"Stateless Linux" project

[Stephen J Smoogen]

Havoc Pennington wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Red Hat engineering is starting a new project we're calling
> "stateless Linux" for lack of a better name - some components of this
> are already in Rawhide, and others will be appearing shortly.
> 
> We've been keeping the project a little bit quiet at first, but now
> we've written it up in some detail:
> 
>  - an overview document, available from
>    http://people.redhat.com/~hp/stateless/
> 
>  - a HOWTO document and a couple associated RPMs, available from
>    http://people.redhat.com/dmalcolm/stateless/
> 
> There aren't many new RPMs for this, because stateless Linux isn't a
> single codebase or package, it's a set of changes across the
> distribution (you might think of it as a "philosophy"). Most of the
> changes are already in Rawhide (the highlights are mentioned in the
> StatelessLinux.pdf document).
> 
> Appreciate feedback, especially from anyone who has time to try out
> the HOWTO. We expect the code to change quite a bit as issues and
> suggestions come in.
> 

Ok I havent had time to deal with the HOWTO.. but this does look very 
good. A good many 'secure' locations will be looking for thick thin 
clients and the problems I have had with current solutions is that an 
update to the system was a pain in the butt. Having an architecture that 
can be used to update cleanly 8000 diskless machines without having to 
take each one down, rebuild the NFS diskspace from a master copy, and 
reboot is a win.


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Stephen John Smoogen	        | CCN-5 Security Team
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