perfSONAR User Q&A and Other Discussion

[Andrew Brennan <>]

Yeah, sorry.  I'm currently using an old IBM server that has no hard drive 
(LiveCD and USB stick for data), so I was using the FI to install to this 
USB stick.  To add more trouble (although it's not part of the current bit 
of GRUB problems), this old (did I say "old" :) has a BIOS that isn't able 
to boot from USB ... so I'm thinking to use PLoP to boot from CD or floppy 
and have that then boot from the USB stick.

The enumeration issues might be why my USB isn't booting up past GRUB, but 
it wasn't clear to me (I'm a big fan of LiveCDs in general and avoid doing 
actual installs as much as possible).

Thanks!

andrew.

On Wed, 8 Oct 2014, Scott Bertilson wrote:

> So, maybe a dumb question, but is your objective to have the installed
> toolkit run off the USB stick alone with no other disks in the system or are
> you just trying to get the FullInstall ISO to boot and run off the stick? 
> It sounded like you were trying to get the toolkit itself to run off the
> stick, but I wanted to get it clear.  If that's what you were after, one of
> the sticky points is going to be the enumeration of the drives on the system
> on which you boot it if there are multiple drives.
>
> On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 10:01 AM, Andrew Brennan 
> <>
>  wrote:
>       I burned a DVD with the FullInstall ISO, booted that and then
>       chose both the options for using the entire USB disk (ended up
>       with the GRUB prompt when I rebooted later from the USB disk). 
>       Then tried formatting the USB
>       disk with fdisk so that I'd have a pre-existing bootable Linux
>       partition for FullInstall to install into -- also ended up at
>       the GRUB prompt when rebooting later.
>
>       Guessing that either it doesn't like my partitions or the GRUB
>       config is munged, but I haven't put too much work into it yet as
>       this was supposed to be something that filled in the spare
>       moments of other projects.  :)
>
>       andrew.
>
>       On Wed, 8 Oct 2014, Aaron Brown wrote:
>
>             Hi Andrew,
>
>             How?d you write the image to the USB disk? I just
>             happened to be reinstalling one of my local boxes,
>             and was able to do it from the Full Install ISO.
>
>             Cheers,
>             Aaron
>
>             On Oct 8, 2014, at 9:05 AM, Andrew Lake
>             
> <>
>  wrote:
>
>                   Hi Andrew,
>
>                   CCing the list. One of our other
>                   developers will try to assist you
>                   shortly.
>
>                   Thanks,
>                   Andy
>
>
>                   On Oct 7, 2014, at 4:06 PM, Andrew
>                   Brennan 
> <>
>                   wrote:
>
>                         So I'm not sure if I've done
>                         something wrong or what, but
>                         I tried to do a FullInstall
>                         to a USB disk, then move it
>                         to my system and boot. 
>                         System is coming up and
>                         sitting at a GRUB prompt. 
>                         Reformatted my USB, gave it
>                         just a partition (instead of
>                         the full disk) and didn't
>                         move it this time - and I'm
>                         still booting to the GRUB
>                         prompt.
>
>                         I used to work with the
>                         LiveCD version, USB data for
>                         configs, etc. and as that's
>                         EOL now I figured I'd start
>                         over.
>
>                         andrew.
>
>                         On Tue, 7 Oct 2014, Andrew
>                         Lake wrote:
>
>                               All,
>
>                               The final
>                               version of
>                               perfSONAR 3.4 is
>                               now available
>                               for all users.
>                               Version 3.4
>                               includes a
>                               number or
>                               changes from the
>                               3.3.X versions
>                               of the toolkit
>                               including:
>
>                               - A new
>                               measurement
>                               archive that
>                               stores all types
>                               of active
>                               measurement
>                               data. It boasts
>                               a new REST
>                               interface and
>                               significant
>                               performance
>                               improvements
>                               over the
>                               previous archive
>                               - A new "full
>                               install"
>                               distribution
>                               similar to the
>                               NetInstall but
>                               all installed
>                               packages are
>                               included on the
>                               downloaded ISO
>                               - New graphs
>                               that can display
>                               results from
>                               throughput
>                               (bwctl+iperf3/iperf)
>                               and latency
>                               (owamp and ping)
>                               tools on the
>                               same graph
>                               - First steps
>                               toward unifying
>                               the projects
>                               formerly known
>                               as perfSONAR-MDM
>                               and perfSONAR-PS
>                               into one
>                               development
>                               effort with the
>                               inclusion of the
>                               OPPD Measurement
>                               Point
>                               - A number of
>                               security
>                               enhancements
>                               including the
>                               enabling of
>                               automatic
>                               updates by
>                               default for all
>                               new and existing
>                               installations
>                               - New
>                               documentation at
>                               http://docs.perfsonar.net
>                               - ?and much more
>                               detailed on our
>                               release notes
>                               page:
>                               
> http://www.perfsonar.net/release-notes/version-3-4/
>
>                               A brief summary
>                               of how to
>                               install
>                               perfSONAR 3.4
>                               can be found
>                               below:
>
>                               - Brand new
>                               installations
>                               may visit
>                               
> http://software.internet2.edu/pS-Performance_Toolkit/
>                               to get the
