Folding on a stick?

[Deleted member 12106]

Anyone here use usb drives for FAH? Is it as simple as I think it may be, grab an iso, grab pen drive linux installer, setup thumbdrive with persistent storage and way we go?

Got a machine I might be able to use for a few days and want to make some ppd.

Help?

 

[Kendrak]

Not 100% sure but when the WUs started getting bigger the I/O of the thumb drive became a bottleneck.

Now back when SMP was new, notfreds headless iso immage was all the rage, and I ran it on a number of systems.

 

[musky]

I used to run the original bigadv off of thumb drives - it will work in a pinch. Your steps are pretty much all there is to it. Just make sure the drive is big enough to hold the results plus the OS.

 

[extide]

You could always setup a ramdrive for the work folder, of course you'd want a battery backup in that case

 

[Kendrak]

I googled and holy crap the site is still up.

http://reilly.homeip.net/folding/usb.html

 

[Deleted member 12106]

I'll play with it. i got a 16gb patriot drive around here that is kinda zippy. the box in q would be smp only. Would like to run langouste and thekraken as well, many of my folding boxes are 20gb ssd.

 

[bman212121]

If you have 20GB SSDs that would probably be ideal. I'm folding with USB devices although I was having a lot of issues getting mine setup. I think I just have the minimal install disc for Gentoo on a usb drive, then I have another usb drive that just has the fah client and work on it. I've also just used a live cd to boot the machine with, then have the work on a thumb drive. It does seem like when it is writing the data to the stick it takes some time, so you might loose a bit of PPD from it. (I think it takes a full minute or more on my 4GB corsair to write the compressed data after the WU is 100%) Overall though the writes while folding aren't that big so there shouldn't be issues from that.

If you can get an install setup on the thumb drive that would be great, otherwise you could also try the live cd route. Once the box is up it doesn't ever need to read the disc again until you try to do something at the terminal.

 

[extide]

Better yet setup a PXE boot and you can have true disk-less systems!

But seriously, having a PXE boot setup at home is really handy, I have it setup at home and I can PXE boot into all sorts of stuff like memtest, win pe, linux pmagic, etc.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Better yet setup a PXE boot and you can have true disk-less systems!

But seriously, having a PXE boot setup at home is really handy, I have it setup at home and I can PXE boot into all sorts of stuff like memtest, win pe, linux pmagic, etc.

Tell me more.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

If you have 20GB SSDs that would probably be ideal. I'm folding with USB devices although I was having a lot of issues getting mine setup. I think I just have the minimal install disc for Gentoo on a usb drive, then I have another usb drive that just has the fah client and work on it. I've also just used a live cd to boot the machine with, then have the work on a thumb drive. It does seem like when it is writing the data to the stick it takes some time, so you might loose a bit of PPD from it. (I think it takes a full minute or more on my 4GB corsair to write the compressed data after the WU is 100%) Overall though the writes while folding aren't that big so there shouldn't be issues from that.

If you can get an install setup on the thumb drive that would be great, otherwise you could also try the live cd route. Once the box is up it doesn't ever need to read the disc again until you try to do something at the terminal.

I sent the last of my ssd's to Tobit.

 

[bman212121]

Tell me more.

Basically you just need to have a server that has TFTP running on it as well as some type of PXE server. There are prebuilt setups like FOG http://fogproject.org/ or just about any Linux distro you can setup for TFTP and PXE. Then in your bios you need to enable network boot and have the pcs attempt to boot from that. You will need to have the DHCP server setup to point for a PXE server as the clients will need both to get an IP address and also the information of where the TFTP server is and what files to download.

If you want quick and easy you can use DHCP Server for Windows: http://www.dhcpserver.de/dhcpsrv.htm

The hardest part is actually making the PXE menus and what not. I'd have to find a bit more specific info on making a PXE distro.

Here is another using using another popular program on windows. http://reilly.homeip.net/folding/diskless.html

You can probably use the folding cd generator to make your PXE clients. Have it generate the cd you want first, then use something to generate a menu item for that iso. I put a link to check out below the cd generator.

http://reilly.homeip.net/folding/cd.html

http://fogproject.org/forum/threads...t-menu-to-allow-the-booting-of-iso-files.154/

 

[extide]

Well, setting up PXE isnt exactly straightforward, but here is the gist of it:

-You need a TFT Server
-You need to modify your DHCP server to send out a 'boot filename' this is the file we get from TFTP
-You need to make a pxelinux config file
--In the pxelinux config file you will specify essentially the linux kernel you want to boot, pass along an initrd if using one, and also tell the kernel where the root filesystem is, usually over NFS
--OR (and this is a bit easier) you can basically boot straight from an ISO file. You can use a generic Linux LiveCD or make a custom one with the folding client on it already.

