AI automates the installation of the Oracle Solaris OS on SPARC and x86 clients over the network. You can customize the installation with pre-installation instructions that define the disk layout and software package selection. You can also provide custom system configuration parameters that define the host name, network configuration, user accounts and other post-installation client-specific instructions. All customizations can be made on a client-by-client basis and scaled for large environments.
An automated installation of a system over the network consists of the following high-level steps:
The AI client boots over the network and gets its network configuration and the location of the AI server from the DHCP server. SPARC clients can optionally get network configuration information and the location of the AI server from the network-boot-arguments variable set in the Open Boot PROM (OBP).
The install service provides a boot image to the AI client.
Characteristics of the AI client determine the installation instructions and system configuration instructions that are used to install the AI client.
The Oracle Solaris OS is installed on the AI client. The installer pulls packages from the package repository or a system image from an archive specified by the installation instructions in the install service.