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Sun N1 Service Provisioning System User's Guide for OS Provisioning Plug-In 3.0

Chapter 8 Provisioning the Windows Operating Environment

This chapter explains how to use the OS provisioning plug-in to install the Windows operating system onto target hosts.

The chapter contains the following information:

Note –

Although you can provision Windows 2000 operating systems, the Windows boot and install server must be running the Windows 2003 operating system.

Remote Installation Services (RIS) Technology

The OS provisioning plug-in uses RIS technology to provision Windows systems. The Remote Installation Services provide an independent setup routine that is executed on the RIS server. RIS provides a centralized location to integrate maintenance and troubleshooting tools that are accessible through a network boot. RIS provides network administrators with the capability to easily install the base operating system or to replace a system that has failed. For more information about RIS, see the Microsoft documentation.

Windows Provisioning Process Overview

  1. Set up the Windows image server.

  2. Create the Windows profiles.

  3. Create a target host.

  4. Install the image onto the target host.

Setting Up the Windows Server

Setting up the Windows boot and install server consists of the following tasks:

  1. Set up the Windows RIS server.

  2. Create a component for the Windows RIS server in your N1 SPS environment.

ProcedureHow to Set Up the Windows RIS Server

Steps

  1. Install Windows 2003 Server Standard or Enterprise Edition operating system with Service Pack 1 for 32–bit systems on the Windows boot and install server.

    Create a separate NTFS partition that is big enough to store at least one image of roughly 700 Mbytes to hold RIS images. You will need to identify this partition when you make the server into a RIS server.

    Note –

    If you already have a machine that is running Windows 2003 Server 32-bit Standard or Enterprise edition without Service Pack 1, you can install theWindows 2003 Service Pack 1 separately on the server. See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #891128 .

  2. Install and configure Active Directory Server on this machine.

    Identify this system as a domain controller. For information about Active Directory Server, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 324753.

  3. Install and configure RIS server on this machine.

    For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 325862.

    Note –

    While installing RIS server, add a Windows 2003 x64 Risetup.exe image or the Windows 2003-Service Pack 1 x86 Risetup.exe image on the RIS server.

    If the Windows Server 2003 SP1 RISETUP image is the first image to be uploaded to the RIS server, the new OS chooser screen (x8664.osc ) is copied to the RIS server by default.

    If there are existing Windows OS images on the RIS server at the time the first Windows Server 2003 SP1 image or the Windows 2003 x64 is added, you must choose whether to overwrite (or backup and overwrite) the OS chooser screens during the installation to get the new screen. See Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #891128.

  4. Install Windows 2003 Resource Kit software and Support Tools on the Windows boot and install server.

    This package includes tools like setupmgr and xcacls that are used by the OS provisioning scripts. You can install these tools in one of the following ways:

    • Install the Windows 2003 Support Tools.

      The Support Tools are not automatically installed when you install Windows 2003. The installation program is located on the OS CD-ROM in the \support\tools folder. You must manually open the setup file (suptools.msi) to launch the installation wizard.

    • Install the Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools.

      You can obtain the Resource Kit tools from a Windows 2003 Resource Kit CD or from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads.

  5. Install and configure the Windows RSH Server or the Windows SSH Server on the RIS server.

    Note –

    The N1 SPS OS Provisioning Plug-In 3.0 release supports only SSH for deploying Windows custom-based profiles and supports both RSH and SSH for Windows non-custom based profiles. SSH provides more secure and reliable communication between the RIS Server and the N1 OS Provisioning Server than the RSH service.

    • To install the Windows SSH Server on the Windows RIS Server, install and configure the Cygwin© Open Secure Shell Service (OpenSSH service) for Windows 2003 on the RIS Server as any user.

      For more information, see the following web sites.

    • To install the Windows RSH Server on the Windows RIS Server, follow these steps.

