Very Computer

I have recently started work for a new company, and we currently own some
servers strategically placed throughout the USA. Tu this current day, the
servers are running RedHat Linux 7.1 (yuck) which has been seriously hacked
up to be classified "secure" and get the Australian Department of Defence
secure classification. We have been advised that FreeBSD runs alot better in
terms of serving webpages and mail (will be load-balanced (ala traffic
shaping) in the near future across the multiple machines), and the plus to
this is, I also have BSD administration experiance...

My main problem is, can FreeBSD be remotely installed (without having
console access to stick a boot disk in) on a Linux system? I have heard
rumors its possible to create a partition in Linux, install FreeBSD on that,
and make lilo boot the bsd partition, but how true is this? And no, creating
a locally configured image and copying it across over a serial line is not
feasible (as if we have serial access, may as well just use a boot disk).

Other option I guess is to hire someone in USA to walk in and install it
from the console, but we would prefer option #1.

Any help would be appreciated, feel free to contact me directly on

N. Geyer

--
IMPORTANT NOTICE:  This message may contain privileged and confidential
information intended only for the above named addressee. If you are not the
intended recipient of this message, you are hereby notified that any use,
distribution or reproduction of this message or any part thereof is
prohibited. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual
sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of Digital Art Productions.
http://www.digitalartproductions.com

: My main problem is, can FreeBSD be remotely installed (without having
: console access to stick a boot disk in) on a Linux system? I have heard
: rumors its possible to create a partition in Linux, install FreeBSD on that,
: and make lilo boot the bsd partition, but how true is this? And no, creating
: a locally configured image and copying it across over a serial line is not
: feasible (as if we have serial access, may as well just use a boot disk).

It is feasible and easy. However you need a primary partition for FreeBSD.
In lilo.conf you put
other=/dev/hda?
When installing FreeBSD you ask to install the standard boot manager
on the corresponding slice /dev/hda? but nothing (no booteasy) on the
MBR. By precaution keep a copy of the lilo boot sector on a floppy.

--

Michel TALON

Nick.

: Ok stupid question time, could you give me a simple walk through of how its
: done? Would I download the source from FTP site, and install it under vmware
: or something...? Or any URL's to such info would be appreciated. Keep in
: mind, I do *not* have console access, my only means of accessing this is via
: SSH, so I need to be able to configure ethernet devices etc before I restart
: from Linux to BSD.

You mean you want to install FreeBSD remotely on a primary partition
of a machine running Linux, and doing all that through ssh? I must
confess i have never done such thing. By the way it may be doable, but non
trivial. If i was you i would do the following. Do the install on  a local
machine that you completly control and on a slice of exactly the same size
as you intend to give on the distant machine. Then copy the entire slice
remotely with dd. Be sure that the local machine is perfectly configured
and working the way the distant machine will do.
The copy can be done running linux and as well reconfiguring lilo. Keep
linux as the default boot if something goes wrong. Then you should be able to
boot FreeBSD.

(Recall you can do remote dd with something as
dd if=/dev/hda3 | rsh <remote> dd of=/dev/hda3 )
If you have file system, boot loader and OS on local machine on
hda3 this will copy exactly the same on distant machine. All you need is
equal sized hda3 on both sides.

--

Michel TALON