Diskless nodes
This article provides instructions for creating and setting up diskless nodes with Gentoo Linux.
Introduction
About this article
This article will help setting up diskless workstations based on the Gentoo Linux distribution. This guide is intended to make the process as user friendly as possible and cater to the Linux newbie, because everyone was at a certain point. While an experienced user could easily tie the multiple articles available on diskless nodes and networking together it's hoped that this guide can ease the installation for all interested users, geeks, or not.
What is a diskless machine?
A diskless machine is a PC without any of the usual boot devices such as hard disks, floppy drives or CD-ROMs. The diskless node boots off the network and needs a server that will provide it with storage space as a local hard disk would. From now on the server will be the master, while the diskless machine gets called the slave (what's in a name :). The slave node needs a network adapter that supports PXE booting or Etherboot; check Etherboot.org for support listings. Most modern cards support PXE and many built-in adapters on motherboards will also work.
Before starting
Gentoo should be installed on the master node and enough space on the master to store the file systems of the slave nodes that are going to be hosted. Also make sure there is one interface to the internet separated from the local area connection.
Configuration
Master and the slaves
About kernels
The kernel is the software that sits between the hardware and all other software that is loaded on the machine, essentially the heart of a kernel based operating system. When a computer is started, the BIOS executes the instructions found at the reserved boot space of the hard drive. These instructions are typically a boot loader that loads a kernel. After a kernel has been loaded all processes are handled by the kernel.
For more information on kernels and kernel configuration check out the kernel article.
The master kernel
The master kernel can be as large and as customized as desired but there are a few required kernel options that need to be selected. Go into the kernel configuration menu by typing:
root #cd /usr/src/linux
root #make menuconfigThere should be a grey and blue GUI that offers a safe alternative to manually editing the /usr/src/linux/.config file. If the kernel is currently functioning well it might be a good idea to save the current configuration file by exiting the GUI and typing:
root #cp .config .config_workingGo into the following sub-menus and make sure the listed items are checked as built-in (and NOT as modular). The options show below are taken from the 2.6.10 kernel version. If a different version is used, the text or sequence might differ. Just make sure to select at least those shown below.
[*] Networking support --->
Networking options --->
<*> Packet socket
<*> Unix domain sockets
[*] TCP/IP networking
[*] IP: multicasting
[ ] Network packet filtering (replaces ipchains)
File systems --->
Network File Systems --->
<*> NFS server support
[*] Provide NFSv3 server support
If access to internet through the master node is required and/or a secure firewall is needed make sure to add support for iptables:
[*] Network packet filtering (replaces ipchains)
IP: Netfilter Configuration --->
<*> Connection tracking (required for masq/NAT)
<*> IP tables support (required for filtering/masq/NAT)
If packet filtering is required, add the rest as modules later. Make sure to read the Gentoo Security Handbook Chapter about Firewalls on how to set this up properly.
These kernel configuration options should only be added to the system specific configuration options and are not meant to completely replace the kernel configuration.
After the master kernel has been re-configured, it needs to be rebuilt:
root #make && make modules_install
root #cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-masterThen add an entry for that new kernel into lilo.conf or grub.conf depending on which bootloader is being used and make the new kernel the default one. Now that the new bzImage has been copied into the boot directory all that has to be done is to reboot the system in order to load these new options.
About the slave kernel
It is recommended that the slave kernel be compiled without any modules, since loading and setting them up via remote boot is a difficult and unnecessary process. Additionally, the slave kernel should be as small and compact as possible in order to efficiently boot from the network. The slave's kernel is going to be compiled in the same place where the master was configured.
To avoid confusion and wasting time it is probably a good idea to backup the master's configuration file by typing:
root #cp /usr/src/linux/.config /usr/src/linux/.config_masterThe slave's kernel is now to be configured in the same fashion as the master's kernel. If a fresh configuration file is needed it can be recovered from the default /usr/src/linux/.config file by typing:
root #cd /usr/src/linux
root #cp .config_master .configNow go into the configuration GUI by typing:
root #cd /usr/src/linux
root #make menuconfigMake sure to select the following options as built-in and NOT as kernel modules:
[*] Networking support --->
Networking options --->
<*> Packet socket
<*> Unix domain sockets
[*] TCP/IP networking
[*] IP: multicasting
[*] IP: kernel level autoconfiguration
[*] IP: DHCP support
File systems --->
Network File Systems --->
<*> file system support
[*] Provide NFSv3 client support
[*] Root file system on NFS
An alternative to having an dhcp server is setting up a BOOTP server.
