Daniel Hilst
a64dfe149a
A node that has finished installing has chain.currstate "boot", and from
that point the server must stop naming it a boot file: a node given a
netboot script every time it powers on reinstalls itself forever, and does
so silently, because each individual boot looks like a successful one.
Neither backend did that. The wire suite found both.
ISC gated the whole boot-from-disk branch on $doiscsi, so the rule only
fired for a node with an iscsi table row. An ordinary installed node fell
through to the netboot branches below and its xNBA second stage was handed
its own install script. Both the xnba and the pxe branch had it; the pxe
one handed out pxelinux.0.
Kea reads "boot-file-name": "" as *unspecified*, not as "no boot file", so
the empty boot file on the node's reservation did not outrank the classes
every client shares. The always-evaluated xcat-bios class supplied
xcat/xnba.kpxe, the loader came back announcing user class xNBA, and the
per-network class then supplied the network's boot script -- so withholding
only the per-node script withheld nothing. The fix is the same mechanism the
DROP and NOIP classes already use: a xcat-localboot class holding the MACs,
and a "not member('xcat-localboot')" guard on every class that names a boot
file. Kea requires a class to be defined before it is referenced, so
xcat-localboot is written first.
iSCSI is the exception on both backends. Its root disk is on the network and
gPXE is what attaches it, so it still gets a loader: ISC keeps its $doiscsi
branch, and Kea leaves those MACs out of the class.
spec.md S-31 is rewritten to say what correct is -- no boot file at all, on
either request of an xNBA boot, whatever the netboot method -- rather than
the weaker "not its own script", which the second stage above shows is not
the same statement.
conf/localboot.conf asserts the stronger form and gains a netboot=pxe node,
since that branch is written separately and the xnba node passing says
nothing about it. dhcpfixture.sh defines it.
An assertion with != or not-in now holds against a target that is absent
from the reply: a reply naming no boot file has certainly not named the
node's install script. Every other operator still fails on absence, and
"absent" remains the way to assert absence itself.
xCAT
xCAT is a toolkit for deployment and administration of clusters of all sizes.
The xCAT sunset was only a quick eclipse
Dear xCAT Community,
The xCAT sunset has changed course. VersatusHPC has been invited to join the xCAT Consortium, and future development will move toward direct upstream contributions coordinated with the Consortium and its existing member companies.
That matters most for Enterprise Linux 10 (EL10). EL10 support is coming to xCAT, restoring a future operating-system path for sites that still rely on xCAT. This is an important change from the previous sunset guidance, where the lack of an EL10 path was one of the strongest reasons to move away from xCAT.
The xCAT Consortium continues to recommend Confluent as the long-term successor to xCAT, and that remains the Consortium position. Users planning new cluster-management deployments should evaluate Confluent and its xCAT comparison documentation.
At the same time, xCAT is no longer sunsetted. The Consortium and participating companies will continue updating xCAT while there is community and user demand for it.
In summary:
- xCAT development is continuing upstream through the Consortium and participating companies.
- Enterprise Linux 10 support is coming.
- Confluent remains the Consortium-recommended successor and migration path.
- xCAT updates will continue while there is community and user demand.
We want to thank the xCAT Consortium and community for keeping this project moving. The sun went behind the moon for a moment, but xCAT is still here.
For more information on Confluent and how to get started, please visit the Confluent: Project Page, Documentation or Confluent vs xCAT comparison.
With thanks,
The xCAT Consortium
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