PXE ??
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Hey guys …
Was just wondering if there is any integral support from within like www.fogproject.orgThis would make a great addition for anyone with teens that install a million useless apps and then crash their computers :/
PXE would make a world of a difference to have all system tools and OS images centralized on one server would make fresh installs and recovery a snap ! -
Please don't say that you want store pxe-boot images + services on firewall appliance
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My "firewall" is a not your average PC…
HP DL360 G4- Dual Xeon 3.6 Ghz CPU
- 8GB RAM (4 x 2GB )
- Smart Raid 6i w/128MB Controller w/ BBWC
- One (1) DVD-ROM Slim Optical Drive
- Two (2) 72GB Ultra320 SCSI Hard Drive ( RAID 1 or 0 )
- Two (2) On-Board 10/100/1000 NIC's
PCI-X Slot 1 : EMPTY
PCI-X Slot 2 : Mellanox HCA 400 Dual 10Gb/s Infiniband Card
My networking inside between the server to switches to firewall will be 10Gb network using STP.
The server is an HP c7000 Enclosure connected to an MDS600 drive array. looking for an easy solution to deploy the blades simply as well as maintain the PC's in the house in working order. Planning to store multiple images so deployment of any machine on the network simple. -
Why not to use another machine(even virtual) to do the pxe-environment. Rather than trying to add some services on firewall
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The FOG project looks pretty interesting. Great stuff if you're running a load of machines at a school or an internet cafe etc.
However this will never make it into the main pfSense image. Adding services like this can only serve to reduce the security of the OS. Security is the main purpose of pfSense.
Something similar could be added as a package. There are a number of tftp boot servers available for FreeBSD that could be used. It's unlikely it would have all the functionality of FOG though. It would require a very large storage capacity which is something a lot of (most?) pfSense boxes don't have.As Metu69salemi suggested, the best way to do this on one machine is to run pfSense virtualised along with FOG server.
Steve
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Well, the reason why I'm even thinking about it is because what i go through almost on a monthly basis.
I got 3 kids that surf the web and bittorenting movies, games and install them on a whim or open them.
There's a total of 6 machines, running mixed operating systems PLUS the 5 thin clients on the back of the TV serving as media players plus the gaming consoles.Second reason why i would like to keep everything to one server is because of rack space…
I have got a HP 36U rack and its getting full quite quick...
UPS - 3x SU3000RMXL + 3x SU48R3XLBP BATTERY PACKs = 18U ( 3U each )
Drive Array - HP MDS600 - 5U
Main Server - HP c7000 - 10U
Server 1 / Firewall - HP DL360 G4 - 1U
Switch RPS - HP ProCurve 620 RPS/EPS PoE - 1U
Switch 1 - HP ProCurve 3500yl-24G-POE - 1U - Network Switch 1 ( switch 3 resides on the top floor of the house )
Switch 2 - HP ProCurve 2708 - 0U ( mounted at the back of the rack behind 3500yl )As you can see rack is pretty much full, the only other way i see adding another DL360 is to move the RPS into a 0U position on
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Quite an advanced home network then! :)
Can you not run this on your main server?
The simple answer is that there isn't anything built in. The closest thing that exists is the tftp server package. I guess you might use that to boot your thin clients. If you need anything more advanced it's time to get coding or post a bounty unfortunately ;).
Steve
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I been gathering decent equipment as there is a lot of data moved and streamed across the network so redundancies are in place just in case of hardware failure.
I own over 700+ DVDs and 300+ BD's so instead keeping inventory everything will stored digitally on the MDS600 available to any "client" on the network.Also there is music and pictures are stored on the array.
I only have ripped about 75 movies in full quality and have 1TB drive full.
Approximate size occupied by the movies I'm guessing in the 20TB range + LARGE MP3 Collection + Pictures… Current Estimated Size ~30TB -
Here's more info on the card…
http://www.mellanox.com/content/pages.php?pg=products_dyn&product_family=41&menu_section=41#tab-one -
From everything I've read, which isn't that much, I think you are going to have a very hard time getting that card running. :(
Steve
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I will be virtualizing the install of pfSense with VMware workstation 8
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I will be virtualizing the install of pfSense with VMware workstation 8
Meant to say ESXi….
Workstation is for Windows -
Do not consider nothing different from esxi or xen. Virtualbox, vmware workstation will not be fine.
One last thing you can try is jail under pfSense install using ezjail.
It's in my low priority package todo list a gui for ezjail. ;)
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Installed ESXi 4.1 last night.
I can see why so many people migrate over !!
So many functions and features to play with LOL Best part though…
I don't have to be next to the server to do any of the maintenance :D -
You can put clonezilla on /tftpboot in pfSense and then once you PXE boot mount any SMB, NFS, etc network share to store/retrieve disk images. I wouldn't use pfSense as a file server, but I don't see an issue with read-only TFTP for a few static files.
