Jumpstart Configuration

CLAS-Stat Sun workstations are configured using the Solaris jumpstart system. Each machine is added to the list of known clients, and the appropriate ruleset is configured so that when the client is rebooted with

boot net - install

the server will give it a boot kernel and then install the base Solaris software.

The current configuration (as of 2000-01-16) does not automatically answer all of the language and timezone questions, so there is still a user interaction requirement. Also, the root password setting does not work as advertised, so after teh first reboot the system will need a double <Enter> to get past the root password setting screen. The password, or lack thereof, entered at that point is over-ridden in the next file copying phase.

The jumpstart server is mullet, which has the master /jumpstart directory and also the relevant Solaris installation CD-ROM. This system works for Solaris 2.5 through Solaris 7. When the systems are upgraded to Solaris 8, the server will need to have multiple CD images, so the jumpstart OS installation files will probably need to be installed on a hard disk partition.

Steps which should be accomplished to jumpstart a machine include:

Add machine information to hosts NIS map.
Add machine information to netgroup NIS map.
Add machine information to /etc/ethers file.
Add machine information to /usr/local/etc/machines file.
Run add_install_client with new machine information.
Share /cdrom with installation media.
Share /jumpstart with jumpstart configurations.
Connect client to network on the same subnet as the jumpstart server.
Boot the client with
boot net - install
NOTE: there is a space on both sides of the dash "-" above.
Choose the correct language and time zone in the jumpstart dialogs on the client.
Hit <Enter> twice after reboot to skip root password setting. The root password is copied from a /jumpstart stub file.

Embarassingly, there are a few more steps which aren't in the system area yet:

cd /home/src/2.7-Patches/7_Recommended/ ; install_cluster -nosave
/home/awest/stat/ssh-key-fix
/home/awest/stat/sendmail-fix
/usr/sbin/reboot (for the patches to all take effect)

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Last modified: Tue Jan 16 13:51:25 EST 2001