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SDB:KIWI-LTSP How it works

tagline: From openSUSE

Contents

Set up

kiwi-ltsp-setup -s creates /srv/kiwi-ltsp-nfs chroot image and a squashfs image of that chroot in /srv/kiwi-ltsp. The squashfs image is then served via NBD server and used by client as nbdroot.

If nfsroot is used /srv/kiwi-ltsp-nfs is exported read only which is mounted as / (nfs root) on client with all the rw required bits mounted using kiwi's split image feature.

Boot process

KIWI-LTSP supports booting from PXE, live CD and USB clients.

In case of PXE booting, the client looks for DHCP server, the DHCP server provides the network configuration and hands over further booting to TFTP server.

The client then fetches "linux-ltsp" - kernel and "initrd-ltsp" - initial ram disk. Once the booting of the kernel and initrd completes, booting into the chroot image begins.

Upon booting, the clients runs /etc/init.d/ltsp-client.init

LTSP init scripts

ltsp-client.init is responsible for launching ldm (ltsp display manager) and fetching various variables from /etc/lts.conf, it also launches mounter script that mounts local devices into the user's session on the server.

Various services required by the client such as sound using PulseAudio, local devices using cdpinger and ltspfsd, printing using jetpipe are also set up by the ltsp-client.init.

LTSP Display Manager

LDM supports login to the server via ssh. LDM logs in user and starts Xsession over ssh, it also supports authentication via ssh and Xsession without encryption(LDM_DIRECTX). With variables in /srv/tftpboot/KIWI/lts.conf we can control many thin client parameters.

Here is a picture to show this process:

Kiwi-ltsp-boot.png

See Also

LTSP Theory on Ubuntu wiki