A Shared Write-protected Root Filesystem for a Group of Networked Clients

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for booting multiple diskless network clients from a single write-protected NFS root filesystem, addressing implementation challenges and comparing it to embedded root systems.

Contribution

It introduces a practical approach for shared read-only root filesystems for networked clients, highlighting solutions to common issues and performance considerations.

Findings

Successful implementation of shared read-only root filesystem

Identification of key challenges and their solutions

Comparison with embedded root filesystem approach

Abstract

A method to boot a cluster of diskless network clients from a single write-protected NFS root file system is shown. The problems encountered when first implementing the setup and their solution are discussed. Finally, the setup is briefly compared to using a kernel-embedded root file system.