Install HP-UX from Linux

[Andy Kosela]

Hi all,
Is it possible to install HP-UX on client from Linux server using DHCP/BOOTP?

I know that Ignite-UX is not ported to Linux, but maybe there is some method to install over the net HP-UX using Linux as a server (maybe using some script like Redhat's kickstart)

[Matti_Kurkela]

Ignite-UX *is* the equivalent of Kickstart in the HP-UX world.

Although it uses standard DHCP/BOOTP, TFTP and NFS services, the network installation procedure also wants to communicate with a swagentd process on the installation server.

I don't know of any Linux software that would be compatible with HP-UX swagentd... and using anything other than HP swagentd in a network installation server would certainly put your installation firmly into "unsupported, no promises either way" category.

However, the installation server does not need to be on the network segment that contains your install client: only a Ignite boot helper is required for that.

The boot helper consists of a DHCP/BOOTP relay agent (allows relaying of DHCP/BOOTP requests to another segment, where the real DHCP server is) and a TFTP service with some early-boot files available.

If you can install the boot helper files on some HP-UX somewhere and copy them to your Linux server, it should be possible to create a functionally identical DHCP/TFTP configuration on Linux. (Some older HP-UX hardware might also require the rbootd service, but that is available in some Linux distributions, e.g. Debian.)

This does not remove the requirement of a real Ignite server, but it allows the Ignite server to be in a different network segment from the client. So if you can set up just one real HP-UX Ignite server anywhere your network, you should be able to do network installs with some work.

You might have to allow the Ignite server to have a "dummy" DHCP configuration on it, and manually translate/merge the required DHCP settings to the configuration of your real DHCP server(s).

MK

[Andy Kosela]

Hi Matti,
The procedure you described is not possible in my environment.
I can boot over the net my PA-RISC box with Linux by using information from here:
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/PA-RISC-Linux-Boot-HOWTO/#bootnetwork

Now is there a way to install HP-UX core system in this environment?