Re: [9fans] Plan9 topology

[Duke Normandin <dukeofperl@ml1.net>]

On Thu, 13 Jan 2011, blstuart@bellsouth.net wrote:

[snip]

> > So the NIC in your Linux box must have to be PXE capable?
>
> It depends.  If you want to PXE boot the box directly and have
> it run the Plan9 kernel natively, then at some point, something
> will have to be PXE capable.  That could be the machine's BIOS
> or BIOS code on the NIC or even a boot loader loaded from a
> disk or CD or...

Got it ...

> On the other hand, for the case of virtualbox the PXE booting
> support is built into virtualbox itself.

ummm...

> > Truth be
> > told, I've never set up a net-booting system.
>
> Because Plan9 was designed from the ground up around a network
> organization, it does a good job of supporting net booting.  It's
> not hard to set up.
>
> > The Plan ( server would
> > have to have enough disk space to store its own stuff, plus the
> > workstation's file system? Could get dicey, if you've got a few
> > workstations net-booting, could it not?
>
> It can.  The clients all share a single copy of the common files,
> but each user will have his own files on the common server.
> But the full Plan9 installation is quite managable.  You can
> do quite a lot with only a few gig.

Yeah! It's only going to be me using the server. So it's not like I'm
going to hit it that hard. Can I run several Plan9 boxen, each
dedicated to a task - like mail; named; httpd, etc. All headless, but
just purring away ;)

[snip]

> > I'm in trouble already ...
>
> Rotfl...  You will be assimilated :)  Seriously though, the Plan9
> community is a good bunch and everyone is happy to help anyone
> who genuinely wants to learn.

I sense that already. I've got _a lot_ to learn; but I'm willing. BTW,
I'm just a 63yr old  programmer / networking hobbyist - all
self-taught. As I said in another post, my networking experience
started when I discovered FreeBSD - some 15 years ago. I've had some
nice LANs running - all before WIFI, and before routing appliances
were available. No probs. I enjoy it. Starting over with Plan9 is
going to be fun.

> My suggestion would be to work on your spare machine first.
> You won't have to worry about blowing anything away and
> it might evolve into a useful part of your network.  I'd also
> start by installing from the CD as a stand-alone machine.
> After you know your way around some, you can try to convert
> it to a combined CPU/auth/file server and then look into
> how you connect to it from other machines.

Sounds like a plan -- pun intended! Much obliged!
--
Duke