DRBL

Diskless Remote Boot in Linux
About
News
Screenshots
Related Articles
Download
Installation
Management
SAN Boot
Clonezilla
DRBL-winroll
FAQ/Q&A
Forum
Mailing Lists
Developers
Contributors
Related links
[Preamble] [Requirements] [Install] [Upgrade] [Uninstall] [Bug report] [Reference]

1. Preamble

This document describes the steps to setup the "DRBL" environment in:
  • Debian Bullseye (11.x), Debian Buster (10.x).
  • Ubuntu Jammy (22.04) (Snaps packages are not supported in DRBL client), Focal (20.04),
  • CentOS 7.
  • Scientific Linux 7.x, RHEL 7.x, (Use drblsrv-offline)
    Sorry but it will NOT work in other distributions or versions.
///NOTE/// The DRBL installation on GNU/Linux system is a little complicated to a newbie. If what you want DRBL is to use Clonezilla SE (Server Edition), we suggest you use DRBL live or Clonezilla lite server, which could be put on a CD or USB flash drive so you do not need to install and configure DRBL. You can find DRBL live on download page, and Clonezilla lite server on Clonezilla website.

2. Basic hardware requirements

  • Check here for more details.

3. Setup the DRBL environment

    I. Prepare the Linux server
    II. Install the required packages on server
    III. Setup the file system for the clients
    IV. Prepare the clients
    V. DRBL system administration

4. Upgrade

    If newer DRBL packages are available, and you want to upgrade, you can do it by:
    • Backup the important files, such as those files in /etc/drbl and /etc/dhcpd.conf or /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf, etc...
    • Run "drblsrv -u" to uninstall all the DRBL-related packages
    • Follow the step II, download the drbl main program, re-install and configure it again (i.e. "drblsrv -i" and "drblpush -i")
    Sometimes if the versions are close, maybe you can try to upgrade the packages without re-install and re-configure it (i.e. just use apt-get update; apt-get upgrade or yum upgrade). However, this is not recommended, since some of the files will only be deployed to clients after drblsrv and drblpush are run.

5. Uninstall

    To uninstall DRBL, run: "drblsrv -u", then follow it to uninstall DRBL and related packages.

6. Bug report

    If you find any bug or any problem, please follow this to report:
    • Excute "drbl-bug-report", then you will get a report (refer to this example). Please follow the the format to fill your description.
    • Mail that to DRBL user mailing list drbl-user _at_ lists sourceforge net (You have to subscribe to that mailing list), or post that in the DRBL forum.

7. References

    Please check this.