FAI - Fully Automatic Installation

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Which FAI version is the right one for me?

There are two official supported versions of FAI:

The 3.4.x releases are the stable versions and should be used if you need a reliably working FAI system without problems when upgrading.

The 4.x releases are the testing versions and provide the bleeding edge features and most recent development. Upgrading from any 3.x release to 4.x might break your setup, but if you are interested in the latest features and testing FAI the 4.x releases are the right choice for you.

Please note that versions older than 3.4 are not supported anymore, please consider upgrading! If you do not know which version is the right one for you just choose the most recent 3.4.x release.

Which repository do I have to use to get FAI for lenny/squeeze/...?

If you want to deploy Debian squeeze the entry for /etc/apt/sources.list and for /etc/fai/apt/sources.list should contain (Note/Todo: TBC!):

Tip: You can use this squeeze repository also for deploying lenny. See /usr/share/doc/fai-doc/lenny-instructions.txt of package fai-doc for instructions.

If you want to deploy Debian lenny the entry for /etc/apt/sources.list and for /etc/fai/apt/sources.list should contain:

If you want to get the experimental FAI versions, please use the following entry in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/fai/apt/sources.list:

TODO/Discuss: provide 3.4.x for lenny and etch?

Is FAI available for Ubuntu?

Yes, please visit the PPA for Ubuntu FAI webpage for details.

I need a more recent hardware support/kernel version

FAI by default uses the same kernel version as present in Debian. Depending on the time-frame since the last Debian release this kernel might not support the most recent hardware. The Grml live system provides Debian packages of recent kernel versions which can be used within FAI, just following the instructions from the Grml_Kernel page in the wiki.

I get strange errors like 'ifclass: not found' during execution

Debian supports /bin/dash as interpreter for /bin/sh. FAI uses bash scripts which aren't supported by dash. If you notice errors like 'ifclass: not found' during execution of FAI make sure to use '#!/bin/bash' as shebang line in your scripts instead of '#!/bin/sh'.

Using two DHCP daemons in the same subnet

If you have two DHCP daemons in the subnet of your FAI infrastructure, and one uses the option allow unknown-clients you are in trouble, because if this daemon responses faster it will give the install client an IP address and the other daemon has no chance to control the clients boot parameters for FAI.

The solution for this problem is to use the 'ignore booting' instruction. So you have a DHCP daemon A which includes the allow unknown-clients option. In the same subnet you would like to run a second DHCP daemon B for the FAI infrastructure which includes deny unknown-clients and contains a list of all the install clients using their MAC address.

Since you know the MAC addresses of the install clients (that should be controlled by B), you can instruct DHCP daemon A to ignore those clients. For each install client you add a line into DHCPd.conf (of DHCP A) like this:

That's it. If demohost does a PXE boot, DHCP A will ignore it, and DHCP B can answer the request.

Where should I report bugreports?

Please report bugs against the according FAI Debian package (fai-client, fai-server,...) using reportbug to bugs.debian.org. If you do not know how to use reportbug please write a mail to the linux-fai mailinglist.

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Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:15:43 +0200