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Chapter 3 Performing a Network Installation of Oracle VM Server

Table of Contents

This chapter covers different automated installation techniques for installing Oracle VM Server.

It is important to understand that in the case of Oracle VM Server on x86 hardware, an installation is equivalent to a full operating system installation and that the ISO image file provided is a bootable image. On SPARC hardware, the hypervisor is built into the firmware and Oracle Solaris 11.3 includes its own logical domain manager. Installation of Oracle VM Server on SPARC hardware involves installing the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC that allows Oracle VM Manager to interface with the Logical Domains Manager. In this case, an installation of Oracle VM Server for SPARC involves installing additional packages and configuring the environment for Oracle VM.

For deployments of a large number of x86 Oracle VM Servers, network installation using PXE boot may be preferred to using a bootable physical media such as DVD-ROM. For deployments of a large number of SPARC Oracle VM Servers, network installation using Solaris Auto-Install (AI) may be preferred.

Installations of Oracle VM Server for x86 hardware can be largely automated by taking advantage of a kickstart configuration file that guides the Anaconda-based install wizard through each of the installation options available. Installations of Oracle VM Server for SPARC hardware can be largely automated by taking advantage of the AI manifest to automatically configure the system.

This chapter provides you with the information required for each of these installation techniques. Commands are provided for both x86 and SPARC environments where relevant.

3.1 Installing Oracle VM Server for x86 from PXE Boot

In deployments where multiple systems must be installed, it is common to perform a network-based installation by configuring target systems to load a PXE boot image from a TFTP server configured on the same network. This deployment strategy typically suits environments where many Oracle VM Server instances are to be installed on x86 hardware at once.

This section describes some of the basic configuration steps required on a single Oracle Linux server that is set up to provide all of the services needed to handle a PXE boot environment. There are many different approaches to the architecture and choices of software required to service PXE boot requests. The information provided here is intended only as a guideline for setting up such an environment.

Note

As of Release 3.4.5, the updated Xen hypervisor for Oracle VM Server is delivered as a single binary, named xen.mb.efi instead of xen.gz, which can be loaded by the EFI loader, Multiboot, and Multiboot2 protocols.

3.1.1 PXE Boot Overview

PXE boot is a method of installing Oracle VM Server on multiple client machines across the network. In general, to successfully perform a PXE boot, you need to do the following:

Install and configure an Oracle Linux server to provide services and host files across the network.
Configure a DHCP service to direct client machines to the location of a boot loader.
Configure a TFTP service to host the boot loader, kernel, initial RAM disk (initrd) image, Xen hypervisor, and configuration files.
Host the contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO image file on an NFS or HTTP server.
Create a kickstart configuration file for the Oracle VM Server installation.

A kickstart configuration file allows you to automate the Oracle VM Server installation steps that require user input. While not necessary to perform a PXE boot, using a kickstart configuration file is recommended. For more information, see Section 2.1.4, “Performing a Kickstart Installation of Oracle VM Server”.
Set up the PXE client boot loaders.
1. For BIOS-based PXE clients you use the pxelinux.0 boot loader that is available from the syslinux package. For UEFI-based PXE clients in a non-Secure Boot configuration, you use the grubx64.efi boot loader.
  
  Note
  
  Oracle VM Release 3.4.1 and Release 3.4.2 require you to build the boot loader for UEFI-based PXE clients. For more information, see Section A.1, “Setting Up PXE Boot for Oracle VM Server Release 3.4.1 and Release 3.4.2”.
2. Create the required boot loader configuration files.
3. Host the boot loader and configuration files on the TFTP server.

3.1.2 Configuring the DHCP Service

The DHCP service handles requests from PXE clients to specify the location of the TFTP service and boot loader files.

Note

If your network already has a DHCP service configured, you should edit that configuration to include an entry for PXE clients. If you configure two different DHCP services on a network, requests from clients can conflict and result in network issues and PXE boot failure.
The following examples and references are specific to ISC DHCP.

Configure the DHCP service as follows:

Install the dhcp package.
```
# yum install dhcp
```
Edit /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf and configure an entry for the PXE clients as appropriate. See Example DHCP Entry for PXE Clients.
Start the DHCP service and configure it to start after a reboot.
```
# service dhcpd start
# chkconfig dhcpd on
```
Note

If the server has more that one network interface, the DHCP service uses the /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file to determine which interface to listen on. If you make any changes to /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf, restart the dhcpd service.
Configure the firewall to accept DHCP requests, if required.

