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Diskless front end suggestion
http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3896		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  iscraigh [ Mon Mar 21, 2005 1:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Diskless front end suggestion
I would be nice to have a diskless front end that if a config file was in the root
of the cd with the hostname/ipaddress info maybe an output device info section. The Cd would boot into the front end using this info to connect to the backend. this file could be added by simply burning the ISO as multisession and then adding this config file. The main ISO would need to be altered to look for this file on bootup and act accordingly. It would work much like MYdsl's work on damn small linux.

Just a thought.

Craig
Author:  Red5 [ Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:06 pm ]
Post subject: 
I think that is a great idea.

Along those lines, what if you set your PC up to boot from the network? Then you wouldn't even need an optical drive. Does anyone know how to set this up? I have an option in my bios, but I have no idea how to configure the server side.
Author:  Xsecrets [ Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:33 pm ]
Post subject: 
booting from the network is already implemented in the R5 alphas.
Author:  cesman [ Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
With R5, one can already boot via the network. This allows for diskless frontends or installation over the network. Insert the CD in the drive then as root:
Code:
prep-ts
Author:  Red5 [ Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:33 am ]
Post subject: 
Sweet!

Just to make sure I got your instructions right, I am supposed to put the CD in the drive on the backend and type that command on the backend, right?

You guys rock!
Author:  Xsecrets [ Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:58 am ]
Post subject: 
that is correct Red5.
Author:  Red5 [ Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:26 am ]
Post subject: 
Thanks again.

I found a tutorial (http://www.babytux.org/articles/howto/how2netknoppix.php) that includes some info on moving the files from CD to the hard drive on the server, so that you don't have to have the CD in the drive.

I am going to try both ways in the next week or so. I'll let you know how it goes.

As far as the initial post goes, if you can get the frontend to boot from stuff stored on the hard drive of the backend, I think you should be able to add some config files there to automatically setup your frontend.
Author:  Xsecrets [ Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:47 am ]
Post subject: 
the prep-ts command sets up the terminal server and moves the image onto the harddrive, so you don't have to leave the cd in after you have run the utility, you just have to have it in there when you run prep-ts. Now here's the deal it just copies the cdimage to the harddrive, so if you wanted it customized you would have to customize inside the image. it is possible, but more difficult than just editing some files.
Author:  cesman [ Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:58 pm ]
Post subject: 
Ideas are great! KnoppMyth would not be where it is without ideas. However the core team is compromised of 2 developers ( rdt (Dale) and I). Patiences folks, Rome did not get build in a day.
Author:  PaulC [ Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:41 am ]
Post subject:  PXE Diskless front end on R5A12
Has anyone used the prep-ts script successfully with R5A12?

I just tried it and after modifying the script to mount /dev/cdrom instead of /dev/sr0 it worked. However, the diskless client isn't quite working.

I have a VIA EPIA based machine that I set to net boot. I disabled the dhcpd on the KnoppMyth back end since I alread have a dhcpd on a Debian box on my network. I put the "filename" command in my dhcpd.conf.

The VIA got an IP and TFTP'd something. Then it gave a series of "Trying to load: pxelinux.cfg C0A8016E" where it knocked off the last letter of that hex string on each attempt. Finally it tried "default" and apparently worked.

There was a graphical splash screen saying Knoppix Terminalserver Client and a bunch of typical Linux bootup messages. Finally it got to the message "entering runlevel 5" and displayed a grey X windows style screen.

Then the error occured. It dropped back to a text screen with an error that said:

X-Window session terminated with errors
Please check and retry '/etc/init.d/xsession start'

And it dropped me to a logged in prompt as user knoppix. I don't know what log file to check for errors, but I tried runnint startx and got some messages that included the following error:

/usr/X11R6/bin/startx: line 132: cannot create temp file for here document: Permission denied

and also

X: unable to open wrapper config file /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config

I checked and that file is only readable by root. On the terminal server client, sudo is not suid root and I don't know what root password is set, so I can't su.

I could be wrong since I'm not an expert in this stuff, but it seems the file permission is set wrong inside of the root filesystem that the net boot client TFTP'd.

Has this worked for anybody else?
Author:  Red5 [ Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
PaulC,
Will you post a copy of the prep-ts script that you got to work?
I will try it out and let you know if I run into any problems.

cesman,
I am definitely not trying to say you guys haven't done enough. Actually, I am stoked that you had already thought of the network boot idea and started implementing it! Thanks for the great work. There is no way I would have a functional MythTV setup if it weren't for KnoppMyth.
Author:  PaulC [ Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:33 am ]
Post subject: 
aha, I found the problem. When you run the script initially it asks you some configuration questions. One of the questions is whether you want the terminal server to be secure. You must uncheck that option. I'm not sure what the implications of that are, but both machines are on my home LAN behind a firewall so hopefully it's ok.

The front end booted and asked me some setup questions. Right now I'm stuck on it not being able to connect to the database, but at least the net boot portion seems to be working fine.

I'll have to search the documenation to see if there's a security setting for MySQL on the backend. I entered the correct backend IP into the front end and I've got it set to the defaults of mythtv/mythtv and mythconverg as the database. There must be something blocking the connection.
Author:  PaulC [ Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:29 am ]
Post subject:  front end unable to connect to database
Ok, the database connection problem was simple enough. It was just turned off. I had looked in /etc/mysql/my.cnf and verified that the port was set (3306), but I missed the part further on down in an apparently unrelated part of the config file where there was a command "skip-networking" which disables remote access to the database.

Once I commented that out and restarted the database I was able to connect.

Unfortunately the front end still isn't really usable. I haven't even gotten to the point of trying to play video, just the UI is unusable. It takes 5-10 minutes just to get the main Myth screen up and 5-10 seconds for a down arrow to move the selection highlight. Also, the Myth GUI keeps crashing, though the command line is still perfectly usable on other virtual consoles.

Now, this EPIA box is no powerhouse, but it runs Win2K snappily and has no problem handling lots of tabs in Firefox (a memory hog) and it can play divx video under Win2K (barely, but it can do it.) So either there's a whole bunch of errors going on or else MythTV is a much bigger resource pig than Win2K.

Anybody know where I should look for log files? I can't imagine what MythTV could be doing to make it so slow unless it's just spitting out a huge number of errors as it retries something over and over again.
Author:  Xsecrets [ Tue Mar 29, 2005 8:33 am ]
Post subject: 
my guess about what is making it slow is I believe you will find it is using the vesa video driver which would slow things down alot.
Author:  PaulC [ Tue Mar 29, 2005 5:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
You guess correctly, it's using VESA. I think I understated the incredible slowness of it, though. From a command prompt in a virtual console it takes literally minutes to execute a command like "cat /proc/fb" or "ps aux"


I'll search the forum to see about enabling the VIA's built in MPEG hardware, but I'm not even talking about playing video, I'm talking about the MythTV menu. This is a box that is snappy and responsive in Win2K but it's so bogged down by MythTV displaying a simply static menu.

I think there must be some sort of bug involved. I do note that it is mounting the NFS server (i.e. the Myth back end) read only. That explains why there's no /var/log/messages and nothing in the /var/log/mythtv and /var/log/mysql logs. I'm not sure where the NFS is getting mounted though, since there's nothing about it in /etc/fstab.

Incidentally, what's the "normal" way of restarting MythTV when it crashes? Both this VIA front end and my MythTV backend both seem to fall over at the drop of a hat. The backend GUI locked up (i.e. wouldn't respond to the Hauppage remote control) just from sitting unused for a couple hours. It also crashes to an X desktop in response to certain button presses on the remote.
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