      1. Install the Windows 2003 Resource Kit and Windows Services for Unix 3.5 (SFU3.5) software on the Windows RIS server.

        For instructions about how to install the Windows 2003 Resource Kit and Windows Services for Unix 3.5 (SFU3.5) software, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #321712 .

        The Windows 2003 Resource Kit and Windows Services for Unix 3.5 (SFU3.5) software are available on the Windows Resource Kit CD and from the Windows web site. This software includes the Windows RSH service, and other tools that are used by the OS provisioning plug-in scripts, such as setupmgr, deploy.cab, xcacls.

      2. Install and configure the Windows Remote Shell Service (WinRsh service) on the RIS Server as user root.

        For instructions, seeRemote Shell Services in SFU.

        Note –

        If the permissions for the .rhosts file are not set correctly, the WinRsh service fails and the client receives an “Access denied” message. To prevent this failure, assign full permissions to the user group Administrators/SYSTEM in the .rhosts ACL list. For example add the following entry to the .rhosts file in c://windows/system32/drivers/etc/ 


        ------------------
10.5.133.22 root
------------------

        After editing the .rhosts file, ensure that you save the file as .rhosts, not .rhosts.txt.

  6. Install the N1 SPS Remote Agent on the Windows RIS server.

  7. On the Master Server, prepare a new Remote Agent host for the Windows RIS server.

ProcedureHow to Create the Windows Image Server (Browser Interface)

After you set up the Windows RIS server, you must create a component for the server in your SPS environment. Follow these steps to create the component in the SPS browser user interface.

Steps

  1. Log in to the SPS browser interface.

  2. In the Common Tasks section of the browser interface main window, selelct OS Provisioning.

    The OS Provisioning page is displayed.

  3. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Create in the Windows Image Servers section.

  4. On the Plans Details page, click Run.

    The WindowsServer-create plan details page is displayed.

  5. Choose variables to use for this plan.

    • To use an existing variables set, select a name from the drop-down menu in the Variable Settings row of the Plan Parameters table.

    • To create a new variables set, click Select from List in the Variable Settings column of the Plan Parameters table.

      1. Click Create Set.

      2. Type a name for the variables set.

      3. Verify variables and change them, if needed.

        The image server component has only a few variables, most of which you are unlikely to change. For a list of those variables and their default values, see Windows Image Server Component Variables.

      4. To change a variable setting, click the check box for the variable.

        A check mark is displayed in the box, and a text field is displayed. Enter the new variable value in the text field.

      5. Save the variables set.

      6. Select the variables set that you just saved from the drop-down menu in the Variable Settings row of the Plan Parameters table.

    • If you want to use another component's variable settings, click Import Set From Component.

      The Import Variable Settings window displays.

      1. If necessary, navigate to the Folder that contains the component with the variable settings you want to import.

      2. Select the component version.

        Note –

        Variable settings can vary between component versions. Ensure that the current components and the component from which you want to import variable settings share common variables. If the component from which you want to import variable settings does not share common variables with the component you want to use in your plan, the variable settings are not imported.

      3. Click Import Variable Settings.

        The variables settings are imported, and are displayed in the table.

      4. On the Plan Details Run page, select the variable settings that you imported from the Variable Settings drop-down list, then click Select.

    • If you want to use component variable settings that are stored in a file, follow these steps.

      1. In the Import Sets from File text field, enter the path to the variable settings file that you want to use.

        To browse through the file system to find the appropriate file, click the Browse button.

      2. Click Import.

        The variables settings are imported, and are displayed in the table.

        Note –

        If the file from which you want to import variable settings does not share common variables with the component you want to use in your plan, the variable set is not imported.

      3. On the Plan Details Run page, select the variable settings that you imported from the Variable Settings drop-down list, then click Select.

  6. In the Target Host field, specify the host created in the N1 SPS Master Server for the Windows RIS server you created in How to Set Up the Windows RIS Server.

  7. Type the password for the Active Directory user in the text field in the Plan Variables section.

    Type the password in clear text only. Ensure that your password selection meets all Window password requirements. See the Microsoft documentation for more information.

