| 1 | ** Introduction |
| 2 | |
| 3 | This uses the simple-cdd package (available on the official Debian repository) to create a custom install CD for the master blade of the TRC6500 system's computing cluster. A number of components are installed automatically (either during install or on first boot) ; the CD also includes useful files for subsequent configuration. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ** What the built CD includes |
| 7 | |
| 8 | - a selection of useful/required packages |
| 9 | - a selection of custom packages scarcely available elsewhere |
| 10 | - unpacking of config files and scripts during install |
| 11 | - automatic execution of some configuration options |
| 12 | |
| 13 | This CD does NOT create an usable operating system. All included systems should be reviewed, but particularly the network configuration (/etc/hosts, DHCP config, TFTP config..), which is partly automated thanks to scripts provided by the TRC6500 exploitation software, which is NOT bundled with this CD. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ** What files we'll be using |
| 17 | |
| 18 | - simple-cdd.conf (name is clear enough) should be passed to the build-simple-cdd program |
| 19 | - the entire profiles/ directory is used by build-simple-cdd |
| 20 | - myrc.local is the script executed on first boot |
| 21 | - the local_packages/ directory contains packages not available on the regular repository, or more recent versions of packages available there. |
| 22 | - the deb_build/ folder contains the necessary stuff to build the trc6500-master-files deb package which contains a collection of scripts, config files and config instructions |
| 23 | - TRC6500.pub is a GPG public key added to the OS's keyring during install, corresponding to a makeshift Debian repo from T. PĂ©rennou |
| 24 | - splash-thales.png is a 640*480 image used for the splashscreen |
| 25 | |
| 26 | |
| 27 | ** How build-simple-cdd works |
| 28 | |
| 29 | The build-simple-cdd program is to be called like this : |
| 30 | build-simple-cdd --dist wheezy --conf ./simple-cdd.conf |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Most options described in the documentation are included in the simple-cdd.conf file. The program will use those (in addition to the default settings) to build a list of what is to be included on the CD. Primarily, it includes itself, profile(s) scripts, and pulls packages (from the <profile>.packages list) from whatever repositories are in /etc/apt/sources.list, or from the ./tmp folder if the packages have already been fetched. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | Additional packages are to be put in the local_packages directory (which is specified in our own simple_cdd.conf). It should be noted that packages placed there simply join the pool of available packages : to actually include them on the CD, they should be added in an itself included profile's packages list (say, profiles/trc6500.packages). The list of packages added this way is : |
| 35 | cpumon dce firmware-bnx2 libcalloc1 libcycle1 libdebug1 libmcore1 raf swb webconfig xcfe |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Additional files are included with the all_extras="<path>,<path>" option in our simple-cdd.conf file. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | You should look into the provided simple-cdd.conf file ! It is tailored to a quite specific use case, and making your own should be easy enough since the simple-cdd package contains a detailed config file. |
| 40 | |
| 41 | |
| 42 | ** Building the trc6500-master-files deb packages |
| 43 | |
| 44 | This package has been put together in replacement of an earlier tarball ; the main benefit to using a deb being easier upgrade of existing systems. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | Check out the deb_build/ folder to learn more ; most of it is done by the Makefile. |
| 47 | |
| 48 | |
| 49 | ** Regarding install vectors |
| 50 | |
| 51 | To set up a bootable USB key : |
| 52 | cp <iso file> /dev/<key> && sync |
| 53 | <key> should be the device, not a partition of it. The key will get partitioned like the CD (and how the CD is partitioned is a whole other topic). |
| 54 | |
| 55 | To burn your ISO to a CD : |
| 56 | xorriso -as cdrecord -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=as_needed <iso file> |
| 57 | |
| 58 | |
| 59 | ** Additional documentation |
| 60 | /usr/share/simple-cdd |
| 61 | /usr/share/doc/simple-cdd |
| 62 | /usr/share/doc/installation-guide-amd64 (talks about preseeds) |
| 63 | |