automated install

Paul Johnson pauljohn32 at gmail.com
Mon Jun 9 01:25:42 UTC 2008


On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 7:56 AM, Jan Marquardt <jm at artfiles.de> wrote:
> Hi Pierre,
>
> I can recommend FAI (Fully Automatic Installation) for installing Ubuntu
> complete automatically. We are using FAI for some years to install
> Debian and newly also Ubuntu. You can find information about FAI under
> http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/.
>
> Hope this helps for the beginning.
>
> Pierre Frenkiel wrote:
>> hi,
>> I'm planning to install Ubuntu on a lot of laptops and desktops, and
>> would like to perform automated(unattended) installs. Up to now,
>> with redhat-like distros, I used kickstart, but it seems that its Ubuntu
>> version lacks some useful features (nfs, group selection)
>

I am wondering why it is easier/better to use FAI or kickstart instead
of simply setting up one system and then using g4u to make a copy of
it onto a server and then use g4u to install it onto the other hosts
from the server.   I've manged systems in this way for years and don't
see any big trouble.  When the configuration of the systems requires
customization of more than a few files, it is easier to just copy a
whole disk rather than run the package re-installation over and over
on the other systems.

It appears to me that there might be a kickstart/FAI advantage if the
host machines are diverse, with very different types of hardware.
Other than that, I can't see any benefit.

Just asking, not arguing.
pj
-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas




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