Announcing PING Updates / Stable releases

[Natan]

Hi ;
this is the new topic where releases and updates related to the PING projects will be announced, either for use in a production environment, either for testing.

Aside from always possible bugs, the heavy hardware side of the project makes it quite necessary to have it validated in a wide diversity of environments and with lots of devices... therefore, this topic is likely to complete a double task.

Thanks for your feedback.
Natan

[Natan]

Hi;
A new beta release is ready for download, and can be fetched here:
http://ping.windowsdream.com/dl/PING_1.12/

New features include :
- You can now use a local hard disk drive to write or restore an image. Currently, only the first hdd to be found will be used (means: no possibility to store disk A on disk B; this is a todo). But if you've got a C: partition and a D: partition, this will work correctly.
- If you've got only one big partition on your first hdd, the script will now propose to repart it for you, and will create a second (FAT32) partition to store the image.
- The log file (/tmp/x.log) should be more explicit.
- The dialog binary has been updated (thx Fredz), and no password should be readable on the screen any more.
- A bug has been corrected in the smbmount call. (The password was passed without quotes, which could lead to problems in certain cases. Thx, Gedatsu).
- Partimage is now called to generate 630-MB splitted files. In the future, this will make it easier to handle CD/DVD spanning (todo).
- You can now add a /etc/ping.conf file to the ramdisk distribution, so to avoid having to retype network / MS Share settings. The point will be documented in a near future.
- You can safely write an image on a station with a 20-GB hdd, and restore it on a stationwith a bigger hdd. The point will have to be documented, too.

Looking for your feedback...!
Natan

[Natan]

...a new kernel has been compiled, with more handled devices, too.
Finally, the syslinux files (isolinux.bin and pxelinux.0) have been updated.

[flipy]

Hi Natan,
I don't know if it's correct to post here.
With the last PING-1.12 beta release (13-02-07), the Intel Ethernet Pro/1000 does not work anymore. Although it is well detected and loaded, issuing a

Code: Select all

dhcpd eth0

give me a warning about the function not being implemented (sounds like something is wrong with the dhcpd package).

Thanks for the release, and keep makin' as I keep testing

[Natan]

Hi Flipy,
not a bad place to post.

The intel/pro 1000 is compiled in the kernel, thus I don't know what happened. Just in case, I've just recompiled it, and checked an option related to the driver. It's still said to be experimental, but they say it can help in some specific cases... (sorry, I forgot the details). Just give it a try (new kernel file).

Natan

[Natan]

As several people reported a few problems with PING 1.11's kernel, the new one that has been used with PING 1.12 is now shipped with PING 1.11.

Nothing else changed in 1.11, which can still be considered as stable (which 1.12 is not yet...)

[A_Null]

Has the NTFS resize been added to 1.12 yet?
ref. http://www.windowsdream.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5520
Looks like I'm gonna need it.

[Natan]

Has the NTFS resize been added to 1.12 yet?
ref. http://www.windowsdream.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5520
Looks like I'm gonna need it.

ntfsresize has always been shipped in the RAM disk image, indeed.

[A_Null]

I can be more specific. In the referenced thread ( http://www.windowsdream.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5520 ), there was this post:

- As a result, current 1.11 PING script will have fdisk resize the C: partition to the maximum. BUT, as this feature has NOT been included yet in 1.11, there will be no ntfs-resize. This means that you'll end up with a 10 GB filesystem stored in a 40 GB partition, and I don't know right now how will Windows react (testing...). But the ntfs-resize part should be added in the 1.12 release to handle this situation.

So, my real question is, has 'the ntfs-resize part' been added to the 1.12 release to handle this situation yet?

[Natan]

Hi people,

a new BETA 1.12 has just been released and is ready for download and tests:
http://www.windowsdream.com/dl/PING_1.12/

What's new...:

The Linux RAM disk image:
- a newer kernel has been compiled, switching from 2.6.19.3 to 2.6.20.3;
- parted has been upgraded from 1.6.2 to 1.8.2 (though not used in PING's script itself);
- cmospwd (records and writes bios info) has been upgraded from 4.6 to 4.8;
- syslinux (isolinux and pxelinux) has been upgraded from 3.31 to 3.36;

The PING script (rc.ping):
- When creating a new image, users can choose wether they want gzip or bzip2 to be used;
- When restoring a NTFS partition image to a bigger partition (hda.part used), ntfsresize will be automatically used so to avoid empty space. Example:

Say you have just recorded a 80 GB-C: partition, and want to restore it to a 120 GB HDD. In your partimage/my_image directory, you'd add a hda.part file, containing the following:

Code: Select all

;[Partition number] [Partition Size] [Partition Type] [Label] [Boot flag]
;
1   +   7   SYSTEM   *

;Format:
;  - TAB-separated CSV file.
;  - Blank lines are ignored.
;  - Leading ; means that line is commented out.
;  - Partition size: 20000M or 20000000K or 20000000000
;  - Partition size: + means: affect the whole remaining space.
;  - Partition type: see unix fdisk (7 = ntfs, c = fat32, 83 = ext2/3, etc.)
;  - Boot flag: * means bootable. Other: not bootable.

