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This is the FAQ for Thinstation 2.0. The FAQ
for Thinstation 0.9 and 1.0 can be found here.
Disclaimer
Neither this author nor the project
contributors are in any way responsible for physical, financial,
moral or any other type of damage incurred by following the
suggestions in this text or using the programs. Both this document
and the Thinstation program and supporting programs are presented
"as is" without any warrenty concerning functionallity
or security.
Any trademark belongs to the owner.
::TOP::
What is Thinstation
Thinstation is a basic and small yet very powerful Open
Source "thin client" operating system and some
programs which make it possible to connect to servers via a
network. Thinstation is mainly intended for office, company or
department use. Being a private individual with just one PC you
will have little use for Thinstation.
Thinstation is based on Linux, but users may actually never
see Linux at all if you decide to connect directly to a Microsoft
Windows server, a Citrix server or a Unix server! The user will
feel he/she connects directly to the server. But if you want to,
you can have a Linux interface - a blackbox
window manager to be exact.
Thinstation also supports a MS Windows-only environment and
REQUIRES NO UNIX/Linux KNOWLEDGE (but it doesn't
harm :-).
Thinstation runs on ordinary PC hardware (x86) and is based on
Linux, which itself is Open Source and free.
You may either reuse older computers or save a lot of time on
workstation administration. Or both! An old Pentium 100 MHz with
16 MB RAM or better will be a perfectly useful workstation. And
you don't need a hard disk - you can boot off the network and even
have a fairly silent workstation.
But even with brand new hardware Thinstation is advantageous,
saving a lot of administration time (I personally did
assamble a new small mini-itx PC from its boxes AND connected to
Word on a Windows server within 19 minutes!). You can save
money too, as you can just buy entry level or mini-itx computers
and still have fast program execution (as your server permits).
With a new cpu and psu fanless and diskless mini-itx PC you may
have a powerful and completely silent workstation (and cool too,
if you have to think about air conditioning expenses).
Thinstation is able to connect to:
Citrix
servers using the ICA protocol (on top of MS Windows Server, SUN
Solaris and IBM AIX)
Microsoft
Windows Servers using the RDP protocol by rdesktop
(Windows NT4TSE, W2k Server, W2k3 Server, even XP as single user
only)
Tarantella
servers
Unix servers running X
VNC
Servers (actually tightVNC)
Telnet and SSH
(Secure SHell) servers
You just need a decent server for the users. An ordinary
quality PC with a ~2 GHz/"2000+" cpu and 1-1.5 GB ram
will easily support 20-30 users on a Windows server with, e-mail
and Word/Excel or any similar typical applications. However, it
will not work well with Auto-CAD/3D Studio Max or other
heavy duty programs.
Thinstation features:
Linux
kernel 2.4.24
XFree86
4.3
Boot media: etherboot, pxe, CD,
hard disk, compact flash
Small image size - typically
6-9 MB
Support of more than 30 locales
(national languages)
Two client side web browsers -
Dillo, Mozilla Firefox
Network booting using DHCP and
TFTP (for etherboot and pxe)
Samba
and NFS file access
Supermount (e.g. automatic
mount) of client floppies, HDs, CDs, USB storage
Sound on clients (if supported
by the server) and client connected printers (LPT and USB) - as
well as server and network printers
PS/2 and USB keyboards and
serial, ps/2 and USB mice
Scroll wheel mice
Support for syslog server (to
monitor the clients). Remote or local
Enhanced Shell with command
line editing and history
Telnet, web and VNC access to
clients so the admin can login and check logs in /var/logs and if
necessary reboot the workstation remotely. Or kill processes.
Debug package. This stops the inittab entry from working
so you start in a console mode regardless what packages you
choose, adds strace which is useful for seeing where a program
fails. When in debug mode, you can start the session manually by
going start-session 0
Hardware requirements:
Pentium Classic 100 MHz with 16
MB RAM or better (8 MB i special cases).