  8. Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

    The plan performs the following tasks.

    • The Windows RIS server component is created on the Master Server.

    • The N1ospRisUtil directory is created on the Windows RIS server in the directory that is specified in the installPath variable. This directory contains the following subdirectories.

      • N1ospScripts

      • N1ospTemplates

      • N1ospTools

      • SampleOSCFiles

      • SampleSIFFiles

  9. To verify that the Windows RIS server is created successfully, click the Hosts link in the left side of the provisioning server window.

    You should see the name of the virtual host appended with -windows. For example, if you installed on host masterserver, the virtual host is masterserver-windows.

ProcedureHow to Create the Windows Image Server (Command-Line Interface)

After you set up the Windows RIS server, you must create an component for the server in your SPS environment. Follow these steps to create the component in the SPS browser user interface.

Steps

  1. (Optional) Encrypt the RIS server access password.

    For more information about how to encrypt passwords, see Password Encryption.

  2. To create a variable set for the WindowsServer component, type a command similar to the following example:


    # cr_cli -cmd cdb.vs.add -comp NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/WindowsServer \
-name "winRisServer" -u admin -p admin -vars "installPath=C:\\\\N1 ISP\\\\IspScripts; \
boot_server_domain_name=n1lab.west.example.com;active_directory_userid=n1ospadmin; \
boot_server_access_protocol=ssh;boot_server_access_userid=Administrator; \
boot_server_access_password=yf7813jWUweB4SXBe0JIlw==; \
ris_share_directory=D:\\\\RemoteInstall"

    For information about the WindowsServer variable set, see Windows Image Server Component Variables.

  3. Create a file named /tmp/windows-bi-server that includes the following entry:


    password4user!

    In the previous example, password4user! specifies the Active Directory user password.

  4. To run the plan, type a command that is similar to the following example.


    # cr_cli -cmd pe.p.run -u admin -p admin \
-PID NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/WindowsServer-create -tar H:NM:risserver \
-comp - -vs winRisServer -pto 30 -nto 10 -f /tmp/windows-bi-server

    The plan performs the following tasks.

    • The Windows RIS server component is created on the Master Server.

    • The N1ospRisUtil directory is created on the Windows RIS server in the directory that is specified in the installPath variable. This directory contains the following subdirectories.

      • N1ospScripts

      • N1ospTemplates

      • N1ospTools

      • SampleOSCFiles

      • SampleSIFFiles

Windows Image Server Component Variables

Table 8–1 Variables for Windows Image Server Component

Variable Name 

Description 

Default Value or Example 

installPath

Location of the base directory where the N1 OS Provisioning scripts are installed. For example, C:\Program Files. Do not specify a trailing backslash in this variable. 

C:\ (Default) 

boot_srerver_domain_name

Windows active directory domain name for the RIS server.  

winprov.n1lab.sun.com (Example)

active_directory_userid

Active directory user ID 

n1ospadmin (Default)

boot_server_access_protocol

Protocol to use to access the RIS server, such as RSH or SSH 

Note –

If you plan to use custom-based Windows RIS server profiles, RSH is not a supported value for the boot_server_access_protocol variable.

ssh (Default)

boot_server_access_userid

User ID to use to access the RIS server. For the RSH protocol, specify root for this variable. 

No default 

boot_server_access_password

Encrypted password to use to access the RIS server. This variable is required for RIS servers that use the SSH protocol. If you use the RSH protocol, this variable is not required. 

For instructions about how to create an encrypted password, see Password Encryption.

No default 

ris_share_directory

Location of the RemInst share on the RIS server. For example, D:\RemoteInstall. 

No default 

ris_language

Language of the OSChooser screens installed on the RIS server. 

English 

ciw_directory

Location of the CIW and OS Chooser files. For example, D:\RemoteInstall\OSChooser\English 

:[ris_share_directory]\OSChooser\:[ris_language]

temporary_sif_directory

Location of the Sun N1 OS Provisioning temporary sif files in the RemInst share. For example, D:\RemoteInstall\N1ospSif.

