I need to replicate an Ubuntu server setup on 10-15 servers. I have a fresh Natty 64-bit server installed on a machine with all the extra required packages installed (no user data, system hasn't been used). What I need to do is to clone this machine to other servers in the easiest way possible.
I was thinking of using the remastersys tool to create an ISO image from the setup and install it on the machines. Is there a way that can help me automate this installation as much as possible, i.e. how can one install an ISO image to a large number of servers easily.
Thanks!
Best Answer
The usual answer to this sort of problem is to get a basic system installed as quickly as possible with as little manual intervention, then run the same
apt-get install ...commands on all machines to get the packages synchronized on all of them. A local package mirror is an excellent way to improve installation speed on the other machines, and provides an easy place to store / distribution site-local packages.But this only helps initial set up; you might wish to look into managing your configuration with puppet or chef. This lets you deploy and re-deploy servers or desktops with given configurations over and over again without much extra effort.
An excellent (if potentially dated, at this point) introduction to managing multiple machines is hosted by our friends at infrastructures.org.