[nycbug-talk] PXE/TFTPd Sanity

[Isaac Levy]

Hi All,

I've CC'd Pete here, because I'm hoping he can refresh my memory on  
stuff he showed us years ago...  Sorry Pete- don't mean to call you  
out on list, but guess I am :)

Anyhow, at work, we're heading toward the tipping point where we're  
going to drown without network installs (for fairly homogenous  
software, and nearly homegenous hardware).  It's been quite some time  
since I've hacked around with PXE, (back then it was just for  
installing OpenBSD on Soekris boards), so I'm not totally clueless-  
but diving back into it I sure feel clueless :)
Been spending a bunch of time digging through Wikipedia and the net at  
large, and still don't feel like I found the path foreword.

--
Here's my questions, even just some URL's would make my day:

- Has any unified software/packaging come about for doing network  
installs, or is it all still all just a matter of setting up TFTPD and  
a DHCP server?
- Have any neat accounting utilities/database tools come along for  
storing MAC addresses, and their corresponding IP/boot-media info?


Our reqs are simple: Set up a long-lasting PXE boot enviornment so we  
can install:
+ FreeBSD
+ OpenBSD
+ CentOS/Linux (our immediate need)

--
After we get our install media situation setup, we'll move on to the  
various OS options for install- (CentOS Kickstart, FreeBSD installer  
scripts, post-flight config scripts, etc...)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/urls/etc...

Rocket-
.ike