:[ris_share_directory]\N1ospSif

windowsHost

Virtual host that represents the Windows RIS server. 

:[target:sys.hostName]-windows

Creating Windows Images and Profiles

A provisioning profile identifies the OS files to use and includes additional information about how those files are to be deployed.

ProcedureHow to Set Up a Windows Image on the Windows RIS Server

Steps

  1. Copy the Windows distribution from a CD or Network Share to the RIS server CIFS.

    Use the RiSetup.exe utility. Select the Keep old existing OSC files option when you create the RIS image.

    Note –

    Do not use MSDN Combo CDs to create a RIS Image. You will get an error message that was described in the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #300556.To resolve this issue, please use a retail version of the OS image being created.

    If you are using a Windows distribution with integrated Service Packs, follow the instructions in the following sitesto create your RIS image.

    • Download Windows 2000 Service Pack 3

      Download the appropriate service pack from this site. Select the Windows 2000 SP3 Network Installation Windows 2000 SP3 Network Installation download. Similar download pages are available for other Windows OS versions at this site.

  2. Add the required drivers to the RIS image created in the previous step.

    Be sure to include all the drivers, such as those for the network adapter, SCSI hard drives, video, and modem.

    For more information about adding drivers to RIS images, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 315279, Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 246184, and Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 254078.

    Note –

    Create the distribution folder accordingly.

    See the sample setup files and drivers in the SampleSIFFiles and SampleDrivers folders for more details.

  3. (Optional) Copy N1 SPS Remote Agent binary to the folder product-directory/$OEM$/$1/N1OSP/ under the image distribution folder.

    product-directory is the Windows image distribution folder that has "i386" or “amd64” as a subfolder that contains the kernel files.

    Note –

    If this folder layout does not exist, create the layout.

    The script expects the N1OSP folder to be part of the image. Copy the tools required for provisioning to this directory path product-directory/$OEM$/$1/N1OSP/. Do not change the N1OSP folder name.

    After you copy the N1 SPS Remote Agent binary to the folder, the directory contents resemble the following example.


    D:\RemoteInstall\Setup\English\Images\WIN2003_TRIAL\$OEM$\$1\N1ISP>dir
     Volume in drive D is Local Disk
     Volume Serial Number is A8D9-4012

     Directory of D:\RemoteInstall\Setup\English\Images\WIN2003_TRIAL\$OEM$\$1\N1OSP

     02/04/2005	 02:39 PM    <DIR>	    .
     02/04/2005	 02:39 PM    <DIR>	    ..
     01/31/2005	 03:33 PM	 27,595,776 cr_ra_win32_5.2.msi

Creating Custom Windows Provisioning Profiles

You can use the provisioning software to generate a custom Windows provisioning profile for your deployments. The OS Provisioning Plug-In can generate all the necessary variables and plans to provision the Windows OS to your target hosts.

If you want to manually create a Windows provisioning profile, see How to Configure the Setup Information for the Windows Image.

ProcedureHow to Create a Custom Windows Provisioning Profile (Browser Interface)

This procedure describes how to use the OS Provisioning browser interface to generate a custom Windows provisioning profile.

Before You Begin

Make sure the Windows image server exists and that the Windows OS software is available to that server. For more information about creating the Windows image server, see Setting Up the Windows Server.

Steps

  1. In the Common Tasks section of the provisioning software page, select OS Provisioning.

  2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Create Profile in the Windows Images section.

  3. On the Plans Details page, click Run.

  4. Choose variables to use for this plan.

    • To use an existing variables set, select a name from the drop-down menu in the WindowsImage component row of the Plan Parameters table.

    • To create a new variables set, click Select from List in the WindowsImage component row of the Plan Parameters table.