NIC: among others: Realtek
8139, NE2000(isa/PCi), VIA Rhine I/II, SIS 900, 3com 903/59x,
Intel eepro100, tulip... (see build.conf for a
comprehensive list).
VGA: VESA. Who needs more for a terminal anyway? OK then -
also S3 (incl. virge and savage), ATI (Radeon and earlier),
Matrox, Cirrus Logic, i740, i810, NVidia, Trident, National
Semiconductor, Tseng, VIA and more (see build.conf for a
comprehensive list).
If you are a bit handy with Linux any NIC
supported by the kernel and any VGA supported by the current
X-server can be supported by Thinstation.
::TOP::
Where does Thinstation come from
Thinstation was founded by Miles Roper as a
fork from Francisco Castro's Netstation
project. With Thinstation 2.0 not much original code resides, but
the concept does.
If this project interests you, so might PXES
(another Netstation fork) and Diet
PC by Paul Whittaker.
::TOP::
Where to get Thinstation and more information
Thinstation is hosted by www.sourceforge.net
as Thinstation.sf.net.
You'll find two mailing lists there. You may download both
precompiled images (for use in MS Windows-only environments), a
fully configurable Linux version and the entire source for all
Open Source parts.
::TOP::
How to install Thinstation
We expect you to be an adminitrator or to have similar
knowledge (or plenty of time!).
Thinstation offers both prebuilt images for use in a MS
Windows-only environment and a fully configurable setup if you
have access to a Linux box (any current distribution will do).
The prebuilt MS Windows solution allow you to connect
Thinstation clients to one or more MS Windows server (NT4TSE,
win2k, win2k3) without the need of any unix/Linux knowledge, but
still get all the client-server benefits! Read about the prebuilt
solution in http://thinstation.sourceforge.net/docs/HowTo-NetBoot.txt
by Paolo Salvan.
To build your own image you need a Linux box. First get
Thinstation from thinstation.sourceforge.net.
Unpack Thinstation-<version>.tar.gz by
tar
xvfz Thinstation-<version>.tar.gz
Next edit
build.conf to reflect your client hardware. Make it as
simple as possible in the beginning, and make it better/more
complete once it works with a basic setup. Now you build the
client image: type ./build.
What to do next depends on how you want to boot Thinstation:
(NOTE: thinstation.conf is a generic term - the is no
file just named thinstation.conf. See the details in the
section Configuring Thinstation).
- network boot with a NIC with a boot ROM:
A boot ROM is a small chip on your NIC. They are not common.
Copy everything from
boot-images/etherboot and a thinstation.conf to
your TFTPD root directory.
Edit the thinstation.conf
to match your terminal's configuration.
Add <TFTPD root dir>thinstation.nbi as the
boot file to your DHCP server's configuration.
- network boot with a NIC w/o a boot ROM using a boot floppy:
You may compensate for the lack of a boot ROM on the NIC by
making a bootable floppy. This solution is probably the most
common.
- network boot with a NIC w/o a boot ROM using a harddisk:
You may also boot using a harddisk instead of a floppy. See
Alexander Heinz's excellent guide on http://etherboot.anadex.de/.
- network boot with a PXE-aware NIC:
Copy the files and directories
in boot-images/pxe to your TFTPD root directory.
Edit the thinstation.conf
to match your terminal configuration.
Add <TFTPD root dir>pxelinux.0 as the boot
file to your DHCP server's configuration.
- boot from local storage media (hard disk, CD,
Disk-on-Chip/CF...)
Booting off local media gives you the choice of two methods:
sys/iso-linux or loadlin (DOS only). Please note you do still need
the TFTP server to deliver the thinstation.conf file
unless you adapted the thinstation.conf.buildtime
correctly and make an unique image for each computer or
you use the STORAGE_PATH option in
thinstation.conf.buildtime and have a local
thinstation.conf.user directly on the media as
STORAGE_PATH/thinstation.profile/thinstation.conf.user.
