Index of /project-u13

	Name	Last modified	Size	Description
	Parent Directory		-
	ChangeLog	22-Jan-2008 21:04	596
	README.txt	22-Jan-2008 21:03	3.1K
	project-u13-0.0.3-release.iso	22-Jan-2008 20:36	228M
	project-u13-0.0.3-release.iso.asc	22-Jan-2008 20:36	189
	project-u13_0.0.2.iso	03-Jan-2008 20:06	239M
	project-u13_0.0.2.iso.sig	03-Jan-2008 20:18	65

Welcome to Project U-13, version 0.0.3-release!

Argument
========

In my last two jobs as sysadmin, I've spent a lot of time finding the
time to install different tools, teaching (and reminding) myself how
they work, and gradually expanding their reach so that they're more
useful.  Examples:

* Cfengine
* Nagios
* Cacti
* Request Tracker
* TWiki
* Netdisco
* Code repositories
* Console available over a damn serial port

and probably more.

What if all these things were available in one easy package?  Not an
appliance, since we're sysadmins -- but integrated nicely into one
machine, easily broken up if needed, and ready to go?  Furthermore,
what if that tool was a Linux distro, with all its attendant tools and
security?  What if that tool was easily regenerated, and itself served
as a nicely annotated set of files to get the newbie up and running?

Have it be a godsend for the newbie, a timesaver for the experienced,
and a lifeline for those struggling in rapidly expanding shops.

You'd have the tool I'm trying to build:  Project U-13.

Specifics
=========

GRML is a live Linux CD that is focused on the command line.  You can
read more about it at:

	http://www.grml.org

I'm using its grml-live tool, which lets you build a customized GRML
live CD, to build the Project U-13 ISO.

You'll notice that the web-based tools are all installed to separate
FQDNs; this is intended to make them easy to split off to separate
hosts.  Also, note the fully RFC 2606-compliant domain names. :-)  The
FQDN for the ISO/build/machine is aleph.u13.example.

You should be able to install the ISO to an actual machine by running
grml2hd, and then running something like:

	# find /etc -type f -exec grep -q u13.example {} /dev/null \; | \
		xargs perl -i.u13 -pe's/u13.example/example.com/;'

in order to change the domain name in *all* the relevant config files
to "example.com".  However, I have not tested either of these steps.

Note that if you're downloading the source code, you'll need to modify
*at least* the Makefile and grml/grml-live.conf to set the path
appropriately.  I've built this on Debian Stable (etch); setting it
up, and installing the packages for grml-live, are left as an exercise
for the reader.

Programs and passwords
======================

RequestTracker: Available at http://rt.u13.example.  Login "root",
password "password".

Cacti: Available at http://cacti.u13.example.  No password needed.

Nagios: Available at http://nagios.u13.example.  Login "u13", password
"u13".

Rackmonkey: Available at
http://rackmonkey.u13.example/cgi-bin/rackmonkey.pl.

MySQL: no root password.
	
Changelog
=========

See the ChangeLog file.

What's not done yet
===================

As noted above, I haven't tested installation to a hard drive.

The tools that are present aren't nearly as well- or fully-configured
as I'd like.

Cfengine should be used to do a lot of this, and aid in the splitting
of functions to different machines.

There should be skeleton groups set up for different privilege levels.  

Have it listen on serial ports from the start, *including* Grub.

Make bootstrapping a build environment much more automated.

Make this the distro I'd want to take to the next job like this.