Diskless Boot on One Network, Internet on Another

Proofrific · 2017-12-05 19:56:57

I'd like to set up a diskless computer lab, where all the workstations boot off of a central server. I could connect them through a switch to achieve this.

I'd also like the workstations and server to have access to the internet. However, our organization's network admins don't want the switch/router connected to their network. In the past, others have tried this, and the organization's network was flooded with the lab's internal traffic.

I'm thinking that I need each computer to have two ethernet ports, one for my local network, and the other for internet through our organization's network. Any ideas how to do that or how to configure it?

Thanks!

progandy · 2017-12-05 20:18:09

A properly configured router should be the easiest method to isolate the traffic, if you can accept limited speed for internet access.
You can build your local network without any connection to your organization and use a standalone router or add a second network card in your server and use that as a gateway. In that case, all computers share the 100Mbit or 1Gbit connection your gateway provides.

Last edited by progandy (2017-12-05 20:37:51)

Proofrific · 2017-12-05 20:24:03

Thanks for the suggestion. Wouldn't that be similar to connecting the switch/router as a gateway? The network admins didn't want to see a bunch of packets with the same MAC address (from the gateway) and different IP address (for each workstation in the computer lab). Perhaps I need to add a second network card to each computer. If so, my question is, how do I configure a workstation to boot using one network card, but have internet access using another?

progandy · 2017-12-05 20:33:00

Right, IPv6 might be a bit of a pain, still thinking mostly in IPv4. With IPv4 you should only ever see the IP/MAC from the router, the workstations are completely hidden. I am not certain what IPv6 will do. You probably could configure it somehow to hide everything as well, but that is most likely not that simple.

Edit: If you have different IPs for both network cards and the boot server is only reachable with the local-only address, then it probably should work. You might have to define proper routes if the default settings won't work for internet access. I don't have experience with multiple network cards.

Edit: The MAC/IP mismatch is a different complaint than the flooding with internal packets you mentioned in your first post, though

Last edited by progandy (2017-12-05 20:47:50)

Arch Linux

#1 2017-12-05 19:56:57

Diskless Boot on One Network, Internet on Another

#2 2017-12-05 20:18:09

Re: Diskless Boot on One Network, Internet on Another

#3 2017-12-05 20:24:03

Re: Diskless Boot on One Network, Internet on Another

#4 2017-12-05 20:33:00

Re: Diskless Boot on One Network, Internet on Another

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