Re: [Moosefs-users] moosefs distro

[Giovanni T. <me...@gi...>]

Hi,

2012/1/6  <jan...@da...>:
> On a related note - we were using USB sticks to boot chunkservers, but
> now we are using network boot for that. On chunkservers themselves is
> only data. This allows us to very quickly add new servers - just add new
> node in configs and plug the server in.
> In our experience using network boot is faster and safer than USB
> sticks (and also cheaper).

PXE netboot is a great choice when managing a bunch of identical
machines, especially MooseFS chunk-servers that don't need any
particular variation in the config files, and you can use the entire
disks for the volume!

I had a good experience with Debian Live
http://live.debian.net/devel/live-boot/ (unfortunately this isn't in
production but not for technical reasons): every machine bootstrap via
PXE, download from a TFTP server the generic kernel and initrd with
live-boot scripts, that downloads a squashed rootfs via HTTP and mount
it. The last init.d script will mount the available machine disks on
know locations and mfs-chunkserver is started.

When a software upgrade is required, we simply generate a new squashed
rootfs with updated software, test it under a virtual machine, and
when you are sure it's working, reboot every node in sequence.

-- 
Giovanni Toraldo
http://gionn.net/