Solaris Advanced Installation Guide

Creating Begin Scripts

What Is a Begin Script

A begin script is a user-defined Bourne shell script, specified within the rules file, that performs tasks before the Solaris software is installed on the system. Begin scripts can be used only with custom JumpStart installations.

Important Information About Begin Scripts

The following information is important to know about begin scripts:

Ideas for Begin Scripts

You could set up begin scripts to perform the following tasks:

Creating Derived Profiles With Begin Scripts

A derived profile is a profile that is dynamically created by a begin script during a custom JumpStart installation. Derived profiles are needed when you cannot set up the rules file to match specific systems to a profile (when you need more flexibility than the rules file can provide). For example, you may need to use derived profiles for identical system models that have different hardware components (for example, systems that have different frame buffers).

To set up a rule to use a derived profile, you must:

When a system matches a rule with the profile field equal to an equal sign (=), the begin script creates the derived profile that is used to install the Solaris software on the system.

An example of a begin script that creates the same derived profile every time is shown below; however, you could add code to this example that would create a different derived profile depending on certain command's output.

#!/bin/sh
echo "install_type        initial_install"    > ${SI_PROFILE}
echo "system_type         standalone"        >> ${SI_PROFILE}
echo "partitioning        default"           >> ${SI_PROFILE}
echo "cluster             SUNWCprog"         >> ${SI_PROFILE}
echo "package       SUNWman     delete"      >> ${SI_PROFILE}
echo "package       SUNWolman   delete"      >> ${SI_PROFILE}
echo "package       SUNWxwman   delete"      >> ${SI_PROFILE}

As shown above, the begin script must use the SI_PROFILE environment variable for the name of the derived profile, which is set to /tmp/install.input by default.


Note -

If a begin script is used to create a derived profile, make sure there are no errors in it. A derived profile is not verified by the check script, because it is not created until the execution of the begin script.