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Date:      Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:54:06 -0700
From:      Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org>
To:        Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Remote System Builds
Message-ID:  <8CB1037A-9843-48E2-9F10-27FDC7721EE3@lafn.org>
In-Reply-To: <201203261820.q2QIKaFt008532@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
References:  <201203261820.q2QIKaFt008532@dc.cis.okstate.edu>

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On 26 March 2012, at 11:20, Martin McCormick wrote:

> 	Is there yet any way to remotely rebuild a FreeBSD
> system? I have two FreeBSD systems on two remote campuses that
> presently run FreeBSD6.3. They need to be running FreeBSD9.0 and
> I don't really care how I get there as long as it can be done
> over the network. If we were physically there, I would put a
> CDROM in and blow them away since it is such a large jump.
>=20
> 	I can have staff members there install CDROM's that were
> remastered to use the serial console, but I am hoping that maybe
> we are moving past this sort of logistics.
>=20
> 	I just tried to unpack the 9.0 image using tar which has
> worked in the past to let one modify loader.conf but I got a
> bunch of errors this time about files that couldn't be created
> so maybe this is not the recommended headless installation
> technique any longer.

I am going to be facing the same issue in a few months.  My experiences =
with the serial console are that it is great for correcting small =
issues, trying to use it for initial configuration is not going to be =
real easy.  I would like to be able to build a custom CD for that =
specific machine that doesn't need any operator input.  They just =
install it and boot the machine. It would need to format the disk and do =
the complete installation (base and uniquely configured ports etc.). Is =
that possible?=



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