Some notes on LTSP client boot speed

[Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com>]

I've looked into the LTSP client boot in Squeeze, and tried to get it
go faster.  I've suspected the ltsp_config.d scripts to look up
configuration in LDAP and to dynamically find the correct DNS server
to use on clients, and did a simple test.  I booted the client, and
timed the period from selecting on the PXE menu until the login screen
showed up.  The times were measured using a wall time clock.

First I tried the current version with both LDAP, DNS and extra rw
bind mount points enabled.  Next I tried to disable both, and then
either of them.


  Setup         seconds
  ---------------------
  all enabled        65
  no ldap, no dns    21
  no ldap            46
  no dns             41

Not quite sure how we can fix this, but it seem to me that the dynamic
lookup stuff for LTSP need to be changed to get the clients booting
faster.  I suspect we need to change the dynamic stuff to not run when
the clients boot but when the LTSP server is installed or boot.

The dynamic DNS script was in Lenny too, but the LDAP script is new in
Squeeze.

Happy hacking,
-- 
Petter Reinholdtsen