README.md

Livenetsquash dracut module

This module allows to boot live linux system from squashed image that downloaded from http-server.

Module installation

cd /tmp
curl -OL https://github.com/kvaps/livenetsquash/archive/master.tar.gz
tar xvf master.tar.gz
mv livenetsquash-master/dracut/* /usr/lib/dracut/modules.d/
rm -rf livenetsquash-master master.tar.gz
vim /etc/dracut.conf

add modules:

dracutmodules+="network base livenetsquash overlay-root"

generate initrd image:

dracut -f /boot/initramfs -v

Squashed image

Build squashed image, example:

mksquashfs <rootfs_path> rootfs.squash -noappend

I advise you to use darkhttpd as simple http server for store your squased image.

Bootloader configuration

Example pxelinux.cfg/default

default centos7
ontimeout centos7

label centos7
    kernel vmlinuz
    append initrd=initramfs selinux=0 root=live:http://boot-server/rootfs.squash rootovl=1 ro rd.live.image

Example grub.cfg (support efi and http-method)

set timeout=3
menuentry 'Linux diskless' --class os {

     insmod efi_gop
     insmod efi_uga

     set net_default_server=${pxe_default_server}

     echo "Loading Linux from http://${net_default_server}/vmlinz ..."
     linux (http)/vmlinuz root=live:http://${pxe_default_server}/rootfs.squash rootovl=1 ro rd.live.image

     echo "Loading initial ramdisk from http://${pxe_default_server}/initramfs ..."
     initrd (http)/initramfs
}