I'm reading up to play around with a small farm. I've seen some discussion on LTSP and diskless machines.
The way I want to set it up is:

.............existing netw.
....................................\\
.....................................\\
ws1-\\..............................\\
ws2--hub-LTSPserver--router--internet
ws3-/
(hope this comes out readable...)

I want to monitor the farm from the existing network. Problen is, Im not that great with linux. Now im using boincview to monitor my windows (10+) machines.

1. Is it possible to, and..
2. how do I go about setting upp BV with rpc support on the ltsp server, since the installs from all the workstations is hosted on that single machine?
3. Is there a better option

/Anton

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I have a few machines in my farm (40+ so maybe a ranch).
There are a couple of machines at home with the rest at work.

I can VPN into the work network and run boincview from home and see all of the machines. Its a bit slow but it does work.

not sure if your network setup is similar, can't read your network model but it works for me.

You could also ask the question on the boincview forum here

[edit for typos]

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I have also some problems to understand your network setup....

Are ws1...3 in the same subnet like LTSPServer ?
Is the LTSPServer connected in the subnet of your workstations ? - Btw. what do you mean with LTSP ?
What OS did the diskless and the LTSP system have ?
Do you wan't to let boinc view run on the LSTP server ? - Or is it installed a other system which connects over the internet ? - So the a VPN, like UBT-AJS has described it, could be a solution.

In general, it would be posible to install a boinc client to a diskless system. But you shoud mount the directory within the boinc binary and data from a other server (via NFS or SAMBA). A RAM disk should be risky and made some problems with the syncronisation of the data.
If you have the diskless systems in a seperate subnet, you must route the traffic throuht the LTSPServer, or install a http proxy (for example squid) on your server and configure your boinc clients as a proxy client.

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sorry about the lousy schematics...

LTSP- Linux Terminal Server Project (www.ltsp.org, www.k12ltsp.org)
Described, among other places, here: http://forums.teamphoenixrising.net/showthread.php?t=32394
I'ts based on redhat. (fedora core 4). (There is also a possibility to implement it into ubuntu, but I don't feel im quite 'there' yet in my understanding of linux. Its said to be more of a hassle to install.)

Its a way to run clients without harddrives.

The ltsp server is just another computer on my home network with direct access to internet thru the wan router.
The ws1-3 (and so on) computers are on their own subnet connected to the ltsp server, It has two network adapters. One for the ws1- computers, one to to the rest of the network.

The crunchers will be diskless and pxe boot from the ltsp server.
All the clients have their own directories on the server harddrive.

Yeah, I'll probably get around to ask the question at the BVforum as well...I just thought I'd start someplace :)

But youre probably right Dotsch, to enable rpc connections I'll probably need to route the traffic tru the ltsp server. If I, on the other hand, just connedt to the output files, it should be sufficient just to link to the client directory on the servers harddrive, right?

But I am curious as to if anyone is monitoring this kind of setup another way.
(edit:typos, its saturday night ;))
/anton

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But youre probably right Dotsch, to enable rpc connections I'll probably need to route the traffic tru the ltsp server. If I, on the other hand, just connedt to the output files, it should be sufficient just to link to the client directory on the servers harddrive, right?

But I am curious as to if anyone is monitoring this kind of setup another way.
(edit:typos, its saturday night ;))
/anton

Thanks for the clarifications.

The RPC is only for the GUI or Commandline access to the boinc clients. So you have not to route it. Because your diskless systems and your Server are in the same subnet.
The boinc clients on your diskless systems will connect to the seti servers with http. So you must route it through your server, or install a http proxy on the server, which forwards the requests to the seti servers.

I would recommend you to mount the direcory with the boinc data and binaries on your diskless system via NFS or SAMBA from your server.

I see no problem in the setup, which you wan't to do.

Somewhere in the forums and/or in the seti newsgroups was the diskless toppics discused, too.

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Yes this is possible, with a standard LTSP Server (Fedora Core 4 if you take the latest release) the RPC will reach the subnet with your workstations.

LTSP can split the diskless machines into another logical subnet if you desire, but this in itself wouldn't stop you running the RPC. You would, however, need to change the firewall on the LTSP server to allow this, as it does not by default allow access from the LAN side of the network to the individual workstations.

It will, however, route, and so I cheat with my LTSP "farm" by putting the BOINCView machine on the same subnet as the diskless workstations i.e. on the same side of the server and therefore the firewall. As this machine only needs access to the internet (nothing on the internet needs access to any services on it) this works fine.

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