Performing Maintenance: Updating Clients

If you make changes to the Golden Client, simply enter the getimage command on the SystemImager server; then updateclient on the cloned systems (the backup servers in the high-availability server pairs or the cluster nodes inside the cluster).

Note 

If you need to exclude certain directories from an update, create an entry in /etc/systemimager/updateclient.local.exclude.

SystemInstaller

The SystemInstaller project grew out of the Linux Utility for cluster Installation (LUI) project and allows you to install a Golden Image directly to a SystemImager server using RPM packages. SystemInstaller does not use a Golden Client; instead, it uses RPM packages that are stored on the SystemImager server to build an image for a new clone, or cluster node.^[10]

The SystemInstaller website is currently located at http://systeminstaller.sourceforge.net.

SystemInstaller uses RPM packages to make it easier to clone systems using different types of hardware (SystemImager works best on systems with similar hardware).

System Configurator

As we've previously mentioned, SystemImager uses the System Configurator to configure the boot loader, loadable modules, and network settings when it finishes installing the software on a clone. The System Configurator software package was designed to meet the needs of the SystemImager project, but is distributed and maintained separate from the SystemImager package with the hope that it will be used for other applications. For example, System Configurator could be used by a system administrator to install driver software and configure the NICs of all cluster nodes even when the cluster nodes use different model hardware and different Linux distributions.

For more information about System Configurator, see http://sisuite.org/systemconfig.

System Installation Suite, SystemInstaller, SystemImager, and System Configurator are collectively called the System Installation Suite. The goal of the System Installation Suite is to provide an operating system independent method of installing, maintaining, and upgrading systems.

For more information on the System Installation Suite, see http://sisuite.sourceforge.net.

^[10]This is the method used by the OSCAR project, by the way. SystemInstaller runs on the "head node" of the OSCAR cluster.