[UFO Chicago] syncing multiple workstations to one master

[Carl Karsten]

On Sat, Sep 3, 2011 at 8:03 PM, Calvin Pryor <calvinpryor at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 12:19 PM, Michael Sphar <mikesphar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I was sitting here wondering how in the world you implement reliable
>> file transfers over multicast.
>>
>> Then I read this:
>> http://jamesclarke.net/projects/msyncdesign
>>
>> Clever! Good stuff!
>
> Wow. Ton of good stuff here. Thanks for everyone's responses. FYI, I'm doing
> this research for a project at FreeGeek Chicago. We're trying to get a good
> 10-12 station lab going. We're considering LTSP, just so we don't have to
> manage a dozen boxes, but we probably won't be able to get a server that's
> beefy enough, so we're looking at all options.
> Any additional thoughts anyone has on this would be greatly appreciated.

pxe boot ubuntu installer with a preseed file:
https://gitorious.org/vms/vms/blobs/master/preseed-natty.cfg

walk away, 20-30 min later, ubuntu installed to the local drive.

Here is a shell script that does this to a VM:
https://gitorious.org/vms/vms/blobs/master/mk_natty.sh

I set this up for myself years ago, works great.  minor bit of work
each time a new release comes out, because the intaller will have new
options that need to be set in the preseed file.

There is no media involved (cd/usb stick...) so no making lots of
copies of stuff that get out of date.  it pulls from the repositories,
so the install has any security patches already applied.  I use a
P4-400 128mb, 6g drive as a server.  The requirements are that
minimal.  it basically takes the place of the install CD, and a
CD+drive is not a high end system.

When I first set it up, I documented all my configs on the ubuntu
wiki, which has been appened to till it;s a bit overwhelming:
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/LocalNet

Done let it freak you out, it's just a bunch of parts that work together.

I would be happy to swing by FreeGeek with the pxe server box ready to
go, show how it works for me, show where the various configs are, etc.
 I am out of town till Sep 19, so 23 would be the first Friday I could
be there.



-- 
Carl K