Solaris 8 Advanced Installation Guide

Creating an Install Server and a Boot Server

You must create an install server to install the Solaris software on a system from the network. If systems that you are installing are not in the same subnet as the install server, you must do one of the following:

Create separate boot servers for each subnet.
Create an install server for each subnet. However, this strategy requires more disk space.

This section contains the following instructions.

To Create an Install Server

To Create a Boot Server on a Subnet

To Create an Install Server

SPARC only –

You cannot use a SunOS 4.1 system as an install server.

On the system that is to become the install server, become superuser.

The system must include a CD-ROM drive and be part of the site's network and name service. If you use a name service, the system must also be in the NIS, NIS+, DNS, or LDAP name service. If you do not use a name service, you must distribute information about this system by following your site's policies.

Note –
This procedure assumes that the system is running the Volume Manager. If you are not using the Volume Manager to manage diskettes and CDs, refer to System Administration Guide, Volume I for detailed information about managing removable media without the Volume Manager.

Insert the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD into the system's CD-ROM drive.

Decide if you want to copy the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 and Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CDs to the install server's hard disk.
- If yes, go to Step 4.
- If no, go to Step 19.

Change to the Tools directory on the mounted CD:
- For the SPARC Platform Edition CD type:
  # cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s0/Solaris_8/Tools
- For the Intel Platform Edition CD type:
  # cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s2/Solaris_8/Tools

Copy the CD in the CD-ROM drive to the install server's hard disk by using the setup_install_server command:
# ./setup_install_server install_dir_path
In this command, install_dir_path specifies the directory where the CD image is to be copied. The directory must be empty.

Note –
The setup_install_server command indicates whether or not there is enough disk space available for the Solaris 8 Software CD images. To determine available disk space, use the df -kl command.

Eject the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD.

Insert the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD into the system's CD-ROM drive.

Change to the Tools directory on the mounted CD:
# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/Solaris_8/Tools

Copy the CD in the CD-ROM drive to the install server's hard disk by using the add_to_install_server command:
# ./add_to_install_server install_dir_path
In this command, install_dir_path specifies the directory where the CD image is to be copied.

Eject the Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 CD.

Insert the Solaris 8 Languages CD into the system's CD-ROM drive.

Change to the Tools directory on the mounted CD:
# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/Tools

Copy the CD in the CD-ROM drive to the install server's hard disk by using the add_to_install_server command:
# ./add_to_install_server install_dir_path
In this command, install_dir_path specifies the directory where the CD image is to be copied.

Decide if you want to enable users to use the Solaris Web Start installation method to boot a system and install the Solaris 8 software from a network.
- If no, eject the Solaris 8 Languages CD and go to Step 18.
- If yes, eject the Solaris 8 Languages CD.

Insert the Solaris 8 Installation CD into the system's CD-ROM drive.

Change to the directory that contains modify_install_server on the mounted CD:
- For the SPARC Platform Edition CD type:
  # cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s0
- For the Intel Platform Edition CD type:
# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s2

Use the modify_install_server command to copy the Solaris Web Start interface software to the install server:

x86 only –
modify_install_server is located in the s2 directory on the Solaris 8 Installation Intel Platform Edition CD or Solaris 8 Installation Multilingual Intel Platform Edition CD.
# ./modify_install_server install_dir_path installer_miniroot_path
In this command, install_dir_path specifies the directory where the Solaris Web Start interface is to be copied. installer_miniroot_path specifies the directory on the CD in the CD-ROM drive from which the Solaris Web Start interface is to be copied.

Decide if you want to patch the files that are located in the miniroot (Solaris_8/Tools/Boot) on the net install image that was created by setup_install_server.
- If no, go to the next step.
- If yes, use the patchadd -C command to patch the files that are located in the miniroot.

Decide if you need to create a boot server.
- If the install server is on the same subnet as the system to be installed, you do not need to create a boot server. Go to Adding Systems to Be Installed From the Network.
- If the install server is not on the same subnet as the system to be installed, you must create a boot server. For detailed instructions on how to create a boot server, refer to To Create a Boot Server on a Subnet.

SPARC: Example—Creating an Install Server

The following example illustrates how to create an install server by copying the CDs that are labeled Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 SPARC Platform Edition, Solaris 8 Software 2 of 2 SPARC Platform Edition, Solaris 8 Languages SPARC Platform Edition, and Solaris 8 Installation Multilingual SPARC Platform Edition to the install server's /export/install directory:

# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s0/Solaris_8/Tools
# ./setup_install_server /export/install
# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/Solaris_8/Tools
# ./add_to_install_server /export/install
# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/Tools
# ./add_to_install_server /export/install
# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s0
# ./modify_install_server /export/install /cdrom/cdrom0/s2

Note –

In this example, each CD is inserted and automatically mounted before you issue each of the commands. After you issue each command, the CD is removed.

To Create a Boot Server on a Subnet

You can install the Solaris software from the network from any install server on the network. However, a system that needs to use an install server on another subnet requires a separate boot server on its own subnet. A boot server contains enough of the boot software to boot systems from the network, and then the install server completes the installation of the Solaris software.

On the system you intend to make the boot server for the subnet, log in and become superuser.

The system must include a local CD-ROM drive or have access to the remote Solaris 8 CD images. If you use a name service, the system must also be in the NIS, NIS+, DNS, or LDAP name service. If you do not use a name service, you must distribute information about this system by following your site's policies.

Note –
This procedure assumes that the system is running the Volume Manager. If you are not using the Volume Manager to manage diskettes and CDs, refer to System Administration Guide, Volume I for detailed information about managing removable media without the Volume Manager.

Decide if you want to mount the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD from the CD-ROM drive or from an image on an NFS server.
- If you want to mount the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD from the CD-ROM drive, insert the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD into the CD-ROM drive.
- If you want to mount the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD from an image on an NFS server, follow these steps.
  1. Mount the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD image.
    # mount -F nfs -o ro server_name:path /mnt
    In this command, server_name:path is the host name and absolute path to the CD image.
  2. Change directory to the mounted CD image:
    # cd /mnt

Change to the Tools directory on the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD image by typing:
# cd Solaris_8/Tools

Copy the boot software to the boot server.
# ./setup_install_server -b boot_dir_path
In this command, boot_dir_path specifies the directory where the boot software is to be copied. The directory must be empty. The -b options specifies to setup the system as a boot server.

Note –
The setup_install_server command indicates whether or not there is enough disk space available for the Solaris 8 Software CD images. To determine available disk space, use the df -kl command.

Eject the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 CD.

Insert the Solaris 8 Installation CD into the system's CD-ROM drive.

Use the modify_install_server command to copy the Solaris Web Start interface software to the install server:

x86 only –
modify_install_server is located in the s2 directory on the Solaris 8 Installation Intel Platform Edition CD or the Solaris 8 Installation Multilingual Intel Platform Edition CD.
# ./modify_install_server install_dir_path installer_miniroot_path
In this command, install_dir_path specifies the directory where the Solaris Web Start interface is to be copied. installer_miniroot_path specifies the directory on the CD in the CD-ROM drive from which the Solaris Web Start interface is to be copied.

SPARC: Example—Creating a Boot Server on a Subnet

The following example illustrates how to create a boot server on a subnet. These commands copy the boot software from the Solaris 8 Software 1 of 2 SPARC Platform Edition CD image to /export/install/boot on the system's local disk.

# cd /cdrom/cdrom0/s0/Solaris_8/Tools
# ./setup_install_server -b /export/install/boot

Note –

In this example, the CD is inserted and automatically mounted before you issue the command. After you issue the command, the CD is removed.