Example DHCP Entry for PXE Clients

The following is an example entry in dhcpd.conf for PXE clients:

set vendorclass = option vendor-class-identifier;
option pxe-system-type code 93 = unsigned integer 16;
set pxetype = option pxe-system-type;

option domain-name "example.com";

subnet 192.0.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
  option domain-name-servers 192.0.2.1;
  option broadcast-address 192.0.2.2;
  option routers 192.0.2.1;
  default-lease-time 14400;
  max-lease-time 28800;
  if substring(vendorclass, 0, 9)="PXEClient" {
    if pxetype=00:07 or pxetype=00:09 {
          filename "tftpboot/grub2/grubx64.efi";
      } else {
          filename "tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.0";
  }
  pool {
    range 192.0.2.14 192.0.2.24;
  }
  next-server 10.0.0.6;
}

host svr1 {
hardware ethernet 08:00:27:c6:a1:16;
fixed-address 192.0.2.5;
option host-name "svr1";
}

host svr2 {
hardware ethernet 08:00:27:24:0a:56;
fixed-address 192.0.2.6;
option host-name "svr2";
}

The preceding example configures a pool of generally available IP addresses in the range 192.0.2.14 through 192.0.2.24 on the 192.0.2/24 subnet. Any PXE-booted system on the subnet uses the boot loader that the filename parameter specifies for its PXE type.
The boot loader grubx64.efi for UEFI-based clients is also located in the grub2 subdirectory of the TFTP server directory. In a non-Secure Boot configuration, you can specify grubx64.efi as the boot loader.
The boot loader pxelinux.0 for BIOS-based clients is located in the pxelinux subdirectory of the TFTP server directory.
The next-server statement specifies the IP address of the TFTP server from which a client can download the boot loader file.

Note

You should have a next-server statement even if you use the same server to host both DHCP and TFTP services. Otherwise, some boot loaders cannot get their configuration files, which the client to reboot, hang, or display a prompt.
The static IP addresses 192.0.2.5 and 192.0.2.6 are reserved for svr1 and svr2, which are identified by their MAC addresses.

3.1.3 Configuring the TFTP Service

The TFTP service hosts boot loader files, configuration files, and binaries on the network so PXE clients can retrieve them.

Configure the TFTP service as follows:

Install the tftp-server package.
```
# yum install tftp-server
```
Open /etc/xinetd.d/tftp for editing and then:
1. Set no as the value of the disable parameter.
```
disable = no
```
2. Set /tftpboot as the TFTP root.
```
server_args = -s /tftpboot
```
Save and close /etc/xinetd.d/tftp.
Create the /tftpboot directory if it does not already exist.
```
# mkdir /tftpboot
```
Restart the inetd server.
```
# service xinetd restart
```
Configure the firewall to allow TFTP traffic, if required.

3.1.4 Copying the Xen Hypervisor, Installer Kernel, and RAM Disk Image

The TFTP service hosts the following files so that PXE clients can retrieve them over the network:

xen.mb.efi - Xen hypervisor for Oracle VM Server
vmlinuz - installer kernel
initrd.img - initial RAM disk image

Copy the files to your TFTP service as follows:

Create an isolinux subdirectory in the TFTP server root.
```
# mkdir /tftpboot/isolinux
```
Mount the Oracle VM Server ISO image file as a loopback device. For instructions, see Section 1.4, “Loopback ISO Mounts”.
Copy the contents of images/pxeboot from the ISO image file into the ovs subdirectory you have created.
```
# cp /mnt/images/pxeboot/* /tftpboot/isolinux/
```
Substitute mnt with the path to the mount point where you mounted the ISO image file.

3.1.5 Hosting the Contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO File

You must host the contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO image file over the network so that the PXE clients can access them. You can use an NFS or HTTP server as appropriate.

Note

You cannot host only the ISO image file itself over the network. You must make the entire contents of the ISO image file available in a single directory.

