Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Operating System Provisioning Guide

Installing the Windows OS on Managed Servers

To install an OS onto a managed server, you load the OS profile onto the selected server.

To Load a Windows OS Profile

The following procedure describes how to load an OS profile from the command line interface. To load an OS profile from the System Dashboard in the browser interface, drag an OS profile name from the Task Shortcuts pane onto a server name in the All Servers table, or select a server and choose the Load OS Profile action.

Caution –

You cannot uninstall an OS profile. However, you may reprovision a server by loading an OS profile on a server that has already been provisioned. Installation options that are set in the wizard are not maintained by the N1 System Manager.

Before You Begin

Create an OS profile. See To Create an OS Profile.
Move any file systems off the /mnt mount point.

Steps

To load a Windows OS profile onto a managed server, use the load server command.
load server server[,server...] osprofile osprofile networktype networktype [ip ip] [windows-installation-attributes]
Use the following attributes for a Windows installation:
- gateway gateway – A gateway assigned to the installed server.
- manualnetboot manualnetboot – Specify whether to enable manual netboot. Enabling manual netboot allows you to control the netboot process, which is required as part of the bootstrapping process to provision an OS on a server. A manual netboot is required for OS-based or manually discovered servers, because the N1 System Manager is not able to automatically netboot these systems. Valid values are true and false (default).
- netmask netmask – A netmask assigned to the installed server.
- productkey productkey – Use this product key value instead of the value specified in the OS profile.
Tip –
To load the OS profile onto a group of managed servers, use the load group command.

(Optional) If you enabled manual netboot when you loaded the OS profile, boot the managed server manually.
- To initiate network boot manually for a server, type the following command:
  N1-ok> start server server netboot=true
  The server is powered on and, if boot PROMs are configured, the server boots. See start server in Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Command Line Reference Manual for syntax details.
- To initiate network boot manually for a server group, type the following command:
  N1-ok> start group group netboot=true
  The server group is powered on and, if boot PROMs are configured, the servers in the group boot. Job completion takes longer for large server groups. See start group in Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Command Line Reference Manual for syntax details.
After the Load OS job completes, the server is available for login.

Example 3–4 Loading a Windows OS Profile on a Server Using DHCP

The following example loads an OS profile that contains a Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition distribution onto a managed server.

N1-ok> load server 10.5.130.32 osprofile win2003EE bootip=192.168.0.20 \
networktype=dhcp productkey=?

The following example shows the status of the job:

N1-ok> show job 11
Job ID:   11
Date:     2006-03-16T13:29:30-0800
Type:     Load OS
Status:   Completed (2006-03-16T14:07:27-0800)
Command:  load server 10.5.130.32 osprofile win2003EE bootip=192.168.0.20 networktype=dhcp productkey=?
Owner:    root
Errors:   0
Warnings: 0

Steps
ID     Type             Start                      Completion                 Result         
1      Acquire Host     2006-03-16T13:29:31-0800   2006-03-16T13:29:31-0800   Completed      
2      Execute Java     2006-03-16T13:29:31-0800   2006-03-16T13:29:31-0800   Completed      
3      Acquire Host     2006-03-16T13:29:33-0800   2006-03-16T13:29:33-0800   Completed      
4      Execute Java     2006-03-16T13:29:33-0800   2006-03-16T14:07:26-0800   Completed      

Results
Result 1: 
Server:   10.5.130.32
Status:   0
Message:  OS deployment using OS Profile win2003EE was successful.

Example 3–5 Loading a Windows OS Profile on a Server Using a Static IP Address

The following example shows a command to load the Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition onto a single server with a static IP address.

N1-ok> load server 10.5.130.32 osprofile win2003EE bootip=192.168.0.70 networktype=static ip=192.168.0.70
Job "27" started.

The following example shows the output of the job started above. The message at the end of the job indicates that the job was successful and that a static IP address was assigned as requested.

N1-ok> show job 27
Job ID:   27
Date:     2006-03-21T13:50:20-0800
Type:     Load OS
Status:   Completed (2006-03-21T14:28:20-0800)
Command:  load server 10.5.130.32 osprofile win2003EE bootip=192.168.0.70 networktype=static ip=192.168.0.70
Owner:    root
Errors:   0
Warnings: 0

Steps
ID     Type             Start                      Completion                 Result         
1      Acquire Host     2006-03-21T13:50:22-0800   2006-03-21T13:50:22-0800   Completed      
2      Execute Java     2006-03-21T13:50:22-0800   2006-03-21T13:50:22-0800   Completed      
3      Acquire Host     2006-03-21T13:50:24-0800   2006-03-21T13:50:24-0800   Completed      
4      Execute Java     2006-03-21T13:50:24-0800   2006-03-21T14:28:19-0800   Completed      

Results
Result 1: 
Server:   10.5.130.32
Status:   0
Message:  OS deployment using OS Profile win2003EE was successful.  IP address 192.168.0.70 was assigned.
N1-ok>

Potential Issues Related to Provisioning Windows OS

There are several issues that you might encounter when provisioning Windows OS.

Problem:

Installing the base management feature support might fail due to stale SSH entries on the management server.

Solution:

If the add server feature command fails and no true security breach has occurred, remove one of the following:

/root/.ssh/known_hosts file
/.ssh/known_hosts file
The specific entry in either of these files that corresponds to the managed server

When you have removed the file or file entry, retry the add server feature command.

See OS Distributions and Deployment in Sun N1 System Manager 1.3 Troubleshooting Guide for detailed troubleshooting information and best practices.

Problem:

The product key is not defined or is not correct in the Windows OS profile.

Solution:

The product key is unique to each release of the Windows OS. To ensure that the correct product key applies, either modify the OS profile to include the correct product key or use the productkey attribute on the load server command.

Problem:

You encounter a TFTP error when loading the OS profile.

Solution:

The GUID is likely incorrect. To find the GUID of a system, use the Pre-Boot eXecution Environment (PXE) to boot the system.

Problem:

Windows asks about partitions when you try to install.

Solution:

If Linux or Solaris was installed previously on the managed server, Windows will ask about partitions the first time that you try to install Windows on the system. To resolve this issue, delete the partitions on the console, or wipe out the first part of the disk before you install Windows.

Problem:

Windows OS provisioning fails with an error message similar to the following:

PXE-E55: ProxyDHCP service did not reply to request on port 4011

Solution:

If the RIS server has multiple IP addresses, make sure that the first IP address is the provisioning interface.

To reset the order of the interfaces, follow these steps on the RIS server.

Right click on Control Panel->Network Connections and open the Network Connections screen.
On the Network Connection screen, click on Advanced -> Advanced Settings.
On the Advanced Settings screen, use the up and down arrows to make sure that the provisioning interface is listed first.