To Create a Linux Image (High-Level Task)

You can create Linux images after you install Linux on a server blade. To install Linux on a server blade, use the Red Hat Kickstart technology. The main steps in the Linux image process follow.

Steps

1. Set up a Kickstart environment on a server running Red Hat AS 2.1 (the Kickstart server).

   See your Linux documentation for details.

2. Configure the Kickstart server to be a part of N1 Provisioning Server setup, as described in To Configure the Sun Fire B1600 Switch.

3. On the Provisioning Server machine, invoke the image wizard and follow the instructions to create a manual operating system installation for a Linux system as described in To Create a Linux Image by Using the Image Wizard.

4. When you see the following prompt from the image wizard, install Linux as described in To Install Linux on the Selected Resource Pool Server.

   Did the installation succeed [y/n] >

5. Return to the image wizard and continue.

   Did the installation succeed [y/n] > y Issue the following commands on the sytem controller to boot the resource pool server from the disk sc> bootmode bootscript="boot disk" s<X> (where "s<X>" is provided in resource pool server information) then you can issue the following command to reset sc> reset -y s<X> Please enter y when the resource pool server has booted from disk >

6. Boot the resource pool server from its disk.

   On the system controller, type the following commands:

   sc>bootmode bootscript="boot disk" console-id sc>poweron console-id

   For example:

   sc>bootmode bootscript="boot disk" s5 S5: Boot script set. sc>poweron s5 S5: Poweron sequence started.

7. Return to the image wizard and follow the instructions for customizing Linux for the N1 Provisioning Server environment.

   Please enter y when the resource pool server has booted from disk > y You can customize your installation at this point in time. Please logon to the resource pool server and customize. Please enter y when your customization is completed > y Please shutdown the resource pool server by issuing the command For Solaris: # /usr/sbin/shutdown -y -g0 -i0 For Linux: # /sbin/shutdown -h now Once the resource pool server shuts down, for sparc blades set the OBP of resource pool server to boot using dhcp by issuing the following command in the OBP prompt (no changes are required for i86pc blades) ok> setenv boot-device net:dhcp Please enter y when the resource pool server has completed the shutdown and when you have configured the resource pool server to boot using dhcp >

8. Prepare the disk for a snapshot as described in To Prepare a Disk for Snapshot.

9. Return to the image wizard window and continue from the previous point.

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   Note –

   In the image wizard text, you see references to “PES.” PES is a historical term that refers to a Resource Pool Server.

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   Please enter y when the resource pool server has completed the shutdown and when you have configured the resource pool server to boot using dhcp > y Creating image. This will take some time, please wait till the operation completes. Do not interrupt the operation. Please run farm -Lt <farm id> for more information. --------------- output of internal commands ---------------- Disabling monitoring on PES 50105 Powering off PES 50105 for a move to it's original VLAN Setting PES State to OFF Moving PES 50105 to its original VLAN Powering on PES 50105 in it's original VLAN Setting PES State to ON Activating farm 113 ... Request (id: 597) submitted. Waiting for request 597 to complete... .............. Taking snapshot of target 0 for host server for farm 113 to create final image ... Snapshot image size: 30000000000 Request (id: 601) submitted. Waiting for request 601 to complete... ........................................................ Snapshot was successful. Deactivating the farm 113 Request (id: 619) submitted. Waiting for request 619 to complete... ............... Farm 113 is deactivated. Image rh-as2.1-disk-image is ready for use. ---------------------- end of command ---------------------- Image creation completed. Updating image attributes. --------------- output of internal commands ---------------- Updated image: 18 ---------------------- end of command ---------------------- Image update completed. WARNING: The farm created for image creation has to be deleted manually. Use the farm -D <farm id> command to delete the farm. Please wait for the farm to be deactivated before you issue this command. IMAGE WIZARD ############ This Wizard can be used to : * create "image" and store the "image" on the image server (IS) and "image attributes" in the control plane database (CPDB). * import "image" and "image attribute information" into the image repository and control plane database (CPDB). * manage images and manage image attribute information in the image repository and control plane database (CPDB). Please read the N1 PS System Administration Guide before using this Wizard. Please select, 1) Create - Create a new image and store the image in the repository 2) Import - Import an image into the repository 3) List - List the images in the repository 4) Update - Update image attribute information in the repository 5) Delete - Delete an image in the repository 6) Validate - Validate imported images 7) Quit Enter your selection [1-7] > 7

10. Clean up the stale state.

    On the Provisioning Server machine, manually delete the temporary farm that was created. Use the following command:

    # farm -D farm-id

    Where farm-id is the farm ID printed by the wizard in Step 5. For example:

    bash-2.03# farm -D 113

    The newly created image rh-as2.1-disk-image is ready for deployment.