The following steps provide an example using an NFS server:

Install an NFS server if necessary.
```
# yum install nfs-utils
```
Create a directory for the contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO image file.
```
# mkdir -p /srv/install/ovs
```
Mount the Oracle VM Server ISO image file as a loopback device. For instructions, see Section 1.4, “Loopback ISO Mounts”.
Copy the contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO image file into the directory you created.
```
# cp -r /mnt/* /srv/install/ovs
```
Substitute mnt with the path to the mount point where you mounted the ISO image file.
Edit /etc/exports to configure your NFS exports.
```
/srv/install *(ro,async,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check,insecure)
```
Depending on your security requirements, you can configure this export only to cater to particular hosts.
Start the NFS service.
```
# service nfs start
```
If the NFS service is already running and you make any changes to the /etc/exports file, run the following command to update the exports table within the NFS kernel server:
```
# exportfs -va
```
Configure the NFS service to always start at boot.
```
# chkconfig nfs on
# chkconfig nfslock on
```
Configure the firewall to allow clients to access the NFS server, if required.

3.1.6 Copying the Kickstart Configuration File

To perform a PXE boot, you should create a kickstart configuration file to automate the installation process. The kickstart configuration file provides the input that the Anaconda installation wizard requires. If you have not already created a kickstart configuration file, ks.config, see Section 2.1.4, “Performing a Kickstart Installation of Oracle VM Server”.

You must make the kickstart configuration file available to PXE clients over the network. To do this, you can copy the file to the NFS or HTTP server where you host the contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO image file, as follows:

# cp /tmp/OVS_ks.conf /srv/install/kickstart/ks.cfg

Substitute /tmp/OVS_ks.conf with the path to your kickstart configuration file for the Oracle VM Server installation.

3.1.7 Setting Up the Boot Loader

PXE clients require a boot loader to load the Xen hypervisor and the Linux installation kernel.

For BIOS-based PXE clients you use the pxelinux.0 boot loader that is available from the syslinux package.

For UEFI-based PXE clients in a non-Secure Boot configuration, you use the grubx64.efi boot loader that is available from the Oracle VM Server ISO image file.

Note

Oracle VM Release 3.4.1 and Release 3.4.2 require you to build the boot loader for UEFI-based PXE clients. Before you proceed with any of the following steps, you must first complete the following procedure: Section A.1.1.1, “Building the GRUB2 Boot Loader”.

3.1.7.1 Setting Up the PXELinux Boot Loader for BIOS-based PXE Clients

If you are performing a PXE boot for BIOS-based PXE clients, you use the pxelinux.0 boot loader from the syslinux package.

Getting the PXELinux Boot Loader

To get the PXELinux boot loader, you must install syslinux.

Important

The PXELinux boot loader files must match the kernel requirements of the DHCP server. You should install the syslinux package that is specific to the Oracle Linux installation on which your DHCP service runs.

Complete the following steps:

Install the syslinux package.
```
# yum install syslinux
```
If you have SELinux enabled, install the syslinux-tftpboot package to ensure files have the correct SELinux context.
```
# yum install syslinux-tftpboot
```

Hosting the PXELinux Boot Loader

After you get the PXELinux boot loader, you copy the following files to the TFTP server so the BIOS-based PXE clients can access them over the network:

pxelinux.0 - PXELinux binary
vesamenu.c32 - graphical menu system module
mboot.c32 - text only menu system module. You can use mboot.c32 without vesamenu.c32 if you do not require a graphical boot menu.

To host the boot loader, do the following:

Create a pxelinux directory in the TFTP root.

Copy the boot loader and menu modules to the pxelinux directory.

# cp /usr/share/syslinux/pxelinux.0 /tftpboot/pxelinux/
# cp /usr/share/syslinux/vesamenu.c32 /tftpboot/pxelinux/
# cp /usr/share/syslinux/mboot.c32 /tftpboot/pxelinux/

Configuring the PXELinux Boot Loader

For BIOS-based PXE clients, you must create two boot loader configuration files on the TFTP server, as follows:

Create the pxelinux.cfg directory.
```
# mkdir /tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg
```

Create a PXE menu configuration file.

# touch /tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg/pxe.conf

Create a PXE configuration file.

# touch /tftpboot/pxelinux/pxelinux.cfg/default

Configure pxe.conf and default as appropriate. See Example Boot Loader Configurations.

