SystemImager allows you to retrieve an entire system image from a golden client, which is a manually installed, customized machine, to an image server, which is the machine that will hold and distribute system images. You can deploy the images to any number of client systems from the image server.
After initial image deployment, you can update the client systems by syncing them to an updated image on the image server. Updates are fast and efficient because only the modified parts of files are pulled to the client.
SystemImager uses System Configurator to custom configure autoinstall clients for specific distributions. Through System Configurator, SystemImager supports all major Linux distributions and most others, including custom or in-house distributions. Using "footprints," System Configurator works with distributions based on their system configuration style rather than needing to know the name of the distribution. To determine a system's footprint, System Configurator identifies the configuration files in use and associates that footprint with a configuration style. It then correctly makes settings, such as hostname or IP address, without needing to know the name of the distribution.
Therefore, SystemImager is distribution agnostic in nearly all areas. With few exceptions, all distribution specific knowledge exists within the SystemConfigurator tool, which supports a very large range of distributions. If you find a distribution that does not work with SystemImager, please file a bug report.
NOTE: Linux kernel 2.0.x-based distributions are not supported at this time, nor are there plans to add support for Linux kernel 2.0.x-based distributions.
Your image server must have enough disk space to hold the images to be installed on your client systems.
All clients that will use the same image should have hardware that is as similar as possible. Most importantly they should use the same chipset on the network device(s) and the same number and kind of hard drive(s) (e.g. IDE, SCSI, Mylex Hardware RAID, etc.) The hard drives may be of different capacities, and disks may be larger with no problem and smaller within reason.
Advanced users can modify the /etc/systemimager/autoinstallscript.conf file within an image to make adjustments, then run the si_mkautoinstallscript command to install an image on clients with varying disk configurations.
For PXE installations, you need a compatible TFTP server running on the boot server, which is usually the same machine as the image/DHCP pserver. Debian provides such servers in the tftpd-hpa and atftpd packages, while Red Hat 7.0 and later include such a server in the tftp-server package. H. Peter Anvin maintains the tftp-hpa package that provides the required functionality.
In addition to a compatible TFTP server, PXE network-based installations may also require a PXE daemon to run on your image server. This requirement depends on the firmware used on the client side and the capabilities of your DHCP server.