[Ltsp-discuss] debian fat client

[andrea biancalana]

LTSP server on Debian Stable exporting NFS Debian testing with kernel 4.1.0:

fat clients doesn't boot with message: "failed to find cpu0 device node"

Is it a known problem?
Is there some solution?

Thanks, Andrea




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[Mahmoud Ramadan]

I'm new to LTSP but i want to convey my experience with it on Ubuntu
12.4....i tested both of Thin and fat client and worked properly...

Best Regards,

Mahmoud Ramadan Ali

Network and VOIP Specialist.

Mobil: ([phone]

Blog <http://hotciscolabs.blogspot.com/>| Website
<http://telecomandsecurity.com/>| LinkedIn
<http://ch.linkedin.com/pub/mahmoud-ali/99/923/421/en>

On Wed, Sep 2, 2015 at 1:45 PM, andrea biancalana <
***@gmail.com> wrote:

> LTSP server on Debian Stable exporting NFS Debian testing with kernel
> 4.1.0:
>
> fat clients doesn't boot with message: "failed to find cpu0 device node"
>
> Is it a known problem?
> Is there some solution?
>
> Thanks, Andrea
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any Scale With Datadog!
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>

[andrea biancalana]

il giorno Wed, 2 Sep 2015 16:37:17 +0300 Mahmoud Ramadan <***@gmail.com> ha scritto:

> I'm new to LTSP but i want to convey my experience with it on Ubuntu
> 12.4....i tested both of Thin and fat client and worked properly...
>

Thank you for your answer;
ltsp thin and fat client works fine on debian too; the problem comes, I think, from the new kernel 4.1.0 I've installed on the ltsp chroot.

I hope the problem will disappear with the next kernel update...
unless someone suggest a solution

Thank you, Andrea

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[Robert Mavrinac]

I have several Debian 8 LTSP_PNP servers. I tried to make a change in /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf, but discovered it isn't actually sourced by any other files, so the changes are not propagated when the image or kernels are updated.

/etc/kernel/postinst.d/ltsp-update-kernels -> /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels contains the following text:

# Relaunch update-kernels with its correct basename so that
# ltsp-client-functions includes /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf.

and

# Ensure default values for BOOT_METHODS, CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULTS, CMDLINE_NFS
# and CMDLINE_NBD. Distros *should* ship an /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf with
# appropriate values for their distro.

I had to replace the CMDLINE_NBD varible directly in /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels to include an appended option.


This was necessary according to an earlier post I made regarding load balancing multiple LTSP-PNP servers which I have resolved by booting with iPXE using HTTP urls. I wanted the client to boot from a server using HTTP and continue using the same server for NBD/applications. I created another server, which also hosts my ISC-DHCP service, to provide the PHP-generated iPXE scripts/menus, but no client images. The problem was that I needed "nbdroot={boot_server_ip_address}:/opt/ltsp/i386" to be appended to the CMDLINE_NBD variable (based on a hint from http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2014830.html) or the client would not boot over HTTP.

Shouldn't changes to update-kernels.conf also be sourced for LTSP_PNP?


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[Vagrant Cascadian]

On 2015-09-02, Robert Mavrinac wrote:
> I have several Debian 8 LTSP_PNP servers. I tried to make a change in
> /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf, but discovered it isn't actually
> sourced by any other files, so the changes are not propagated when the
> image or kernels are updated.

I routinely update values in update-kernels.conf and it definitely uses
the changes made...


What exactly did you change, and what commands did you run that didn't
result in the changes being propegated?


What's confusing is that /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels may need to be
manually re-run after making changes to /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf,
unless you're installing or updating kernels.

Another possible source of confusion is if there is both a chroot
(e.g. /opt/ltsp/amd64) and an image (e.g. /opt/ltsp/images/amd64.img)
with the same name. When ltsp-update-kernels is called, it may pick the
chroot's boot partition (e.g. /opt/ltsp/amd64/boot) rather than the
server's (e.g. /boot).


