[NCLUG] sw raid, recovery after install

[Sean Reifschneider]

On 01/23/2013 12:48 AM, Bob Proulx wrote:
> Only the disk partitioner is really attention intensive.  Everything

The problem I have is that you, for example, do the partitioning, which I'm
fine with (could be better, but it's not the ugliest thing I've seen).
Then it goes off and does some stuff and stops after a few minutes to ask
you a few more questions.  Then it does some installing of the base system
for several minutes, and then it stops again until you answer questions
about package selection.

This is from memory.  It just drives me nuts that I have to sit there while
it's working, rather than it just queueing up all the things it needs to
ask me, then doing the rest of the install unattended.

We have some preseeds set up to prevent that now, but in comparison to
CentOS where it just asks me the questions then it runs unattended until it
does "press ok to reboot".

> the keyboard and never the mouse.  That is the Debian installer.  I
> think Ubuntu calls it the alternate installer.  I don't like the mouse

Yeah, I pretty much only use the alternate installer.  The new Ubuntu
installer where it does some of the install in the background while you
answer questions is nice.

> But the disk partitioner for a raid and lvm installation takes me a
> couple of minutes to work through while all of the while hitting keys

Yeah, that's admittedly a bit of a maze of twisty little passages...

> Well...  It is quite modular.  So it doesn't really know what all of
> the questions it wants to ask until it gets to that part.

Yeah, I realize that's why it does that.  <shrug>

> I do have all of the preseeds set up for hands-off installations too.
> But only for simple client machines.  I have automated the
> installation with a PXE network boot menu.  Boot off the network.
> Select the system you want to install, 32-bit, 64-bit, some other
> different configurations.  It asks you for a hostname.  Then from

Yep, PXE is absolutely fantastic to have set up, especially with a local
package cache.  The network is way faster than a CD, plus you don't have to
find the CD.  :-)  We have a bunch of preseeds set up to do our most common
installs so we just select if it's this or that type system.  Ditto for
kickstart on CentOS.

> thunderstorms.  They are bigger than I am.  But most reports about
> lightning strings in aluminum aircraft are that they are a non-event.

Yeah, I knew you'd have something interesting to say.  :-)

Sean