perfSONAR User Q&A and Other Discussion

[Jason Zurawski <>]

Thanks for the information, I will update document.  

-jason

On Jul 23, 2014, at 10:59 AM, Trey Dockendorf 
<>
 wrote:

> Jason,
> 
> I have this working, but not yet "refined".
> 
> Basic steps:
> 
> mkdir /mnt/perfsonar
> mount -o loop pS-Performance_Toolkit-3.3.2-NetInstall-x86_64.iso 
> /mnt/perfsonar
> mkdir /tmp/perfsonar
> cd /tmp/perfsonar
> cat /mnt/perfsonar/isolinux/initrd.img | xz --format=lzma --decompress 
> --stdout | cpio -id
> 
> # There will be a 'centos6-netinstall.cfg' file in /tmp/perfsonar
> # Edit file
> 
> Since I'm using Foreman (steps probably similar for Cobbler users) my 
> PXELinux files are automatically generated, and look like this:
> 
> -----
> default linux
> label linux
> kernel boot/CentOS-6.5-x86_64-vmlinuz
> append initrd=boot/CentOS-6.5-x86_64-initrd.img ks=http://<FOREMAN 
> FQDN>:80/unattended/provision ksdevice=bootif network kssendmac
> IPAPPEND 2
> -----
> 
> The files CentOS-6.5-x86_64-vmlinuz and CentOS-6.5-x86_64-initrd.img come 
> from a CentOS mirror's "6/os/x86_64/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz" and 
> "6/os/x86_64/images/pxeboot/initrd.img".
> 
> Can likely also use files from "/mnt/perfsonar/images/pxeboot" once the 
> perfsonar ISO is mounted.
> 
> The kickstart file can be modified in various ways...here's example of what 
> I changed:
> 
> * Added "--proxy=http://squid.fqdn:3128"; to "url" line and "repo" lines so 
> that provisioning behind restricted NAT could reach external repos
> * Set timezone to "America/Chicago" (CST)
> * Changed auth line to "authconfig --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512"
> * Set "rootpw" line
> * Set partitioning to give 500MB to /boot, "--recommended" to swap and rest 
> to / [1]
> * Add "network" line to set IP for public interface which was not used to 
> kickstart
> * Remove "interactive" line
> * Add "reboot" line
> 
> In the %post section:
> 
> * Remove all items having to do with resizing filesystem and /home
> * chkconfig sshd on
> 
> [1]: Partitions
> 
> bootloader --location=mbr 
> 
> zerombr
> clearpart --all --initlabel
> part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=500 --asprimary
> part / --fstype=ext4 --size=1 --grow --asprimary
> part swap --recommended
> 
> More to come later.  Now that I see how the NetInstall is performed it 
> seems rather trivial to setup a Puppet module to do the exact same thing 
> since everything is packaged as an RPM.
> 
> - Trey
> 
> =============================
> 
> Trey Dockendorf 
> Systems Analyst I 
> Texas A&M University 
> Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies 
> Phone: (979)458-2396 
> Email: 
> 
>  
> Jabber: 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jason Zurawski" 
>> <>
>> To: "Trey Dockendorf" 
>> <>
>> Cc: 
>> 
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 7:32:02 AM
>> Subject: Re: [perfsonar-user] PXE booting NetInstall & automated install
>> 
>> Hi Trey;
>> 
>> The community supplied documentation was for the previous version of
>> the toolkit software (3.2.x), so there are bound to be differences
>> between the underlying CentOS 5 and 6 operating systems.  If you are
>> able to get this working, I would be happy to include any notes you
>> make during the process into that document so it can be useful to
>> others.
>> 
>> Thanks;
>> 
>> -jason
>> 
>> On Jul 21, 2014, at 7:53 PM, Trey Dockendorf 
>> <>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Jason,
>>> 
>>> Thanks, that does help.  The steps in that document are slightly
>>> different than what I'm finding in the 3.3.2 image.  For example
>>> the ks file in that PDF doesn't exist.
>>> 
>>> I found a kickstart file in isolinux/initrd.img, named
>>> 'centos6-netinstall.cfg'.  Should that file and a CentOS 6.5
>>> initrd be enough to kickstart a perfsonar box as if it was
>>> NetInstalled?  I also noticed the bulk of the NetInstall ISO's
>>> size is "images/install.img" but I don't see it referenced in any
>>> of the cfg files or the kickstart file...so likely some normal
>>> syslinux behavior being used that I'm just unfamiliar with.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> - Trey
>>> 
>>> =============================
>>> 
>>> Trey Dockendorf
>>> Systems Analyst I
>>> Texas A&M University
>>> Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies
>>> Phone: (979)458-2396
>>> Email: 
>>> 
>>> Jabber: 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Jason Zurawski" 
>>>> <>
>>>> To: "Trey Dockendorf" 
>>>> <>
>>>> Cc: 
>>>> 
>>>> Sent: Monday, July 21, 2014 4:14:19 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [perfsonar-user] PXE booting NetInstall & automated
>>>> install
>>>> 
>>>> Hi Trey;
>>>> 
>>>> The perfSONAR project has found that everyone does things slightly
>>>> different, and as a result of that we try to make the toolkit as
>>>> fungible as possible to support all of the various approaches to
>>>> configuration management.  We know of people using puppet and
>>>> cfengine, they may be able to post recipes that are specific to
>>>> their use case.
>>>> 
>>>> I can note that engineers from Penn State provided us a very
>>>> detailed
>>>> write up of the approach they took to netbooting images for their
>>>> statewide deployment, I have posted a PDF on this page:
>>>> 
>>>> http://psps.perfsonar.net/toolkit/use-cases.html
>>>> 
>>>> Hope this helps to get you started, and hopefully others can chime
>>>> in
>>>> as well.
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks;
>>>> 
>>>> -jason
>>>> 
>>>> On Jul 21, 2014, at 4:58 PM, Trey Dockendorf 
>>>> <>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Is it possible to PXE boot the NetInstall CD, and if so does
>>>>> anyone
>>>>> have some steps on making the ISO into something that can be used
>>>>> with PXE?
>>>>> 
>>>>> I manage all my systems and all provisioning through Foreman, so
>>>>> it
>>>>> would be ideal if our PerfSONAR boxes could also be provisioned
>>>>> within Foreman.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Does PerfSONAR support any kind of automated installation, or is
>>>>> it
>>>>> feasible to install the software on top of a stock CentOS 6.5
>>>>> host
>>>>> and have it function like it was installed via NetInstall method?
>>>>> It would be very useful if I could manage our PerfSONAR boxes
>>>>> using Puppet :)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> - Trey
>>>>> 
>>>>> =============================
>>>>> 
>>>>> Trey Dockendorf
>>>>> Systems Analyst I
>>>>> Texas A&M University
>>>>> Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technologies
>>>>> Phone: (979)458-2396
>>>>> Email: 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Jabber: 
>>>>>