SPARC: To Create a WAN Boot Miniroot (Solaris Express Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations)

Solaris Express Installation Guide: Network-Based Installations

SPARC: To Create a WAN Boot Miniroot

This procedure creates a SPARC WAN boot miniroot with SPARC media. If you want to serve a SPARC WAN boot miniroot from an x86–based server, you must create the miniroot on a SPARC machine. After you create the miniroot, copy the miniroot to the document root directory on the x86–based server.

Before You Begin

This procedure assumes that the WAN boot server is running the Volume Manager. If you are not using the Volume Manager, see System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems.

Become superuser or assume an equivalent role on the WAN boot server.

The system must meet the following requirements.
- Include a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
- Be part of the site's network and naming service
  
  If you use a naming service, the system must already be in a naming service, such as NIS, NIS+, DNS, or LDAP. If you do not use a naming service, you must distribute information about this system by following your site's policies.

Insert the Solaris Software - 1 CD or the Solaris DVD in the install server's drive.

Create a directory for the WAN boot miniroot and Solaris installation image.
# mkdir -p wan-dir-path install-dir-path
-p

Instructs the mkdir command to create all the necessary parent directories for the directory you want to create.

wan-dir-path

Specifies the directory where the WAN boot miniroot is to be created on the install server. This directory needs to accommodate miniroots that are typically 250 Mbytes in size.

install-dir-path

Specifies the directory on the install server where the Solaris software image is to be copied. This directory can be removed later in this procedure.

Change to the Tools directory on the mounted disc.
# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s0/Solaris_11/Tools
In the previous example, cdrom0 is the path to the drive that contains the Solaris OS media.

Copy the WAN boot miniroot and the Solaris software image to the WAN boot server's hard disk.
# ./setup_install_server -w wan-dir-path install-dir-path
wan-dir-path

Specifies the directory where the WAN boot miniroot is to be copied

install-dir-path

Specifies the directory where the Solaris software image is to be copied

Note –
The setup_install_server command indicates whether you have enough disk space available for the Solaris Software disc images. To determine available disk space, use the df -kl command.

The setup_install_server -w command creates the WAN boot miniroot and a network installation image of the Solaris software.

(Optional) Remove the network installation image.

You do not need the Solaris software image to perform a WAN installation with a Solaris Flash archive. You can free up disk space if you do not plan to use the network installation image for other network installations. Type the following command to remove the network installation image.
# rm -rf install-dir-path

Make the WAN boot miniroot available to the WAN boot server in one of the following ways.
- Create a symbolic link to the WAN boot miniroot in the document root directory of the WAN boot server.
  # cd /document-root-directory/miniroot # ln -s /wan-dir-path/miniroot .
  document-root-directory/miniroot
  
  Specifies the directory in the WAN boot server's document root directory where you want to link to the WAN boot miniroot
  
  /wan-dir-path/miniroot
  
  Specifies the path to the WAN boot miniroot
- Move the WAN boot miniroot to the document root directory on the WAN boot server.
  # mv /wan-dir-path/miniroot /document-root-directory/miniroot/miniroot-name
  wan-dir-path/miniroot
  
  Specifies the path to the WAN boot miniroot.
  
  /document-root-directory/miniroot/
  
  Specifies the path to the WAN boot miniroot directory in the WAN boot server's document root directory.
  
  miniroot-name
  
  Specifies the name of the WAN boot miniroot. Name the file descriptively, for example miniroot.s10_sparc.

Example 11–1 Creating the WAN Boot Miniroot

Use the setup_install_server(1M) with the -w option to copy the WAN boot miniroot and the Solaris software image to the /export/install/Solaris_11 directory of wanserver-1.

Insert the Solaris Software media in the media drive that is attached to wanserver-1. Type the following commands.

wanserver-1# mkdir -p /export/install/cdrom0
wanserver-1# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s0/Solaris_11/Tools
wanserver-1# ./setup_install_server -w /export/install/cdrom0/miniroot \
/export/install/cdrom0

Move the WAN boot miniroot to the document root directory (/opt/apache/htdocs/) of the WAN boot server. In this example the name the WAN boot miniroot is set to miniroot.s10_sparc.

wanserver-1# mv /export/install/cdrom0/miniroot/miniroot \
/opt/apache/htdocs/miniroot/miniroot.s10_sparc

Continuing the WAN Boot Installation

After you create the WAN boot miniroot, verify that the client OpenBoot PROM (OBP) supports WAN boot. For instructions, see Verifying WAN Boot Support on the Client.