Re: Replicating Linux?

["Adam Williams" <awilliam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
> > Does anyone know of a way to install Linux on many machines?  I have about
50
> > Compaq Presarios that I need to bring online,  but certainly don't want to
go
> > through the install and config procedure on every one?  I had an e-mail
from
> > someone at SUN who had come up with a way to do this by doing a "hard drive
> > copy",  but I seem to have misplaced it.  Does SUN use Linux??
>
> I've copied the Linux system quite a few times.
> I was actually planning on talking about this a little bit
> at this Sunday meeting.
>
> What method would you like to use to load the disks?
>
> Do want to physically connect the disks one at a time
> to a master PC, do the copy, and move the disk back to
> the origional PC?
>
> Or, if these PCs have tape drives, you can create a tape image
> and restore the tape on each PC with a Linux boot floppy.
>
> Or, you can install the image over a network with a boot floppy.
>
> Let me know which method you were planning on using, and I can
> give you some more specific commands/tips.
>


	My exact situation is this:  I have a bunch of identical (supposedly)
Compaq CDS 520's that are currently running a dos terminal emulator and are
connected via RS-232 to a Cisco 2511 router/access server.  I'm going to
install an ethernet card (10Mbps, NE2000) and 8/16Mb or RAM in each machine,
 then I want to be able to suck a image of Linux onto the hard drive.
	From what I hear the easiest way to do this is to install Linux on one
machine,  tar ball it's file system to an old 386 system with NFS installed,
 and then carry that box with me from site to site and untar the file system
onto the Compaq?  I have a DHCP server at the main facility (all other sites
are connected to it via the router),  and want to get IP information from that,
 which I assume I can't do until after Linux is installed.
	The installation of Linus is pretty simple,  just X, Java, rxvt, and
maybe some other small utilities.  They are NIS and DHCP so I've avoided most
local network configuration. I've found a perl script that claims it will
automatically update the DNS server when DHCP leases are created or expire.
	So is there a good utility anywhere that will facilitate the creation
of root/boot disks?
	And thanks your all your help,  I've had nearly a dozen replies about
this issue.