Howtos

• a collection of smaller tips and tricks

HOWTOs current as of Debian Lenny

• Local testing with KVM, VDE and dnsmasq
• Variables used in FAI
• Using a grml Kernel for your NFSRoot.

HOWTOs for Ubuntu and other non-Debian

• Configuring console-setup, especially on Ubuntu
• Installation of Grub on Ubuntu using FAI aka UCF problem
• Mountdisk hook for getting rid of boot problems because of missing /var/run and /var/lock on the root partition
• Install Ubuntu and other distributions with FAI by using FAI multi-distribution
• Installing SLES9 32Bit and Smart PackageManager with FAI

HOWTOs for an unknown Debian version

Please sort the following HOWTOs into appropriate categories based on when they were last updated...

• An approach using template toolkit in FAI
• Another script that allows templating another template toolkit
• combining xen-tools and FAI softupdates to get Xen instances ready.
• Using gpg-authenticated debian-archives
• Using FAI to set up XEN domains
• combining FAI with xen-tools
• Using FAI to set up VServers
• Software-RAID with mdadm
• patched version of setup_harddisks: Code refactoring, LVM/RAID support and POD manual page: Copyright (c) 2003, Sam Vilain]
• LVM & RAID
• FAI-Logs via Mail
• Creating class-based documentaion
• Using_customized_kernels_with_FAI
• Perform FAI softupdates on many machines at the same time
• Installing laptops with PCMCIA cards using a floppy disk
• Installing onto Dell PowerEdge Servers
• Automatic find out and use MAC addresses insted of IP addresses for PXE booting MAC_based_Booting_PXE
• Saving fai-logs via rsyncd
• migration2cfengine2
• Encrypting confidential files on the install server
• Generate random root password during installation, encrypt and send by mail
• Using FAI to install a root Server
• http://rom-o-matic.net - easy way to create a PXE boot-floppy that can be used for FAI installations, with NIC's that don't have a boot-ROM built in. That way, you can boot an install kernel through PXE that doesn't fit on a floppy. Downside is, it _should_ work with most cards, but it does not with _all_
• How to build a i386 and x86_64 compatible FAI server on Debian Etch x86_64
• Adding hosts to install client's known_hosts
• Public key authentication for svn over ssh
• Automatically flash the BIOS and firmware, set the NVRAM and CMOS using DOS tools. This takes place before the FAI installation.
• Systems with multiple network interfaces