jumpstart

A jumpstart server provides the information and configuration used to install other nodes. It serves tftp requests to provide a kernel and installation instructions. An nfs root directory is exported containing the configuration directory. Currently it is /export/install. The subdirectory jumpstart stores some configuration files. The main configuration file is jumpstart/rules.

rules

In our configuration we only need a view crucial lines.

network 10.20.20.0 - x4500 -

and

hostname sxy - x4500_some_name x4500_finish

<x4500/x4500_some_name>

The IP address is provided via a DHCP server. Since all installation clients are in the subnet 10.20.20/24 the configuration file x4500 will be applied if no other configuration files will mache. In our case all nodes have their own configuration file x4500_some_name.

install_type flash_install

archive_location nfs 10.20.20.100:/export/install/flar/x4500.flar

partitioning explicit
filesys c5t0d0s0 20000 /
filesys c5t0d0s1 20000 /var
filesys c5t0d0s3 4000 swap
filesys c5t0d0s7 16

filesys c5t4d0s0 20000
filesys c5t4d0s1 20000
filesys c5t4d0s3 4000
filesys c5t4d0s7 16

The first line induced that a flar image is used to install the system. Once such an image is generated it can be used to clone nodes in a similar way.

The next line shows where the flar image is located.

The last part determines the partition table. The first half configures of the first system harddrive, the second part prepares the second system hard drive for the mirroring which is enabled after the installation process. The fact that the mirror is not activated immediately is a bug which ought to be fixed by SUN microsystems.

-- HenningFehrmann - 25 Aug 2008