NetBSD PXE Bulk Install Project

whew(v2)!

2009-08-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

Google Summer of Code is over as of yesterday, and I truly am proud of what I've accomplished. Phil Nelson's scripts have been morphed into a full-on system for making, deleting and editing classes of machine!

You can get the latest version of bulkinst here:

As of the set "end" of the project, my code only officially supports the i386 architecture; it should work for others if you can get them to NFS boot into your directory tree. Please see the "bulkinst_dev" man page I put up in the repositories for more information. Despite GSoC being over I will continue to add features and support for the remainder of the summer and possibly beyond.

On a personal note I must say that it seems self indulgent to continue on a blog which has no subscribers, but maybe in the future someone will be interested in a fragmented account of the progress of my little project.

Updates will be posted if CVS repositories change or more features get added.

Phase II

2009-07-09T10:28:00.001-07:00

I am nearing completion of a set of scripts that will build the bulkinst tree structure automatically and save the user much unneeded hassle. Expect them to be in the repositories by Monday, July 13.

I have noticed my webserver has crashed for my personal site, maxhart.thruhere.net. That will also be up and running by Monday.

Huzzah!

2009-06-22T13:36:00.001-07:00

Netbsd 5.0 has been successfully installed with specified packages on i386 machines! I will be posting these results as well as committing what I have so far at http://blog.netbsd.org/ later today!

Chugging along...

2009-06-19T07:40:00.001-07:00

Of course NFS is done by now, and I'm almost done setting up a NetBSD 5.0 directory tree. I ran into a bit of a snag with fdisk, and I'm looking into it now.

2009-06-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

I'm almost done with my NFS server, the final stage that will allow me to test my work on the guinea pig computers. It's been a rocky road, setting up this slew of servers, but I've learned a lot of applicable things. I'll be doing work over the weekend and hope to have everything ready to roll on Monday.

whew

2009-06-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Having completed two Spring quarter finals today and one yesterday, I can finally put my entire effort into GSOC! I'm definitely looking forward to it.

After exiting the cave...

2009-06-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

My apologies for not having written in a while.

I now have successfully set up a dhcpd, sshd, ipf, ipnat, and named server for my humble little subnet tucked neatly into the corner of wwu. I will be beginning the setup of an NFS server to allow me to use TFTP booting for the rest of today.

Delving In

2009-05-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

I spent some time today working out the kinks of making a directory tree for NetBSD 5.0 which only recently was released. Understanding scripts/importing packages comprised most of my day today.

I can't help but feel like it's been a slow start, but the excitement I feel when I get the smallest thing to work is incredible.

2009-04-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today I moved some personal equipment into my workspace. Things will be going slowly until next Monday (May 4) due to a midterm project for my Game Programming class.

Setting up the Sanctuary

2009-04-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today I prepared the work area for the project. I installed the new NetBSD 5.0 on my x86 server machine as well as procured a couple of SPARC machines for use in testing.

In addition, I updated the project's official site, found here.

In the next couple of weeks I will be preparing by hand a PXE installation tree for NetBSD 5.0 in order to learn more about the inner workings of Dr. Nelson's current system.

Hello and Welcome!

2009-04-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I would like to express my excitement at having been selected to work with Google, NetBSD, and Dr. Philip Nelson. I feel extremely honored to have been given this opportunity. This blog will follow major project events for those interested in its completion.

I am jumping in without hesitation, and will be reading documentation so as to further familiarize myself with PXE Booting, dhcpd, NetBSD, and Dr. Nelson's existing system during the next few weeks. Below please find some links that contain information about the project and myself:

Official Site for the Project:
http://netbsd-soc.sourceforge.net/projects/pxebulk/

NetBSD Repository for its Google Summer of Code Projects:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/netbsd-soc/

My Resume:
http://maxhart.thruhere.net/

Dr. Philip Nelson's Site:
http://cs.wwu.edu/faculty/phil/