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Sun Management Center Change Manager 1.0 Administration Guide

Creating Software Stacks

The term hardware and software integration encompasses the combined tasks of installing and configuring a system. Integration means several things:

The result of integrating several software products is referred to as an integrated software stack or simply a software stack.

Change Manager imports, manages, and deploys software stacks that are stored as Solaris Flash archives. Change Manager deploys these archives to managed hosts. The per-client customization is achieved through the use of archive parameters and custom JumpStart finish scripts that are included in the Solaris Flash archive.

The system that is used as the prototype from which the software stack is created is called the master system or reference system.

The following sections describe how to create software stacks on master systems.

Note -

Do not create a Solaris Flash archive on a master system that is a Sun Management Center server or a Change Manager server. Sun Management Center cannot be deployed by using the Solaris Flash technology.

Choosing the Master System

Before you begin the installation of Change Manager software, see Master System Requirements to understand the hardware and software requirements for the master system.

A master system is the prototype for other systems that will run the software staged on this master. Therefore, choose a master system that closely matches the hardware configurations of the managed hosts it represents. Ideally, you stage the software on an identical system to avoid software discrepancies caused by hardware differences (such as missing device drivers). However, choosing a master system that is similar to the managed hosts is sufficient.

You can create a Solaris Flash archive on one platform that is deployable to a range of other similar platforms. For version 1.0 of Change Manager, this range is restricted to platforms that use the same Sun Management Center agent module. These agents can only be installed on the platform type for which they are intended. For instance, you cannot install a Netra agent module on a Sun EnterpriseTM 4500 system. Therefore, an archive created on the Sun Enterprise 4500 system cannot provide full functionality on a Netra system.

Current Sun Management Center agent modules are:

You must also consider hardware architecture when choosing a master system. Hardware independence is restricted by both instruction set and platform architecture. The master system and the managed hosts must have the same instruction set (namely, SPARC®) and platform architecture (namely, sun4u). Note that SPARC is the only processor type that Change Manager currently supports. Also note that all current SPARC products are sun4u.

If you plan to deploy the Solaris Flash archive to a range of platforms, or if the identical hardware is unavailable, ensure that all software that is required to support the various hardware configurations is installed on the master system. This software must be installed on the master system before you create the Solaris Flash archive. For more information, see Addressing Hardware Differences Between a Master System and Managed Hosts.

Installing Software on the Master System

Begin to create the software stack by installing software on the master system. First, install the Solaris operating environment and Solaris patches on the master system. Then, install the other software applications you want.

Note -

Not all software applications can be deployed by using Solaris Flash technology. For example, Sun Management Center software retains instance-specific configuration information that cannot be unconfigured for redeployment. See the Solaris 9 Installation Guide for information about the limitations of this technology with respect to add-on software applications.

Addressing Hardware Differences Between a Master System and Managed Hosts

The master system might not match the hardware configuration of the other systems on which the Solaris Flash archive might be deployed. In such cases, ensure that the master system includes software to support all hardware. To support all hardware, install the Entire Distribution plus OEM Support package cluster (SUNWCXall) on the master system. You must also install any third-party drivers or specialized device drivers on the master system.

For example, you select a PCI-based master system to create software stacks. Driver software for other buses, such as SBUS, are not installed by default if a package cluster other than SUNWCXall is installed. Consequently, software stacks you build on this master system will not have the SBUS drivers available. As a result, managed hosts that have SBUS hardware will not have the appropriate software available to support the hardware.

To avoid this situation, do one or more of the following: