[erlang-questions] Booting over the network

[Joel Reymont]

On Aug 6, 2007, at 5:51 AM, Joel Reymont wrote:

> How exactly do you boot a node over the network?

node 1) erl -sname boot
node 1) erl_boot_server:start(['127.0.0.1']).

node 2) erl -sname foo -hosts 127.0.0.1 -id foo -loader inet

> I know that you can do erl -loader inet ... but what happens then?

The config file (-config ...) as well as the boot file are loaded  
using erl_prim_loader, i.e. fetched from the boot server using the  
full path.

> Do any attempts to l(module). get redirected to the boot server?  
> What about attempts to compile a module?

I'm not sure about this but the code server positively uses  
erl_prim_loader.

> Can you fetch complete apps from the network boot server, e.g.  
> Mnesia? How would you do this?

Using the boot script. The script can contain application upgrade  
instructions and all the apps that need to be started up.

> The documentation for erl_prim_loader says: "The start script is  
> also fetched with this low level loader." What is the start script  
> that's being referred to here? Is this the boot file that you pass  
> to erl -boot?

Yes, that boot script.

> How do you set up a network boot server? Is this just a regular  
> Erlang node that does not require special configuration?

Correct. Just run erl_boot_server:start([...]).

Did I answer my own questions in-depth?

	Thanks, Joel

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