How should I handle OS storage without disks? - eviltoast

As i’m at a point of increasing my actual 4 server count, how should I handle storing the OS of each server?

Problem: I have no money and I’m looking for a way to buy more servers without buying and taking care of new boot ssds.

The actual setup is that each server has their own 120/240gb ssd to boot from, and one of my servers is a NAS.

at first I thought of PXE persistent boot, but how would I assign each machine their own image is one of the problems…

I’ve found this post talking about Disk-less persistent PXE, but it’s 5 years old, it talks about SAN booting, but most people I’ve seen in this sub are against fiber-channel protocol, probably there’s a better way?

Without mentioning speed requirements (like a full-flash NAS or 10+gbit), Is it possible to add more servers, without purchasing a dedicated boot device for each one?

  • thomasbuchinger@alien.topB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    What OS are you running? If the main storage is on the network, chances are the OS can run from anywhere.

    • get a 100GB HDD from Craigslist for free or a few bucks
    • any old crappy USB stick.

    If you still want to go for PXE, you don’t need any fancy networking. All you need is a DHCP-Server and a TFTP server with a Kernel and an initramfs. I think DNSmasq can handle everything with a bit of configuration. Or you go for a full server provisioning tool like Cobbler or theforeman

    You assign each server their own image by placing the file in the directory /var/lib/tftpboot//Kernel (something along those lines)