Preface

The Oracle Solaris 11 Express Automated Installer Guide provides instructions for using Automated Installer (AI) to install the Oracle Solaris operating system (OS) on multiple client systems on a network. You can also use AI media to install the Oracle Solaris OS on a single SPARC or x86 platform. All cases require access to a package repository on the network to complete the installation.

Who Should Use This Book

This book is for system administrators who want to perform a hands-free installation of the Oracle Solaris 11 Express operating system over the network.

How This Book Is Organized

This book contains the following chapters and appendices:

• Chapter 1, Automated Installer Overview gives a very high level description of the process of installing using Automated Installer.

• Chapter 2, Setting Up an AI Install Server describes how to set up and maintain an install server and install services.

• Chapter 3, Customizing Installations describes how to accomplish different installations on different clients in one Automated Installer installation.

• Chapter 4, Specifying Installation Instructions describes in detail how to specify how you want the clients installed.

• Chapter 5, Configuring the Client System describes in detail how to specify post-installation client configuration as part of the automated install.

• Chapter 6, Setting Up DHCP for AI describes how to set up both Oracle Solaris DHCP and ISC DHCP. Automated installation requires Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) with Domain Name System (DNS) name resolution.

• Chapter 7, Installing Client Systems describes how to associate a particular client with a particular install service and how to initiate the automated installation.

• Chapter 8, Automated Installations That Boot From Media explains how to install using AI media.

• Appendix A, Troubleshooting Automated Installations gives help with diagnosing and solving problems.

• Appendix B, Automated Installer Installation Administration Commands provides the installadm(1M) man page.

• Appendix C, Migrating From JumpStart to Automated Installer provides information to help you migrate from Solaris Custom JumpStart to Oracle Solaris Automated Installer.

Related Information

In addition to the documentation listed, see the Oracle Solaris 11 Express System Administrator documentation for more information about how to administer Oracle Solaris systems.

• Getting Started With Oracle Solaris 11 Express explains how to install the Oracle Solaris 11 Express OS using the live CD or the text installer.

• Oracle Solaris 11 Express Image Packaging System Guide explains how to use IPS publishers and package repositories and how to install and update software after the initial system installation. See also pkg(1).

• System Administration Guide: IP Services discusses Oracle Solaris DHCP.

• System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) discusses Oracle Solaris DNS.

• Oracle Solaris ZFS Administration Guide explains how to set up and administer Oracle Solaris ZFS file systems. See also zfs(1M) and zpool(1M).

• Service Management Facility (SMF) on Oracle Technology Network, including:

  • Service Management Facility ( smf) Quickstart Guide

  • Service Management Facility ( smf) Service Developer Introduction

  • How to Create a Service Management Facility (login required)

Documentation, Support, and Training

See the following web sites for additional resources:

• Documentation

• Support

• Training – Click the Sun link in the left navigation bar.

Oracle Software Resources

Oracle Technology Network offers a range of resources related to Oracle software:

• Discuss technical problems and solutions on the Discussion Forums.

• Get hands-on step-by-step tutorials with Oracle By Example.

• Download Sample Code.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic conventions that are used in this book.

Table P-1 Typographic Conventions

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default UNIX system prompt and superuser prompt for shells that are included in the Oracle Solaris OS. Note that the default system prompt that is displayed in command examples varies, depending on the Oracle Solaris release.

Table P-2 Shell Prompts