      1. Click Create Set.

      2. Type a name for the variables set.

      3. Verify variables and change them, if needed.

        If you need more information than is provided in the prompts in the component variables table, see the detailed list of components, along with default values and examples, in Windows Provisioning Profile Variables.

        Note –

        For custom-based profiles, you must not specify a value for the sif_file variable.

      4. Save the variables set.

      5. Select the variables set that you just saved from the drop-down menu in the WindowsImage component row of the Plan Parameters table.

  5. On the Plan Details Run page, select the Windows image server on which to attach the image.

    Tip –

    The host name of the Windows image server ends in -windows.

  6. If needed, change the Profile Name.

  7. If needed, change the Profile Description.

  8. Verify that the checkbox for the Create the Custom Profile option is selected.

  9. Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

  10. To verify that the Windows image is attached to the Windows image server, click Components in the left pane of the N1 SPS browser interface.

    You should see a component of type com.sun.n1osp#Provision that has a description similar to Windows provisioning profile.

  11. Edit the variables for the custom-based Windows provisioning profile.

    You need to edit the component variables for the custom Windows profile to enter values for the following items.

    • OS Provisioning control service

    • Product key

    • User name

    • Organization name

    • Time zone

    • Terminal server properties

    • Language and locale for the target host

    1. In the Common Tasks section of the provisioning software page, select OS Provisioning.

    2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Provision OS in the Windows Images section.

    3. On the Components page, click the profile you previously created in the Components column.

    4. On the Components Details page, click Edit.

    5. On the Component Details Edit page, click the check box next to the variable that you want to edit, then type the value for the variable in the Value for This Component column.

      Edit the values for the following variables.

      osp_profile_control_service

      Specifies whether to call the OSP Control Service, which automates power off, reboot, and power on functions. For Windows provisioning, set the value of this variable to true.

      user_full_name

      Specifies the full name of the user for the target host.

      organization_name

      Specifies the name of the organization of which the target host is a member.

      product_key

      Specifies the product key for the OS distribution.

      timezone

      Specifies the time zone for the target host.

      profile_language

      Specifies the language or locale to install on the target host.

      profile_language_group

      Specifies the language group to install on the target host.

      install_terminal_server

      Specifies that the profile should install a terminal server on the target host.

      terminal_server_allow_connections

      Specifies whether the target host should allow remote connections.

      terminal_server_licensing_mode

      Specifies how the terminal services manages Client Access Licenses.

      terminal_server_permissions_setting

      Enables administrators to choose the security mode for terminal server users.

    6. Click Check In.

Next Steps

To install the Windows OS on your target host, you must modify the BIOS boot settings, then run the provisioning plan. For more information, see Installing the Windows OS on the Target Host.

ProcedureHow to Create a Custom Windows Provisioning Profile (Command Line Interface)

Steps

  1. To create a variable set for the WindowsImage component, type a command similar to the following example:


    # cr_cli -cmd cdb.vs.add -comp NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/WindowsImage \
-name "windows2003custom" -u admin -p admin -vars \
"osp_server=masterserver-osp;os_name="WIN2003_trial"version=2003; \
installPath="2003customprofile"; \
description=test windows image 2003;min_disk_size=10GB; \
boot_server_name=biwl;boot_server_subnet_address=10.42.42.0; \
boot_server_subnet_ip_address=10.42.42.4;\
boot_srv_active_directory_domain=n1.west.example.com;\
windows_product_directory=D:\\\\RemoteInstall\\\\Setup\\\\English
\\\\Images\\\\Win2003_trial"
    Note –

    The windows_product_directory should be included all on one line. For display purposes, this entry appears on two separate lines.

    For more information about the variables, see Windows Provisioning Profile Variables.

  2. Create a file named /tmp/windows-profile with the following entries.


    custom
Windows 2003 EE x86 Profile
true

    The entries in this file correspond to the following plan variables.

    • custom specifies the Profile Name.

    • Windows 2003 EE x86 Profile specifies the Profile Description.

    • true specifies that this plan will generate a custom profile.

