LTSP chroot not used

[David Groos]

Hey Joe,
I can give the non-programmer perspective, probably wrong in details but
conceptually correct.  Sorry if I'm being too basic.  Someone in the know,
please correct my mistakes.

The main folder on the server for the thin clients is /opt/ltsp/.  Inside
this folder there are 2 folders: /opt/ltsp/i386 (in my architecture) and
/opt/ltsp/images/.  The latter contains a disk image that, during thin
client boot, get sent to the thin client and is booted there (right?).  I'll
use the notation, i386 but substitute in your arch.


The former, /opt/ltsp/i386/contains a complete (well, somewhat stripped
down) file system.  If you look in this folder, it looks like you are
opening up the root folder of a computer.  This folder and its contents are
the source of the image mentioned above, '/opt/ltsp/images/i386.img'.
(Check the size of this file, it's of course big.  Mine's 1.1 gigs.)

To turn this file system, opt/ltsp/i386/ into an image, you run the command,
'sudo ltsp-image-update' and the computer basically makes a new copy of this
file system to replace what is currently in /opt/ltsp/images/.

So, you sometimes need to 'update the chroot', that means you update the
file system in /opt/ltsp/i386/, then run the above command to make an image
of this newly updated file system.  To update the chroot file system you
need to... well, check the wiki info for those details.

So, if you want to see/interact with the file system that is running on the
thin client, get into local console mode (I do this by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F2
because alkisg helped me set it up that way).  You can't see the local file
system by opening up terminal because that will only show what's on the
server...

Hopefully this wordy saying-the-same-thing-in-another-way was helpful.

Good luck and things do get easier!

David

On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 10:44 AM, White, Joseph <jwhite at sandia.gov> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Looking at the LTSP Chroot Environment section of
> https://sourceforge.net/projects/ltsp/files/Docs-Admin-Guide/LTSPManual.pdf/download
> It sounds like the new root file system is mounted from /opt/ltsp/<arch> ,
> at what point does the real / get mounted? I'm sorry if this is
> obvious to everyone but me.
>
>  LTSP Chroot Environment:
> ================================
> 11.  Up to this point, the root filesystem has been a ram disk. Now, the
> /init script will mount a new root filesystem
> via either NBD or NFS. In the case of NBD, the image that is normally
> loaded is /opt/ltsp/images/
> <arch>.img.
>
> If the root is mounted via NFS, then the directory that is exported from
> the server is typically
> /opt/ltsp/<arch>. It can't just mount the new filesystem as /. It must
> first mount it to a separate
> directory. Then, it will do a run-init, which will swap the current root
> filesystem for a new filesystem. When
> it completes, the filesystem will be mounted on /. At this point, any
> directories that need to be writable for
> regular start up to occur, like /tmp, or /var, are mounted at this time.
> =================================
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joe
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: edubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com [mailto:
> edubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Scott Balneaves
> Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 12:51
> To: edubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Subject: Re: LTSP chroot not used
>
> On Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 12:41:35PM -0700, White, Joseph wrote:
> > It looks to be set correctly... Ideas?
>
> This is exactly how ltsp is supposed to operate.  The chroot is for the
> thin
> client to boot.  The session runs on the server.  Please see the docs at:
>
>
> https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ltsp/index.php?title=Ltsp_LtspDocumentationUpstream
>
> For an explanation of the boot process.
>
> > 2. Also, the main config lts.conf has no entries what so ever, is that
> because the LTSP Thin Client work out of the box?
>
> Yes.
>
> > 3. Also the lts.conf has a note that the lts.conf file should be located
> in /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386, the file did not exist there, so I'm
> guessing if you needed to use lts.conf you would create it there?
>
> Yes.
>
> > Any Help Greatly Appreciated.
>
>
> In short, you have no problem, things worked out of the box as designed :)
>
> Huzzah!
>
> Scott
>
> --
> Scott L. Balneaves | The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die
> nobly
> Systems Department | for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he
> Legal Aid Manitoba | wants to live humbly for one. -- Wilhelm Stekel
>
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