[Sussex] LINUX on Mini-ITX / Via?

[Steve Dobson]

On 10 January 2003 at 10:39 wrote:
> Steve wrote:
> ------------
>snip>
> What about this.  Set up a file server, every machine has an identical
> boot image that it loads from the file server: /boot /usr /etc and so
> on are all identical for each machine, /home is a big shared filestore
> (everyone has their own home directory NFS'd across),  swap /proc
> /tmp and so on are on a local disk.  As an admin all you have to worry
> about is the data on the server, and software installs can be done 
> into the the common image - would this work? 

Identical boot image - fine if the hardware is the same.

Identical /boot - again okay if the above is true.

Identical /usr - no problem, some diskless set-up have /usr as a sym link
to a read-only network share.

Identical /etc - Is your brain working?!?!?!? All your severs run on the
same IP address.  Every one running the same services, e-mail, DNS, and
NFS.  Okay so I'm going over the top, but /etc is ment to be different on
each machine.  /etc can never be a share.  There is one overriding reason
above all other: /etc/mtab.  That file (and a number of other in /etc) are
very, very system dependant.

Of course swap and /tmp would be configured to local disk.  But /proc 
doesn't live on any disk.  Its created on the fly by the kernel - but you
knew that didn't you.  BTW: I'd have /tmp as a ram based file-system; 
memory is cheap these days.

That's one of the problems with Unix.  It wasn't designed to be admined as
a common pool, it was designed as a stand-a-lone system.  Strange how life
has a way of pointing out the wholes in our designs.

Sorry to shot you down like this, but it is fun and I know you can take it.
I've just put my old Mod Parker on with the target on the back.  Your turn
:-)

Steve