<snip>
I don't agree with you here as you probably have in mind a kickstart-based install for approach #1 running upon each node boot. I use for a long time a different approach - the node "image" is copied via rsync at boot time; the long waiting time for installing the RPMs and running whatever configuration scripts happens only once when the node "image" is prepared, the nodes only copy it - and it's a full copy only the first time they boot with a new disk, afterwards it's the rsync magic which makes it finish within seconds while making it look like a new disk :-)
This is how our cluster boots. I have a custom initrd that sets up the network, partitions and formats the hard drives if necessary, rsyncs the root filesystem, and then pivots root to it. It works well except that the fileserver gets hammered if there's a time when many nodes are turned on at once.
Brian Oborn Computer Admin Idaho Accelerator Center Idaho State University _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