This only makes sense for RW media, whereas a RO media as a CD
depends on thinstation.conf.buildtime
CD:
syslinux:
loadlin:
PKG packages:
PKGs are plain Thinstation packages in tgz
format that is added after boot of the core system. This allows
you to exceed the 16 MB image limit. You may load PKGs both from
the TFTPD and from local media. Most packages may be PKGs. The
environment variable "PKG_PATH" in build.conf"
let you set a subdirectory to store the .pkg files.
::TOP::
Configuring Thinstation
(Contributed by B.J. Kramer - bj AT rentec com)
All client configuration is done in a
thinstation.conf.<something> file. It is possible
to have multiple thinstation.conf.<something>s -
'conf' files are looked for in this order:
thinstation.conf.buildtime
(puts config directives in the boot image)
thinstation.conf.network
(default config, pulled from tftp server)
thinstation.hosts (contains host, MAC, and group
mappings)
- if thinstation.hosts exists, the following file(s) are
looked for (careful! Note where to use "." and where to
use "-"):
Next - or if no thinstation.hosts was found - these files are
requested:
thinstation.conf-<hostname> (e.g. thinstation.conf-my_pc)
thinstation.conf-<IP ADDRESS> (e.g. thinstation.conf-192.168.1.2)
thinstation.conf-<MAC ADDRESS> (e.g. thinstation.conf-112233445566)
thinstation.conf.user (locally stored
configuration, placed as
STORAGE_PATH/thinstation.profile/thinstation.conf.user)
Each file that is found is downloaded, and then the client
looks for the next file in the list. So a client will start with
whatever you had defined in thinstation.conf.buildtime
when you built the image. Then it checks the TFTP server: the
first thing is looks for is thinstation.conf.network
(which typically exists), and it reads in all of its settings.
Then the client requests thinstation.hosts. If there
is a thinstation.hosts on the TFTP
server, the client will read in all available group config files
(one at a time) that are found on the line matching the host's
name and MAC address; Otherwise (or next, if thinstation.hosts
was found), it will check for a hostname-specific conf file;
then an IP-specific conf file; and finally a MAC address-specific conf file.
A few notes about this process:
conf files are NOT mutually
exclusive. All valid conf files that are read during the boot
process are used. So you can, for example, define some sessions
in thinstation.conf.network, some special application
for certain users in thinstation.conf.group-specialapp,
and add additional video driver parameters for the one user with
a super-high-resolution video cards in
thinstation.conf-hirezmachine. Things only start to get
tricky when you realize that you can have the same configuration
directive(s) in any or all of the conf files the client reads;
then you need to know the order in which they were read to figure
out which one's directives will take precedence (which will be
the last one read).
All conf files EXCEPT
thinstation.conf.buildtime and thinstation.conf.user
are stored on the TFTP server:
- thinstation.conf.buildtime
is part of the Thinstation distribution; it only gets read when
the boot image is first created. The directives in this file, if
included, become the defaults for Thinstation, but will likely be
overridden by any of the other conf files.
-
thinstaion.conf.user is stored on local media (e.g., the
hard drive of the client computer with the path
STORAGE_PATH/thinstation.profile/thinstation.conf.user),
and its configuration directives override ALL other conf files.
The client will only know to look for this file if thinstation.conf.buildtime
is properly configured with the STORAGE_PATH setting.
- you
can change where on the TFTP server the other files are
kept by changing the 'basepath' value in build.conf, and
you can even change the names of all of these files from
thinstation.conf* to somethingelse.conf* by
changing the basename value in build.conf.
Creating a thinstation.hosts
file is necessary in order to take advantage of using conf files
for machines specified by name or groups. If all of your clients
are exactly the same and your users have the same needs, you can
probably just create a single thinstation.conf.network
and put all the configuration settings in there, and you're done.
