Booting superdome vpars from images off the SAN

[Victor Sien]

Hi,

I would like to have the ability to pre-build hpux boot images on the SAN, certify them, and deploy them on any partition we have on the 'dome. We have been doing it on our linux env and i wonder if this can be done on hpux/superdome as well. I appreciate if someone can comment if the enviroment im describing below is possible with hp-ux in a vpar/superdome platform:

1. Create LUNs on the array for use as boot disks

2. set up a vpar using one of the LUNs as my primary root disk and install hp-ux on it

3. boot the vpar and configure the OS based on our standards (security, patches, etc)

4. replicate the root LUN containing the certified OS to the other LUNs (using dd, mirror/ux, or some array-based replication)

5. when i want to deploy another vpar, i will simply select any of the certified image from the array and boot off it

i no longer need to use ignite-ux (faster). i simply boot from pre-built images available from the array. Is this possible?

Thanks a lot.

Vic

[Analyst]

Hi Vic,

>:1. Create LUNs on the array for use as boot disks------Yes it is possible ,Heard About DRD-- Dynamic Root disk.

>2. set up a vpar using one of the LUNs as my primary root disk and install hp-ux on it-- DRD-- Dynamic Root disk.


>3. boot the vpar and configure the OS based on our standards (security, patches, etc)- possible once If you get a San based boot disk.

>4. replicate the root LUN containing the certified OS to the other LUNs (using dd, mirror/ux, or some array-based replication)
----DRD.

>5. when i want to deploy another vpar, i will simply select any of the certified image from the array and boot off it-- obviously.

Hope I reached your expectation....

Thanks,
Analyst.

[Analyst]

Hi Vic,

plz check the link.

http://docs.hp.com/en/7408/HPUXSANBootWP_final_v2_update.pdf

http://docs.hp.com/en/5992-5883/5992-5883.pdf

Thanks,
Analyst.

[Torsten.]

Ignite golden images are a really good and fast soltion for this (in fact you just restore a tar archive), but you can also use some different methods (like dd or something else). Doing this, you need to boot into single user mode first and adjust some settings like network and LVM config.

http://docs.hp.com/en/6770/golden.images.pdf

[Victor Sien]

Thanks for the pointer Analyst! Went through the DDR documentation, looks like it's perfect.

Is it possible to write the cloned image into a file (such as .iso) so it's easily transportable to offshore locations, for example? My objective is to certify an image, verifiable through checksum,and easily transportable to other storage locations where we dont have san interconnectivity. Any idea?

Torsten, we're really trying to avoid Ignite. booting from a pre-built image is a lot easier/quicker to deploy in larger environments.

[Analyst · Accepted solution]

Appreciated, you work with different technologies.

gohead......

Thanks,
Analyst.

If the information was useful. kindly assign point.

[Torsten.]

Just to add my experience - you can easily deploy a golden image (including all software and patches + IP config) in less than 20 min. After the final reboot you have an up and running system ready to use. Even a dd clone needs to be configured - just my 2 cents.
;-)

[Victor Sien]

That's true. I have been using Ignite in past deployments but we've grown. Each partition are on different networks and implementing ignite server would require helpers, etc. We regularly tear down and recreate partitions on our complexes (this is a research facility) so the process of building partitions are semi-automated through scripts. We need to bring up virtual servers quickly and so pre-built images off the SAN are handy. All I need was to ensure the HBAs are part of the zone where my boot LUNs are presented.

But looks like i'll be using Ignite images still for transporting across locations.

Thanks.