Which uses all available space for a unique partition, thus making PING uses ntfsresize to use all available space for the file system, after restoring the partition with partimage.

You could also use the following to restore the first partition on a 100 GB new part, then spare the 20 remaining GB for a second part:

Code: Select all

;[Partition number] [Partition Size] [Partition Type] [Label] [Boot flag]
;
1   100000M   7   SYSTEM   *
2   +   7   DATA   /

;Format:
;  - TAB-separated CSV file.
;  - Blank lines are ignored.
;  - Leading ; means that line is commented out.
;  - Partition size: 20000M or 20000000K or 20000000000
;  - Partition size: + means: affect the whole remaining space.
;  - Partition type: see unix fdisk (7 = ntfs, c = fat32, 83 = ext2/3, etc.)
;  - Boot flag: * means bootable. Other: not bootable.

Natan

[andrew]

hi, 1.12 is great, but still can not using share from Windows Server 2003.
Is this the problem from samba?

[andrew]

Hi people,

a new BETA 1.12 has just been released and is ready for download and tests:
http://www.windowsdream.com/dl/PING_1.12/

What's new...:

The Linux RAM disk image:
- a newer kernel has been compiled, switching from 2.6.19.3 to 2.6.20.3;
- parted has been upgraded from 1.6.2 to 1.8.2 (though not used in PING's script itself);
- cmospwd (records and writes bios info) has been upgraded from 4.6 to 4.8;
- syslinux (isolinux and pxelinux) has been upgraded from 3.31 to 3.36;

The PING script (rc.ping):
- When creating a new image, users can choose wether they want gzip or bzip2 to be used;
- When restoring a NTFS partition image to a bigger partition (hda.part used), ntfsresize will be automatically used so to avoid empty space. Example:

Say you have just recorded a 80 GB-C: partition, and want to restore it to a 120 GB HDD. In your partimage/my_image directory, you'd add a hda.part file, containing the following:

Code: Select all

;[Partition number] [Partition Size] [Partition Type] [Label] [Boot flag]
;
1   +   7   SYSTEM   *

;Format:
;  - TAB-separated CSV file.
;  - Blank lines are ignored.
;  - Leading ; means that line is commented out.
;  - Partition size: 20000M or 20000000K or 20000000000
;  - Partition size: + means: affect the whole remaining space.
;  - Partition type: see unix fdisk (7 = ntfs, c = fat32, 83 = ext2/3, etc.)
;  - Boot flag: * means bootable. Other: not bootable.

Which uses all available space for a unique partition, thus making PING uses ntfsresize to use all available space for the file system, after restoring the partition with partimage.

You could also use the following to restore the first partition on a 100 GB new part, then spare the 20 remaining GB for a second part:

Code: Select all

;[Partition number] [Partition Size] [Partition Type] [Label] [Boot flag]
;
1   100000M   7   SYSTEM   *
2   +   7   DATA   /

;Format:
;  - TAB-separated CSV file.
;  - Blank lines are ignored.
;  - Leading ; means that line is commented out.
;  - Partition size: 20000M or 20000000K or 20000000000
;  - Partition size: + means: affect the whole remaining space.
;  - Partition type: see unix fdisk (7 = ntfs, c = fat32, 83 = ext2/3, etc.)
;  - Boot flag: * means bootable. Other: not bootable.

Natan

It's great, but I just wonder, can I put image to smaller partition.

[Natan]

It's great, but I just wonder, can I put image to smaller partition.

Hi there,
I think this has chances to work, provided you remember to defrag your drive before building the image. Good luck !
Natan

[Natan]

The kernel of beta 1.12 has been updated :
- It now includes CIFS, so to make it possible to map a MS share even if AD security policies have been implemented (look for Arckane's post);
- Added HP/Compaq Smart Array 5xxxx support (SAS mega-raid).

Natan

[arckane]

Hi Natan

CIFS is working beautifully (see comment in last post http://www.windowsdream.com/forum/viewt ... 1904#11904).

All you need to do is adjust your scripts to use CIFS instead of Samba and the world becomes a happy place

Thanx again for your hard work, this will save me a fortune in Ghost licenses and automation will be easy with some little scripting!