Most users, however, will probably want the thinstation.hosts
file. Take a look at thinstation.hosts.example; you'll
notice that you can have multiple groups associated with each
host. The groups' conf files are read in the order they are
listed on that line, so the 'later' on the line the group is, the
more significance it has.
Beware you can't add features in a
thinstation.conf<something> not already build into
the image (pre-built or defined by your own build by build.conf)!
(ie, defining an ICA session in a config file won't help you if
you didn't include the ICA package in build.conf).
And now to Qs and As:
Booting Thinstation:
NIC, video and peripheral questions:
Thinstation as a workstation:
Unix servers:
MS Windows/Citrix servers:
Misc:
Q: Can I have individual configuration files
for different clients?
A: Yes. In your
TFTP server's download directory you just create a configuration
file named thinstation.conf-<ip address> (e.g.
thinstation.conf-192.168.1.2) or thinstation.conf-<MAC
address> (e.g. thinstation.conf-12AB34CD56EF). A
file just named thinstation.conf.network will be the
default configuration.
If you have made a thinstation.hosts
file (which maps MAC addresses to host names) you can name the
configuration file thinstation.conf-<host name>
(e.g. thinstation.conf-peter). Much easier to remember.
*
Q: Can I have individual image files for
different clients?
A: Easily - if you
boot off a local media, but it is not so easy with network boot.
Usually the DHCP server tells the client to ask the TFTP server
for one specific image. However, you can let the DHCP server
detect the clients MAC address first and then hand out a specific
ip address AND a unique image file name to the client. This way
you lose some of the flexibility of using DHCP, but you get a more
secure network, since you are in control of which NICs are
acceptable to get net access. Normally you should be able to make
a comprehensive image which covers any clients and then use the
conf file to select the needed modules for the individual client.
However, please note that you do have a size limit for the image
file of 16 MB. If you get too close to 16 MB, then make some
packages "pkgs" - that will place them outside the image
but still work as included
*
Q:Which
mouse protocol to use ?
A:For a
traditional serial mouse (rhombic 9 pin connector) you probably
need the MICROSOFT protocol. Mice with a PS/2 connector
(small round one) needs ... PS/2 :-). However, wheel PS/2
and USB mice need the IMPS/2 variant. For unsual mice see
www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/XFree86-Second-Mouse.html#PROTOCOL.
*
Q: How do I get the scroll wheel on my mouse
to work?
A: Assuming the server and the
server software application supports the scroll wheel, all you
have to do is to change one line in the thinstation.conf:
From:
X_MOUSE_PROTOCOL="PS/2"
To:
X_MOUSE_PROTOCOL="IMPS/2"
Remember
to hard reboot your Thinstation afterwards.
*
Q:How
do I get my USB mouse to work?
A: You
will need to use X_MOUSE_DEVICE=/dev/input/mice in
thinstation.conf to support a USB mouse, in addition to
including the "usb-hid" in build.conf.
*
Q:
The X font server doesn't work
A: Make
sure you use the right tcp port on the font server e.g.
X_FONT_SERVER=192.168.1.2:7100 (at least Red Hat uses
port 7100 but check with your distro) in thinstation.conf.
*
Q:
I can't connect to a unix server using X (just black screen and
mouse pointer)
A: Make sure XDMCP is
running on the server and accepts connections. There is a good
step-by-step procedure at
www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/XDMCP-HOWTO/procedure.html
(not Red Hat specific).
*
Q: The Thinstation X server doesn't start -
it keeps on trying and trying.
A: First
make sure you have setup the mouse correctly. A misconfigured
mouse can prevent X from starting! Go figure... Next make sure you
have built in the correct driver in the image. Try the VESA driver
alternatively (any video card should be VESA compatible). Make
sure X_HORIZSYNC and X_VERTREFRESH in
thinstation.conf has the correct values. X servers can be
very picky about this! If you have trouble finding the
right modes, have a look at
www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO
*
Q: Poor colors and no sound connecting to a
MS Windows server with RDP (rdesktop)
A:
NT4TSE and Windows 2000 Server only support 8 bit (256) colors.
