[et-mgmt-tools] Adding a distribution - where do I put the files?

[Msquared]

Thanks for the patch, that fixed cobbler for me, which allowed me to retry
some of the things that had failed for me before.


On Thu, Feb 22, 2007 at 10:57:03AM -0500, Michael DeHaan wrote:

> >If I use 'cobbler import' or 'cobbler distro add', do I put the files
> >somewhere in /var/www/cobbler first?
> 
> Cobbler will do this for you.

I think I'm confused about what belongs where.

I thought the import command would import the contents of the repository
(in this case, my CD) into somewhere that cobbler managed.  It didn't seem
to do that, so I put the files somewhere that I thought should be
accessible to the machine being provisioned (ie: inside Cobbler's web
space).

The first thing I noticed was that cobbler import would not work when I
gave it the mounted DVD: cobbler wanted the area to be writeable.

So if I put the contents of my Fedora 6 DVD into /opt/dist/fc6 and then run

  cobbler import --path=/opt/dist/fc6
  cobbler sync

Do I have to leave my Fedora 6 files in /opt/dist/fc6?

> If you are passing in an rsync mirror to "cobbler import", cobbler
> _does_ copy files for the rest of the tree (not just the kernel/initrd),
> and this is actually a pretty powerful way to start off.

But I already have a copy of the files on a DVD, and so I just want to
have cobbler import that instead.  Firstly, I don't even know what rsync
URL I should provide, and secondly I'm sure it would be faster from the
DVD than across my internet connection.  :-)

> However, if you already have the operating system tree locally, that's
> not as important.

I still want cobbler to copy the contents of the DVD into somewhere that
it manages, though.  I managed to do it like so:

  cobbler import --mirror=root at localhost:/media/cdrom --mirror-name=testimport

However, will this cause me grief in future?  What happens when I 'cobbler
sync'?  Will it try to re-mirror based on whatever is in /media/cdrom?
Can I stop it from doing that?

Also, should I make the mirror-name something that is related to where I'm
getting the files from (eg: fc6dvd or fc6public), related to what the
files are for (eg: fc6), or related to my provisioning server (eg:
localprovserver; ie: the machine I am running cobbler on)?

Of course, my next question would be how do I update my local copy of the
DVD from updates provided to the distribution(s).  Can I change the URL it
uses from root at localhost:/media/cdrom to one of the official Fedora 6
mirrors?


Ah, distro and profile names.  :)

When I ran my cobbler import with the ssh mirror, I ended up with a distro
and a profile named thus:

  var_www_cobbler_ks_mirror_testimport_cdrom_images_xen

Is there a way of making this shorter, or more meaningful (without editing
config files)?


Also, if I use 'cobbler distro add', how does it know where to get the
rest of the files from?  (ie: how does it know where the repository is?)

I've tried to import from the DVD with these, but none of them work:

  cobbler import --mirror=root at localhost

> >The walkthrough at
> >http://wiki.xdroop.com/space/RedHat/kickstart/Cobbler doesn't seem to
> >help me, as it doesn't tell me what I need to put where.
>
> First off, I do have to thank Dave a lot for making Cobbler posts on his
> site.

It's definitely a step in the right direction.  It encouraged me to take
the plunge and experiment anyway.  However, I would like to see a lot more
higher-level documentation, plus documentation of the level Dave provided,
but with more explanations about what values you should use, or at least
sensible suggestions.

I'm willing to help write that documentation, if that helps.  I think
tools like cobbler/koan could make a huge difference in the uptake of Xen,
and while Xen works wonderfully when running, I've found that setting it
up is the hardest part.

> >I can't seem to get 'cobbler distro add' to work either, not that I'm
> >entirely sure what it does.  Where does it get the repository files
> >from?  Do I need to do some preparation of the files from the DVD, or
> >download a mirror first?
>  
> Cobbler has a tiered concepts of Distributions, Profiles, and Systems.
> Distributions contain kernel and initrd information. Profiles take
> Distributions and add kickstarts to them. Systems contain Profile
> information and potentially some system specific information. Whenever
> you run these commands, it updates the cobbler "database" in
> /var/lib/cobbler/* -- and will copy files needed around to locations in
> /tftpboot and /var/www/cobbler. So these commands are doing something :)

Ah, I guess I assumed that the cobbler 'database' included the actual
repositories of files, too.  Although most of the documentation discusses
Distributions, Profiles, and Systems (as you mention above), the output of
'cobbler list' includes 'Repos'.  I guess this is one part that I'm not
sure how it all works together.  I'll go and review the updated
documentation you listed.

> If you want to download from a mirror, the best way to do that is to
> skip "distro add" altogether and just do:
> 
> cobbler import --mirror=rsync://blah --mirror-name=blah
> 
> as mentioned in the manpage.

I couldn't just mirror 3-4G without explaining it to someone.  :-)  Since
I had the files on CD, I've been trying to work out how to use them
instead.

I should have explicitly asked "how to I get cobbler to mirror from my
CD", so that you could have answered with an SSH URL example, rather than
trying to convince me to use an RSYNC URL, which I didn't want to have to
set up.  :-)


On Thu, Feb 22, 2007 at 12:39:42PM -0500, Michael DeHaan wrote:

> Let me retract that. That means import worked, though the directory you
> copied files to will likely be destroyed by cobbler, since that's a
> directory cobbler uses for it's own purposes. If you had importanted
> into another directory, like, say, /opt/kickstarts, you'd be a lot
> better off. Again, the rsync:// import works very well and is a good way
> to go.

Thanks for the tip.  I've stopped poking around in /var/www/cobbler.  :-)

Regards, Msquared...