diskless client environment question

[Chris Siebenmann]

 Just as another datapoint, I've always run diskless clients with /usr
imported from the server /usr and not from <whatever path it is this
release>/dlenv?/usr. You have to make sure you have a real /var
(either by doing an advanced install when you set up your system or by
some tar'ing afterwards). We don't have any licensed software that
can't run on the clients, so I haven't had to worry about that. You
can even set it up so the clients have a root filesystem but get /usr
off the server, although this requires editing your client
/etc/rc.local's up a bit and making a few programs be really there
instead of symlinks.

 Another cute thing you can do to save disk space if you have
multiple clients of the same architecture is hardlink all the
executables together (heck, you can do this for almost all the files
in their root areas). The disk space savings are noticable.

 I've never understood why DEC does so many stupid things with their
diskless client setup and associated programs, although I've heard a
vague rumour that dms is being completely overhauled soon (about
time). For one thing, I'd love a non-interactive version; stick all
the data into a file, run a program, the client is set up; almost all
the time I have a batch of clients who differ only in Ethernet # and
hostname to set up. Maybe someday I'll reverse-engineer the dms
script(s) and see what the hell they really do.

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