Windows 2003 Server support 24 bit color (16. millions) and XP 16
bit (65536) colors. Make sure to have a "-a 24" or "-a
16" as command line option in thinstation.conf.
However,
make sure you run the Thinstation client at at least 16 bit color.
You may get strange results if both the Thinstation client and the
MS Windows server use 8 bit color maps.
Windows 2003 support
sound redirect (if configured properly). Use the "-r sound"
command line option.
*
Q: Psychodelic colors when using 8 bit colors with RDP (rdesktop)
A:
This happens when both the Thinstation client and rdesktop is configured to use 8 bit color.
The problem is that with that few colors (256), a palette is used to define the color scheme,
and this has to be share among all applications. The solution is to run the Thinstation client
in either 15, 16 or 24 bit color depth.
*
Q: Faulty keyboard layout with MS Windows
server using RDP (rdesktop)
A: Rdesktop
has a few problems with some non-US keyboards. Check out the
rdesktop CVS to see which has already been fixed.
If you report
a keyboard problem to the mailing lists, please follow this guide:
keyboard-guide.html
*
Q:Flickering
display with animated content in MSIE
A:
See this
knowledgbase entry. Easy in IE6, but requires a registry hack
in 5.5. Thanks to Chris McKeever for this one.
*
Q: My
BFG9000-Pro mk. III-c (or whatever) graphics card ain't supported
by Thinstation. But XFree86 supports it!
A:
If there is a driver for for your video card and it is for the
same XFree86 version as Thinstation use (currently 4.3)
and if it is compiled with GCC 2.95 (this is common), then support
it yourself :-) Create the directory
structure
<base>/packages/xf4-<name>/lib/X11/modules/drivers/
Put
the driver itself (<name>.o) there and chmod it
into -rwxr-xr-x. Edit build.conf and add
xf4-<name> as a module and rebuild. And done!
If
there isn't any XFree86 support you still might still try the VESA
driver, though.
*
Q:
My NIC does support PXE but PXE boot doesn't work
A:
If you have an early PXE implementation, it might be buggy. See
http://syslinux.zytor.com/faq.php.
Version 2.0 or newer is preferable. Most NIC manufacturer make
update to the PXE bios, which may be upgraded.
However, double
check your DHCP/TFTPD setup.
*
Q:
My NIC doesn't support PXE and making/buying a boot ROM for it is
out of the question. Can't I just boot off a hard disk?
A:
Sure. Make a small DOS
(FAT12 or FAT16) partition and use loadlin
or syslinux to boot
(loadlin is simple, syslinux offers more candy). See How
to install Thinstation.
Sub-Q1: How
much disk space do I need then?
Sub-A1:
8 to 10 mega bytes if you can afford it.
Sub-Q2: So little!? Couldn't I use a USB keyring or a Compact
Flash Card instead?
Sub-A2:Yes
- see Lars Karlslund's contributed Compact
Flash card + syslinux boot HOWTO.
*
Q:Can
I boot off a CD (KNOPPIX style)?
A: Yes.
That's what the Thinstation boot CD does! You can use Thinstation
without ever touching your PC's harddisk.
*
Q: Can I
boot off a CD if my BIOS/CD doesn't support boot?
A:
Yes, with a little help from a boot floppy: Smart
Boot Manager.
*
Q:
Can I boot off just a floppy?
A: Well,
you can mimic etherboot with a floppy even if your NIC doesn't
have a boot ROM. This mean you can use a floppy to connect to the
DHCP and TFTP server and download the rest. Maybe a bit slow
during boot, but it works well.
Goto http://www.rom-o-matic.net/
and download an image for your NIC. Follow the instructions on
that site to make a net bootable floppy.
*
Q:Can't
I avoid the TFTP server?