>                               latest ISO
>                               images. Please
>                               see
>                               http://docs.perfsonar.net/install_getting.html
>                               for more
>                               information on
>                               choosing the
>                               right
>                               distribution and
>                               pointers to
>                               detailed
>                               installation
>                               instructions
>
>                               - For NetInstall
>                               users updating
>                               from version
>                               3.3.X of the
>                               Toolkit you
>                               should run "yum
>                               update" and then
>                               "reboot". Note
>                               that all your
>                               data will
>                               automatically be
>                               migrated to the
>                               new measurement
>                               archive in a
>                               background
>                               process. See
>                               
> http://docs.perfsonar.net/manage_update.html#special-upgrade-notes
>                               for more details
>
>                               - For NetInstall
>                               users updating
>                               from version
>                               3.4rc2 or
>                               3.4rc3, run the
>                               following:
>                               yum update
>                               yum clean all
>                               yum update
>                               reboot
>
>                               - For 3.3.X
>                               LiveCD/LiveUSB
>                               users, note that
>                               we are not
>                               providing a 3.4
>                               LiveCD/LiveUSB.
>                               It is
>                               recommended all
>                               users transition
>                               to one of our
>                               other
>                               installation
>                               types prior to
>                               the previously
>                               shared EOL date
>                               of April 10,
>                               2015. For
>                               instructions on
>                               how to do so 
> seehttp://docs.perfsonar.net/manage_update.html#migrating-from-a-3-3-2-livecd-
>                               liveusb
>
>                               - Note that
>                               upgrading from
>                               versions of
>                               perfSONAR older
>                               than 3.3 is NOT
>                               supported
>
>
>                               IMPORTANT NOTE
>                               ABOUT AUTOMATIC
>                               UPDATES FOR ALL
>                               USERS: When you
>                               install a brand
>                               new toolkit or
>                               update from a
>                               previous version
>                               of the Toolkit,
>                               automatic
>                               updates will be
>                               enabled by
>                               default. This
>                               means all the
>                               packages on your
>                               system will be
>                               updated on a
>                               nightly-basis.
>                               Automatic
>                               updates will
>                               assist in
>                               getting the
>                               latest packages
>                               on your box in a
>                               timely fashion.
>                               This does not
>                               mean you are off
>                               the hook for
>                               patching your
>                               box. Not only
>                               will there be a
>                               time window of
>                               up to 24 hours
>                               where you do not
>                               receive a patch,
>                               but depending on
>                               the nature of
>                               the
>                               vulnerability
>                               there may be
>                               additional
>                               service
>                               restarts, system
>                               reboots or other
>                               tasks required
>                               to completely
>                               apply a patch.
>                               Pay close
>                               attention to the
>                               the
>                               perfsonar-announce
>                               mailing list for
>                               more details.
>                               Also be aware
>                               that automatic
>                               updates have the
>                               potential to
>                               grab packages
>                               that may break
>                               services on your
>                               box. The
>                               perfSONAR team
>                               does not get
>                               early access to
>                               third-party
>                               packages prior
>                               to their release
>                               (nor are we
>                               perfect when it
>                               com
>
> es
>                   to our own packages) so this is a
>                   very real risk. If a temporary
>                   outage caused by an automatic
>                   update is a concern for you, then
>                   you may consider disabling them.
>                   Please see
>                   
> http://docs.perfsonar.net/manage_update.html#automatic-updates
>                   for more details on making this
>                   decision and how to enable/disable
>                   automatic updates.
>
>                         Hopefully above
>                         provides you with all
>                         the information you
>                         need to get started.
>                         Thanks again to all
>                         the great user
>                         feedback that led to
>                         this release and the
>                         numerous people that
>                         helped test via our
>                         release candidates or
>                         otherwise. For
>                         questions please
>                         consult
>                         http://docs.perfsonar.net
>                         or email
>                         
> .
>
>                         Thank you,
>                         The perfSONAR
>                         Development Team