Check out this: http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/478

And here are some of my config files. I have it broken out into separate files to make it a bit easier for me to understand. (I am only including the main file and two of the sub menu's here)

NOTE: You do NOT need to use a menu, break your config into multiple files, and each file does NOT necessarily have to represent a single screen. That is just how I have mine setup!

Here is the main one:

# Default boot option to use
DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
# Prompt user for selection
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 300
NOESCAPE 0
ALLOWOPTIONS 0

# Menu Configuration
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/format

MENU TITLE James' Spiffy PXE Boot Menu

#Boot local first option
LABEL local
localboot 0
MENU DEFAULT
MENU LABEL Boot from hard disk
TIMEOUT 90
TEXT HELP
Boot from the local hard drive.
If you are unsure, select this option.
ENDTEXT

MENU SEPARATOR

#PMagic Sub Menu
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/pmagic.txt

#CloneZilla sub menu
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/clonezilla.txt

#Tools menu
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/tools.txt

#OS Install menu
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/os-install.txt

#Live OS Boot menu
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/live-os.txt

MENU SEPARATOR

#reboot option
LABEL reboot
MENU LABEL Reboot
TEXT HELP
Restart the computer.
ENDTEXT
KERNEL /reboot.c32

This is what that file looks like:

And here is the tools.txt file:

MENU BEGIN
MENU Label Tools/Extras Menu
MENU TITLE James' Spiffy PXE Boot Menu, Tools/Extras

LABEL memtest86+420
MENU LABEL Memtext86+ 4.20
KERNEL /misc/memtest86+420

LABEL memtest8640a
MENU LABEL Memtext86 4.0a
KERNEL /misc/memtest8640a

LABEL memtest8640b
MENU LABEL Memtext86 4.0b (Server)
KERNEL /misc/memtest8640b

#OCZ SSD Flash Utilities
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/ocz.txt

#NT-Password Reset Tool
INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/nt-passwd.txt

#LABEL bko2
#MENU LABEL boot.kernel.org Menu System
#KERNEL /misc/bko2.gpxe

#LABEL netboot.me
#MENU LABEL netboot.me Menu System
#KERNEL /misc/netbootme.kpxe

LABEL freedos
MENU LABEL FreeDOS
KERNEL /memdisk
APPEND initrd=/misc/freedos.img.gz

LABEL superboot
MENU LABEL SuperBoot (Includes Ghost & UNDI Support)
KERNEL /memdisk
APPEND keeppxe initrd=/misc/superboot.img.gz

LABEL hdt
MENU LABEL Hardware Detection Tool (HDT)
TEXT HELP
An interactive hardware analyzer by Erwan Velu.
ENDTEXT
LINUX memdisk
APPEND initrd=/misc/hdt.gz

LABEL supergrubdisk
MENU LABEL Super Grub Disk
TEXT HELP
Easily restore grub-legacy. Boot into many systems. Fix Windows MBR.
ENDTEXT
LINUX memdisk
APPEND initrd=/sgd/sgd.gz

LABEL supergrubdisk2
MENU LABEL Super Grub2 Disk
TEXT HELP
Boot into many systems (including Grub2 ones).
To restore Grub2 use the CLI suite included in PartedMagic.
ENDTEXT
LINUX memdisk
APPEND iso initrd=/sgd/sgd2.gz

LABEL mhdd
MENU LABEL MHDD
TEXT HELP
This software can make precise diagnostic of the mechanical part of a drive,
view SMART attributes, perform Low-level format, bad sector repair, different
tests and tens of other functions.
ENDTEXT
LINUX memdisk
APPEND initrd=/mhdd/mhdd.gz

LABEL plp
MENU LABEL Plop Boot Manager
TEXT HELP
Plop Boot Manager by Elmar Hanlhofer. The Plop Boot Manager is a small program
to boot different operating systems. The boot manager has a builtin ide cdrom
and usb driver to access those hardware without the help/need of a bios.
ENDTEXT
LINUX /plpbt/plpbt.bin

LABEL nwipe
MENU LABEL Nwipe
TEXT HELP
This menu item automatically starts Nwipe at boot without the grapical
interface. Nwipe runs from the command line, so Xorg is a waste of
resources.
ENDTEXT
COM32 linux.c32
APPEND /pmagic/bzImage initrd=/pmagic/initrd.img edd=off load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=normal loglevel=9 max_loop=256 nwipe

MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL Back
MENU EXIT
MENU LABEL Back

MENU END

And this is what it looks like:

And here is the Live Boot Menu, which includes examples of ISO's

MENU BEGIN
MENU Label Live Boot Operating Systems
MENU TITLE James' Spiffy PXE Boot Menu, Live Boot

LABEL winpe-plain
MENU LABEL Windows PE 3.1 Mine
KERNEL /memdisk
APPEND iso initrd=/winpe/windowspe-x86.iso raw

LABEL winpe-macrium
MENU LABEL Windows PE Macrium
KERNEL /memdisk
APPEND iso initrd=/winpe/winpe-macrium.iso raw

LABEL 2xclient
MENU label 2X Thin Client OS
KERNEL 2xclient/linux26
APPEND initrd=2xclient/rootdisk26.img quiet console=tty2 bootm=pxe vga=0x311 BOOT_OPT_START udev nofloppy usb2 BOOT_OPT_END ro oemedition

LABEL tinycore
MENU label TinyCore Linux
KERNEL tinycore/bzImage
APPEND initrd=tinycore/tinycore.gz

MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL Back
MENU EXIT
MENU LABEL Back

MENU END

And a screenshot:

 

[Wyluliraven]

Tell us MOAR!

