Host class

A host class is an attribute assigned to the specification of a host which determines aspects of its configuration.

Host classes for each host may be set in hostlist.csv or may be set through inheritance in config.inc.

Host classes set in hostlist.csv are available to both host generator scripts and to cfengine promises.

Host classes set in config.inc are NOT available to host generator scripts but ONLY TO cfengine promises.

Class name	Where specified	Description
mon*	hostlist.csv	Classes used to configure the monitoring system: mondisk - sample each host disk's sector (512 byte) read and write counts and save for graphing moneth[0-9] - sample the network interface transmit and receive byte counts and save for graphing monload - sample the host's load average and save for graphing monping - ping the hosts
userlogin	config.inc	Indicates that ordinary users will log in to this host. Typically set for lab computers, login servers and VLAB servers. Membership of this class causes LDAP, Kerberos and home directories to be set up, as well as copying in the appropriate CSG-managed Debian package lists and setting up the extra packages and extra files "features"
ldap	config.inc	Typically set for all "userlogin" hosts, this class causes the necessary packages and configuration files to be installed on a hosts so that LDAP is automatically used against CSE's own LDAP service for most Name Service Switch (NSS) operations such as UID, GID, and user name lookups. See also /etc/nsswitch.conf.
automounter	config.inc	Typically set for all "userlogin" hosts, this class causes the necessary packages and configuration files to be installed on a hosts so home directories mount automatically when referenced.
localstorage	hostlist.csv	See local storage
vlabserver	hostlist.csv	Configure host as a VLAB server
noextras	hostlist.csv	Prevents extra files and extra packages being installed on a user-loginable host. Primarily used for testing as it maintains main platform functionality and speeds installation at the cost of not installing teaching-specific files and packages
physicallabhost	hostlist.csv	Sets host class userlogin and causes host to be configures as a physical lab computer with GUI login but, obviously, no VLAB-type multi-login functionality