[gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Eric S. Johansson]

I need feedback on this cunning plan.

I have five (virtual machine) systems which are mostly identical. 
Originally I customized each one with a different set of use flags. 
Each one has a different set of applications with a common core.  I 
started updating them last night and woke up this morning to three of 
them building xorg-x11 (and they're still at it, pity my poor CPUs).

Needless to say this pushed my Mr. grumpy hot button and I want to 
change how I do things.  I'm beginning to think what I should do is 
create a unified make.conf which is as common as possible.  Only 
difference being maybe the references to the cache (which is one of the 
five machines).

after creating a unified make.conf, I believe I should set up a build 
process on one machine to create binary packages as well as managing its 
disk space cleaning up the temporary directory, and expiring old or 
redundant packages.  Then the four other machines should install the 
binary packages in preference to building their own.  But after the 
binary packages are installed, they should go through a source update 
for their own individual packages.

make sense?

what would be the best way for the four other machines to access the 
binary packages?  NFS?  File copy?

suggestions for managing disk space and expiring old packages?  I've 
found one which I'm trying out (distmaint) but it takes so long, it's 
definitely a candidate for cron.

suggestions are most appreciated.  I want to make this process of 
updating a faster one requiring less attention.

thank you
---eric
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Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 10:40:49 -0400, Eric S. Johansson wrote:

> what would be the best way for the four other machines to access the 
> binary packages?  NFS?  File copy?

I have $PKGDIR (in make.conf) set to an NFS share, so all machines can
download binary packages from the same directory. The first one to emerge
a package build the binary.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Megabyte: (n.) more than you can comprehend and less than you'll need.

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Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Michael Crute]

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Have you seen the build host tutorial on the wiki? 
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Create_A_Build_Host

-Mike

On 8/3/05, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 10:40:49 -0400, Eric S. Johansson wrote:
> 
> > what would be the best way for the four other machines to access the
> > binary packages? NFS? File copy?
> 
> I have $PKGDIR (in make.conf) set to an NFS share, so all machines can
> download binary packages from the same directory. The first one to emerge
> a package build the binary.
> 
> 
> --
> Neil Bothwick
> 
> Megabyte: (n.) more than you can comprehend and less than you'll need.
> 
> 
> 


-- 
________________________________
Michael E. Crute
Software Developer
SoftGroup Development Corporation

"In a world without walls and fences, who needs windows and gates?"

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Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Eric S. Johansson]

Michael Crute wrote:
> Have you seen the build host tutorial on the wiki? 
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Create_A_Build_Host
> 
> -Mike
> 

no I had not.  look like just what I need.  also looks like putting it 
in place would be faster than waiting for the current set of updates to 
finish.

thanks!!!

--- eric
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Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Eric S. Johansson]

Eric S. Johansson wrote:
> Michael Crute wrote:
> 
>> Have you seen the build host tutorial on the wiki? 
>> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Create_A_Build_Host
>>
>> -Mike
>>
> 
> no I had not.  look like just what I need.  also looks like putting it 
> in place would be faster than waiting for the current set of updates to 
> finish.

setup according to the build a host directions but automounter isn't 
working.  It's probably a typo but it's escaping me

on build host:

xeno linux-2.6.10-xenU # showmount -e
Export list for xeno:
/usr/portage/distfiles                  *.harvee.org
/build/gentoo/i686/var/lib/portage      *.harvee.org
/build/gentoo/i686/usr/portage/packages *.harvee.org

should be open to any machine within my network

on build client:

harvee-xeno ~ # more /etc/autofs/auto.master
# $Id: auto.master,v 1.3 2004/12/09 08:25:48 robbat2 Exp $
# Sample auto.master file
# Format of this file:
# mountpoint map options
# For details of the format look at autofs(8).
#/net   /etc/autofs/auto.net
#/misc  /etc/autofs/auto.misc
#/home  /etc/autofs/auto.home

/misc /etc/autofs/auto.misc --timeout=600  --ghost
harvee-xeno ~ #

harvee-xeno ~ # more /etc/autofs/auto.misc
distfiles       -fstype=nfs,bg,hard xeno:/usr/portage/distfiles
packages        -fstype=nfs,bg,hard 
xeno:/build/gentoo/i686/usr/portage/packages
var_lib_portage -fstype=nfs,bg,hard xeno:/build/gentoo/i686/var/lib/portage

basically the same as the documentation.  I only substituted build for 
mnt.  the how-to on using automounter gives some sketchy instructions 
but nothing on debugging or diagnostics.

Any suggestions or should I go dig out my circa 1992 O'Reilly NFS book?

---eric

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Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Michael Crute]

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Hmm not to be insulting but:
* Is NFS Running
* Is there a firewall on either host (and if so are the ports for NFS 
opened)

If all is good there then my last think would be why not just put your mount 
in fstab and skip the automounter jazz?

