I believe a good method to use is to combine a CDROM and NFS install. The protocols this technique uses are directly supported by the distribution makers as de facto standards. It is quick to set up a server and quick to configure the client machines. It is also trival to update to a new version or even a new distribution of Linux.

There are basically two steps to setting this up on the server side. First, install Linux direct from CDROM onto one machine. This machine should have good network connections to the other machines. Second, configure NFS to work on it as a server and then export the CDROM as a filesystem. No special software or tricks are really needed to do this once NFS is configured on the server. Edit the /etc/exports file to list the cdrom mount point like this:

and then issue a

command to make the system reread the /etc/exports file

Large amounts of disk space do not have to be found on the server, as the CDROM is mounted directly on the server and then exportedt via NFS without putting a copy on the hard disk.

One big plus with this approach is that one CD can install to many, many machines at once.

Configuring basic networking on each machine and selecting NFS server and the correct packages is a quick chore, taking only a few minutes.

Next: Direct Disk to Disk Copying »