HOWTO:

Skolelinux setup with thin clients and printer

Table of Contents

1 Installation of the thin client server – technical information	3

1 Standard Installation:	3

2 Adding Openoffice	3

2 Setting up a thin-client	4

1 PXE-setup:	4

2 Exeption for thin clients with floppy:	4

3 Error messages:	4

3 Installing a floppy firewall	6

1 Creating the firewall floppy (Using FloppyFW)	6

2 Configuring the floppy firewall	6

4 Appendixes	8

1 Installing main server with thin client server	8

2 Upgrading the server	9

3 Configuration of the Thin Client Server	10

Deactivate the PXE-floppy disk:	10

Activate the PXE on the network card:	10

4 Make a boot-floppy for thin clients without PXE	11

5 Printer installation	12

6 Installation Checklist	14

Firewall	14

Main server/Thin client server	14

Thin clients	14

Program packages	14

Printer	14

Installation of the thin client server – technical information

Look in appendix for more spesific user guidance

Standard Installation:

Start the installation by booting from the latest Skolelinux-CD.

The installation will ask you several questions:

Language you want on this machine:
Enter as preferred

Profiles to install:
You kneed to select both the «Main server» and «Thin client server» profiles

Automatic partitioning: accept this (NOTE: don't do this if there's any important data on the machine

When prompted chose a password for root (the administrator-account)

Adding Openoffice

tjener:~# vi /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free

deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/debian/ woody main contrib non-free

deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/debian-non-US/ woody/non-US main contrib non-free

deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux/ woody local

deb http://developer.skulelinux.no/~gautehk/ooo-deb ./

tjener:~# apt-get update

tjener:~# apt-get upgrade

Setting up a thin-client

PXE-setup:

tjener:~# vi /etc/dhcpd.conf

# Default LTSP configuration

# filename "/tftpboot/lts/vmlinuz-2.4.19-ltsp-1";

# Use the line below if *all* the thin clients use PXE

filename "/tftpboot/lts/pxelinux.0";

Exeption for thin clients with floppy:

host ltsp010 {

hardware ethernet 00:90:27:BA:67:AE;

fixed-address 192.168.0.10;

filename "/tftpboot/lts/vmlinuz-2.4.19-ltsp-1";

#filename "/tftpboot/lts/pxelinux.0";

#option option-128 e4:45:74:68:00:00;

#option option-129 "NIC=3c509";

}

Error messages:

PXE-E79: NBP is too big to fit in free base memory.

The error message realy says that a file from the thin client server is to large to fitt in the «PXE-memory». Most likly it's the file «inuz-4-1-19-ltsp-1». It could be the wrong file at the floppy, or som wrong parametres on the configuration file on the server. It could also be a noen correct restart of the dhcp-server (it's a bug in the version of dhcpd that is deistributed with Debian 3.0r1).

Check the configuration in /etc/dhcpd.conf

In my case it was the dhcp-server that caused the problem.

I found out that the dhcp-service diden't stop, even if it gave the following message in the consoll:

tjener:~# /etc/init.d/dhcp restart

Stopping DHCP server: dhcp.

Starting DHCP server: dhcp.

It's a bug. I is a work around with enforcing the server to stop, and then restart it.

tjener:~# /etc/init.d/dhcp stop

Check the dhcp-process number:

tjener:~# ps aux |grep dhcp

root 12117 0.0 0.5 1768 756 ? S 04:57 0:00 /usr/sbin/dhcpd-2.2.x -q eth0 eth1

root 12970 0.0 0.5 1676 680 pts/1 S 05:36 0:00 grep dhcp

The process number is: 12117

I forced the termination of the process with the command:

tjener:~# kill -9 12117

I could see that the dhcp service was stopped by the command:

tjener:~# ps aux |grep dhcp

root 12972 0.0 0.5 1672 672 pts/1 S 05:37 0:00 grep dhcp

Then I stared the dhcp-service again:

tjener:~# /etc/init.d/dhcp start

Starting DHCP server: dhcp.

Then the PXE-boot worked for the thin client

(Later you just need to restart the dhcp)

/etc/init.d/dhcp restart

Installing a floppy firewall

Creating the firewall floppy (Using FloppyFW)

Download the newest version from:
http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw

Make a floppy with the image you just downloaded image, by executing:
~# dd if=./floppyfw-2.9.5.img of=/dev/fd0
from within the directory where you downloaded the image, the ouput of this command should look like this:
2880+0 blocks in
2880+0 blocksr out
Check that the number of blocks in and out is the same. If not something is wrong with either the floppy or the image.

This floppy now contains a firewall

Configuring the floppy firewall

Mount the floppy against the /floppy directory as root (superuser). Remember that nothing is saved on the disk befoere you have unmounted /floppy !

~# mount /dev/fd0 /floppy

We have to edit the config-file in FloppyFW (you can use other text-editors than vi)

~# vi /floppy/config

(Remember to use the Insert-button to switch form view-modus to edit-modus)

# CONNECT_TYPE=DHCP

CONNECT_TYPE=EXTERNAL

#Inside info

Inside IP:	10.0.2.1

Netmask:	255.255.254.0

#Outside info

Outside IP:	148.83.4.83

Netmask:	255.255.252.0

Gateway:	148.83.4.1

To save the config-file, press <ESC> :wq

~# umount /floppy

Then you can remove the floppy, and start the firewall-machine with it.