It is important to add the network adapter into the kernel (and not as a module) on the nodes. Using modules however is generally not a problem for diskless nodes.
Now the slave's kernel needs to be compiled. Be careful here not to overwrite or mess up the modules (if any) that have been built for the master:
root #cd /usr/src/linux
root #makeNow create the directory on the master that will be used to hold slaves' files and required system files. The /diskless is used but any location preferred may be chosen here. Now copy the slave's bzImage into the /diskless directory:
If there are different architectures being used it might be useful to save each config into .config_arch . Do the same with the images: save them into the /diskless as bzImage_arch .
root #mkdir /diskless
root #cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /diskless
The preliminary slave file system
The master and slave filesystems can be tweaked and changed a lot. Right now the only point of interest is in getting a preliminary filesystem of appropriate configuration files and mount points. First it's required to create a directory within /diskless for the first slave. Each slave needs its own root file system because sharing certain system files will cause permission problems and hard crashes. These directories can be called anything the administrator deems appropriate but the article suggests using the slaves IP addresses as they are unique and not confusing. The static IP of the first slave will be, for instance, 192.168.1.21:
root #mkdir -p /diskless/192.168.1.21/etcVarious configuration files in /etc need to be altered to work on the slave. Copy the master's /etc directory onto the new slave root by typing:
root #cp -r /etc/* /diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/Still this filesystem isn't ready because it needs various mount points and directories. To create them, type:
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/home
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/dev
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/proc
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/tmp
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/mnt
root #chmod a+w /diskless/192.168.1.21/tmp
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/mnt/.initd
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/root
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/sys
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/var
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/var/empty
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/var/lock
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/var/log
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/var/run
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/var/spool
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/usr
root #mkdir /diskless/192.168.1.21/opt
Most of these "stubs" should be recognizable; stubs like /dev, /proc, or /sys will be populated when the slave starts, the others will be mounted later. The /diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/conf.d/hostname file should also be changed to reflect the hostname of the slave. Binaries, libraries and other files will be populated later in this HOWTO right before attempting to boot the slave.
Even though /dev is populated by udev later on, the console entry needs to be created. If not, the error message "unable to open initial console" will be encountered.
root #mknod /diskless/192.168.1.21/dev/console c 5 1The DHCP server
About the DHCP server
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. The DHCP server is the first computer the slaves will communicate with when they PXE boot. The primary purpose of the DHCP server is to assign IP addresses. The DHCP server can assign IP addresses based on hosts ethernet MAC addresses. Once the slave has an IP address, the DHCP server will tell the slave where to get its initial file system and kernel.
Before getting started
There are following things to make sure, they are working properly before beginning. First check the network connectivity using the ip link show eth0 command. Verify following 3 entries are shown:
state UPUPMULTICAST
on the command line output.
user $ip link show eth02: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether 0c:2e:53:f2:00:00 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
If the output
MULTICAST is not displayed, reconfigure the linux-kernel to include and build multicast support.Using the ip maddress show eth0 command it is easy to display multicast addressing assinged on the interface eth0. The result shows 3 active multicast address ranges:
user $ip maddress show eth02: eth0 link 33:33:00:00:00:01 link 33:33:00:00:00:02 users 2 link 01:00:5e:00:00:01 link 33:33:ff:a5:c9:45 link 33:33:ff:00:00:00 inet 224.0.0.1 inet6 ff02::1:ff00:0 inet6 ff02::1:ffa5:c945 inet6 ff05::2 inet6 ff01::2 inet6 ff02::2 inet6 ff02::1 inet6 ff01::1
Command output overview table:
| Address layer | Address range | Description |
|---|---|---|
link
|
33:33:xx:xx:xx:xx | Ethernet Address Mapping Space - IPv6 Packets over Ethernet |
inet
|
224.0.0.0/4 | IP Multicast Address Space |
inet6
|
ff00::/8 | IPv6 Multicast Address Space |
Installing the DHCP server
If the network does not already have a DHCP server installed, one needs to be installed now:
root #emerge --ask dhcpIf the network already has a DHCP server installed, edit the configuration file to get the PXE boot to function correctly.