Example Boot Loader Configurations

The following is an example of pxelinux.cfg/pxe.conf:

MENU TITLE  PXE Server
  NOESCAPE 1
  ALLOWOPTIONS 1
  PROMPT 0
  menu width 80
  menu rows 14
  MENU TABMSGROW 24
  MENU MARGIN 10
  menu color border               30;44      #ffffffff #00000000 std

The following is an example of pxelinux.cfg/default:

DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
  TIMEOUT 800
  ONTIMEOUT BootLocal
  PROMPT 0
  MENU INCLUDE pxelinux.cfg/pxe.conf
  NOESCAPE 1
  LABEL BootLocal
          localboot 0
          TEXT HELP
          Boot to local hard disk
          ENDTEXT
  LABEL OVS
          MENU LABEL OVS
          KERNEL mboot.c32
          # Note that the APPEND statement must be a single line, the \ delimiter indicates
          # line breaks that you should remove
          APPEND /tftpboot/isolinux/xen.mb.efi --- /tftpboot/isolinux/vmlinuz ip=dhcp \
                 dom0_mem=max:128G dom0_max_vcpus=20 \
                 ksdevice=eth0 ks=nfs:192.0.2.0:/srv/install/kickstart/ks.cfg \
                 method=nfs:192.0.2.0:/srv/install/ovs --- /tftpboot/isolinux/initrd.img
          TEXT HELP
          Install OVM Server
          ENDTEXT

The default behavior on timeout is to boot to the local hard disk. To change the default behavior to force an install, you can change the ONTIMEOUT parameter to point to the OVS menu item. The important thing to remember here is that when an install is completed, the server reboots and if this option is not changed back to BootLocal, the server enters into an installation loop. There are numerous approaches to handling this, and each depend on your own environment, requirements and policies. The most common approach is to boot the servers using one configuration, wait for a period until they are all in the install process and then change this configuration file to ensure that they return to local boot at the time that they reboot.

The KERNEL location points to the mboot.c32 module. This allows us to perform a multiboot operation so that the installer loads within a Xen environment. This is necessary for two reasons. First, it is useful to establish that the Xen hypervisor is at least able to run on the hardware prior to installation. Second, and more importantly, device naming may vary after installation if you do not run the installer from within the Xen hypervisor, leading to problems with device configuration post installation.

In the APPEND line of the preceding example:

Some parameters in APPEND are broken into separate lines with the \ delimiter for readability purposes. A valid configuration places the entire APPEND statement on a single line.
The Xen hypervisor is loaded first from isolinux/xen.mb.efi in the TFTP server root.
The installer kernel is located within the path isolinux/vmlinuz in the TFTP server root.
The IP address for the installer kernel is acquired using DHCP.
Limits are applied to dom0 for the installer to ensure that the installer is stable while it runs. This is achieved using the default parameters: dom0_mem=max:128G and dom0_max_vcpus=20.
The ksdevice parameter specifies the network interface to use. You should specify a value that reflects your network configuration, such as eth0, a specific MAC address, or an appropriate keyword. Refer to the appropriate kickstart documentation for more information.
The initial ramdisk image is located within the path isolinux/initrd.img in the TFTP server root.

3.1.7.2 Setting Up the GRUB2 Boot Loader for UEFI-based PXE Clients

If you are performing a PXE boot for UEFI-based PXE clients, you can use the GRUB2 boot loader that is available on the Oracle VM Server ISO image file.

Hosting the GRUB2 Boot Loader

Host the GRUB2 boot loader on the TFTP server so PXE clients can access it over the network, as follows:

Create a grub2 directory in the TFTP root.
Mount the Oracle VM Server ISO image file as a loopback device. For instructions, see Section 1.4, “Loopback ISO Mounts”.
In a non-Secure Boot configuration, you just need to copy the grubx64.efi boot loader from the /EFI/BOOT/ directory to the grub2 directory.
```
# cp -r path/EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi /tftpboot/grub2/
```
Substitute path with the directory where you mounted the Oracle VM Server ISO image file.
Copy the GRUB2 modules and files to the appropriate directory.
```
# cp -r path/grub2/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/*.{lst,mod} /tftpboot/grub2/x86_64-efi
```
Substitute path with the path to the contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO image file on your file system.

Setting Up the GRUB2 Configuration

Complete the following steps to set up the GRUB2 configuration:

Create an EFI/redhat subdirectory in the TFTP server root.
Copy grub.cfg from the Oracle VM Server ISO image file to the directory.
```
# cp -r path/EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg /tftpboot/grub2/EFI/redhat/grub.cfg-01-cd-ef-gh-ij-kl-mn
```
Where -cd-ef-gh-ij-kl-mn is the MAC address for the Network Interface Card (NIC) for the PXE boot client.