  3. To run the plan, type a command similar to the following example:


    # cr_cli -cmd pe.p.run -u admin -p admin \
-PID NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/WindowsImage-create-profile \
-tar H:NM:risserver-windows -comp - -vs windows2003custom -pto 30 -nto 10 \
-f /tmp/windows-profile

    Note the default N1 SPS user value you specified with the -u option. This user must exist after the OS installation for the N1 SPS Remote Agent software to start on the target host.

Creating Non-Custom Windows Provisioning Profiles

Through the N1 SPS browser or command line interface, you can manually create a Windows Provisioning profile. When you manually create a provisioning profile, you must supply the appropriate variable values to use in your provisioning plans.

If you want the OS Provisioning plug-in to generate a Windows provisioning profile for you, see How to Create a Custom Windows Provisioning Profile (Browser Interface).

To create a non-custom Windows Provisioning Profile, complete the following tasks.

ProcedureHow to Configure the Setup Information for the Windows Image

This procedure describes how to manually configure the setup information for a Windows image. You must complete this procedure if you are creating a non-custom Windows provisioning profile.

Setup information for Windows is stored in a RIS configuration profile. See the sample setup files from SampleSIFFiles folder for more details.

Steps

  1. Edit the configuration profile file for each distribution to set the parameters mentioned in the following steps.

    To edit this file, use the SetupMgr.exe utility. from the Windows Resource Kit CD (deploy.cab file). You can also manually edit the file using the notepad tool.

    For a Windows 2003 image, the default SIF file is on the RIS Server at the following location:


    //Reminst/Setup/English/Images/Windows2003/i386/templates/ristndrd.sif

  2. Verify or add the following configuration parameters to the [data] section in your ristndrd.sif configuration file:

    AutoPartition=1
UnattendedInstall="Yes"

  3. Verify or add the following configuration parameters to the [Unattended] section in your ristndrd.sif configuration file:

    UnattendMode=FullUnattended
NtUpgrade=No
OverwriteOemFilesOnUpgrade=No
OemPreinstall = Yes

  4. Verify or add the following configuration parameters to the [UserData] section in your ristndrd.sif configuration file:

    FullName = "N1osp SunUser"
OrgName = "Sun Microsystems"
ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
    Note –

    Replace the FullName and OrgName values with something that is appropriate for your environment.

    While deploying some operating systems, such as Windows 2000 Advanced Server, ProductKey does not work. Instead, use a ProductID variable.

  5. Verify or add the following configuration parameters to the [GuiUnattended] section in your ristndrd.sif configuration file:

    AdminPassword="sun123"
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=1
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
    Note –

    AutoLogonCount=1 implies that the super-user administrator is automatically logged on to the target host after installation with the default password as sun123 for the very first time. This is required to execute the provision time commands specified in the [GuiRunOnce] section in the SIF file. When the Administrator user attempts to login again, he will be prompted to change the password.

  6. Edit the software information file (sif) to automate download of critical security updates after the installation.

    Add the following lines to the sif file.


    [WindowsFirewall]
Profiles=WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall

[WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall]
Mode=0

  7. Verify or add the following sections to your ristndrd.sif configuration file:

    [Branding]
        BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes
[Proxy]
        Proxy_Enable=0
        Use_Same_Proxy=0
    Tip –

    The SetupMgr.exe utility generally adds these sections for you.

  8. Add any specific plug and play drivers to the image.

    See the instructions in Microsoft Knowledge Base article #: 315279.

ProcedureHow to Create a Non-Custom Windows Provisioning Profile (Browser Interface)

This procedure describes how to use the OS Provisioning browser interface to manually create your own Windows provisioning profile.

Before You Begin

Make sure the Windows image server exists and that the Windows OS software is available to that server. For more information about creating the Windows image server, see Setting Up the Windows Server and How to Set Up the Windows RIS Server.

Steps

  1. In the Common Tasks section of the provisioning software page, select OS Provisioning.

  2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Create Profile in the Windows Images section.