Configuring the DHCP server
There is only one configuration file that needs to be edited before starting the DHCP server: /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf. Copy and edit the provided sample file:
root #cp /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf.sample /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
root #nano -w /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.confThe general layout of the file is set up in an indented fashion and looks like this:
# global options here
ddns-update-style none;
shared-network LOCAL-NET {
# shared network options here
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# subnet network options here
host slave{
# host specific options here
}
group {
# group specific options here
}
}
}
The shared-network block is optional and should be used for IPs that are required to be assigned that belong to the same network topology. At least one subnet must be declared and the optional group block allows options to be grouped between items. A good example of dhcpd.conf looks like this:
#
# Sample dhcpd.conf for diskless clients
#
# Disable dynamic DNS
ddns-update-style none;
# Assume one default gateway for IP traffic will do
option routers 192.168.1.1;
# Provide DNS info to clients
option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.1;
option domain-name "mydomain.com";
# Specify the TFTP server to be used
next-server 192.168.1.1;
# Declare a vendor-specific option buffer for PXE clients:
# Code 1: Multicast IP address of boot file server
# Code 2: UDP port that client should monitor for MTFTP responses
# Code 3: UDP port that MTFTP servers are using to listen for MTFTP requests
# Code 4: Number of seconds a client must listen for activity before trying
# to start a new MTFTP transfer
# Code 5: Number of seconds a client must listen before trying to restart
# a MTFTP transfer
option space PXE;
option PXE.mtftp-ip code 1 = ip-address;
option PXE.mtftp-cport code 2 = unsigned integer 16;
option PXE.mtftp-sport code 3 = unsigned integer 16;
option PXE.mtftp-tmout code 4 = unsigned integer 8;
option PXE.mtftp-delay code 5 = unsigned integer 8;
option PXE.discovery-control code 6 = unsigned integer 8;
option PXE.discovery-mcast-addr code 7 = ip-address;
# Declare the subnet where our diskless nodes will live
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# Provide PXE clients with appropriate information
class "pxeclient" {
match if substring(option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "PXEClient";
vendor-option-space PXE;
# At least one of the vendor-specific PXE options must be set in
# order for the client boot ROMs to realize that we are a PXE-compliant
# server. We set the MCAST IP address to 0.0.0.0 to tell the boot ROM
# that we can't provide multicast TFTP.
option PXE.mtftp-ip 0.0.0.0;
# This is the name of the file the boot ROMs should download.
filename "pxelinux.0";
}
# Provide Etherboot clients with appropriate information
class "etherboot" {
match if substring(option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9) = "Etherboot";
filename "vmlinuz_arch";
}
# Add one host declaration for each diskless host
host slave21 {
hardware ethernet 00:02:A5:04:3B:66;
fixed-address 192.168.1.21;
}
}
There is nothing prohibiting the use of both PXE boot and Etherboot together. The above Code Listing is merely an example; if there are issues, please consult the DHCPd documentation.
The IP address after next-server will be asked for the specified filename. This IP address should be the IP of the tftp server, usually the same as the master's IP address. The filename is relative to the /diskless directory (this is due to the tftp server specific options which will be covered later). Inside the host block, the hardware ethernet option specifies a MAC address, and fixed-address assigns a fixed IP address to that particular MAC address. There is a pretty good man page on dhcpd.conf with options that are beyond the scope of this HOWTO. The man page can be read by typing:
user $man dhcpd.confStarting the DHCP server
Before starting the dhcp initialization script edit the /etc/conf.d/dhcp file so that it looks something like this:
IFACE="eth0"
# Insert any customizations needed
The IFACE variable is the device that the DHCP server will be running on, in this case eth0. Adding more arguments to the IFACE variable can be useful for a complex network topology with multiple Ethernet cards. To start the dhcp server type:
root #rc-service dhcpd startTo add the dhcp server to the start-up scripts type:
root #rc-update add dhcpd defaultTroubleshooting the DHCP server
To see if a node boots, take a look at /var/log/messages. If the node successfully boots, the messages file should have some lines at the bottom looking like this:
DHCPDISCOVER from 00:00:00:00:00:00 via eth0
DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.21 to 00:00:00:00:00:00 via eth0
DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.21 from 00:00:00:00:00:00 via eth0
DHCPACK on 192.168.1.21 to 00:00:00:00:00:00 via eth0
This log file can also help in discovering the slaves' MAC addresses.