A:Yes, but
obviously only if you boot from local media. If you don't need any
reconfiguration of Thinstation once it is built, you just hardwire
all configuration with thinstation.conf.buildtime
Otherwise
you have to set STORAGE_PATH=... correctly in
thinstation.conf.buildtime and supply a
thinstation.conf.user with the path
STORAGE_PATH/thinstation.profile/thinstation.conf.user.
*
Q:Can't
I avoid the DHCP server?
A:You must boot
from a local media then. Setup all the network parameters in
thinstation.conf.buildtime build the image.
*
Q: Cool! I just run MS Windows on a server
and save all the licence money!
A: Well,
that would be illegal.
In order to connect with terminal services to your Windows
server from Thinstation, each client must have:
(note the difference between CAL and TS-CAL. A TS-CAL is more
expensive than a CAL). Please read here for a more detailed and
authoritative answer:
www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server/howtobuy/pricing/tsfaq.asp
Also, Brian Madden has a good page on Windows
2003 licensing.
So, using Thinstation you save:
*
Q:How do I use 128 bit encryption with ICA?
A:Add
param icaencryption true
to build.conf and
ICA_ENCRYPTION="RC5 (128 bit)"
to a thinstation.conf.
*
Q:
Can Thinstation be a light Linux workstation - or how do I get
root access?
A:Well, if you really push
it, yes you can have a workstation, sort of. At least you can have
a stand alone Linux unit. You'll have very few tools and no
compilers etc, though. To login in text mode you have to press
Ctrl-Alt-F2 (even if you are in rdesktop or ICA mode or
what-ever). Login as root. The password is pleasechangeme
as default (Change it!!! - see below). If you prefer a X
interface, boot up in blackbox and make a telnet to localhost.
*
Q:
How do I change the root password - and should I change it?
A:
YES! You really must change it! Why?
Hmmm - only you, me and the rest of the internet know the default
root password is pleasechangeme... And you shouldn't
trust me :-)
The password is set in build.conf
*
Q: Can the clients have a /etc/hosts
file the usual unix style?
A: Yes and no.
There is no traditional editable hosts file, but you may
tweak the Thinstation setup to support the same functionallity.
Edit the file packages/base/etc/init.d/network at line
283 (just before # Add Mac Address to .conf file) and
add:
echo "192.168.1.2 my_server1" >>
/etc/hosts
echo "192.168.1.3 my_server2" >>
/etc/hosts
(use your own relevant numbers and names). Note
the double >>. You can add as many as you need. Rebuild.
*
Q:How are the clients named networkwise when
using DHCP?
A: As default they are named
ts_<MAC address>. "ts_" is defined in
thinstation.conf by the NET_HOSTNAME entry. You
may change this, but if you use more than three characters the MAC
address will be truncated.
However, you may make the file
thinstation.hosts in the root directory (where the kernel
and the image is) to link a name with the MAC-address. The syntax
is:
# You can have any amount of spaces/tabs between
names
#
HOST MAC GROUPS COMMENTS
bigboss 000103014152 printer
hires # On Miles Desk
daffy 0060082FCBE8 #
Daffy's workstation
donald 00A02403B0BE printer #
Donald's workstation
This will name the clients
bigboss, daffy and donald.
*
Q:
What is the group configs about?
A:
Imagine you have a LOT of Thinstations. Some are old Pentium
Classics, some are newer and have a printer attached and some have
a good VGA and large, new monitors. Instead of making individual
config-files for all your Thinstations you can group them with
thinstation.hosts and create a
thinstation.conf.group-<group name> (e.g
thinstation.conf.group-printer). A
thinstation.conf.group-<group name> is just another
thinstation.conf with a different name (as is
thinstation.conf.buildtime). Be careful with all these
"thinstation.conf" variants: the latest read
will overrule an earlier read. See Configuring
Thinstation
*
Q:Why does
TS try to download the config file from a TFTP server when I boot
from a local media?
