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How should I handle OS storage without disks? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by JoaGamo@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum

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As i'm at a point of increasing my actual 4 server count, how should I handle storing the OS of each server?

Problem: I have no money and I'm looking for a way to buy more servers without buying and taking care of new boot ssds.

The actual setup is that each server has their own 120/240gb ssd to boot from, and one of my servers is a NAS.

at first I thought of PXE persistent boot, but how would I assign each machine their own image is one of the problems..

I've found this post talking about Disk-less persistent PXE, but it's 5 years old, it talks about SAN booting, but most people I've seen in this sub are against fiber-channel protocol, probably there's a better way?

Without mentioning speed requirements (like a full-flash NAS or 10+gbit), Is it possible to add more servers, without purchasing a dedicated boot device for each one?

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[–] thomasbuchinger@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

What OS are you running? If the main storage is on the network, chances are the OS can run from anywhere.

get a 100GB HDD from Craigslist for free or a few bucks
any old crappy USB stick.

If you still want to go for PXE, you don't need any fancy networking. All you need is a DHCP-Server and a TFTP server with a Kernel and an initramfs. I think DNSmasq can handle everything with a bit of configuration. Or you go for a full server provisioning tool like Cobbler or theforeman

You assign each server their own image by placing the file in the directory /var/lib/tftpboot//Kernel (something along those lines)