[mythtv-users] Best options/howto for diskless frontends

[Patrick Ouellette]

On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 12:46:34PM -0700, Michael Drons wrote:
> I had a backend crash and switched linux distro & upgraded mythtv in the process.  My backend is now running Ubuntu and mythtv .26.  I now need to upgrade my frontends, which are diskless.
> 
> They are running gentoo, but was thinking of switching distros also.  Anyone have a recommendation on a distro that supports diskless mythtv frontends.  
> 
> I have been struggling now for 2 days trying to get LTSP working (following these instructions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythTV/Install/Hardy/Diskless), but I seem to have many errors as it does not work.  Everything I find in google references onlder versions of Ubuntu (I am running 12.10) on the backend.

I'm running LTSP frontends on Ubuntu 12.04 and can tell you the document you 
reference is not necessarily accurate.  At least for me the server 
configuration for the NBD service was incorrect.  NBD server changed the
way it works and uses a name model as opposed to a network port
model for the shares and the Mythbuntu LTSP scripts were not updated for that.
I also have to make sure the NBD server's IP address is specified for the PXE
boot on the client (use the -S <ip address> option on the ltsp-update-image
command).

> 
> My only requirement is that the frontends boot quickly.  The gentoo FE boot from power on to mythtv ready in about 45 seconds with no hibernation or sleep configured.

Right now my LTSP config hangs a bit looking to configure the already 
configured network.  I haven't bothered fixing it yet.

> 
> A nice to have would be for the frontends to share the nfs partition (currently have 3 diskless fe).  My current setup takes a lot of disk as each FE has its own root nfs mount point.  

The unionfs model in LTSP handles this well.  All your frontends can share
a common NBD root, while individual customizations for each front end can
reside on the NFS partition (all transparent to the end user).
 
Pat