWpAiD657aJF7eIRAryrAJ9uP41WwmBgPm80+rVXmAKoD0UaYQCgmVx/ eErhax35Y7LNvDw/saxvIlY= =djQd -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --1ccMZA6j1vT5UqiK--