A: Because you did
not set NET_USE_TFTP=Off in thinstation.conf.buildtime!
*
Q:
Do you have more docs on ICA, rdesktop, tarantella,
blackbox...
A:We don't really doc the
connectivity packages (ica, rdesktop...) since the guys and gals
behind them has more knowledge and does it much better than we can
do. Search at the parent package's homepage and get better
advice.
*
Q:My
keyboard layout isn't supported or is broken
A:See
the keyboard
request guide. However, see also Faulty
keyboard layout with MS Windows server using RDP (rdesktop)
*
Q:
Can I add my own package to Thinstation?
A:Yes.
It requires some Linux/programming skills, though.
Make a
folder in packages and make a copy of the package
template and distribute all your files in the directory
layout the Thinstation style, i.e. packages/<your app>/bin
and packages/<your app>/lib. Don't use sbin,
put everything in bin. Also, don't use var, or
usr, these are just symlinks to tmp, everything
in temp is created through the etc/init.d/XXXX scripts.
Use /etc/init.d/XXXX scripts to do all your initilization
as only tmp is writable. All other files are read-only,
so anything which needs to be changed, needs to be a symlink to a
file in temp. You need to link against glibc 2.1.3 (available
precompiled from the thinstation-developer source code).
You'll
find ldd very useful to determine dependencies.
*
::TOP::
DHCP- and TFTP-Server configuration
Thinstation normally needs (at least) three servers to work: a
DHCP, a TFTP server and one or more application server(s). These
may very well be the very same computer hardwarewise. But if you
boot from local media you can avoid the DHCP and/or TFTP server.
However, if you have many clients you would probably prefere both
a DHCP and a TFPT server to make your life easier.
DO NOT
INSTALL ANY SERVERS ON YOUR NETWORK UNLESS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO
SO! They may conflict with existing servers on your network making
you very unpopular...
DHCP
A DHCP server (or "daemon" in the unix/Linux world)
hands out an ip number for your client upon request and names the
TFTP server as well as the name of the download directory and the
client image on the TFTP server.
Windows 2000/2003 DHCP
servers works fine, but if you use a Windows NT4 server you need
Service Pack 4+ (you should have SP6 anyway). Any current Linux
DHCP daemon is fine IFAIK, but you would probably choose DHCP3
by isc.org. Paul Whittaker has a
great piece on Windows 2000 and DHCP here.
And there is a fine Linux guide at www.Linux.org.
TFTP
The TFTP server manages the download of the boot image to the
client.
The TFTP server must support the "tsize"
option when using PXE boot. The Red Hat 7.3 TFTPD does not support
this option. atftp
does. Newer Red Hat versions should be ok.
Stolen directly from Paul Whittaker's
http://diet-PC.sourceforge.net/setup.html#tftp
(May 2003):
--
Now install and activate the TFTP server on
your designated boot server. UNIX-like operating systems will come
with a TFTP server package (although it may not be installed by
default), but you may have to obtain a third party package for
other O/Ss. See the Windows
2000 Etherboot HowTo for TFTP options available for Windows
platforms. To activate the TFTP server on Red Hat Linux, install
the TFTP server RPM, set disable=no in /etc/xinetd.d/tftp and
restart xinetd using "sh /etc/initd.d/xinetd restart".
Set "umask 022" to ensure world-readability, create your
TFTP root directory (usually /tftpboot) if required.
--
The MS Windows servers come with a build-in TFTP server called
"Remote Installation Service". However, it needs a
domain controller to work, unless you use a hack
by Morgan Simonsen (mind you - you still need a valid MS Windows
server licens).
An other possibility to get a small and simple combined DHCP
and TFTP server for MS Windows is http://tftpd32.jounin.net/
(supports "tsize" for PXE boot). To run it automatically
as a service, use FireDaemon
(free for non-commercial purposes).
Check out Zack Forsyth's
excellent guide Running
a non-RIS TFTP server as a service in MS Windows server
concerning this.
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