[wplug] Wplug PXE server

[Terence J. Golightly]

On 06/16/2011 03:41 PM, Rob Lines wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 1:55 PM, Terence J. Golightly
> <terencejgolightly at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Greetings List,
>>
>> A project has been eating at me has come to partial fruition:
>>
>> An InstallFest PXE server.
> <snip>
> 
> So a couple comments.  It would probably be best to have it as self
> contained as you can make it.  Put dhcp right on the server as it will
> make the PXE part easier and it is one less part to break.  Add a
> gigabit switch to the rig to connect clients to it on a private
> network.  That lets you ensure a nice fast connection for the
> installs.

Yes I like that approach.


> 
> As someone else said you could dual home it and have the "wan" facing
> side set to autoconfigure off dhcp.  This gives you the option of
> sharing the internet connection to the installing clients if it is
> available but the kit doesn't need an internet connection.

You and I are think'n alike:).

> 
> If you can round up some extra drives (does it have a spare sata port
> because I would be willing to donate a decent size drive to the
> project)  

Great! Sadly I"m most certain that this box doesn't have sata support
built in. It'll require a controller card.

You can skip localy mirroring all the updates but instead
> install a caching proxy server.

Never messed with that.


  That way when you have a handful of
> machines all update with 2 gb of new packages you only have to
> download it once.  And you could easily do that ahead of time on
> someone's FIOS connection instead of flooding a libray's connection.

My connection is ok for that:).

> It also lets the client machines keep the normal real update
> configurations pointing to the internet instead of having to mangle
> them to point to the installfest machine and then clean them after the
> fact before they head home.

I like that idea.

Thanks,

Terry