If the following message is encountered it probably means there is something wrong in the configuration file but that the DHCP server is broadcasting correctly.
no free leases on subnet LOCAL-NET
Every time after changing the configuration file the DHCP server must be restarted. To restart the server type:
root #rc-service dhcpd restartTFTP server and PXE Linux Bootloader and/or Etherboot
About the TFTP server
TFTP stands for Trivial File Transfer Protocol. The TFTP server is going to supply the slaves with a kernel and an initial filesystem. All of the slave kernels and filesystems will be stored on the TFTP server, so it's probably a good idea to make the master the TFTP server.
Installing the TFTP server
A highly recommended tftp server is available as the tftp-hpa package. This tftp server happens to be written by the author of SYSLINUX and it works very well with pxelinux. To install simply type:
root #emerge --ask tftp-hpaConfiguring the TFTP server
Edit /etc/conf.d/in.tftpd. The tftproot directory needs to specified with INTFTPD_PATH and any command-line options with INTFTPD_OPTS. It should look something like this:
/etc/conf.d/in.tftpdINTFTPD_PATH="/diskless"
INTFTPD_OPTS="-l -v -s ${INTFTPD_PATH}"
The -l option indicates that this server listens in stand alone mode so inetd does not have to be run. The -v indicates that log/error messages should be verbose. The -s /diskless specifies the root of the tftp server.
Starting the TFTP server
To start the tftp server type:
root #rc-service in.tftpd startThis should start the tftp server with the options that were specified in the /etc/conf.d/in.tftpd. If this server is to be automatically started at boot type:
root #rc-update add in.tftpd defaultAbout PXELINUX
This section is not required if only Etherboot is being used. PXELINUX is the network bootloader equivalent to LILO or GRUB and will be served via TFTP. It is essentially a tiny set of instructions that tells the client where to locate its kernel and initial filesystem and allows for various kernel options.
Before getting started
Now the file pxelinux.0 is required, which comes in the SYSLINUX package by H. Peter Anvin. This package can be installed by typing:
root #emerge --ask syslinuxSetting up PXELINUX
This isn't needed for Etherboot
Before starting the tftp server pxelinux needs to be set up. First copy the pxelinux binary into the /diskless directory:
root #cp /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /diskless
root #mkdir /diskless/pxelinux.cfg
root #touch /diskless/pxelinux.cfg/default
This will create a default bootloader configuration file. The binary pxelinux.0 will look in the pxelinux.cfg directory for a file whose name is the client's IP address in hexadecimal. If it does not find that file it will remove the rightmost digit from the file name and try again until it runs out of digits. Versions 2.05 and later of syslinux first perform a search for a file named after the MAC address. If no file is found, it starts the previously mentioned discovery routine. If none is found, the default file is used.
## (Leading 01 means Ethernet, next bytes match our slave's MAC address)
01-00-40-63-c2-ca-c9
## (Assigned IP in hexadecimal)
C0A80115
C0A8011
C0A801
C0A80
C0A8
C0A
C0
C
default
These are all in lowercase.
Let's start with the default file:
DEFAULT gentoo
LABEL gentoo
LINUX /bzImage
APPEND ip=dhcp root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.1.1:/diskless/192.168.1.21
The DEFAULT tag directs pxelinux to the kernel bzImage that was compiled earlier. The APPEND tag appends kernel initialisation options. Since the slave kernel was compiled with NFS_ROOT_SUPPORT , the nfsroot will be specified here. The first IP is the master's IP and the second IP is the directory that was created in /diskless to store the slave's initial filesystem.
Other NFS options may also be supplied. For example, to use NFS v4.1 over TCP, append ,tcp,vers=4.1 to the nfsroot kernel option: nfsroot=192.168.1.1:/diskless/192.168.1.21,tcp,vers=4.1.
About Etherboot
This isn't required if PXE boot is being used.
Etherboot boots network boot images from a TFTP server. As the PXE this is equivalent to LILO or GRUB. The mknbi utility enables the creation of different images using different options.
