OpenFiler Installation On Headless NAS

So, you have a Dell 715N nas or similar and wish to install OpenFiler onto it? This nas is headless, it has no USB ports, no CDROM, no floppy. It’s only connection to the outside world is it’s serial port and it’s network interfaces (2).

You may or may not have installed Linux via PXE boot before. You also may or may not have used a serial console. Today we will do both in order to install OpenFiler.

OpenFiler is built using rBuilder, which is rPath’s distro creation tool. This system spits out .iso files (among other formats) that are very similar to (read: based upon) RedHat installation CDs. They use Anaconda as their installer. Thus documentation pertaining to kickstart servers applies here. Follow the steps below to perform the installation.

1. Install necessary packages.

2. configure dhcpd

# ifconfig eth1 192.168.253.1 netmask 255.255.255.0

# echo << EOF > /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
ddns-update-style none;

subnet 192.168.253.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.253.2 192.168.253.99;
next-server 192.168.253.1;
filename "pxelinux.0";
}
EOF
# /etc/init.d/dhcpd start

3. Configure tftp server

# mkdir -p /diskless/root

# mkdir -p /diskless/tftp/pxelinux.cfg
# cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /diskless/tftp
# mount -o loop /home/btimby/openfiler-2.2-x86-disc1.iso /mnt/loop0
# cp /mnt/loop0/images/pxeboot/initrd.img /diskless/tftp
# cp /mnt/loop0/images/pxeboot/vmlinuz /diskless/tftp
# echo << EOF > /diskless/tftp/pxelinux.cfg/default
default linux
serial 0 115200
label linux
kernel vmlinuz
append ksdevice=eth0 load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=16384 initrd=initrd.img network console=ttyS0,115200n81
EOF
# /etc/init.d/in.tftpd start

4. Copy CD contents.

# cp -Ra /mnt/loop0/* /diskless/root

# umount /mnt/loop0

5. Configure NFS.

# echo << EOF >> /etc/exports

/diskless/root pxe1(ro,no_subtree_check)
EOF
# echo << EOF >> /etc/hosts
192.168.253.2 pxe1
EOF
# /etc/init.d/nfs restart

Now, plug a crossover ethernet cable from eth1 on your machine to the second NIC of your NAS. Don’t forget to also hook up a serial console cable between your machine and the NAS. When you boot it up, it should now pxe boot and bring up the anaconda installer in text mode. You should be able to perform the installation.