  3. On the Plans Details page, click Run.

  4. Click Select from List in the WindowsImage component row of the Plan Parameters table.

  5. Click Create Set.

  6. Type a name for the variables set.

  7. Specify the variable values to use with this plan.

    If you need more information than is provided in the prompts in the component variables table, see the detailed list of components, along with default values and examples, in Windows Provisioning Profile Variables.

    Note –

    You must specify a value for the sif_file variable.

  8. Save the variables set.

  9. Select the variables set that you just saved from the drop-down menu in the WindowsImage component row of the Plan Parameters table.

  10. On the Plan Details Run page, select the Windows image server on which to attach the image.

    Tip –

    The host name of the Windows image server ends in -windows.

  11. Type values for the Profile Name and Profile Description plan variables.

  12. Deselect the Create Custom Profile check box.

  13. Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

  14. To verify that the Windows image is attached to the Windows image server, click Components in the left pane of the N1 SPS browser interface.

    You should see a component of type com.sun.n1osp#Provision that has a description similar to Windows provisioning profile.

Next Steps

To install the Windows OS on your target host, you must modify the BIOS boot settings, then run the provisioning plan. For more information, see Installing the Windows OS on the Target Host.

ProcedureHow to Create a Non-Custom Windows Provisioning Profile (Command-Line Interface)

Steps

  1. To create a variable set for the WindowsProfile component, type a command similar to the following example:


    # cr_cli -cmd cdb.vs.add -comp NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/WindowsImage \
-name "windows2003" -u admin -p admin -vars "osp_server=masterserver-osp;version=2003; \
os_name="WIN2003_trial";description=test windows image 2003;min_disk_size=10GB; \
boot_server_name=biw1;boot_server_subnet_address=10.42.42.0; \
boot_server_subnet_ip_address=10.42.42.4;boot_srv_active_directory_domain=n1isp.sfbay.sun.com; \
windows_product_directory=D:\\\\RemoteInstall\\\\Setup\\\\English\\\\Images\\\\Win2003_trial; \
sif_file=D:\\\\RemoteInstall\\\\Setup\\\\English\\\\Images\\\\Win2003_trial\\\\i386\\\\templates\\\\
Ispristndrd.sif"
    Note –

    The windows_product_directory should be included all on one line. For display purposes, this entry appears on three separate lines.

    For more information about the variables, see Windows Provisioning Profile Variables.

  2. Create a file named /tmp/windows-profile with the following entries.


    noncustom
Windows 2003 EE x86 Profile
false

    The entries in this file correspond to the following plan variables.

    • noncustom specifies the Profile Name.

    • Windows 2003 EE x86 Profile specifies the Profile Description.

    • false specifies that this plan will not use a custom profile.

  3. To run the plan, type a command similar to the following example:


     # cr_cli -cmd pe.p.run -u admin -p admin -PID NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/WindowsImage-create-profile \
-tar H:NM:risserver-windows -comp + -vs windows2003 -pto 30 -nto 1 -f /tmp/windows-profile0

Windows Provisioning Profile Variables

The following table lists all component variables for the Windows provisioning profile. For those variables that have default values, the default is listed. For those variables that do not have default values, an example value is shown for illustration.

Table 8–2 Component Variables for Windows Provisioning Profile

Variable Name 

Description 

Default or Sample Value 

osp_server

Virtual server that represents the OS provisioning service 

masterserver-osp (Default)

os_name

Name of the Windows OS distribution on the RIS server 

Win2003_SP1_x86 (Example)

version

Windows version 

2003 (Default)

architecture

 

x86 (Default)

os_language

Language of the Windows OS distribution 

English (Default)

installPath

Name of Windows image 

Windows:[version]_:[architecture] (Default)

description

Description 

 

min_disk_size

Minimum disk size for this profile to be deployed 

10GB (Default)

boot_server_name

Name of Windows boot server 

Winbiserver1 (Example)

boot_server_subnet_address

Subnet served by boot server 

10.42.42.0 (Example)

boot_server_subnet_ip_address

IP address of boot server on this subnet 

10.42.42.1 (Example)

boot_srv_active_directory_domain

Windows active directory domain for this subnet 

:[targetableComponent:boot_server_domain_name]

