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Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Operating System Provisioning Guide

Chapter 4 Working with Diskless Clients

This chapter describes how to use the N1 System Manager to install diskless clients on managed servers throughout your data center. For information about the Solaris and Linux operating systems, see Chapter 2, Provisioning UNIX Operating Systems. For information related to the Windows OS, see Chapter 3, Provisioning Windows Operating Systems.

This chapter explains how to use the N1 System Manager to provision and manage diskless clients. The chapter contains the following information:

Diskless Client Overview

A diskless client is a system that depends on an OS server for its operating system, software, and storage. A diskless client mounts its root (/), /usr, and other file systems from its OS server. A diskless client has its own CPU and physical memory and can process data locally. However, a diskless client cannot operate if it is detached from its network or if its OS server malfunctions. A diskless client generates significant network traffic because of its continual need to function across the network. For a conceptual overview of diskless clients, see Diskless Client Management Overview in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

N1 System Manager supports diskless clients for the following operating systems and relates directly to the OS that is running on the management server:

Diskless Client Provisioning Process Overview

Provisioning a diskless client follows a slightly different process from provisioning systems that maintain their own disks.

  1. Configure NFS to export the diskless root file system.

  2. Configure a link to a diskless client image. For more information, see Configuring the Diskless File System.

  3. Discover potential diskless clients. For more information, see Chapter 4, Discovering Manageable Servers, in Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Discovery and Administration Guide.

  4. Install a diskless client. For more information, see Installing Diskless Clients.

  5. Uninstall a diskless client. For more information, see Uninstalling Diskless Clients. Once you uninstall a diskless client, you can reinstall a different diskless client profile.

Configuring the Diskless File System

To enable loading of diskless clients through the N1 System Manager, you need to set up a diskless client server and link diskless client images to he management server.

ProcedureTo Configure a Link to a Solaris Diskless Client Image

Steps

  1. Access the n1sh shell or go to the command line in the N1 System Manager browser.


    N1-ok>

  2. To define a link to the diskless client image, use the create os command.

    Tip –

    When you define the link to the diskless client image, a default OS profile is created automatically.


    N1-ok> create os os-name type os-type format diskless \
tftpserver ip kernelimage path-to-kernelimage \
bootimage1 path-to-bootimage1 bootimage2 path-to-bootimage2

    Where:

    • os-name is a unique name for the distribution image. The os-name may include numbers, letters, and some special symbols. The following special symbols are prohibited: comma (,), asterisk (*), single quote ('), double quote (“), parenthesis (), question mark (?), equal sign (=), and newline (\).

    • ip identifies the IP address of the TFTP server. The default is the IP address of the management server.

    • os-type specifies the operating system of the diskless client image. Valid diskless client types include solaris and redhat.

    • path-to-kernelimage is the path to the kernel image relative to the TFTP server root directory.

    • path-to-bootimage1 is the path to the first boot image relative to the TFTP server root directory.

    • path-to-bootimage2 is the path to the second boot image relative to the TFTP server root directory.

Example 4–1 Configuring a Link to a Solaris Diskless Client Image

The following example defines a Solaris diskless client image based on a two-part boot image.


N1-ok> create os my-diskless type solaris format diskless tftpserver 10.5.4.3 \
kernelimage images/diskless-kernel bootimage1 images/diskless-boot-1 bootimage2 images/diskless-boot-2

ProcedureTo Create a Diskless Client Profile

The following procedure explains how to create an OS profile for the diskless client. Creating an OS profile is especially useful for Linux diskless clients, when you want to define NFS options or the size of the RAM disk.

Step

    To create an OS profile for the diskless client, use the create osprofile command.


    create osprofile osprofile os <os-name> desc <description> 
 [nfsopts <nfsopts>[,nfsopts <nfsopts>]] 
                    [ramdisksize <ramdisksize>]

    Where:

    • osprofile is a unique name for the OS profile.

