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Diskless boots for DC projects....

G

GeoffS

Lifer
I'm sure this has been asked before, but my search didn't yield the information that I was looking for.

First... I know basic stuff about networking, so don't assume any knowledge in your replies if you choose to reply, and second, I don't even know if this is even possible with my setup, so let me describe that first...

Here at work, I have a bunch of PCs that I have built and have stashed in empty cubes. I have enough that they caught the eye of my network admin who told me to get them the hell off the lan because they were taking up too many IP addresses. So, I bought a broadband router (Belkin BEFSR41... same one that I have at home) and now take just a single IP address on the lan. All of the PCs connect eventually to the router, and that is the single point to the lan for internet communication. The PC that I work on has a pair of nics in it... one to the corporate lan so I can do all my mundane daily chores like responding to users, programming, responding to emails, etc... and one to the router, so that I am on the same domain (?) as all of my crunchers (and MP3 server, but that's a different story...).

Each of these PCs is a barebones machine... mobo, ram, vidcard if not onboard, nic if not onboard, hd, PSU and, for the most part, cases... seems seeing uncased PCs bugged some folks. All of the machines are running Win2K Pro, however I am not tied to that OS... I could do linux, but I have limited knowledge with that OS.

My main PC... the one that I do all my mundane tasks on, is running WinXP Home and also acts as an FTP server for me so that I can get to files on my PC no matter where I am in the company without creating a share on it.

Ideally, I'd like to remove the hds from the barebone machines and have one machine that each of the nodes retrieves a boot image, drive mapping, etc, and then start the DC app up. If it matters, I am currently running most D2OL which has a Linux executable. The question is, how easy would it be to set this up and what additional hardware/software is required?

Thanks!
Geoff
 
Hey GeoffS!!!

Sounds like fun!!! 😀

Check this out, third post from the top...some Diskless Farming Links...(edit) and this


I would like to setup something like this as well...one day!!! 😉

Hope this helps!!!
 
Is there anyway to find out if a certian MB has PXE 2.0, namely the GA-7VM400M by Giga-Byte, ive been eyeing this board up for something like this

Edit Linky
 
I'd like to try to find a Windows solution if at all possible... if not, then I'll try setting something up with Linux... anyone else have any experience with this?

Thanks!
Geoff
 
Yeah I did and plan to do it again when I get a better house that has GOBS of POWER and a huge basement..... I guess I never got around to really explaining it well.... But if someone really wanted me too I could. All the info is in the pics if you read it... 🙂 Linux is the only way to go. Yeah, you COULD do it on a Windows but, you need lot's of ram. 128 is not enough. Tho I heard you can run windows lite never tried it but I still don't think it will work too well with 128 Megs of ram.

My links... And yes they worked well until I sold the boards. My next project will be with faster boards.

One thing you have to consider is HOW much POWER are these things going to SUCK up running 24X7?????????? Then you have to ask yourself... Ok I got 10 machines running seti that kick out 70 WU's a Day.... And it cost like 150 - 200 bucks extra in power per month to run them. Now you could buy 5 complete dell set up's 2.8 with HT. That will kick out over 85 WU's. and have hard drives, cases, and a warranty. Plus I'll be saving 75 - 100 a month in power. But the sad part is... if you watch for sales on dell or type in Power Edge 400SC in google. You can get these machines for less then what it would cost to build... I like building computers but when dell can put one together for cheaper what's the use?

As you can see, you can save alot of $$ on power every month. And the way I looked at it? By the time a year ended the machines in power savings alone killed the aspiration to do it. Tho it looks cool and is really neat to watch work! 🙂

Moral of the story? If your gonna do this, Buy the FASTEST Motherboards and CPU's you can for the best price performance. I suggest AMD Barton, and the faster ECS motherboards that came out that have a wider data bus speed. Basically that is your price point in this day in age. Tho, if you just wanted to buy INTEL mother boards with 2.4C chips and Over Clock the hell out of em you may get a better bang for the buck?????

Good Luck...




Linksky...
 
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