Network install

[phunni]

I am attempting a network install of Mandrake Linux 9.0 on a machine without a cdrom drive, but with a network card. I a lready one desktop running linux which will host the install files.

 

I have exported my /mnt/cdrom using NFS on the existing installation. This appears to work since I can view those mounts in the control center. The machine waiting for an install, fails to mount the cdrom however ( I have also tried to export my home directory as an experiment with exactly the same results.)

 

I am using the ip address of the existing instalation and "/mnt/cdrom" to point to the location of the install cd - bu it always fails.

 

Any advice?

 

I did find an article on the internet about copying your cds in a directory called /nfscd, but I don't have enough hard disc space so I'm hoping I don't have to do that.

[SoulSe]

You can nfs export your cd-rom drive mount point, that is not a problem. Check your setup on the machine with the cd drive, especially your firewall. Try disabling the firewall (Mandrake Control Panel -> Security -> firewall - if you are using shorewall) and trying again (remember to modify your ports and put it back up afterwards!)

 

I am presuming that there is nothing on the target computer? Are you using a floppy to get it booted with network support? Can you ping the target computer and visa versa? Are the ip addresses of the same domain? There are many things that could be causing this problem...

[phunni]

I switched off the firewall ( why didn't I think of that!? ) but it still doesn't work. I can ping to the new machine - but I don't know how to ping from it as there is no shell to work with.

 

I am using a floppy with the 9.0 network.img on it.

 

I have tried exporting using ip address and domain name - but neither makes any difference.

 

I am confident that the new machine is properly on the network - mainly because I can ping it, but I don't understand why I can't see the NFS server or, at least, why I can't mount from it.

[phunni]

What kind of things could be causing this problem? I don't mind spending a reasonable amount of time figuring it all out, but I really don't have any clue what else I can do at this stage.

 

With the network install, I have been entering the ip address of the machine exporting /mnt/cdrom via NFS and "/mnt/cdrom" as the location of the Install - is this correct?

[SoulSe]

Ok, on the machine you are installing from, look for a file: /etc/hosts

open this file up with gedit, kedit, vim - whatever you use.

 

Now add the machine you are copying to, to your hosts file and save it.

 

Open up Webmin (open Mozilla, surf to https://localhost:10000 ) (you might have to install webmin from your mdk cds first).

 

Recreate your nfs export using webmin. Make sure you are exporting to "everyone" and that it doesn't require a password.

 

Now try again and let us know what happened.

[phunni]

Ok, thanks. I'll give that a try and let you know how I got on

[phunni]

Ok - slightly odd results. I did what you said and noticed that my main machine has two ip addresses (other than the 127.0.0.1 & the internet one):

192,168.0.1 & 192.168.1.1

 

I tried both. The first (which is what I'd been using before) gave the same results. The second got a bit further in that in never got refused fro mthe NFS server (I checked the logs) but neither did it seem to establish a mount.

 

It also tied up both my Network cards - both the internal network one & also my internet one completetly.

 

Why would it behave like that?

[phunni]

I tried again this morning and used the ip address for my exporting machine - 192.168.0.1

 

I looked at the logs and saw that it said permission denied for the NFS server.

 

As advised, I used webmin to export my cdrom to every one - my /etc/exports now looks like:

 

/mnt/cdrom (ro,insecure,no_root_squash)

 

I am setting the ip of the new machine to 192.168.0.5, I set the gateway and dns to the ip of the exporting machine.

 

Any ideas as to why I'm getting refused?

[SoulSe]

Your main machine has two ips because it has two network adaptors.

 

I'm assuming you use one of them to connect to the internet and the other one to your LAN. Make sure you are using the one referring to the adaptor on your LAN.

 

I have never done a remote install, but I am assuming that once you have done the minimal boot into the receiving machine it should have a hosts file somewhere. Mount has given me problems with machines whose host name can not be resolved, so look for the hosts file (usually /etc/hosts) on both machines and make sure that they have each other's host names and ip addresses added.

 

You can also try mounting your NFS share manually to make sure it works:

 

# mount -t nfs hostname:/sharename targetdirectory

 

Or open up your MDK control Panel -> mount points -> nfs mount points and scan to see if it comes up.

[phunni]

The ip for the internet network adapter is not one of those I listed earlier - it appears that my lan card has two ips.

 

I have already tried scanning in control centre and it works - so it seems that the nfs server is ok. I cannot check any /etc/hosts file on the recieving machine as, whilst it does have a basic boot, there is no shell or any thing except a wizard that walks you thourgh the setup. You can view the logs or the kernel output, but that is it.

 

The rubbish thing is that there son't seem to be any real docs for performing a network install

[SoulSe]

This two-ip thing bothers me.

 

Please post your /etc hosts file here and indicate which host is your main machine.

 

Also check your network configuration and try to figure out why you have two ips.

[phunni]

Here is my /etc/hosts file:

 

192.168.1.1 kirstine.lombok.org.uk kirstine

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

192.168.0.1 kirstine.lombok.org.uk kirstine

192.168.0.5 server.lombok.org.uk server

 

 

kirstine is my main machine - the one from which I am exporting the cd drive. server is the machine I want to export to. I have no idea why I have two ips for this - I can only assume that it's left over from previous network tweakings I may have done. It may also be a previous ip for eth0 which points to the internet. eth0 is protected via a firewall and is not accessible from the server machine unless the firewall is switched off - so it is unlikely that it is interfering.

 

I seem to be able to access kirstine from server as it is getting a permission denied - I assume it had to contact the nfs server for it to deny permission?

[SoulSe]

Ok. Remove the line from your hosts file: 192.168.1.1 kirstine.lombok.org.uk kirstine

And save it.

 

You are right: it is connecting to be denied permission. So back to Webmin we go!

Are you exporting to "everyone" What kind of access are you allowing? Are you requiring a secure port? What happens if you try to ssh into your machine? Does it also deny access? Are you trusting root access?

 

If you just fiddle with your nfs settings, you will get it right. Also try chmoding the mount point.

 

# chmod 775 -Rv mountpoint

 

If your permissions are not right on the mount point you won't be able to mount it remotely.

[phunni]

I assume by mountpoint you mean my cdrom drive? I cannot make this writeable as it is a cd - should I make it readable by all users?

[phunni]

AAAAARRRRGGGHHH! Whatever combination of options I try in webmin gets me nowhere!

 

I have tried changing the permissions for /mnt/cdrom (I can't do anything on the machine I'm exporting to as I have no shell there)

 

Earlier I said that I had tried to see if it worked via the control center - I scanned for servers and saw /mnt/cdrom available but did not try to mount as I didn't need it mounted twice on one machine! I have, however, since tried to mount and failed (permission denied again).

 

I am restarting nfs after every change I make and nothing. This computer is useless to me unless I can install on it and I would really like to get 9.0 on it.

 

Someone please help!