> Shouldn't changes to update-kernels.conf also be sourced for LTSP_PNP?

LTSP PNP is a concept, not a program... so I'm not sure what you mean
here.

Are you talking about "ltsp-update-image --cleanup /" ?


live well,
vagrant

[Robert Mavrinac]

Yes, I'm using "ltsp-update-image --cleanup /", and I think that is exactly the problem. I have tested this serveral times just now, and it still doesn't work with the base "/".

I am not using any chroot.


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[Vagrant Cascadian]

On 2015-09-02, Robert Mavrinac wrote:
> Yes, I'm using "ltsp-update-image --cleanup /", and I think that is
> exactly the problem. I have tested this serveral times just now, and
> it still doesn't work with the base "/".

I think the problem is in /usr/share/ltsp/cleanup.d/50-update-kernels,
as it doesn't run if /boot/pxelinux.cfg exists:

# Remove it if ltsp-client-core.postinst calls update-kernels in the
# future.
test -d /boot/pxelinux.cfg || /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels

Do you have /boot/pxelinux.cfg directory? If you delete
/boot/pxelinux.cfg does it work after running ltsp-update-image (no need
to call update-kernels or ltsp-update-kernels manually)?


It is admittedly confusing(if not plain broken), so we really need to
figure out how to make this process simpler. Please file a bug report
about it, either through launchpad or the Debian bug tracking system:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ltsp/+filebug
https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting

Thanks!


live well,
vagrant

[Robert Mavrinac]

That was it! Thank you.

For now I will delete PXE-related files in /boot, if they exist, before running "ltsp-update-image --cleanup /". I tested this and it works as expected. I did, however, have to edit /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf to include the server's ip address explicitly in the nbdroot option (ltsp-update-image failed to evaluate it).

The /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels script is the culprit, because it creates PXE files in /boot, which is expected in the image file. Normally this is supposed to be run in a chroot. The /usr/sbin/ltsp-update-kernels script copies those files to the tftp directory. Obviously, I should never run /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels directly on the server set up using the LTSP PNP concept.

I also notice that only gpxelinux.0 and pxelinux.0 are included in /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386. You should also copy lpxelinux.0 there by default, because the distribution pxelinux.0 itself doesn't support chaining an http url on boot. I had to copy lpxelinux.0 to /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386 to get my LTSP clients to boot over HTTP.
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[Vagrant Cascadian]

On 2015-09-02, Robert Mavrinac wrote:
> That was it! Thank you.

Good.


> For now I will delete PXE-related files in /boot, if they exist,
> before running "ltsp-update-image --cleanup /". I tested this and it
> works as expected. I did, however, have to edit
> /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf to include the server's ip address
> explicitly in the nbdroot option (ltsp-update-image failed to evaluate
> it).

Yes, that was my next question; it might be tricky to get it to evaluate
correctly...


> The /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels script is the culprit, because it
> creates PXE files in /boot, which is expected in the image
> file. Normally this is supposed to be run in a chroot. The
> /usr/sbin/ltsp-update-kernels script copies those files to the tftp
> directory. Obviously, I should never run
> /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels directly on the server set up using the
> LTSP PNP concept.

It should be safe to run update-kernels on the server, actually, and
Alkis finally convinced me that it is best to run as part of
ltsp-client-core postinst and/or as a dpkg trigger....


> I also notice that only gpxelinux.0 and pxelinux.0 are included in
> /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386. You should also copy lpxelinux.0 there by
> default, because the distribution pxelinux.0 itself doesn't support
> chaining an http url on boot. I had to copy lpxelinux.0 to
> /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386 to get my LTSP clients to boot over HTTP.

Should be easy to add, bug please file a bug report!


live well,
vagrant

[Robert Mavrinac]

Just so I'm clear.



