Diskless Remote Boot in Linux: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox software

'''DRBL''' ('''D'''iskless '''R'''emote '''B'''oot in '''L'''inux) is a [[Network File System (protocol)|NFS]]-/[[Network Information Service|NIS]] server providing a diskless or systemless environment for client machines.

| name = DRBL

| logo = drbl.svg

| screenshot = Drblmenu.png

| screenshot size = 200px

| caption = Graphical boot menu of DRBL.

| developer = NCHC Free Software Labs

| released = {{start date|2004|4|1}}

| latest_release_version = 2.2.11<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sourceforge.net/projects/drbl/files/drbl_stable/|title = Diskless Remote Boot in Linux (DRBL) - Browse /Drbl_stable at SourceForge.net}}</ref>

| latest_release_date = {{start date|2016|5|31}}

| operating system = [[Linux]]

| genre = Disk cloning, Disaster recovery, Network boot, PXE boot

| license = [[GNU General Public License]]

| website = [https://drbl.sourceforge.net/ drbl.sourceforge.net]

}}

'''DRBL''' ('''D'''isklessDiskless '''R'''emoteRemote '''B'''ootBoot in '''L'''inuxLinux) is a [[Network File System (protocol)|NFS]]-/[[Network Information Service|NIS]] server providing a [[diskless client|diskless]] or systemless environment for client machines.

It could be used for

* cloning machines with [[Clonezilla]] software inbuilt,

* providing for a network installation of Linux distributions like Fedora, Debian, etc.,

* providing machines via PXE boot (or similar means) with a small size operation system (e. g., DSL, Puppy Linux, FreeDOS).

Providing a DRBL-Server

* Installation on a machine running a supported Linux distribution via installation script,

* [[Live- CD]].

Installation is possible on a machine with [[Debian]], [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]], [[Mandriva]], [[Red Hat Linux]], [[Fedora (operating system)|Fedora]], [[CentOS]] or [[SUSE S.A.|SuSE]] already installed. Unlikelike [[Linux Terminal Server Project|LTSP]], it uses distributed hardware resources and makes it possible for clients to fully access local hardware, thus making it feasible to use server machines with less power. ItDRBL also includes [[Clonezilla]], a partitioning and disk cloning utility similar to Symantec Ghost.

DRBL comes under the terms of athe [[GNU GPL]] license so providing the user with the ability to customize it.

Installation is possible on a machine with [[Debian]], [[Ubuntu]], [[Mandriva]], [[Red Hat Linux]], [[Fedora]], [[CentOS]] or [[SuSE]] already installed. Unlike [[Linux Terminal Server Project|LTSP]], it uses distributed hardware resources and makes it possible for clients to fully access local hardware, thus making it feasible to use machines with less power. It also includes [[Clonezilla]], a partitioning and disk cloning utility similar to Symantec Ghost.

DRBL comes under the terms of a [[GPL]] license so providing the user with the ability to customize it.

==Features==

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'''Disk Cloning'''

[[Clonezilla]] (packaged with DRBL) uses [[partimagePartimage]] to avoid copying free space, and [[gzip]] to compress Hard Disk images. The stored image can then be restored to multiple machines simultaneously using [[Multicastmulticast]] packets, thus greatly reducing the time it takes to image large numbers of computers. The DRBL Live CD allows you to do all of this without actually installing anything on any of the machines, by simply booting one machine (the server) from the CD, and [[Preboot Execution Environment|PXE]] booting the rest of the machines.

'''HybridDiskless Clientnode'''

AnA diskless node is an excellent way to make use of old hardware. Using old hardware as [[Thinthin Clientsclients]] is a good solution, but has some disadvantages that a [[Hybriddiskless Clientnode]] can make up for.

* Streaming Audioaudio/Videovideo - A [[Terminalterminal Serverserver]] must decompress, recompress, and send video over the network to the client. A Hybriddiskless node does all decompression locally, and can make use of any graphics hardware capabilities on the local machine.

* Software that requires real-time input - Since all input at a [[thin client]] is sent over the network before it is registered by the operating system, there can be substantial delay. This is a major problem in software that requires real-time input (ei.ge. [[video games]]). HybridDiskless clientsnodes run the software locally, and as such, do not have this problem.

DRBL allows youone to set up multiple [[Hybriddiskless Clientsnode]]s with relative ease.

==HowInner it worksworkings==

The client computer is set to boot from the network card using PXE or Etherboot. The client requests an IP address, and tftp image to boot from, both are provided by the DRBL server. The client boots the [[initrd|initial RAM disk]] provided by the DRBL server via tftp, and proceeds to mapmount an [[network File System|nfs]] share (also provided by the DRBL server) as it'sits root (/) partition. From there, the client boots either the linux distribution inon which the DRBL server is installed, Clonezilla, or an installer for various Linux distributions, depending on how that particular client was configured on the DRBL server.

All system resources reside on the local machine except storage, which resides on the DRBL server.

==System recommendations==

==Keys to a successful Hybrid Client environment with DRBL==

The main chokepointbottleneck in a DRBL installation is between the storage on the DRBL server, and the client workstation. Fast storage on the server (RAID), and a fast network (Gigabit Ethernet), are ideal in this type of environment.

==External Resourcesresources==

* [httphttps://drbl.sourceforge.netorg/ DRBL]

* [http://clonezillawww.sourceforgeclonezilla.netorg/ Clonezilla]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

{{Linux}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diskless Remote Boot In Linux}}

[[Category:Booting]]

[[Category:Network booting]]

[[Category:Provisioning]]

[[Category:Embedded Linux]]

[[Category:Linux software]]

[[Category:Operating system distributions bootable from read-only media]]

{{Linux}}

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