Also, love that you're a boosted VR6 fan.

 

[rhavern]

This is awesome! This'll save me trying to dig out/find a random USB stick when I need gparted or clonezilla. I have a new weekend project

Thanks!

 

[firedfly]

Better yet setup a PXE boot and you can have true disk-less systems!

But seriously, having a PXE boot setup at home is really handy, I have it setup at home and I can PXE boot into all sorts of stuff like memtest, win pe, linux pmagic, etc.

Tell me more.

I had a PXE setup folding for a few months last year using the config from linuxforge. It worked well until I got faster systems running bigadv. The TPF with the PXE setup was a decent amount slower than a typical hard drive setup. Tear tried to help me optimize the PXE setup and we weren't able to figure out the issue. I eventually bought a bunch of cheap hard drives to use. A PXE setup makes it much easier to add new folding systems to the farm.

I did have a system running on a usb stick at one point running -smp. Everything went fine for a while and then the system started throwing IO errors with the usb drive. I did not have time to look into it, so I went back to a hard drive install.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

What type of backend is needed for a pxe system? firedfly, what kind of network did you have?

 

[bman212121]

What type of backend is needed for a pxe system?

A whole lot of nothing. I'm running a PXE server off a P4 laptop with windows XP and a 100mbit lan port, and even that is overkill unless you are trying to load > 5 clients at a time. The only tricky part is that if you already have DHCP from a SOHO router you can either turn that off to use your PXE server for DHCP or your can leave that on and just let them fight it out.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

I don't have the "typical" home network. I'm running untangle as my edge router which also handles dns/dhcp, I have the option to turn that off. I'm somewhat interested in a PXE setup, especially since I get some boxes for a short time and do not want to make changes to them...I also have many boxes naked and this would lessen the space requirements as well as streamline deployment.

 

[bman212121]

I don't have the "typical" home network. I'm running untangle as my edge router which also handles dns/dhcp, I have the option to turn that off. I'm somewhat interested in a PXE setup, especially since I get some boxes for a short time and do not want to make changes to them...I also have many boxes naked and this would lessen the space requirements as well as streamline deployment.

If you are running Untangled then you already have the DHCP portion covered. You can set the option rom parameters there. It also sounds like you can setup the PXE server on untangle using DNSmasq. Then you can either use a different box for the TFTP server or just enable that on Untangled as well.

These 3 lines are all it takes to turn DNSmasq into a PXE and TFTP server.

dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0
enable-tftp
tftp-root=/tftp/pxeboot

http://blogging.dragon.org.uk/index.php/mini-howtos/howto-setup-a-pxe-server

The dhcp-boot= line is the part to tell the client what file it can boot from, and the other two lines enable the TFTP server.

EDIT: Here is some even better info:

I'm guessing that TFTP is probably disabled on untangle since it could be considered a security risk. You can however use this line to tell the PXE clients to download the file from another TFTP server.

dhcp-boot=pxelinux.0,cobbler,192.168.255.3

http://terrarum.net/administration/cobbler.html EDIT2: I also see that extide's link has the exact same info.


first part is the name of the file to look for, 2nd is the TFTP server's hostname, 3rd is it's IP address. Then you can use just about any TFTP server and put your pxelinux.0 file in the root directory. Having that line is what allows DNSMasq to work as the PXE server.


According to this page all you have to do in Untangle is just go into the DHCP settings and paste that one line under advanced settings.

You can pass specific options to dnsmasq, Untangle's DHCP/DNS server, at Config > Networking > Advanced > DHCP and DNS. Each option should be on a separate line.

http://wiki.untangle.com/index.php/DHCP_Server

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Cool, i'll add this to my rainy day list. My untangle box doesn't have much balls so I will try it on another boxen.

 

[extide]

I used to use a DD-WRT box (running on a Ubiquity RouterStation Pro), and now I use a box running pfSense, and with both of them I had the PXE setup running.

My TFTP is on my linux box that also runs my ZFS store.

Also, love that you're a boosted VR6 fan.

I almost forgot about this post! The boosted VR is a lot of fun, yes for sure. Do you have a VW?

 

[pjkenned]

I've been thinking about doing a PXE boot guide for awhile now on STH... this is making me want to do that more.