First attempt:

I reverted /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels to the original file containing

CMDLINE_NBD=${CMDLINE_NBD:-"root=/dev/nbd0"}

Modified /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf to contain (my primary interface is br0)

CMDLINE_NBD=${CMDLINE_NBD:-"root=/dev/nbd0 nbdroot=`ifconfig br0|grep "inet "|awk '{print $2}'|awk -F'addr:' '{print $2}'`:/opt/ltsp/i386"}

/var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxeconfig.cfg/ltsp/i386/default contained the default settings.

Ran ltsp-update-kernels, but /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxeconfig.cfg/default is unchanged:

append ro initrd=initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae init=/sbin/init-ltsp quiet root=/dev/nbd0



Second attempt:

I changed /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf to contain the default setting

CMDLINE_NBD="root=/dev/nbd0"

Modified /usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels to contain

CMDLINE_NBD=${CMDLINE_NBD:-"root=/dev/nbd0 nbdroot=`ifconfig br0|grep "inet "|awk '{print $2}'|awk -F'addr:' '{print $2}'`:/opt/ltsp/i386"}

/var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxeconfig.cfg/ltsp/i386/default contained the default settings.

Ran ltsp-update-kernels and now /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxeconfig.cfg/ltsp/i386/default contains the new option:

append ro initrd=initrd.img-3.16.0-4-686-pae init=/sbin/init-ltsp quiet root=/dev/nbd0 nbdroot=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:/opt/ltsp/i386



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[Robert Mavrinac]

Sorry, a typo...

Modified /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf to contain (my primary interface is br0)

CMDLINE_NBD=${CMDLINE_NBD:-"root=/dev/nbd0 nbdroot=`ifconfig br0|grep "inet "|awk '{print $2}'|awk -F'addr:' '{print $2}'`:/opt/ltsp/i386"}


should read


Modified /etc/ltsp/update-kernels.conf to contain (my primary interface is br0)

CMDLINE_NBD="root=/dev/nbd0 nbdroot=`ifconfig br0|grep "inet "|awk '{print $2}'|awk -F'addr:' '{print $2}'`:/opt/ltsp/i386"

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[Alkis Georgopoulos]

/usr/share/ltsp/update-kernels updates /boot/pxelinux.cfg/default
(note, this is not in the TFTP dir, it's inside /boot)

`ltsp-update-image -c /` copies /boot/pxelinux.cfg/default to i386.img
and then calls ltsp-update-kernels
which copies "default" from inside i386.img to the tftp dirs.

So with the commands that you were running, you were updating
/boot/pxelinux.cfg, but not TFTP.

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[Vagrant Cascadian]

On 2015-09-02, andrea biancalana wrote:
> LTSP server on Debian Stable exporting NFS Debian testing with kernel 4.1.0:
>
> fat clients doesn't boot with message: "failed to find cpu0 device node"

Not sure where *that* message is coming from; might be a red herring
unrelated to the real issue...


> Is it a known problem?

I think the problem is that "overlay" fs doesn't support NFS as a
backend. Works fine with NBD:

https://bugs.debian.org/786925

NFS support with "overlay" fs was partially fixed in a patched linux
4.1.x series in Debian, and in upstream 4.2.x, but I haven't yet seen a
working fix...


It does interestingly work with a squashfs image exported over NFS, but
that requires fixes to initramfs-tools to support loopback mounts:

https://bugs.debian.org/468114


> Is there some solution?

As a workaround, you could try compiling aufs modules for your kernel,
or switching to an older kernel with aufs support...


live well,
vagrant

[andrea biancalana]

il giorno Wed, 02 Sep 2015 10:50:44 -0500 Vagrant Cascadian <***@debian.org> ha scritto:


> > Is there some solution?
>
> As a workaround, you could try compiling aufs modules for your kernel,
> or switching to an older kernel with aufs support...
>

I'll try to switch back to an older kernel,

thank you

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