| 13 | | The trigger for us was that there is no ''grub2'' support. We thought this could be easily added, but during this process we decided to upgrade all software to the newest levels and replace some software components. The biggest hurdle was detecting of which hardware is in the system ([http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html udev]). We believe that SALI is better in detecting which hardware is in the system than the SystemImager setup. The focus for this project is/was: |
| 14 | | |
| 15 | | * Easily create a new kernel/initrd when a new kernel is released or one of the software components is updated, eg: [http://www.busybox.net busybox]. |
| 16 | | * The SALI initrd contains all kernel modules and software utilities. In SystemImager this software is distributed as a separate package (BOEL binaries). |
| 17 | | * Drop support for flamethrower/multicast and floppy disk support. |
| 18 | | * With some minor [wiki:SaliUsage/UsingYourOldInstallScript adjustments] you can use your old generated SystemImager scripts. These scripts uses ''/etc/init.d/functions'' which is included in the initrd. We have added/changed a lot of functions to hide the complexity. We have reduced the code of the SystemImager scripts significantly, See [source:trunk/example/masterscript.new masterscript.new]. Read the [wiki:SaliUsage/Functions Functions Documentation] |
| 19 | | * For detailed overview of the changes read this [source:trunk/CHANGELOG changelog] |
| 20 | | * For now you must set ''SCRIPTNAME=<script_name>'' in the pxelinux file |
| 21 | | * If ''GRUB2=yes'' is set then we expect a seperate grub2 partition: |
| 22 | | * Added [http://code.google.com/p/diskscrub diskscrub], Diskscrub overwrites hard disks, files, and other devices with repeating patterns intended to make recovering data from these devices more difficult |
| 23 | | |
| 24 | | == SALI xCAT plugin == |
| 25 | | Currently we are investigating the possibilities to use SALI with xCAT. |
| 26 | | |
| 27 | | First SALI is used to restore the machine with an image. Then xCAT is used to finalize the installation. In our setup the installation time of 55 minutes is reduced to 15 minutes. |
| 28 | | |
| 29 | | We have tested this on a Power 6 machine with SLES 11. |
| 30 | | |
| 31 | | The xCAT module can be found in the [source:trunk/contrib contrib] directory. |
| | 13 | The main focus for development of SALI is: |
| | 14 | - The SALI kernel/initrd contains all kernel modules and software utilities. In SystemImager this software is distributed as a separate package (BOEL binaries). |
| | 15 | - We have switch monolithic installation script to a UNIX like runlevel setup. To avoid kernel panics. |
