PXE Boot Cinelerra Render Farm

[Angus MacGyver]

On Tue, 2010-08-17 at 08:29 +0800, Christopher Chan wrote:
> > I know with enough tinkering I can get this working. But I'd really
> > like some tips, especially on setting up the PXE environment and
> > creating the customized system that they will be booting. If I'm barking
> > up the wrong tree, and there's an easier way, let me know. I'm not keen
> > on a rendering taking 5 hours. I can't install Ubuntu permanently on the
> > laptops.
> 
> I assume you have already got the initrd image sorted. Now, all you need 
> is pxelinux which should work with any PXE 2.0 compatible NIC as grub 
> does not support PXE directly but needs nic drivers. If your images can 
> take hostnames from dhcp, fine, if not, then you have to hardcode them 
> into each of your images. Likewise, you will need to do the same in 
> dhcpd.conf.
> 
> 
> >
> > So, again, tips on setting up PXE servers and on making customized live
> > environments greatly appreciated, especially with the NFS stuff.
> 
> There is no such thing as a PXE server. PXE just talks to a dhcp server 
> for parameters. You just need to setup a dhcp server and a tftp server 
> on the same box. If you want /usr on NFS, you can do that too. The dhcp 
> server will tell the PXE bootcode the location of the pxelinux.0. 
> pxelinux will then look for the boot configuration file which will tell 
> it what kernel image and what initrd image to load and then execute the 
> kernel. That is all there is to it.
> 
> dhcpd server and tftpd server on the same box. Therefore, pxelinux.0 and 
> its config(s) for all or each box will also reside there.
> 

Ok...
I'm interested- this sounds cool.. (I've used Cinelerra a bit for a
project I did last year)

I also got a PXE boot environment, that either boots to a "which version
of 8.04 do you want to install" or full on LTSP environment..

Not quite what you are after, but the PXE bit is there and working.


So I did some digging around for the rest, and found this..

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1112209


You have effectively got an image sorted - so judging by the guide
linked above you may be able to put you image in place of the ones as
listed (Clonezilla/Ubuntu live CD)

I am gonna give this a whirl myself in the next few days (maybe not with
the Cinelerra, I don't know enough on setting up clients for rendering,
nor have anything TO render - but at least the "live boot" CD) - I'll
report on my milage.


AM