Re: Automated building of OpenBSD servers

[Nick Holland <nick@holland-consulting.net>]

Allan Lyons wrote:
> 
> I am in the situation where I may have to install and configure a box
> completely remotely (ie in a different country).  Building the box here
> and shipping it there is not an option.  What I would like would be able
> to easily script the installation so that all I would have to do is to mail a
> floppy (or email the image of a floppy) to someone at the other end
> and all they would have to do would be to stick it in a machine and turn
> it on.  The machine would then boot and a base install would be
> completed without any further user intervention.  At that point, the box
> would be in a state where I could then log in (SSH) and finish setting
> everything up.
> 
> From what I could find, the installation of OpenBSD requires someone
> to be sitting at the console in order to install.  Could someone please
> prove me wrong!

I have walked several people through OpenBSD installs over the phone. 
I'm not talking technical people, one was a lawyer.  In this case, I
was installing on a machine I had never seen before, had no idea what
was in it, and I had been working with OpenBSD at that point for less
than six months.  If you have a similar machine to test your install
on in your office, you can do at least as well.  It isn't difficult. 
Once the basic system is in place, you can finish the config over the
'net.

You have to be able to put someone in front of the box to tell you
what is going on should it do something, uh, bad.  Reliable as OpenBSD
is, it can't outlast the hardware it is on, you have to have a plan in
place before something bad happens, not make it up as you go along. 
Might as well test your skills at guiding someone over the phone and
their skills of telling you what is going on.

Nick.
-- 
http://www.holland-consulting.net