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Re: "kickstart" for debian needed



Jeremy Lunn wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 27, 2001 at 09:58:27PM -0800, Duane Powers wrote:
> > 30+ similar machines with debian, life sucks, eh? :o)
> > discussion on the list before... I don't know if anyone has the details
> > on redhat's kickstart program,
> > and whether that is something that could be ported to debian... Any
> > suggestions?
>
> I am not sure how much of the base install could be automated.  But have
> you thought of making a task package?  That way you can keep the
> packages that are installed on each machine consistant.  I'm not sure
> how task packages work or how you can make them, but I think it's as
> simple as depending on all the packages you need.

Yes, I'm hoping to build a task-package, though I haven't had much experience
with them either.

>
>
> > Most (of our) engineers are not linux-compliant.
> > Need centralized login, (can't use NIS+, we've already got a NIS+ system
> > for Solaris... don't wanna confuse the issue,)
>
> You might like to look into using LDAP for this.  Another alternitive is
> using an SQL database.  This issue is pretty flexiable considering there
> are many PAM modules and quite a few Name Service (libnss) modules.
>

Any suggestions on where I could learn more about using LDAP as an authentication
tool?
we use it for customer authentication, but I personally am not _very_ well
versed...

>
> > May need to be reinstalled occassionally due to high tech network
> > engineers hosing
>
> You mean they'll have root access?  If that is the case there is not
> much they can do.   If that is the case though maybe they should be
> given machines with nothing on them to start with.  Or ones that can be
> mucked up.   If they don't have root access then I don't see it as a
> problem.
>

no, they won't have root. but as your typical computer enthusiasts, they'll
likely try
to get it. :o)

>
> > various applications (these are going to be workstations, not servers...
> > accessed frequently by different users... stuff will get broken)
>
> You might be able to update your task packages and either come up with a
> system to start upgrading of all machines or schedule them to run
> apt-get update && apt-get -y dist-upgrade every 24 hours or so.  I am not
> sure how debconf can handle with sitewides defaults yet either, but I do
> recall something being considered for this.
>

This is quite a good idea, I will need to become more versed in holding packages
back, and the like, we'll be running X4.02 (or .03) and apt-get upgrade's off
potato like to overwrite with X3.3, so I'll want to hold that back, stuff like
that.

>
> --
> Jeremy Lunn
> Melbourne, Australia
>
> --
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Duane Powers
Systems Engineer II





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