[et-mgmt-tools] Cobbler on Xen

[Michael DeHaan]

drew einhorn wrote:


I'll field this one as the new cobbler list is just a few minutes old :)

> Is there a guide to getting started with cobbler on xen?
>
> I just started bozoing around, didn't have much luck.
> Then I realized the difference between running on
> boxes with hardware virtualization support, and those
> without.  The first box I tried requires paravirtualization,
> and probably requires a more complicated setup,  I'm
> still working through that issue.

Paravirt is actually easier.

Cobbler import some EL or Fedora trees, and do man "koan" to see how 
koan works.


>
> Some of my questions will veer off topic but I think think
> they will still be within the expertise of folks who hang
> around here.
>
> First, where do you recommend running the cobbler
> server?  On the dom0 vm, or in a separate domU vm?

I personally install it on dom0, as it's fairly base level infrastructure.
Frequently on the same box as DHCP and DNS as it can help manage those.

>
> In either case, is there anything else you would recommend
> running in the same vm as cobbler?

DHCP and DNS, TFTP (required for netboot), Apache (required), ...

Pretty much anythign you want.
>
> Any selinux issues?  There is a setroubleshoot page that
> runs under X, that really makes it a lot easier to troubleshoot
> selinux, but I really don't want to run X on all my vms.

There shouldn't be any.   Cobbler is written to play nice with selinux, 
and if you run
with selinux on, cobbler check will let you know about some common 
booleans you
need to change (in 1.0.2).
>
> Does anyone here know of an equivalent that doesn't
> require X?

I don't, but these guys probably do know:  
http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-selinux-list

audit2allow and such are command line based, though with cobbler it's 
largely about setting up the booleans
that cobbler check will let you know about.   Shouldn't be any more than 
that.


--Michael