Variables

The following Variables do exist in FAI (example values included):

Please do not edit that much, without contacting Mrfai. Currently it's my private list of variable and comments.

type: int = internal use only; CS used in config space (often defined by *.var)

Which variables are needed inside the nfsroot, so the install clients can use them? (maybe write them into fai-client.var or nfsroot.var). Then do not copy fai.conf into the nfsroot any more.

name	type	default value	example value	created by	used by	comments
--
FAI_CONFIG_SRC			nfs://faiserver/srv/fai/config	different sources	get-config-dir	fai-chboot -u, fai -s
FAI_ACTION			install, sysinfo, softupdate, inventory	fai-chboot via kernel command line	save_log_local() save_log_remote_shell() save_log_remote() get_bootp_info() task_action(), fai-savelog-ftp, updatebase
FAI_SENDID			mac	kernel command line, fai-chboot	task_confidir	ID which is sent to fai monitor: host, mac or pxe
--
FAI			/var/lib/fai/config	fai.conf	almost every function	location of the CS on the client
LOGUSER			fai	fai.conf	fai-setup, fai-savelog, fai-savelog-ftp,task_chboot()	empty LOGUSER will disable logging
NFSROOT			/srv/fai/nfsroot/	nfsroot.conf	fai-setup, fai-make-nfsroot, fai-cd, fai-mirror, make-fai-bootfloppy	not needed in $NFSROOT, only needed on the install server
TFTPROOT			/srv/tftp/fai	nfsroot.conf	fai-make-nfsroot, fai-chboot	not needed in $NFSROOT, only needed on the install server
FAI_CONFIGDIR			/srv/fai/config	nfsroot.conf	*.postinst, fai-setup, fai-cd, fai-mirror, fai-make-nfsroot	configs space on the server
FAI_ALLOW_UNSIGNED	CS		1	class/*.var	prepareapt	allow installation of packages from unsigned repositories
FAI_BASEFILEURL	CS		https://fai-project.org/download/basefiles/	class/*.var	task extrbase	download base.tar.xz using a class name via HTTP or FTP
LOGDIR			/tmp/fai	fai	very often	mostly set to /var/log/fai/$HOSTNAME/....
LOGPASSWD	CS			class/*.var	fai-savelog-ftp	moved from fai.conf to CS
LOGREMOTEDIR	CS		upload	class/*.var	fai-savelog, fai-savelog-ftp	moved from fai.conf to CS
LOGSERVER	CS			class/*.var	fai-savelog, fai-savelog-ftp	default: LOGSERVER=$SERVER, moved from fai.conf to CS
MNTPOINT			/media/mirror		fai-make-nfsroot, fai-mirror, task_mirror()	influences entries in sources.list, may become a fixed path
STOP_ON_ERROR			99999	class/*.var	task_error()	errors greater STOP_ON_ERROR will cause fai to stop the installation
SERVERINTERFACE			eth0	nfsroot.conf	fai-setup	used to specify interface when building exportfs line, only needed when install server has multiple interfaces
FAI_DEBMIRROR			$mirrorhost:/srv/debmirror	fai.conf		move to nfsroot.conf, but needed in $NFSROOT/../fai.conf
monserver			kueppers	task_confdir	sendmon()	name of host where faimond is running. default: monserver=$SERVER, but must be set before CS is available (e.g in fai.conf, kernel command line)
FAI_MONITOR_PORT			4711	task_confdir	sendmon()	port of the fai-monitor, must be set before CS is available (e.g in fai.conf inside the nfsroot or on the kernel command line)
duration	int				if set to 1 every task prints its execution time
--
target			/target			same as $FAI_ROOT
ROOTCMD			'chroot /tmp/target'		almost every script
FAI_RUNDIR			cwd where fai was called	fai	scripts/LAST/50-misc	used for copying the kernel and initrd to the outside world
CONSOLEFONT	CS			class/*.var
KEYMAP	CS		de	class/*.var
SS_IGNORE_VG			vg1 vg2	setup-storage	used by fai-disimage
BOOT_PARTITION	CS		/dev/sda1	setup-storage	grub/menu.lst/postinst
ROOT_PARTITION	CS		/dev/sda1	setup-storage	LILO/20-create-liloconf
UTC	CS		yes	class/*.var	example/simple/scripts
TIMEZONE	CS		Europe/Berlin	class/*.var	example/simple/scripts
MODULESLIST	CS		psmouse	class/*.var	scripts/FAIBASE/10-misc
MAXPACKAGES	CS		300		fai-mirror, install_packages	limit the number of packages installed in one run
