Solaris 10 Installation Guide for IBM BladeCenter Servers

ProcedureHow to Add Systems to Be Installed From the Network With add_install_client

Before You Begin

If you have a boot server, make sure that you have shared the installation server installation image and have started the appropriate services. See How to Create an Installation Server With x86 CD Media or How to Create an Installation Server With x86 DVD Media.

Each system that you want to install needs to find the following:

  1. On the installation server or boot server, become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

    Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

  2. Change to the Tools directory on the Solaris DVD image.


    # cd /install-dir-path/Solaris_10/Tools
    
    install-dir-path

    Specifies the path to the Tools directory

  3. Set up the client system so that it can be installed from the network.


    # ./add_install_client -d -s install-server:install-dir_path -c jumpstart-server:jumpstart-dir-path -p sysid-server:path
    -t boot-image-path -b "boot-property=value" -e ethernet-address client-name platform-group
    
    -d

    Specifies that the client is to use DHCP to obtain the network installation parameters. If you use the -d only, the add_install_client command sets up the installation information for client systems of the same class, for example, all x86 based client machines. To set up the installation information for a specific client, use -d with the -e option.

    Use this option to boot the systems from the network by using a PXE network boot. The output of this option lists the DHCP options that you need to create on the DHCP server.

    For more information about class-specific installations that use DHCP, see Creating DHCP Options and Macros for Solaris Installation Parameters.

    -s install-server:install-dir-path

    Specifies the name and path to the installation server.

    where install-server is the host name of the installation server and install-dir-path is the absolute path to the Solaris DVD or CD image.

    -c jumpstart-server:jumpstart-dir-path

    Specifies a JumpStart directory for custom JumpStart installations. jumpstart-server is the host name of the server on which the JumpStart directory is located. The jumpstart-dir-path is the absolute path to the JumpStart directory.

    -p sysid-server:path

    Specifies the path to the sysidcfg file for preconfiguring system information. sysid-server is either a valid host name or an IP address for the server that contains the file. path is the absolute path to the directory containing the sysidcfg file.

    -t boot-image-path

    Specifies the path to an alternate boot image if you want to use a boot image other than the image in the Tools directory on the Solaris OS net installation image, CD, or DVD.

    -bboot-property=value

    Enables you to set the value of a boot property variable that you want to use to boot the client from the network. The -b option must be used with the -e option.

    See the eeprom(1M) man page for descriptions of boot properties.

    -e ethernet-address

    Specifies the Ethernet address of the client that you want to install. This option enables you to set up the installation information to use for a specific client, including a boot file for that client. For instance, if you specify -e 00:07:e9:04:4a:bf for a client, the command creates the boot file 010007E9044ABF.i86pc in the /tftpboot directory.


    Note –

    In previous releases, the -e option created a boot file with the prefix nbp.. Starting with the Solaris 10 1/06 release, the nbp. prefix is not used in boot file names. However, starting with the Solaris 10 1/06 release, the use of legacy boot files with the nbp. prefix is supported.


    For more information about client-specific installations by using DHCP, see Creating DHCP Options and Macros for Solaris Installation Parameters.

    client-name

    Is the name of the system to be installed from the network. This name is not the host name of the installation server.

    platform-group

    Is the platform group of the system to be installed.


Example 1–12 Adding an Installation Client on an installation Server When Using DHCP: Solaris 10 1/06

The following example illustrates how to add an installation client to an installation server when you are using DHCP to set installation parameters on the network. The -d option is used to specify that clients use the DHCP protocol for configuration. To perform a PXE network boot, you must use the DHCP protocol. The -s option is used to specify that the clients are to be installed from the installation server that is named rosemary. This server contains a Solaris 10 1/06 DVD image in /export/home/dvdx86.


# cd /export/boot/dvdx86/Solaris_10/Tools
# ./add_install_client -d -s rosemary:/export/home/dvdx86 i86pc


Example 1–13 Adding a Single Installation Client on an Installation Server When Using DHCP

The following example illustrates how to add an installation client to an installation server when you are using DHCP to set installation parameters on the network. The -d option is used to specify that clients are to use the DHCP protocol for configuration. You must use the DHCP protocol to perform a PXE network boot. The -e option indicates that this installation occur only on the client with the Ethernet address 00:07:e9:04:4a:bf . The -s option is used to specify that the clients are to be installed from the installation server that is named rosemary. This server contains a image in /export/home/dvdx86.


# cd /export/boot/dvdx86/Solaris_10/Tools
# ./add_install_client -d -e 00:07:e9:04:4a:bf -s rosemary:/export/home/dvdx86 i86pc

These commands set up the client with the Ethernet address 00:07:e9:04:4a:bf as an installation client. The boot file 010007E9044ABF.i86pc is created on the installation server. In previous releases, this boot file was named nbp.010007E9044ABF.i86pc.



Example 1–14 Specifying a Serial Console to Use During a Network Installation (DVD)

The following example illustrates how to add an install client to an installation server and specify a serial console to use during the installation. This example sets up the install client in the following manner.


# cd /export/boot/dvdx86/Solaris_10/Tools
# ./add_install_client -d -e 00:07:e9:04:4a:bf -b "console=ttya" i86pc

For a complete description of the boot property variables and values that you can use with the -b option, see the eeprom(1M) man page.

For information about setting up a serial over LAN (SOL) connection after installing the Solaris OS, see How to Set Up a Serial Over LAN Connection. The SOL connection is used to manage systems remotely.


Continuing the Installation

If you are using a DHCP server to install the client over the network, configure the DHCP server and create the options and macros that are listed in the output of the add_install_client -d command. For instructions on how to configure a DHCP server to support network installations, see Preconfiguring System Configuration Information With the DHCP Service (Task Map).

If you are not using a DHCP server, you must boot the system from a local Solaris OS DVD or CD.

See Also

For additional information about the add_install_client command, see the install_scripts(1M) man page.