Substitute path with the directory where you mounted the Oracle VM Server ISO image file.
Modify grub.cfg on the TFTP server as appropriate. See Example grub.cfg.

Oracle VM Server provides a GRUB2 boot loader for UEFI and BIOS-based PXE clients. However, the grub.cfg must be compatible with GRUB, not GRUB2. The Anaconda installation program for Oracle VM Server is compatible with GRUB only. You can find more information at: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37670_01/E41138/html/ch04s02s01.html

Example grub.cfg

The following is an example of grub.cfg:

menuentry 'Install Oracle VM Server' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        echo 'Loading Xen...'
        multiboot2 /tftpboot/isolinux/xen.mb.efi dom0_mem=max:128G dom0_max_vcpus=20
        echo 'Loading Linux Kernel...'
        module2 /tftpboot/isolinux/vmlinuz ip=dhcp \
        repo=nfs:192.0.2.0:/srv/install/ovs \
        ks=nfs:192.0.2.0:/srv/install/kickstart/ks.cfg \
        ksdevice=00:10:E0:29:B6:C0
        echo 'Loading initrd...'
        module2 /tftpboot/isolinux/initrd.img
}

In the preceding example,

Some parameters in module2 statement are broken into separate lines with the \ delimiter for readability purposes. A valid configuration contains all parameters and values in a single line.
The Xen hypervisor is loaded first from isolinux/xen.mb.efi in the TFTP server root.
The following parameters apply limits to dom0. These limits ensure that the installation program is stable while it runs: dom0_mem=max:128G and dom0_max_vcpus=20.
The installer kernel is located within the path isolinux/vmlinuz in the TFTP server root.
The IP address for the installer kernel is acquired using DHCP.
The repo parameter specifies the IP address of the NFS server that hosts the contents of the Oracle VM Server ISO image file and the path to those contents.
The ks parameter specifies the IP address of the NFS server that hosts the kickstart configuration file and the path to the file.
The ksdevice parameter specifies the network interface to use. You should specify a value that reflects your network configuration, such as eth0, a specific MAC address, or an appropriate keyword.
The initial ramdisk image is located within the path isolinux/initrd.img in the TFTP server root.

3.1.8 Starting the Installation Process

To start the Oracle VM Server installation for PXE clients, do the following:

For BIOS-based PXE clients using the PXELinux boot loader, update the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default configuration file to use the OVS option as the default in the case of a timeout.
Configure the network boot or PXE boot option in the BIOS or UEFI settings for each client, as appropriate.
Reboot each target client.

Each client makes a DHCP request during the network boot process. The DHCP service allocates an IP address to the client and provides the path to the boot loader on the TFTP server. Each target client then makes a TFTP request for the boot loader and loads the default menu. After they reach the menu option timeout, each client loads the kernel and initrd image from the TFTP service and begins the boot process. The client then connects to the NFS or HTTP server and installation begins.

3.2 Using the Automated Installer (AI) for Oracle VM Server for SPARC

Oracle Solaris and the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC can be automatically installed on SPARC servers over the network using Solaris Automated Installer (AI). This allows for the rapid deployment of Oracle VM Server for SPARC across multiple SPARC systems, reducing administrative overhead and the likelihood of configuration or installation errors. Solaris AI is described in detail in the document titled Installing Oracle Solaris 11.3 Systems at:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E53394_01/html/E54756/useaipart.html

In this section we assume that you already have a sufficient understanding of Solaris AI and are able to set up an Install Server to deploy Solaris to your SPARC systems. This section highlights the additional steps that you need to perform to ensure that the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC and any other required packages are also installed and configured on your SPARC systems.

To set up and configure SPARC AI for rapid deployment of Oracle VM Server for SPARC across multiple SPARC systems, the following steps must be taken:

Set up an IPS repository with the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software.
Create an Oracle Solaris Installation Service.
Create an installation manifest for Oracle VM Agent for SPARC.
Create a configuration profile for the installation of Oracle VM Server for SPARC.
Install Oracle VM Server for SPARC on your SPARC hardware.

3.2.1 Installing the Distributed Lock Manager (DLM) Package

If you have not already installed the DLM package, you should download and install it before you install Oracle VM Agent. The DLM package is required to support server pool clustering.