FAI_DISABLE_PACKAGE_NAME_CHECK	CS				install_packages	does the same as -N
FAI_BACKUPDIR	CS			class/*.var	fcopy	directory used by fcopy for backup files
FAI_RAMDISKS	CS		$target/var/lib/dpkg	class/*.var	mkramdisk	a space-separated list of a directories that gets a ramdisks, use NONE to disable this feature
--
FAI_ETC_DIR	int	/etc/fai	/etc/fai	fai -C	fai-make-nfsroot, fai-mirror, fai-cd, fai via fai_init() -> /usr/lib/fai/subroutines (task_debconf, task_repository)
FAI_ROOT	const		/target	bin/fai	almost every script	directory where the new system will be installed to, $target has the same value
APTPROXY			http://127.0.0.1:3142	set by admin on cmdline or CS	fai-make-nfsroot, updatebase.DEBIAN
fai_rundate	int		20060123_163824	task_setup()	fai-savelog
FAI_VERSION	const		FAI 5.3		fai, prcopyleft()
HOST			demohost	given on kernel command line		can redefine host name
cfclasses	int		DEFAULT.LINUX.LAST	task_defclass()	cfagent scripts
classes	int		DEFAULT LINUX LAST	task_defclass()	almost every script
disklist	int		sda	set_disk_info()	setup-storage, fai-mount-disk
faimond	int		0			determines if faimond is running
ip	int		dhcp	fai-chboot via kernel append parameter	get-boot-info
HOSTNAME			demohost		very often	may the hostname change during installtion? Is the hostname FQDN in some cases? numeric hostname if host-decl-name off in dhcpd.conf
HOSTTYPE	int		x86_64	bash variable	prcopyleft
netdevices	int		eth0	get-boot-info	get-boot-info, task_sysinfo, dhclient-fai-script
netdevices_all	int		eth0 eth1	get-boot-info	get-boot-info, task_sysinfo
netdevices_up	int		eth0	get-boot-info	get-boot-info, task_sysinfo
nfsroot	int		/srv/fai/nfsroot/	fai-chboot via kernel append parameter	kernel	may contain server's IP address, may contain nfs parameters like: v2,rsize=32768,wsize=32768
renewclass	int		boolean		task_defclass()	on softupdate recalculate the list of classes, unset after use
cmdlineclasses				fai -c	task_defclass()
romountopt	int		-o async,noatime,ro			unset after use
sendhostname	int			task_confdir()	sendmon()	client's hostname, do not replace with $HOSTNAME, since HOSTNAME may change during installation
flag_sshd	int		boolean	define_fai_flags()
flag_createvt	int		boolean	define_fai_flags()
task_error	int		integer		every task can set it	formerly $terror
stamp	int		..._IN_PROGRESS
DEBIAN_FRONTEND	int		noninteractive		dpkg -i
do_init_tasks	int		boolean		fai, task_confdir(), prcopyleft()	1 if doing net or CD installations
--
BROADCAST			192.168.0.127	get-boot-info	scripts/FAIBASE/30-interface
DNSSRVS			192.168.1.16	get-boot-info	create_resolv_conf
DNSSRVS_1			192.168.1.16	get-boot-info		first element of DNSSRV
DOMAIN			workgroup.de	get-boot-info	task_setup() task_prepareapt()
NETMASK			255.255.255.128	get-boot-info
NETWORK			192.168.0.0	get-boot-info
IPADDR			192.168.0.14	get-boot-info
GATEWAYS			192.168.0.1	get-boot-info
GATEWAYS_1			192.168.0.1	get-boot-info
SERVER			kueppers	get-boot-info

Variables that are unused since 4.0 versions of FAI:

name	type	example value	created by	used by	comments
FAI_NORAMDISK	CS		class/*.var	mkramdisk	if set to 1, no ramdisk will be created
USE_SETUP_STORAGE	CS	1	class/*.var		when set to 1, FAI will use the new partition tool setup-storage

Useful oneliners

find all files not under a ".svn" directory and replace the string '$diskvar' with '$LOGDIR/diskvar'

Test:

find -name '.svn' -prune -o -type f -exec perl -n -e 's/\$diskvar/\$LOGDIR\/diskvar/g && print' {} \;

find -name '.svn' -prune -o -type f -exec perl -p -e 's/\$diskvar/\$LOGDIR\/diskvar/g' {} \; | less

Really replace: ( same, but "i" added )

find -name '.svn' -prune -o -type f -exec perl -pi -e 's/\$diskvar/\$LOGDIR\/diskvar/g' {} \; 

See also

• "Re: How to use task_error ? (Writing pretty hooks)" (discussion on linux-fai mailing list, 04-Feb-2010)