help with replicating configuration/disk/software to many machines - need food for thoughts

Hello all,

I have a network of 200 PCs and I need to install RedHat Fedora (2 is coming
on all of them.
The problem I will face is that from time to time, update or installation of
software is needed, or a change in configuration will be needed.
Obviously it is not beneficial to do this for every PC, every time a change
is needed
What are my options? From what I understand, what I need is a setup that
similar to think-clients model.
How do I implement this?

Thank you all in advance for your time.
Theophanis

Theophanis Kontogiannis wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> I have a network of 200 PCs and I need to install RedHat Fedora (2 is coming
> on all of them.
> The problem I will face is that from time to time, update or installation of
> software is needed, or a change in configuration will be needed.
> Obviously it is not beneficial to do this for every PC, every time a change
> is needed
> What are my options? From what I understand, what I need is a setup that
> similar to think-clients model.
> How do I implement this?

For 200 clients a local mirror for Fedora seems wise;
you might add software to it, and run up2date/yum from cron.
Disguise config changes as software update by putting them in
pre-/post-install scripts. -job

"Theophanis Kontogiannis" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<c7t93f$h2q$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Hello all,
>
> I have a network of 200 PCs and I need to install RedHat Fedora (2 is coming
> on all of them.
> The problem I will face is that from time to time, update or installation of
> software is needed, or a change in configuration will be needed.
> Obviously it is not beneficial to do this for every PC, every time a change
> is needed
> What are my options? From what I understand, what I need is a setup that
> similar to think-clients model.
> How do I implement this?
>
> Thank you all in advance for your time.
> Theophanis

Sounds like an interesting project. Like most things in Linux you have
a myriad of options.

I manage 30 servers running slackware and redhat but my methods sould
be esaily scalable to 200. I use rsync and ssh to install and update
software on multiple servers. Sometimes you can rsync the binaries
with no problems, other times you have to rsync the tar ball plus a
script and then use rsh "/path/to/script" to install.

I also use these commands to set the time, check for disk space, etc..

Backups are easy. See the rsync section of
http://barry.hrp.com/backups.html

Other things I do include, checking that services are running and
sending a mail or pager message if there's a problem.

I'd be happy to post some of my scripts if you think they would be
helpful. Let me know.

Best of luck.

Bazzz

"Theophanis Kontogiannis" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<c7t93f$h2q$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Hello all,
>
> I have a network of 200 PCs and I need to install RedHat Fedora (2 is coming
> on all of them.
> The problem I will face is that from time to time, update or installation of
> software is needed, or a change in configuration will be needed.
> Obviously it is not beneficial to do this for every PC, every time a change
> is needed
> What are my options? From what I understand, what I need is a setup that
> similar to think-clients model.
> How do I implement this?
>
> Thank you all in advance for your time.
> TheophanisSounds like an interesting project. Like most things in Linux you have a myriad of options.

I manage 30 servers running slackware and redhat but my methods sould
be esaily scalable to 200. I use rsync and ssh to install and update
software on multiple servers. Sometimes you can rsync the binaries
with no problems, other times you have to rsync the tar ball plus a
script and then use rsh "/path/to/script" to install.

I also use these commands to set the time, check for disk space, etc..

Backups are easy. See the rsync section of
http://barry.hrp.com/backups.html

Other things I do include, checking that services are running and
sending a mail or pager message if there's a problem.

I'd be happy to post some of my scripts if you think they would be
helpful. Let me know.

Best of luck.

Bazzz