    • os-name is the name of the OS distribution to install. as defined when the image was linked.

    • description provides an optional description of the profile.

    • nfsopts specify optional NFS-specific information using the format option/value.

    • ramdisksize specifies the size of the RAM disk in Mbytes. The default value is 512 Mbytes.

Example 4–2 Creating an OS Profile for a Linux Diskless Client

The following example creates an OS profile for a Linux diskless client.


N1-ok> create osprofile my-diskless-pro os my-diskless desc "RedHat diskless client profile" nfsopts=rsize=8192,wsize=8192 ramdisksize=1048576

Installing Diskless Clients

Installing is to a diskless client what booting is to a “diskfull” client. When an OS deployment job completes for diskfull clients, the OS is installed successfully on the server and the server has booted successfully and is running the OS. When an OS deployment job completes for diskless clients, the diskless client has finished the initial boot. To determine when the diskless client has successfully booted and is running the OS, use the serial console feature to monitor the state of the managed server.

ProcedureTo Install a Diskless Client

The following procedure explains how to install a diskless client using the load server command in the CLI.

You can also install a diskless client from the N1 System Manager browser interface. From the All Servers table, select a server and choose Load OS Profile from the Actions, or drag an OS profile from the Task Shortcuts onto the server name.

Before You Begin
Step

    To install a diskless client, use the load server command.


    load server server[,server...] osprofile osprofile bootip bootip
[diskless-client-installation-attributes]

    Where:

    • server is the management name of a server. To install the diskless client profile on more than one server, separate the server names with a comma (,).

    • osprofile is the name of an OS profile used to install the OS.

    • bootip (Linux only) specifies the IP address for the server's provisioning network interface used to install the server, also known as the Provisioning IP. You can specify a range of IP addresses or a subnet mask. Specify a range of IP addresses as follows: ip-address-ip-address. Example: 10.0.0.1–10.0.0.3.

    • diskless-client-installation-attributes include several diskless client-specific attributes:

      • bootgateway bootgateway – (Linux only) A gateway used to install the server.

      • boothostname boothostname – (Single server and Linux only) A host name used to install the server.

      • bootnameserver bootnameserver – (Linux only) A name server used to install the server.

      • bootnetmask bootnetmask – (Linux only) A netmask used to install the server.

      • bootnetworkdevice bootnetworkdevice – The server's provisioning network interface used to install the server. Valid Solaris values are bge0 (default), bge1, bge2, and bge3. Valid Linux values are eth0 (default), eth1, eth2, eth3, and eth4. Note that when installing the Red Hat 4 OS on Sun Fire X2100 servers, the bootnetworkdevice value must be set to eth1. The default value does not work for this situation.

      • console console – The device name for the server's system console, which may be used to monitor the installation. Default is ttys0 (Linux) and ttya (Solaris).

      • consolebaud consolebaud – The baud rate for the server's system console. Default is 9600.

      • nfsroot nfsroot – The location of the NFS root, such as 10.0.0.115:/my_roots/sol_a. You can specify a comma-separated list of paths, or you can specify a range of paths as follows: 10.1.10.1:/diskless/home/1–40. When specifying a range of paths, the nfsroot directory names must be numbers. This attribute is not required for initrd-based diskless clients.

Example 4–3 Installing a Solaris Diskless Client

The following example installs a Solaris diskless client on a server.


N1-ok> load server 10.1.10.11 osprofile solx86 bootip 10.1.10.11 nfsroot=10.1.10.1:/diskless/solx86

ProcedureTo Install a Group of Diskless Clients

The following procedure explains how to install a group of diskless clients using the load group command in the CLI.

You can also install a group of diskless clients from the N1 System Manager browser interface. From the Server Groups table, select a group and choose Load OS Profile from the Actions, or drag an OS profile from the Task Shortcuts onto the group name.