Before getting started
The mknbi (utility for making tagged kernel images useful for netbooting) package is needed to create the Etherboot images. This tool will create a preconfigured kernel image from the original kernel. This contains the boot options as shown further down.
root #emerge --ask mknbiSetting up Etherboot
In this section a simple etherboot image will be created. As the dhcp server gives out the clients root-path in the "option root-path" dhcp.conf, this does not have to be included here. More details can be found in the mknbi manual.
user $man mknbiMaking the boot images. This will create a ELF bootable image capable of passing dhcp and the rootpath to the kernel. Also forcing the kernel to browse the network for a dhcp server.
root #mkelf-linux -ip=dhcp /diskless/bzImage > /diskless/vmlinuz For the arch specific images
bzImage_arch and vmlinuz_arch have to be typed.Troubleshooting the network boot process
There are a few things that can be done to debug the network boot process. Primarily a tool called tcpdump can be used. To install tcpdump type:
root #emerge --ask tcpdumpNow various network traffic can be listened to, to make sure the client/server interactions are functioning. If something isn't working there are a few things that could be checked. First make sure that the client/server is physically connected properly and that the networking cables are not damaged. If the client/server is not receiving requests on a particular port make sure that there is no firewall interference. To listen to interaction between two computers type:
root #tcpdump host client_ip and server_ipThe tcpdump command can also be configured to listen on particular port such as the tftp port by typing:
root #tcpdump port 69A common error that might be received is: "PXE-E32: TFTP open time-out". This is probably due to firewall issues. If TCPwrappers is being used, it might be worth checking /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny and make sure that they are configured properly. The client should be allowed to connect to the server.
The NFS server
About the NFS server
NFS stands for Network File System. The NFS server will be used to serve directories to the slave. This part can be somewhat personalized later, but right now all that is wanted is a preliminary slave node to boot diskless.
About Portmapper
Various client/server services do not listen on a particular port, but instead rely on RPCs (Remote Procedure Calls). When the service is initialised it listens on a random port and then registers this port with the Portmapper utility. NFS relies on RPCs and thus requires Portmapper to be running before it is started.
Before starting
The NFS Server needs kernel level support so if the kernel does not have this, the master's kernel needs to be recompiled. To double check the master's kernel configuration type:
root #grep NFS /usr/src/linux/.config_masterThe output should look something like this if the kernel has been properly configured:
CONFIG_PACKET=y
# CONFIG_PACKET_MMAP is not set
# CONFIG_NETFILTER is not set
CONFIG_NFS_FS=y
CONFIG_NFS_V3=y
# CONFIG_NFS_V4 is not set
# CONFIG_NFS_DIRECTIO is not set
CONFIG_NFSD=y
CONFIG_NFSD_V3=y
# CONFIG_NFSD_V4 is not set
# CONFIG_NFSD_TCP is not set
Installing the NFS server
The NFS package that can be acquired through portage by typing:
root #emerge --ask nfs-utilsThis package will emerge a portmapping utility, nfs server, and nfs client utilities and will automatically handle initialisation dependencies.
Configuring the NFS server
There are three major configuration files that will have to be edited:
/etc/exports
/diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/fstab
/etc/conf.d/nfs
The /etc/exports file specifies how, to who and what to export through NFS. The slave's fstab will be altered so that it can mount the NFS filesystems that the master is exporting.
A typical /etc/exports for the master should look something like this:
/etc/exportsmaster exports file# one line like this for each slave
/diskless/192.168.1.21 192.168.1.21(sync,rw,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
# common to all slaves
/opt 192.168.1.0/24(sync,ro,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/usr 192.168.1.0/24(sync,ro,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/home 192.168.1.0/24(sync,rw,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
# if you want to have a shared log
/var/log 192.168.1.21(sync,rw,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
The first field indicates the directory to be exported and the next field indicates to who and how. This field can be divided in two parts: who should be allowed to mount that particular directory, and what the mounting client can do to the filesystem: ro for read only, rw for read/write; no_root_squash and no_all_squash are important for diskless clients that are writing to the disk, so that they don't get "squashed" when making I/O requests. The slave's fstab file, /diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/fstab , should look like this:
# these entries are essential
master:/diskless/192.168.1.21 / nfs sync,hard,intr,rw,nolock,rsize=8192,wsize=8192 0 0
master:/opt /opt nfs sync,hard,intr,ro,nolock,rsize=8192,wsize=8192 0 0
master:/usr /usr nfs sync,hard,intr,ro,nolock,rsize=8192,wsize=8192 0 0
master:/home /home nfs sync,hard,intr,rw,nolock,rsize=8192,wsize=8192 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# useful but superfluous
master:/var/log /var/log nfs hard,intr,rw 0 0
In this example, master is just the hostname of the master but it could easily be the IP of the master. The first field indicates the directory to be mounted and the second field indicates where. The third field describes the filesystem and should be NFS for any NFS mounted directory. The fourth field indicates various options that will be used in the mounting process (see mount(1) for info on mount options). Some people have had difficulties with soft mount points so here they are made hard mounts, a look into various /etc/fstab options should be done to make the cluster more efficient.
