[CentOS] Creating an alternitive install CD for CentOS 5.2 (w/patched mkinitrd)

Mon Mar 9 02:25:31 UTC 2009
Jason Pyeron <jpyeron at pdinc.us>

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: centos-bounces at centos.org
> [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf Of Robert Heller
> Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 15:46
> To: CentOS mailing list
> Cc: CentOS mailing list
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Creating an alternitive install CD for CentOS 
> 5.2 (w/patched mkinitrd)
> 
> At Sun, 8 Mar 2009 08:47:50 -0400 CentOS mailing list 
> <centos at centos.org> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 2:34 PM, Robert Heller
> <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> >  .....
> > 
> > > I was unsure of the specific options above -- After installing 
> > > revisor and poked around in the source code and found
> what I needed,
> > > but my test install failed -- it complained that there
> was a problem
> > > with mkinitrd -- could not open it or find it -- guessing
> I need to
> > > rebuild the repro database.
> > >
> > >
> > >>
> > >> ... reboot, lather, rinse and repeat .... :-) :=)
> > >>
> > >> You may find "re-generating" the CentOS CDs/DVD quite
> easy at times
> > >> and very frustrating and complex at others ......
> > >
> > > Yeah, it appears so. B I just hope I don't have to rebuild all 6 
> > > CDs, since I don't have the DVD nor do I have a DVD-R
> drive either,
> > > so doing things with a single DVD is not an option.
> > >
> > 
> > Last time I added a DVD burner to my Build system, it cost
> $29 (USD)
> > and this was for a very good, reliable unit.  Not worth my time and 
> > immense hassle to do otherwise ....
> > 
> > As for ...
> > 
> > > could not open it or find it -- guessing I need to
> rebuild the repro
> > > database.
> > 
> > What about:
> > 
> > >> First of all, if you replace an RPM, you'll need to do
> createrepro.
> > 
> > What isn't clear?? As "need to" means **MUST**.... <hmmmm>.
> > Why did you even make an attempt without the createrepro command??
> > Two to three minutes of your time wasn't worth it (but
> taking our time
> > is, of course) :-):-) ...
> 
> I did not even know about the createrepro command!
> 
> > 
> > While I believe your bug reports, I install CentOS on RAID + LVM 
> > everyday without any problems, private kernel patches, etc. -- as a 
> > counter-example.
> 
> Did you *specificly* install CentOS 5.2 (as opposed to 5.1 or 4.7?  Do 
> you want the URLs of of the CentOS 5.2 & RHEL 5.2 bug reports?  Did 
> you install onto bare partitions and then migrate to RAID and/or LVM 
> later?
> Note this is *software RAID*, not hardware RAID.
> 
> > 
> > Now, let's see if we understand the situation clearly:
> > 
> >    1.  This is a "one-time" conversion (will "throw the CD
> away when done") ...
> > 
> >    2.  You're migrating a system from Ubuntu to CentOS
> (e.g., a different
> >         version / patch level of LVM + RAID) and *hope* to keep data
> >         consistency and reliability ...
> > 
> >    3.  You have a backup of this precious data, yes / no??  
> If no, eegaddss....
> > 
> >    4.  So, why not just do a wipe + fresh install and
> reload the data???
> 
> I want the option of falling back to the existing (working) Ubuntu 
> system, in case there are problems with the CentOS setup.  Right now, 
> this is for a small (and relatively
> impoverished) small town library. 

Is the library a 501c3?

> The original setup (done by someone else who does not have the time, 
> etc. to deal with it) uses LTSP and diskless thin clients.  While this 
> works, there are some performance issues.  Because the LTSP uses the 
> 'PC's as pretty much bare X Terminals, this means all of the real 
> 'work'
> is done on the server itself.  With several people working, often kids 
> and teens playing Flash games and maybe one or two people using Open 
> Office, the server litterally runs out of RAM and starts swapping, 
> which slows everything down.  I want to set up a slighter thicker 
> clients using NFS mounted file systems in hopes that this will work 
> better.
> 
> There is a backup process in place, but it has not been working 
> lately, since there seems to be a problem with sshd on the external 
> server.
> Even if it was working it might be problematical to restore it anyway 
> because of the rather funcky internet connection we have (HughesNet 
> satelite dishes -- nothing better is available here in the wilds of 
> Western Mass).
> 
> The main reason for moving from Ubuntu to CentOS is that I am much 
> more familar / confortable with RedHat flavored systems.
>  Ubuntu seems to have more 'magical' things going on, which I could 
> not figure out.  I think Ubuntu tries to be overly 'helpful', which 
> might be nice for some users and probably makes more sense for home 
> desktop users, but was just frustating for someone trying to do some 
> 'outside of the box' things.

Trying to get this straight, is this for the server or a client?

What are the disk specs for the machine? Why would you not just buy additional
storage, even if you accomplish this install/upgrade over the old version you
will most likely not be able to go back.

> 
> > 
> > Now how much time have you spent on this "project" so far?? 
>  I believe
> > the above would be done 2 to 3x times over by now ....
> > 
> > Plus, you've found out that it is a lot more than "just a mkisofs 
> > command with a few arguments" (and that you have to follow 
> > instructions precisely or things just don't WORK(tm)).
> > 
> > Hmmmm....
> > 
> >    -rak-
> > _______________________________________________
> > CentOS mailing list
> > CentOS at centos.org
> > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
> > 
> >                                                             
>                                   
> 
> -- 
> Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933
> Deepwoods Software        -- Download the Model Railroad System
> http://www.deepsoft.com/  -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows
> heller at deepsoft.com       -- 
> http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/
>                                                           
> 




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