(Default) 

windows_product_directory

Windows product directory name on boot server 

:[targetableComponent:ris_share_directory]\Setup\:[os_language]\Images\:[os_name]

(Default) 

sif_file

Location of software information file (SIF) 

D:\RemoteInstall\Setup\English\Images\Win2003\i386\templates\ristndrd.sif

(Example) 

windows_component_folder

Location of auto-generated Windows Provision component folder  

/com/sun/n1osp/autogen-:[target(..):sys.hostName]-windows (Default)

Installing the Windows OS on the Target Host

Profiles are used to provision OS Images to target Hosts. These Profiles are found in /com/sun/n1osp/autogen...provision folders. One new Profile is added to a provision folder each time a new OS Image is created (or attached).

ProcedureHow to Install the OS on the Target Host

Before You Begin

Before you provision the Windows OS, create the target hosts that you want to install. For more information, see Chapter 9, Target Hosts for OS Provisioning.

Ensure that the GUID is specified in the variable set for the component for the target host that you want to install. For more information about target host variables, see Appendix A, Target Host Variables.

Steps

  1. In the Common Tasks section of the provisioning software page, select OS Provisioning.

  2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Provision OS in the Windows Images section.

  3. Navigate to the Windows folder that contains the provision component.

    For example, /com/sun/n1osp/autogen-masterserver-windows/provision/.

  4. Click the component name.

    For example, Windows2000_x86

  5. On the Component Details page, click the Run action next to the Provision_start:Install procedure.

  6. Select the target host on which to provision the operating system.

    Tip –

    The target host should have a host name that ends in -target.

  7. Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

Managing Windows Installations

The OS Provisioning Plug-In enables you to perform the following administration task on your Windows installations.

ProcedureHow to Check the Windows OS Provisioning Status

Steps

  1. In the Common Tasks section of the N1 SPS browser interface, select OS Provisioning.

  2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Status in the Host Administration Tasks section.

  3. On the Plans Details page, click Run.

  4. On the Plan Details Run page, select the target host on which you provisioned the OS.

  5. Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

  6. Follow the Details links to view the status.

ProcedureHow to Stop a Windows OS Provisioning Operation

Steps

  1. In the Common Tasks section of the N1 SPS browser interface, select OS Provisioning.

  2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Abort in the Host Admin section.

  3. On the Plans Details page, click Run.

  4. On the Plan Details Run page, select the target host on which you provisioned the OS.

  5. Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

ProcedureHow to Register Installed Windows Hosts in N1 SPS

After you install the Windows OS on a target host, register the host in your N1 SPS environment.

Steps

  1. In the Common Tasks section of the N1 SPS browser interface, select OS Provisioning.

  2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Register Host in the Host Admin section.

  3. On the Plans Details page, click Run.

  4. On the Plan Details Run page, select the target host that you want to register.

  5. Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

ProcedureHow to Delete Prestaged Hosts on the Windows RIS Server

You can use the OS Provisioning Plug-In to delete prestaged target hosts from the Active Directory on the Windows RIS server.

Steps

  1. In the Common Tasks section of the N1 SPS browser interface, select OS Provisioning.

  2. On the OS Provisioning Common Tasks page, click Manage in Windows Image Servers section.

  3. On the Components Details page, click the checkbox next to delete_prestage_hosts in the Component Procedures table.

  4. Click Run in the Actions column of the Component Procedures table.

  5. On the Plan Details Run page, select the name of the prestaged host that you want to delete in the Current Installations list.

    The name of the prestaged host does not have the -target suffix.

  6. Click Run Selected Installations.

  7. Click the Details link to view the status of the deletion.