The last file that should be edited is /etc/conf.d/nfs which describes a few options for nfs when it is initialised and looks like this:
# Config file for /etc/init.d/nfs
# Number of servers to be started up by default
RPCNFSDCOUNT=8
# Options to pass to rpc.mountd
RPCMOUNTDOPTS=""
The RPCNFSDCOUNT should be changed to the number of diskless nodes on the network.
Starting the NFS server
The nfs server should be started with its init script located in /etc/init.d by typing:
root #rc-service nfs startIf this script is to be started every time the system boots simply type:
root #rc-update add nfs defaultCompleting the slave filesystem
Copy the missing files
Now the slave's file system will be made in sync with the master's and provide the necessary binaries while still preserving slave specific files.
root #rsync -avz /bin /diskless/192.168.1.21
root #rsync -avz /sbin /diskless/192.168.1.21
root #rsync -avz /lib /diskless/192.168.1.21The reason for rsync -avz instead of cp is to maintain symlinks and permissions.
Configure diskless networking
In order to prevent the networking initscript from killing the connection to the NFS server, an option needs to be added to /etc/conf.d/net on the diskless client's filesystem.
config_eth0="noop"
For more information, please read /usr/share/doc/openrc-*/net.example.bz2 .
Initialization scripts
Init scripts for slaves are located under /diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/runlevels for services needed on the diskless nodes. Each slave can be set up and customized here, it all depends on what each slave is meant to do.
Do not use the rc-update program to add or remove scripts from the slave runlevels when logged on to the master. This would change the master runlevels. The links need to be manually created or by logging into the slave nodes using ssh or connecting a screen and keyboard to the slave.
/diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/runlevels/:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2003-11-09 15:27 boot
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2003-10-01 21:10 default
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2003-03-13 19:05 nonetwork
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2003-02-23 12:26 single
/diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/runlevels/boot:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2003-10-18 17:28 bootmisc -> /etc/init.d/bootmisc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2003-10-18 17:28 checkfs -> /etc/init.d/checkfs
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 2003-10-18 17:28 clock -> /etc/init.d/clock
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2003-10-18 17:28 domainname -> /etc/init.d/domainname
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2003-10-18 17:28 hostname -> /etc/init.d/hostname
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2003-10-18 17:28 localmount -> /etc/init.d/localmount
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2003-10-18 17:28 modules -> /etc/init.d/modules
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2003-10-18 17:28 net.lo -> /etc/init.d/net.lo
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2003-10-18 17:28 netmount -> /etc/init.d/netmount
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2003-10-18 17:28 rmnologin -> /etc/init.d/rmnologin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2003-10-18 17:28 urandom -> /etc/init.d/urandom
/diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/runlevels/default:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 2003-10-18 17:28 consolefont -> /etc/init.d/consolefont
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2003-10-18 17:28 distccd -> /etc/init.d/distccd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2003-10-18 17:28 keymaps -> /etc/init.d/keymaps
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 2003-10-18 17:28 local -> /etc/init.d/local
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 2003-10-18 17:28 sshd -> /etc/init.d/sshd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2003-10-18 17:28 syslog-ng -> /etc/init.d/syslog-ng
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 2003-10-18 17:28 vixie-cron -> /etc/init.d/vixie-cron
/diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/runlevels/nonetwork:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 2003-10-18 17:28 local -> /etc/init.d/local
/diskless/192.168.1.21/etc/runlevels/single:
total 0
Now is a good time to boot the slave and cross some fingers. It works? Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of (a) diskless node(s).
This page is based on a document formerly found on our main website gentoo.org.
The following people contributed to the original document: Michael Andrews, Kristian Jerpetjoen, Xavier Neys
They are listed here because wiki history does not allow for any external attribution. If you edit the wiki article, please do not add yourself here; your contributions are recorded on each article's associated history page.