NFS Version 4 Introduces New Prompt at First System Boot

Solaris 10 OS uses NFS Version 4 (NFSv4) as the default distributed file system mechanism. In NFSv4, file user and group attributes are exchanged as strings of the form “user@domain” and “group@domain,” respectively.

The domain portion of the string should be common between client and server. This information is automatically derived from the system's name service domain name. However, in certain cases, the derived domain might not match between client and server. This mismatch might typically occur in environments where either of the following circumstances is true:

• The DNS TXT record is not used.

• Multiple administrative domain boundaries are crossed.

If domain information between client and server does not match, NFSv4-accessed files might appear to be owned by “nobody.”

To ensure proper configuration, on the first system boot the system now prompts you for a domain to use for NFSv4. Answer “no” to this prompt if one of the following configurations describes your deployment:

• Your deployment utilizes the DNS TXT record to configure the NFSv4 domain.

• Your deployment has a single (flat) administrative domain.

Custom JumpStart and Advanced Installations

Environments that use the Custom JumpStart^TM method to perform unattended system installations require minimal tuning to suppress the first boot prompts.

A sample script, set_nfs4_domain, is provided in the Solaris 10 distribution media and is located in the ${CDrom_mnt_pt}/Solaris_10/Misc/jumpstart_sample directory. A copy of this script should be modified to set the NFS4_DOMAIN variable to site-specific needs and be called from within JumpStart's finish script. The target system's NFSv4 domain is therefore preconfigured as part of the JumpStart finish phase, and thus suppresses any first boot prompts.

Follow these steps to perform unattended installations:

1. Create a copy of the set_nfs4_domain script in the same directory as your JumpStart's finish.sh scripts.

2. Edit the script and set the NFS4_DOMAIN variable to your specific needs.

3. Edit your finish.sh script and append a call to set_nfs4_domain.

4. Perform the JumpStart installations as usual.

For further details, refer to the sysidconfig(1M), sysidtool(1M), nfsmapid(1M), and nfs(4) man pages. See also the System Administration Guide: Network Services.