nfsroot.conf(5)

📦
version 6.6ubuntu1 · 2 versions
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 nfsroot.conf — the nfsroot config for FAI 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is nfsroot.conf(5) and it's literally the file that makes your install server make sense. 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

/etc/fai/nfsroot.conf

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so the nfsroot is a file system that lives on the install server, and your install clients use it while they're installing. that's the whole vibe. 🦋

nfsroot.conf is where you define the essential options for the install server — and most of them get used inside the nfsroot, iykyk. define your variables with bash(1) syntax, because of course. 💅

👑 VARIABLES 👑

  • FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP — two or three parameters for debootstrap(8), separated by spaces. debootstrap gets called as the first part of fai-make-nfsroot unless you use -B. this variable defines SUITE and MIRROR for debootstrap, and the third parameter is the name of the bootstrap script variant you wanna use. example:
FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP="bullseye http://deb.debian.org/debian"
  • NFSROOT_ETC_HOSTS — a multiline variable that gets added to /etc/hosts inside the nfsroot. use this when DNS isn't available on the clients, periodt. example:
NFSROOT_ETC_HOSTS="192.168.33.250 faiserver"
  • FAI_ROOTPW — the encrypted root password on all install clients during the installation process. used when you log in via ssh. and no, bestie, this is NOT the password for the new installed system — it's just for the install-time nfsroot. example:
FAI_ROOTPW='$1$kBnWcO.E$djxB128U7dMkrltJHPf6d1'  # pw is fai

use mkpasswd, htpasswd or md5pass to generate that password hash. 🫶

echo "yoursecrectpassword" | mkpasswd -m md5 -s
  • NFSROOT — the directory on the install server where the nfsroot gets created. home sweet home. 🏠
  • TFTPROOT — the directory on the install server for the tftp data, used by PXE network boot. iconic behavior honestly. ⭐
  • FAI_CONFIGDIR — location of the configuration space on the install server. used by fai-cd(8), fai-mirror(1) and fai-setup(8). the whole squad. 💜
  • SERVERINTERFACE — used to specify the interface when detecting the subnet for the exportfs line. you only need this when the install server has multiple interfaces. she's got range, okay. 🌈
  • SSH_IDENTITY — location of a ssh public key file. this user can log into the install clients as root without a password. only useful with FAI_FLAGS="sshd". example:
SSH_IDENTITY=/home/admin/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
  • NFSROOT_HOOKS — directory of hooks to be sourced at the end of fai-make-nfsroot, which means they have to be shell scripts. no cap. 🔥
  • NFSROOT_SERVER — IP address of the NFS server for the rootfs, if it's not on the DHCP server. this is only used by fai-chboot to work around dracut's DHCP handling, which prefers the DHCP server's IP address above all other DHCP options. like... it has favorites. 😭
  • FAI_DEBOOTSTRAP_OPTS — options that get passed to debootstrap(8). used for excluding packages and for specifying a different architecture. 🧚

📝 NOTES 📝

normally, the nfsroot is mounted by the install kernel via NFS. it's also used on the FAI CD. and FAI clients can also receive the nfsroot via http — in that case you have to create a compressed squashfs image of the nfsroot with fai-cd(8). so many options, she's flexible. ✨

💅 SEE ALSO 💅

fai-make-nfsroot(8), fai-setup(8), fai(8) fai-mirror(1) fai-chboot(8)

this file is part of FAI (Fully Automatic Installation). the FAI homepage is https://fai-project.org. go say hi. 🫶

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

this man page was written by Thomas Lange <lange@cs.uni-koeln.de>.

and that's the whole page bestie, no cap — brought to you by FAI 6.0, September 2022. mwah 💋 slay, go configure something. 🦋💖

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