HOWTO setup a small server
LTSP Server (Linux Terminal Server Project)
Installation
The following describes very briefly how to install a LTSP server for diskless clients. The LTSP server stuff is installed on the same computer that serves as terminal server and has a typical desktop setup (KDE/Gnome). The following package is required:
# apt-get install ltsp-server
WARNING: Never install the
ltsp-client
package on a regular system!
The NFS kernel server and a TFTP server are installed automatically. Additionally, a DHCP server will be required. If you do not have one yet, install DHCP3:
# apt-get install dhcp3-server
See NFS Server, TFTPD-HPA, or DHCP3 Server, respectively, for more details, though the information in the next sections should be sufficient for a minimal setup.
Setup of Client System
Firstly, the LTSP client system has to be setup. For clients with
i386
architecture and using the primary
German mirrors, this can be done as root
by:
# ltsp-build-client --arch i386 \
--mirror http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ \
--security-mirror http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian-security/
The system is installed under
/opt/ltsp/i386/
by default.
Server Configurations
The NFS (version 3) server requires the following configuration:
Excerpt: /etc/exports
/opt/ltsp *(ro,no_root_squash,async,no_subtree_check)
Make the server re-read its configuration after changing the configuration file:
# exportfs -r
The TFTP server should work out of the box, but the inetd
could require a restart:
# /etc/init.d/your_inetd restart
Configure the DHCP server to point the client to its boot file
/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.0
via TFTP (or
/ltsp/i386/nbi.img
). For DHCP3 the
configuration file entry can look like the following snippet (modify IP/network
address according to your needs; next-server
specifies the IP of
the TFTP server):
Excerpt: /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
authoritative; subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 { range 192.168.1.100 192.168.1.200; option domain-name "lan"; option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.1; option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255; option routers 192.168.1.1; next-server 192.168.1.2; # get-lease-hostnames true; option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0; option root-path "/opt/ltsp/i386"; if substring( option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 9 ) = "PXEClient" { filename "/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.0"; } else { filename "/ltsp/i386/nbi.img"; } }
Finally, restart the DHCP3 server:
# /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart
Diskless clients (configured to boot via the network) should now be able to automatically boot their LTSP client system and provide a graphical login screen to the terminal server.
Update of Client System
If the clients' architecture is compatible to the terminal server's architecture, you will be able to install packages or update the client system by changing root to that directory:
# chroot /opt/ltsp/i386/
# apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
# exit
After kernel updates in the client system, the versions delivered by the TFTP server must also be replaced. Just run:
# ltsp-update-kernels
Networking Requirements
Please read the pages on the NFS Server, TFTPD-HPA, and DHCP3 Server.