[arch-releng] Archlinux automated via PXE

[Thomas S Hatch]

On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 4:10 PM, Nico Schottelius <
nico-archlinux-releng at schottelius.org> wrote:

> Good morning devs,
>
> I'm running a big pool of Linux installations in the ETH Zurich [0]
> and from time to time I am interested in giving Archlinux a try
> for a big installation.
>
> But the lack of a very easy automated way to retrieve networking
> images, like provided with OpenBSD or Debian & variants, makes
> me drop back (cuni [0] got a list of easily netinstallable Os).
>
> I'm aware that I can download the ISO, grab the kernel + initrd
> and have it running, but it's a pretty cumbersome approach.
>
> Thus I'd like to discuss whether there is no easy way to provide
> kernel + initrd in a standard location?
>
> Secondly I'd be interested in seeing a standard way on how to
> automate the installation, which could probably a wikipage
> "Archlinux in big environments".
>
> I'm wondering what your opinions are regarding those two topics
> and whether there'll be some changes mid term that may make
> archlinux able to be a canditate for automatic installations.
>
> Have a nice evening,
>
> Nico
>
> [0] cuni: http://www.nico.schottelius.org/software/cuni/
>
> --
> PGP key: 7ED9 F7D3 6B10 81D7 0EC5  5C09 D7DC C8E4 3187 7DF0
>

I really need to get my stuff on this out into the wild, I use ramdisk
network boots, I had to modify the mkinitcpio but it works amazingly well.
So I never install systems, I just reboot them into new root images.

The problem is that I need to refine it a great deal.

If you are however interested in automating virtual machine installs you can
use varch:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Varch

Sorry I don't have this stuff out yet, I won't have time to do it for at
least 3 or 4 months, but I am happy to field questions!

Also, are you using puppet? I could not live without it in the datacenter.

-Thomas S Hatch
-Arch Linux Trusted User