Download the DLM package, ovs-dlm-3.4.x-bxxx.p5p, from https://edelivery.oracle.com/oraclevm. For more information about downloading software, see Section 1.2, “Getting Installation ISOs and Packages”.

Note

You can add the DLM package to an IPS repository and install from there. See Section 3.2.2, “Setting up an IPS repository”.

To install the DLM package, do the following:

Stop the ovs-config service:
```
# svcadm disable -s ovs-config
```

Install the DLM package:

# pkg install -g ovs-dlm-3.4.x-bxxx.p5p dlm

Restart the ovs-config service:
```
# svcadm enable ovs-config
```

3.2.2 Setting up an IPS repository

In addition to installing Solaris, your IPS repository must be configured to install the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software. To do this, you must set up an IPS repository that contains the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software packages to be used during the installation.

To set up an IPS repository for Oracle VM Agent for SPARC

If you have not already created a package repository that is accessible over HTTP, you must create one by performing the following actions on the system where you intend to host your repositories:

# pkgrepo create /path/to/my-repository
# svccfg -s application/pkg/server setprop pkg/inst_root=/path/to/my-repository
# svccfg -s application/pkg/server setprop pkg/port=8888
# svcadm refresh application/pkg/server
# svcadm enable application/pkg/server

Check that the package repository server is online:

# svcs pkg/server
STATE          STIME    FMRI
online         timestamp svc:/application/pkg/server:default

Download the latest Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software from https://edelivery.oracle.com/oraclevm, as described in Section 1.2, “Getting Installation ISOs and Packages”.
Extract the software, for example:
```
# tar xzf ovs-ldoms-3.4.x-bxxx.tar.gz
```

Copy the software to the package repository, for example:

# pkgrecv -s ovs-ldoms-3.4.x-bxxx/ovs-ldoms.p5p -d /path/to/my-repository 'ovm/*'
# pkgrecv -s ovs-dlm-3.4.x-bxxx.p5p -d /path/to/my-repository 'ovm/*'

Restart the package repository server and ensure that it is online:
```
# svcadm restart application/pkg/server
# svcs pkg/server
```
If the package repository server is in maintenance status, clear the service:
```
# svcadm clear pkg/server
```

Check that the contents of the repository are available, for example:

# pkgrepo list -s /path/to/my-repository
# pkgrepo list -s http://my-repo-server:8888/

3.2.3 Creating an Oracle Solaris Installation Service

To install Oracle Solaris 11.3 over the network, you must create an Oracle Solaris installation service using the installadm create-service command.

Note

The Automatic Installation (AI) tools package provides the installadm command. You can install the AI tools package with the pkg install install/installadm command.

For instructions to create an Oracle Solaris installation service, see Installing Oracle Solaris 11.3 Systems at:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E53394_01/html/E54756/useaipart.html

After the procedure is completed, you can check that your installation service is correctly set up by using the installadm list command. The output from this command should look similar to the following:

# installadm list

Service Name             Alias Of Status  Arch   Image Path
------------             -------- ------  ----   ----------

solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc -        on      sparc  /export/auto_install/solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc

In the example output, the installation service is solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc.

To download the software, refer to Oracle Solaris 11.3 Support Repository Updates (SRU) Index ID 2045311.1 from My Oracle Support, available at:

https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?id=2045311.1

Note

Oracle VM Server for SPARC 3.3 has been integrated into Oracle Solaris 11.3.

3.2.4 Creating an Installation Manifest

You need to create a custom XML AI manifest file to install an configure the Oracle VM Agent automatically. For more information about custom XML AI manifest file, see Customizing an XML AI Manifest File at:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E53394_01/html/E54756/gmfbv.html#scrolltoc

Create an Installation Manifest

Start by copying the default manifest of your install service:

# installadm list -n solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc -m
Service/Manifest Name            Status       Criteria
---------------------            ------       --------
solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc
    orig_default                 Default      None

# installadm export -n solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc -m orig_default -o manifest_ai_ovm.xml

Open the exported manifest_ai_ovm.xml in a text editor and customize it in the following way:
- In the <source> section, make sure that a Solaris publisher is defined and that it points to a Solaris IPS repository for the Solaris 11.3 version that also contains the Oracle VM Server for SPARC Release 3.3 or higher packages. For example:
```
<publisher name="solaris">
   <origin name="http://solaris-11-repository"/>
</publisher>
```
- In the <source> section, add the Oracle VM (ovm) publisher with a reference to the IPS repository that you have set up with Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software. For example:
```
<publisher name="ovm">
   <origin name="http://my-repo-server:8888"/>
</publisher>
```
- In the <software_data> install section, add the following lines to have the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software and the DLM software installed:
```
<name>pkg:/ovm/ovs-agent</name>
<name>pkg:/ovm/dlm</name>
```

