LTSP/Other Distros

From openSUSE

Introduction

Although KIWI-LTSP is LTSP5 implementation for openSUSE, it can easily be used on any other distribution.

Here are the steps to get KIWI-LTSP server going on your prefered distribution easily.

First steps

Get Li-f-e DVD from here. Boot up li-f-e DVD, double click the KIWI-LTSP Server icon on the desktop. Change network configuration via YaST if required before running KIWI-LTSP server.

Run the following after starting the server:

tar jcvf kiwi-ltsp.tar.bz2 /etc/sysconfig/kiwi-ltsp /srv/kiwi-ltsp/i386.img \
/etc/xinetd.d/nbdrootd /etc/xinetd.d/nbdswapd /etc/xinetd.d/ldminfod \
/usr/sbin/nbdrootd /usr/sbin/nbdswapd /usr/sbin/ldminfod /srv/tftpboot \
/etc/xinetd.d/tftp /usr/sbin/kiwi-ltsp-setup /usr/share/kiwi/image/ltsp \
/etc/dhcpd.conf /usr/bin/ltspfs /usr/bin/lbmount

The above command will create kiwi-ltsp.tar.bz2 to copy on the distribution you need LTSP5 running.

Mandriva

Boot up your Mandriva server, do the following steps to get LTSP running:

• Configure network, use IP 10.0.1.254 (or same as on the li-f-e DVD if customized)

• Turn off firewall

• Install xinetd, tftp-server, dhcp-server, syslinux, mille-xterm-nbd-server, openssh-server

• copy and extract kiwi-ltsp.tar.bz2

tar xvf kiwi-ltsp.tar.bz2 -C /

• Start sshd and setup ssh keys:

/etc/init.d/sshd start
kiwi-ltsp-setup -k

• Adapt config file setups:

vi /etc/xinet.d/tftp

Remove IPV6 from "flags" leaving just IPV4

vi /usr/sbin/nbdrootd (and nbdswapd if using)

change the path of nbd-server from /usr/bin/nbd-server to /usr/sbin/nbd-server

• restart services:

chkconfig dhcpd on
chkconfig xinetd on
chkconfig sshd on
/etc/init.d/dhcpd restart
/etc/init.d/xinetd restart
/etc/init.d/sshd restart

• Add users

• Finally boot up clients :)

As Mandriva is not one of the LTSP or KIWI supported distributions building and customizing images using native packages is not possible.

CentOS

After completing "First steps" above, boot up your CentOS server, do the following steps to get LTSP running:

• Configure network, use IP 10.0.1.254 (or same as on the li-f-e DVD if customized)

• Disable firewall

• Disable SELinux

• Install xinetd, tftp-server, dhcp, syslinux, openssh-server

• Install Development packages to compile nbd or download package created using checkinstall from here

• Download nbd source tarball from here (skip this and the next step if using checkinstall created nbd package)

• Compile nbd

 ./configure --prefix=/usr && make && make install

• copy and extract kiwi-ltsp.tar.bz2

tar xvf kiwi-ltsp.tar.bz2 -C /

• Start sshd and setup ssh keys:

/etc/init.d/sshd start
kiwi-ltsp-setup -k

• Adapt config file setups:

vi /etc/xinet.d/tftp

Remove IPV6 from "flags" leaving just IPV4

vi /etc/sysconfig/dhcpd

Change DHCPDARGS=eth0 to whichever device you are using.

• restart services:

chkconfig dhcpd on
chkconfig xinetd on
chkconfig sshd on
/etc/init.d/dhcpd restart
/etc/init.d/xinetd restart
/etc/init.d/sshd restart

• Add users

• Finally boot up clients :)

Local devices such as sound and usb stick will not work on CentOS.

It should be possible to get LTSP on any distribution using the same steps as above with little adaptations.

Configuring Client behavior

Almost everything should work out of the box on the client side, if not edit /srv/tftpboot/KIWI/lts.conf as per your requirement. Explanation of what variables can be put is found in LTSP Manual.

See Also

• LTSP Manual
• Integrating LTSP in your Distro
• LTSP5 status in various distros