Little-Fe PPC

This is page contains information about the 4 node PPC (Pegasos) version of Little-Fe.

This version of Little-Fe PPC is based on a Debian GNU/Linux installation. It employs UnionFS to facilitate consolidation of system and cluster software on a single hard drive (attached to lf0). All other nodes netboot from the master image by masking the server-specific files with a lightweight overlay.

• lf0 can be found at lf-ppc.cluster.earlham.edu

Documentation and bug reporting

• To report a bug, please use Bugzilla

We are documenting the production of Little-Fe in two ways: First, bugs are filed in bugzilla (and hopefully fixed). Second, we're putting flesh on a set of instructions to build a replica of the original Little-Fe PPC. The latter is probably (but not necessarily) based on the former. The distinction is mainly that Bugzilla will show how things were done wrong, while the wiki-based instructions will show how to do things right the first time.

Creating a new Little-Fe PPC

Choose an operating system

The first version of this project used Debian GNU/Linux. It's intended to be general enough to be deployed on other platforms; but, as Charlie says, "your mileage may vary."

Setup the diskless netboot environment

TFTPD

Install a tftp server (Debian's tftpd-hpa is good) and add a line like this to /etc/inetd.conf (or the equivalent in whatever internet "super-server" you use):

tftp           dgram   udp     wait    root  /usr/sbin/in.tftpd /usr/sbin/in.tftpd -v -s /boot

This runs tftpd and sets its root directory to /boot

DHCPD

Install ISC's DHCPD (e.g., Debian's dhcp3-server package), and setup dhcpd.conf like so:

option domain-name "little-fe-ppc.net";
option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.100;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
default-lease-time 604800;
max-lease-time 604800;
allow booting;
allow bootp;

subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    range 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.254;
    option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255;
    option routers 192.168.1.1;

    next-server 192.168.1.100;
    server-identifier 192.168.1.100;

    # for client-side union setup
    filename "vmlinuz-2.6.15.6 init=/linuxrc root=/dev/nfs ip=dhcp console=ttyS1,115200n1";
    option root-path "/client/setup";

    # to use server-side union
    # filename "vmlinuz-2.6.15.6 root=/dev/nfs ip=dhcp console=ttyS1,115200n1";
    # option root-path "/client/root";

    use-host-decl-names on;
}

host lf1 { hardware ethernet 00:0B:2F:43:61:EB; fixed-address 192.168.1.101; }
host lf2 { hardware ethernet 00:0b:2f:4f:03:b5; fixed-address 192.168.1.102; }
#host lf3 { hardware ethernet ; fixed-address 192.168.1.103; }

subnet 192.168.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    range 192.168.10.200 192.168.10.254;
    option broadcast-address 192.168.10.255;

    use-host-decl-names on;
}

host lf1-eth1 { hardware ethernet 00:0b:2f:62:49:d1; fixed-address 192.168.10.101; }
host lf2-eth1 { hardware ethernet 00:0b:2f:6e:6b:7b; fixed-address 192.168.10.102; }
#host lf3-eth1 { hardware ethernet ; fixed-address 192.168.10.103; }

NFSD

If you're using Debian, use the nfs-kernel-server package (not the nfs-user-server package). (Knowledge about how this translates to other platforms would be helpful here.)

Setup /etc/exports like so:

/               192.168.1.0/24(ro,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,sync)
/client/setup   192.168.1.0/24(ro,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,sync)
/client/overlay 192.168.1.0/24(ro,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,sync)
/root           192.168.1.0/24(rw,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,sync)
/home           192.168.1.0/24(rw,insecure_locks,no_root_squash,sync)

Unified Root

Unified Root Setup

Related pages

• Pegasos PPC (ODW) notes