How can I do mass installs on multiple computers?
I had promissed my 120 students that I will install ubuntu 10.10 on their laptops but failed to do it.The laptops were dell vostro 4014. All have same hardware. I took one laptop and installed ubuntu and all the necessary packages, and also wine to run some windows software. I selected the default ext4 file system.
Then I tried to use clonezilla server to clone the installation. Clonezilla server shows boot menu splash screen, but later on it says that I might be having a latest NIC unsupported by the kernel. But the NIC of the laptop on which I had installed ubuntu works fine. Later I tried to use the clonezilla live cd to boot the laptop which has ubuntu. But when I press 'Y' to start cloning, it says 'something went wrong'. Again I tried the 'dd' command to save as disk image. But it copies empty space. So it is not feasible for me as it takes really long time.
I have made my students to wait for many days, daily they are coming and asking whether my setup is ready. Today I realized I can't do it. I have in a way convinced them not to go for windows. So they are waiting for me to have ubuntu installed on their laptops. Today evening some of them will come to collect the laptops I took from them to install ubuntu. Don't know how and what to tell them.
Solution 1:
Preparation:
- change /etc/fstab on your gold-client (the one you prepared), by replacing UUIDs with device names (/dev/sda1 and /dev/sda5 on each device).
On each machine:
- Install Ubuntu directly on each machine.
- Replicate your configuration with:
rsync -avx --exclude=/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules --exclude=/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-cd.rules --exclude=/etc/hostname --exclude=/etc/hosts --exclude=/etc/X11/xorg.conf --delete-after root@${host}:/ /(replace ${host} with the ip address of your machine in the network. grub-install /dev/sdaupdate-grubreboot
As what to tell the students, "Sorry, I thought I could install all machines, but I needed more time, want to help?". Explain the steps and help them learn.