Add the manifest to the installation service. In addition, you can specify criteria associated with this manifest. This manifest is only applicable to SPARC sun4v system, so you should at least use the sun4v criteria:

# installadm create-manifest -n solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc -f manifest_ai_ovm.xml -m ovm -c \
  arch="sun4v"

# installadm list -m -n solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc
Service/Manifest Name            Status         Criteria
---------------------            ------         --------
solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc
   ovm                                          arch = sun4v
   orig_default                  Default        None

3.2.5 Creating a Configuration Profile

To have the server automatically configured after the installation, you need to provide a configuration profile. For more information about creating a configuration profile, see Creating System Configuration Profiles at:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E53394_01/html/E54756/syscfg-2.html

To create a configuration profile, run the interactive configuration tool and save the output to a file. The following command creates a valid profile in profile_ovm.xml from responses you enter interactively:

# sysconfig create-profile -o profile_ovm.xml

Important

In the interactive configuration tool, you must select the option to configure the network manually or it will not be possible to automatically configure Oracle VM Agent for SPARC using the installation service.

To have the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC configured automatically during the installation, add the following section inside the <service_bundle> section of the generated profile_ovm.xml file:

<service version="1" type="service" name="ovm/ovs-config">
  <instance enabled="true" name="default">
    <property_group type="application" name="config">
      <propval type="astring" name="password" value="encrypted-password"/>
      <propval type="boolean" name="autoconfig" value="true"/>
    </property_group>
  </instance>
</service>

Replace the encrypted-password value with the encrypted version of the password that you want to use for the Oracle VM Agent.

You can generate the encrypted version of the password on any system using the following command:

# python -c "import crypt, sys; print crypt.crypt(sys.argv[-1], \
      '\$6\$%s\$' % sys.argv[-2])" $(pwgen -s 16 1) password

Substitute password with the password that you want to use for the Oracle VM Agent, for example:

# python -c "import crypt, sys; print crypt.crypt(sys.argv[-1], \
     '\$6\$%s\$' % sys.argv[-2])" $(pwgen -s 16 1) s3cr3tp4ssw0rd
$6$-c$pgcCqd6Urrepi9EzdK93x5XSpyiNzup7SAcDNjVOtsqm6HFNeg385wMu1GjE.J.S.FL8J7gtl5VZnq7tOAd/N0

The output from this command is the encrypted-password value that you should substitute in the section that you added to the configuration profile.

Finally, add the configuration profile to the installation service. In addition, you can specify criteria associated with this profile. This profile is only applicable to SPARC sun4v system, so you should at least use the sun4v criteria:

# installadm create-profile -n solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc --file profile_ovm.xml -c arch=sun4v

# installadm list -p
Service/Profile Name      Criteria
--------------------      --------
solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc
   profile_ovm.xml        arch = sun4v

3.2.6 Performing an Installation

For more information about installing a server with the Solaris Auto-Install, see Installing Client Systems at:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E53394_01/html/E54756/client.html

On the installation server, you must associate the MAC address of each server, that you wish to install, with the installation service that you have set up. This is achieved by running the following command:

# installadm create-client -n solaris11_3_12_5_0-sparc -e mac-address

Substitute mac-address with the actual MAC address for the network interface on the server that is used to connect to the installation service.

On your target servers, if you have configured your DHCP to provide the information for the installation service, you can issue the following command at boot:

ok boot net:dhcp - install

If you have not configured DHCP, on your target server issue the following commands at boot:

ok setenv network-boot-arguments host-ip=client-ip,router-ip=router-ip,\
      subnet-mask=subnet-mask,hostname=hostname,\
      file=http://install-server-ip-address:5555/cgi-bin/wanboot-cgi
ok boot net - install

Substitute client-ip with the IP address that you intend to allocate to the server, router-ip with the IP address of your router or default gateway, subnet-mask with the subnet mask of your network, and hostname with the hostname that you wish to use for your server. Finally, ensure that the URL that you provide for the file parameter matches the URL to access your Solaris AI server.