Before You Begin
Step

    To install a group of diskless clients, use the load group command. 


    load group group osprofile osprofile bootip bootip
[excludeserver server[,server...]
[diskless-client-installation-attributes]

    Where:

    • group is the name of a server group.

    • osprofile is the name of an OS profile used to install the OS.

    • bootip (Linux only) specifies the IP address for the server's provisioning network interface used to install the server, also known as the Provisioning IP. You can specify a range of IP addresses or a subnet mask. Specify a range of IP addresses as follows: ip-address-ip-address. Example: 10.0.0.1–10.0.0.3.

    • excludeserver identifies one or more servers to exclude from the group installation. server is the management name of a server.

    • diskless-client-installation-attributes include several diskless client-specific attributes:

      • bootgateway bootgateway – (Linux only) A gateway used to install the server.

      • boothostname boothostname – (Single server and Linux only) A host name used to install the server.

      • bootnameserver bootnameserver – (Linux only) A name server used to install the server.

      • bootnetmask bootnetmask – (Linux only) A netmask used to install the server.

      • bootnetworkdevice bootnetworkdevice – The server's provisioning network interface used to install the server. Valid Solaris values are bge0 (default), bge1, bge2, and bge3. Valid Linux values are eth0 (default), eth1, eth2, eth3, and eth4. Note that when installing the Red Hat 4 OS on Sun Fire X2100 servers, the bootnetworkdevice value must be set to eth1. The default value does not work for this situation.

      • console console – The device name for the server's system console, which may be used to monitor the installation. Default is ttys0 (Linux) and ttya (Solaris).

      • consolebaud consolebaud – The baud rate for the server's system console. Default is 9600.

      • nfsroot nfsroot – The location of the NFS root, such as 10.0.0.115:/my_roots/sol_a. You can specify a comma-separated list of paths, or you can specify a range of paths as follows: 10.1.10.1:/diskless/home/1–40. When specifying a range of paths, the nfsroot directory names must be numbers. This attribute is not required for initrd-based diskless clients.

Example 4–4 Installing a Group of Solaris Diskless Clients

The following example installs a Solaris diskless client on a group of servers.


N1-ok> load group my-diskless-group osprofile diskless-image bootip 10.5.5.2

Managing Diskless Clients

Managing diskless clients through the N1 System Manager product involves two main tasks: Uninstalling the diskless clients and viewing information about the associated OS profiles.

Uninstalling Diskless Clients

Uninstalling a diskless client removes the association between the client and a root file system. To uninstall a diskless client, use the unload server command. To unload a group of diskless clients, use the unload group command. For more information, see unload server in Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Command Line Reference Manual and unload group in Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Command Line Reference Manual.

Example 4–5 Uninstalling a Solaris Diskless Client

The following example uninstalls a Solaris diskless client.


N1-ok> unload server 10.1.10.11

Viewing Diskless Client Profiles

To see a list of defined diskless client profiles, use the show os allcommand. Look in the Format column for diskless. To see more information about a specific profile, use the show os os-namecommand.

Example 4–6 Viewing Diskless Client Profiles

The following example illustrates how to view information about a diskless client OS profile. The first command lists all OS profiles on the management server. The second command shows additional information about one of the diskless OS profiles. 


N1-ok> show os all
ID     Name                  Format        Type          Version
1      RedHatAS3u5           diskful       redhat        redhat-as3
2      Solaris10x86          diskful       solaris       solaris10x86
3      SusePro93             diskful       suse          suse-pro93
6      nfs                   diskless      redhat        nfs
5      image                 diskless      redhat        image
4      WS2k3Ent              diskful       windows       2003EE
7      SolarisX86            diskless      solaris       nfs
8      SolarisSparc          diskless      solaris       nfs
N1-ok> show os image
ID:            5
Name:          image
Format:        diskless
Type:          redhat
Version:       image
Kernel:        diskless/dl_kernel_image
Boot Image 1.: diskless/dl_initrd_image
Boot Image 2:  
Tftp Server :