Diskless + CHROOT for 32bit system?

fuzzybee · Apprentice Joined: 09 May 2005 Posts: 159

Hello all -

I'm trying to set up my 64bit server (x86_64) to serve out for diskless 32bit clients. I've found the diskless HOWTO (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/diskless-howto.xml) and the 32bit CHROOT howto (http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/base/amd64/howtos/index.xml?part=1&chap=2), but I'm not 100% sure how to set them up to play nice with each other.

So far, I've followed the CHROOT howto up to "Code Listing 3.6: Updating your new 32bits chroot" In addition, I've followed the diskless howto up through "Code Listing 2.13: Creating mount points and directories in the slave's filesystem". I'm worried, though, because I used my server's kernel config for the diskless section. Is this a problem? Also, I haven't copied over a bzImage file to the diskless portion.

What steps should I take from this point? Hopefully I haven't messed things up by doing an emerge. Is there a guide that I can use to walk me through setting up a 32bit CHROOT diskless server on a 64bit system?

TJNII · l33t Joined: 09 Nov 2003 Posts: 648 Location: for(;;);

Using the kernel you built for your 64bit server on your 32bit client is not wise. It may work, but you will probably experience problems if it does.

The other thing you should keep in mind is that there need not be any connection between the host OS and the OS you install in /diskless. I have a Gentoo client hosted on a Debian server. The only thing the two have that is shared is that they are on the same drive.

Since you have different architectures, you really shouldn't be sharing kernels or binaries or anything of that nature between the host and the client. If your clients are athlon based, then you can probably use the 32bit chroot to build for them. Otherwise, I would recommend using the crossdev tools.

You may also be able to boot the client machines off a liveCD, mount server:/diskless/{target} as the target fs, and then follow the install guide as if you were building a normal system. Using this method you will need to follow the diskless guide to set the kernel and netboot environments up properly for diskless operation, though.

Hu · Administrator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 23103

Using the 64-bit kernel for the 32-bit client is fine, assuming the diskless systems have a new enough CPU to understand amd64 instructions.