Look in appendix for more spesific user guidance

http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw

Version:	FloppyFW versjon 2.9.5.

~# /floppy/config:

# CONNECT_TYPE=DHCP

CONNECT_TYPE=EXTERNAL

#Inside info

Inside IP:	10.0.2.1

Netmask:	255.255.254.0

#Outside info

Outside IP:

Netmask:

Gateway:

Appendixes

Installing main server with thin client server

Upgrading the server

Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list (remove the # in at the beginning of the lines)

deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free

deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/debian/ woody main contrib non-free

deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/debian-non-US/ woody/non-US main contrib non-free

deb ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux/ woody local

deb http://developer.skulelinux.no/~gautehk/ooo-deb ./

The last line for OpenOffice (Norwegian version), I found here: http://developer.skolelinux.no/openoffice

Therafter we use the package system from Debian, also known as apt for full package management and upgrading over Internet.

~# apt-get update

~# apt-get upgrade

Do you want a spesific package use the command's:

Vil du installere en spesifikk pakke bruker du kommandoene

tjener:~# apt-cache search package navn <- Search for a package with package name

tjener:~# apt-get install pakke <- Installing the required package

tjener:~# apt-get remove pakke <- Remove the required pakke

Configuration of the Thin Client Server

I use vi as the editor in this exsample. If you are familiar with an other editor, you can use that insted. vi basicly works like this when opening a file: Use the button Insert to write and change the file. When you are done press ESC : wq (wq=write and quit – if you just want to quit, press :q)

~# vi /etc/dhcpd.conf

Deactivate the PXE-floppy disk:

Scroll down to you find this line: (You will deactivate the line by setting # at the beginning of the line)

filename	”/tftpboot/lts/vmlinuz-2.4.19-ltsp-1”;

# filename	”/tftpboot/lts/vmlinuz-2.4.19-ltsp-1”;

If you lett a dont deactivate the boot-image with #, then you have to use a boot-floppy at every thin client. Then you have to know the MAC-adress for every network card to get the thin clients on the air.

Look at the appendix for making a floppy-disk for starting a thin client with ltsp.

Activate the PXE on the network card:

The two lines under gives the direction to the PXE-boot mechanism. Remove the # at the beginning of the line:

# filename	”/tftpboot/lts/pxelinux.0”;

filename	”/tftpboot/lts/ pxelinux.0”;

If the line isn't there, write it in after the deactivated boot-floppy-line.

At the end you have to restart the dhcp-servic on the server.

/etc/init.d/dhcp restart

At the command line you will see:

Stopping DHCP server: dhcp.
Starting DHCP server: dhcp.

Hvis If you get into troubles, look at the chapter with error messages.

Make a boot-floppy for thin clients without PXE

Go to http://www.rom-o-matic.com and the newest release.

From there, select the type + modell of your network card, and download the image. Therafter you have to insert a new diskett in your machine (server) and put the image on a floppy.

You often have to use PCI IDs for available NICs to find the right image.

The image has been downloaded, and you can make a floppy-image by this command:

dd if=./imageavbootdiskett.img of=/dev/fd0

./ show's that I'm in my home directory.

You will get:

2323 blocks in

2323 blocks out

If the numbers differ, the floppy could be damaged, or the image is not downloaded propably.

If the numbers are corresponding, then the diskett is ready to start the thin client from the floppy:

You have to enter bios when starting the thin client. Chose floppy-drive (a:) as first boot-device.

When this is done, you can restart the thin client and watch if the machine starts as a thin client from the floppy.

If you got the right configuration for the client, the thin client will load the kernel and X-server from the main server.

VARNING: It's pretty often that this dont happens, so you have to quality-ensure the steps once more, expecially with MAC-numbers and the boot-image at the floppy for the right network-card.

Alto check the cables, hardware (network card), or the configuration of the thin client server (MAC-adresses in /etc/dhcpd.conf). If this dosent help, you most probably have chosen the wrong floppy-image from http://www.rom-o-matic.com . Also try a new floppy. Floppy is a deleicat storage media that could be easily damaged.

Printer installation

Stick the information to the printer, or add the MAC-adress

Go to the CUPS-configuratrion through a browser with the adress: http://localhost:631

Give the printer a name, and were it is:

Chouse right device:

Give the IP-adress to the printer as shown:

Chose the right printer type:

Chose the right printer modell:

The installation is done. Standard papper format is letter. You have to configure the printer to the right paper format (A4 for instance).

Installation Checklist

Firewall

Is the firewall configured right?:	........................

Main server/Thin client server

Main server/Thin client server is installed:	........................

Main server/Thin client is updatet with the newest packages:	........................

Main server/Thin client has the right thin client configuration:	........................

Thin clients

Thin client with PXE-card is starting correct:	........................

Thin client with floppy-disk is starting correct:	........................

Thin clents get connected to Internet:	........................

Program packages

Is OpenOffice installed as the newest version:	........................

Is OpenOffice available from the thin client:	........................

Does the spell cheker works with OpenOffice:	........................

Printer

Is the printer configured correct:	........................

Printer on the server:	........................

Printer on a thin client:	........................

Can a user print from a thin client:	........................

HOWTO: Skolelinux with thin clients	From: Peder Karterud

24.10.2003	Side 14/14

Peder Karterud

2003-10-16T08:49:39

Peder Karterud