-Mike

On 8/3/05, Eric S. Johansson <esj@harvee.org> wrote:
> 
> Eric S. Johansson wrote:
> > Michael Crute wrote:
> >
> >> Have you seen the build host tutorial on the wiki?
> >> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Create_A_Build_Host
> >>
> >> -Mike
> >>
> >
> > no I had not. look like just what I need. also looks like putting it
> > in place would be faster than waiting for the current set of updates to
> > finish.
> 
> setup according to the build a host directions but automounter isn't
> working. It's probably a typo but it's escaping me
> 
> on build host:
> 
> xeno linux-2.6.10-xenU # showmount -e
> Export list for xeno:
> /usr/portage/distfiles *.harvee.org
> /build/gentoo/i686/var/lib/portage *.harvee.org
> /build/gentoo/i686/usr/portage/packages *.harvee.org
> 
> should be open to any machine within my network
> 
> on build client:
> 
> harvee-xeno ~ # more /etc/autofs/auto.master
> # $Id: auto.master,v 1.3 2004/12/09 08:25:48 robbat2 Exp $
> # Sample auto.master file
> # Format of this file:
> # mountpoint map options
> # For details of the format look at autofs(8).
> #/net /etc/autofs/auto.net
> #/misc /etc/autofs/auto.misc
> #/home /etc/autofs/auto.home
> 
> /misc /etc/autofs/auto.misc --timeout=600 --ghost
> harvee-xeno ~ #
> 
> harvee-xeno ~ # more /etc/autofs/auto.misc
> distfiles -fstype=nfs,bg,hard xeno:/usr/portage/distfiles
> packages -fstype=nfs,bg,hard
> xeno:/build/gentoo/i686/usr/portage/packages
> var_lib_portage -fstype=nfs,bg,hard 
> xeno:/build/gentoo/i686/var/lib/portage
> 
> basically the same as the documentation. I only substituted build for
> mnt. the how-to on using automounter gives some sketchy instructions
> but nothing on debugging or diagnostics.
> 
> Any suggestions or should I go dig out my circa 1992 O'Reilly NFS book?
> 
> ---eric
> 
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
> 
> 


-- 
________________________________
Michael E. Crute
Software Developer
SoftGroup Development Corporation

"In a world without walls and fences, who needs windows and gates?"

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Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Eric S. Johansson]

Michael Crute wrote:
> Hmm not to be insulting but:

no, it is not insulting at all.  One must always make sure that the 
devices plugged into the wall.

> * Is NFS Running

on the server and, yes showmount and mounting devices loopback work

> * Is there a firewall on either host (and if so are the ports for NFS 
> opened)

no firewall on either host.
> 
> If all is good there then my last think would be why not just put your 
> mount in fstab and skip the automounter jazz?

not a bad idea.  I was merely following the instructions in the build 
host tutorial.  I've often thought automounter was a good idea and a 
decent way to deal with server or client's bouncing up and down.  I'd 
hope in the past few years, folks would have fixed its unreliability.

thank you for your suggestions.
---eric
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bad howto warning: Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Eric S. Johansson]

Michael Crute wrote:
> Have you seen the build host tutorial on the wiki? 
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Create_A_Build_Host

to put it politely, this how-to is misleading.  It should be removed.

problem 1: assumes automounter works.  I was not able to get automounter 
to function and had to resort to normal NFS mounts.  I verified with a 
few people outside of the Linux community that automounter is 
problematic no matter who's you use.

problem 2: does not tell you which directories to create.  I've had to 
determine that experimentally as I've gone along.  I'll probably 
document on the second machine install.

Problem 3: inadequate chroot environment set up.  As a result, Shell 
scripts that should run chrooted don't.  In fact, they just don't run.

that is as far as I've gotten.  Until I solved the chroot problem, I'm 
pretty well stopped.

I think this how-to is a good example of a really bad how to.  Yes it is 
perfectly acceptable to say "go look here" when dealing with something 
essential to the how-to that was previously documented.  But you must 
put the reference to other documentation in context including context 
specific debugging sequences.  That would have saved me hours with the 
automounter because I would have known to to quit far earlier and gone 
to a more reliable system (assuming NFS is reliable).

as I solve problems, I will probably post the documentation here.

---eric
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Re: bad howto warning: Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Justin Patrin]

On 8/4/05, Eric S. Johansson <esj@harvee.org> wrote:
> Michael Crute wrote:
> > Have you seen the build host tutorial on the wiki?
> > http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Create_A_Build_Host
> 
> to put it politely, this how-to is misleading.  It should be removed.
> 

Well, since this is a wiki...why don't you edit it?

-- 
Justin Patrin

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Re: bad howto warning: Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Michael Crute]

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Bingo... edit it please... share your experiences and put down the right way 
to do it. 

-Mike

On 8/4/05, Justin Patrin <papercrane@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On 8/4/05, Eric S. Johansson <esj@harvee.org> wrote:
> > Michael Crute wrote:
> > > Have you seen the build host tutorial on the wiki?
> > > http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Create_A_Build_Host
> >
> > to put it politely, this how-to is misleading. It should be removed.
> >
> 
> Well, since this is a wiki...why don't you edit it?
> 
> --
> Justin Patrin
> 
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
> 
> 


-- 
________________________________
Michael E. Crute
Software Developer
SoftGroup Development Corporation

"In a world without walls and fences, who needs windows and gates?"

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Re: bad howto warning: Re: [gentoo-user] updating mostly identical systems

[Eric S. Johansson]

Michael Crute wrote:
> Bingo... edit it please... share your experiences and put down the right 
> way to do it.
> 

I will if I can extract the right way to do it from all the blind alleys 
I've been down.  I'm currently looking into the chroot jail problem for 
shell scripts.

---eric
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