[vdr] nfsroot VDR system using SuSE 9.1 in a MSI Hetis 865GV barebone.

[Carsten Koch <Carsten.Koch@icem.com>]

As I reported earlier on this list, I have put together a second
VDR system based on an MSI Hetis 865GV barebone.

Initially, I wanted the thing to be up and running as fast as possible.
So I put a hard disk in, installed a system on it and was done with it.

However, somehow it did not feel right to have a hard disk in this
system. All my recordings came from the disks in the primary VDR
system anyway, so I could not use a large disk efficiently and a
small disk has a bad price/performance ratio. Also, I did not
like the fact that the disk contributed some extra heat and noise.

So I decided that I want the system to be diskless using nfsroot.

I have never set up a diskless SuSE system before, so it did take
me quite a while (almost 8 hours) to get it all running.
I want to share my experience with you, so here is what I did:

*  Using the new yast2 function "Installation into directory",
   I installed a SuSE 9.1 system including dvb, vdr and lirc into the
      /svdr
   directory of my primary VDR system.
   I guess I could just have copied an existing installation instead.

*  I installed and configured a DHCP server on my primary VDR system.
   dhcpd.conf is attached.

*  I activated tftp using yast2/network services(inetd).

*  I installed syslinux and copied pxelinux.0 from
   /usr/share/syslinux/ to /tftpboot/.

*  I created /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default.
   Also attached.

*  I downloaded kernel 2.6.7 and copied the lirc stuff from my
   SuSE kernel 2.6.5 source into the 2.6.7 tree.
   I guess this step is optional, a SuSE kernel might have
   worked, too, as long as it was configured right (see next step).

*  I configured the kernel very carefully.
   Obviously, NFS and the driver for my network card had to be
   compiled in.
   Also, there is an option for nfsroot that I had to activate.
   I also removed all the modules I knew I would not need and I
   turned on optimizations for the CPU I use (Celeron 2400) in
   the Hetis 865GV.
   If you want my .config, ask me via PM.
   It's too long and too Hetis 865GV-specific to attach it here.

*  I installed the modules in /svdr/lib/modules/2.6.7 and the
   kernel (arch/i386/boot/bzImage) in /tftpboot/linux.

*  I ran makedev.napi from the latest driver cvs.

*  I installed vdr 1.3.10.

It all seems to be running OK and I am happy with it.

Comments and suggestions for further improvements are of course welcome.


Carsten.
option domain-name "icemnet.de";
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.128;
option broadcast-address 192.168.25.127;
option domain-name-servers 192.168.25.4;
allow booting;
allow bootp;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
ddns-update-style none;
ddns-updates off;
authoritative ;
subnet 192.168.25.0 netmask 255.255.255.128 {
  range 192.168.25.30 192.168.25.40;
}
host svdr {
  option root-path "192.168.25.5:/svdr";
  hardware ethernet 00:0C:76:9D:26:61;
  fixed-address 192.168.25.15;
  filename "/pxelinux.0";
}
DEFAULT linux root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.25.5:/svdr ip=192.168.25.15:192.168.25.5::255.255.255.128
TIMEOUT 10000