Re: [Ltsp-discuss] LTSP 5 Custom Kernel

[Steve C. <cay...@um...>]

Well, this is a bit old, but here are my notes to myself from a little over
a year ago -- I don't know how much still applies since the new system uses
nbd and squashfs instead of nfs. I'll be upgrading this system soon so I'll
probably find out shortly.

In any case, I doubt you should need to recompile the kernel, you just need
to get the right settings in the initrd.

*** Begin notes from 2007-03:

I'm using alternate DHCP ports 1067-1068. This comes up in three places:

  1. Etherboot: downloaded an etherboot image from http://rom-o-matic.net/
with the alternate ports, set the alternate ports on the server in
/etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf (local-port and remote-port) and opened firewall holes.

  2. Kernel bootup: after etherboot gets the kernel with tftp, and it
begins to boot it will ask dhcp for an address and location for the nfs
root. This is controlled in the /scripts/nfs file in the client's initrd.
    * on the server, chroot /opt/ltsp/i386
    * edit /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/nfs and change the line
ipconfig ${DEVICE} to ipconfig -p 1068 ${DEVICE}
    * create a new initrd with update-initramfs -c -k
{kernel-version-number eg. 2.6.7-10-386}. You might want to save a copy of
the original first.
    * make a new nbi image combining the kernel and initrd with mkelf-linux
--output=/boot/nbi.img-2.6.17-10-386 vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-386
initrd.img-2.6.17-10-386 (using the appropriate kernel version numbers)
    * exit the chroot
    * copy the new initrd and nbi.img from /opt/ltsp/i386/boot into
/var/lib/tftpboot/i386 so tftp will serve it out.

  3. After booting, the dhcp client will maintain the network ip (TODO: I
haven't figured out if this is necessary yet).

*** End notes

Sean Carte wrote:
> I want to deploy LTSP in a situation where there is a pre-existing
> DHCP server. From what I've read, the way to make this work involves
> running a DHCP server on a different port and compiling a custom
> kernel for LTSP with the DHCP client set to retrieve its data on that
> port.
> 
> I've found some documentation, including this:
> http://ltsp.sourceforge.net/contrib/parallel_dhcp.txt, which mentions
> ltsp_initrd_kit. But this appears to be available for LTSP 4 only.
> 
> Is it possible to compile a custom kernel for LTSP 5? Are there
> idiot-proof instructions anywhere? Or is there an easier way to
> accomplish what I need?
> 
> I'm running LTSP 5.0.40 on Ubuntu 8.04.
> 
> Sean
> --
> Sean Carte
> esAL Library Systems Manager
> +27 72 898 8775
> +27 31 373 2490
> fax: 0866741254
> http://esal.dut.ac.za/
> 
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