amw@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Andrew M. Winkler) (06/08/89)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec Subject: swap disks for DS3100 Expires: References: Sender: Reply-To: amw@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Andrew M. Winkler) Followup-To: Distribution: world Organization: Columbia University Keywords: We have a number of people interested in buying machines. Typically they can afford the basic unit, but the cost of a disk pushes them over the edge. Anyone know about third party disks? Ones that can fit inside would be nice, any thoughts would be helpful. Also, is there some way to eliminate all the duplication in the server disk for all the diskless clients? It would be ideal to be able to stick all the custom stuff, and /usr/users files on the swap disks. Can this be done? Is it a good idea?
treese@crltrx.crl.dec.com (Win Treese) (06/09/89)
In article <1573@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu> amw@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Andrew M. Winkler) writes: > >Also, is there some way to eliminate all the duplication in the server disk for >all the diskless clients? It would be ideal to be able to stick all the custom >stuff, and /usr/users files on the swap disks. Can this be done? Is it a good >idea? It's not hard to do this, though it's not a "supported" configuration. Generate a kernel with the disk device driver and boot it. Make a root filesystem on the local disk (newfs /dev/rrz?a rz??) and dump the current root to it. Generate a new kernel that expects its root on the disk, and install that as vmunix in your new root filesystem. Reboot and enjoy. I'd advise leaving /usr/users on a central machine; it's much easier to administer and back up that way. Win "I don't speak for Digital" Treese Win Treese Cambridge Research Lab treese@crl.dec.com Digital Equipment Corp.