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

Setting up the RedHat Linux Server

The OS provisioning plug-in uses the features provided through the JumpStart Enterprise Toolkit (JET) technology in conjunction with the RedHat Linux Kickstart functionality to provision the RedHat Linux Operating System (OS). When you set up a RedHat Linux server, you create JET modules that run Kickstart operations to provision the OS. For more information about JET, see JumpStart Enterprise Toolkit (JET) Technology.

The RedHat Linux boot and install server includes the following software:

Linux (tested with RedHat Advanced Server 3.0) or Solaris OS
TFTP server (tftp-server package)
NFS server (nfs-utils package)
N1 SPS Remote Agent (RA) for Linux. For information, see How to Prepare a Physical Host in Sun N1 Service Provisioning System 5.2 System Administration Guide.

Preparing Your Network to Provision the RedHat Linux OS

Before you create the RedHat Linux image server, you need to perform the following tasks.

Set up TFTP access to the RedHat Linux images on your boot and install server.

For instructions, see How to Set up TFTP Access.
Create the RedHat Linux OS installation image.

For instructions, see How to Copy the RedHat Linux Files.

How to Set up TFTP Access

If you use JET to create your RedHat Linux image server, the TFTP service is automatically configured to support provisioning. You need to create or copy additional directories and files to the TFTP root directory on the boot and install server. The OS distribution should be accessible through NFS for each subnet served from this boot and install server.

Before You Begin

Be sure that the appropriate TFTP server software is installed on the boot and install server.

Steps

Copy or create the following directories under the TFTP root directory:
- /tftpboot/pxelinux.0 – You can download the Linux PXE bootstrap file from http://syslinux.zytor.com/pxe.php.
- /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/ – This directory contains the PXE configuration files. These files contain parameters specific to each hardware platform and Linux distribution.
  
  For instructions about how to create the PXE configuration file, see How to Create a PXE Configuration File for RedHat Linux OS Provisioning.
Note –
This task uses /tftpboot as an example of the TFTP root directory.

For RedHat Linux provisioning profiles that do not use JET, copy the following files to the TFTP root directory
- vmlinuz – The installation kernel found under the distribution, in /images/pxeboot.
- initrd.img – The installation RAM disk found under the distribution, in /images/pxeboot.
If you want to support provisioning of multiple releases of the RedHat Linux OS, assign a unique name to this file, such as vmlinuz_3.0.

How to Copy the RedHat Linux Files

This procedure describes how to create RedHat Linux OS images by copying the files from the product media. You can locate these copies on a system that is running either the RedHat Linux OS or the Solaris OS. You can also place the physical product media in the CD-ROM drives of a system, and point to these CDs as the image source for your provisioning plans. You are not required to locate these copies on your RedHat Linux boot and install server.

If you locate these copies on a system that is not the boot and install server, the copies must meet the following criteria.

For RedHat Linux provisioning that uses JET, the boot and install server and target host must be able to access the copies through NFS.
For RedHat Linux provisioning that does not use JET, the target host must be able to access the copies through NFS.

Follow these steps to create copies of the RedHat Linux files.

Steps

Create a directory to contain the Linux files.

Note –
To serve multiple distributions from the same server, create a separate directory for each distribution.

Mount the first CD-ROM or ISO image file.

Use a command similar to one of the following examples:

#mount /dev/cdrom by default, will mount on /mnt/cdrom, check /etc/fstab
#mount -o loop /path-to-first-iso /mnt/loop assumes /mnt/loop exists

Copy the content from the CD-ROM or ISO image file to the directory that you created in Step 1.

Use a command similar to one of the following examples:
#/bin/cp -avf /mnt/cdrom/* /export/RHEL3.0 #/bin/cp -avf /mnt/loop/* /export/RHEL3.0

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for all the CD-ROM or ISO media in the distribution.

Creating a RedHat Linux Image Server

After you copy the RedHat Linux images, you need to create the RedHat Linux image server in your N1 SPS environment. You must make the boot and install server an N1 SPS Remote Agent, and add the boot and install server as a Remote Agent to the Master Server.

How to Create the RedHat Linux Image Server (Browser Interface)

To create the server from the browser interface, follow these steps.

Steps

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

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

On the Plans Details page, click Run.

Choose variables to use for this plan.
- To use an existing variables set, select a name from the drop-down menu in the LinuxServer component row of the Plan Parameters table.
- To create a new variables set, click Select from List in the LinuxServer component row of the Plan Parameters table.
  1. Click Create Set.
  2. Type a name for the variables set.
  3. If needed, change the linuxHost variable to the location of the command-line interface.
    
    By default, the virtual Linux host name is set to the host name of the target host with -linux appended.
    
    Caution –
    Do not modify the installPath or the boot_server_tftp_root_directory variables.
  4. Save the variables set.
  5. Select the variables set that you just saved from the drop-down menu in the LinuxServer component 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.

Select the host on which to create the Linux image server.

Click Run Plan (includes preflight).

To verify that the image 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 -linux. For example, if you installed on host bikickstart, the virtual host is bikickstart-linux.

These steps install the SUNWjet, JetRedHat, and JetSuse packages on the boot and install server. The SUNWjet package sets up the TFTP server and the NFS share for the JET base directory, /opt/SUNWjet by default.

Troubleshooting

If your OS provisioning server is located on the same physical host as the boot and install server, you must configure the interfaces on the system before your provision any target hosts. The OS provisioning server does not automatically configure the interfaces of the boot and install server.

How to Create the RedHat Linux Image Server (Command-Line Interface)

You can create a RedHat Linux image server from the N1 SPS browser interface or command-line interface.

Before You Begin

The kickstart file should be placed on the RedHat Linux boot and install server in an NFS exported directory so that the target hosts can locate it, for example, /export/kickstart.

Step

To create the server from the command line, type commands similar to the following:

# cr_cli -cmd cdb.vs.add -comp NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/LinuxServer \
-name "linuxserver" -u admin -p admin -vars "boot_server_tftp_root_directory=/tftpboot"
# cr_cli -cmd pe.p.run -u admin -p admin \
-PID NM:/com/sun/n1osp/untyped/LinuxServer-create \
-tar H:NM:bikickstart -comp - -vs linuxserver -pto 30 -nto 10

These commands install the SUNWjet, JetRedHat, and JetSuse packages on the boot and install server. The SUNWjet package sets up the TFTP server and the NFS share for the JET base directory, /opt/SUNWjet by default.