Ignite DHCP Settings

[Tony Scully_3]

Hi,

I have a question about DHCP/Bootp set up for Ignite.

I want to use Ignite to manage installs on HP-UX 11i v1 on PA-RISC (RP8420/RP3440) systems, but there is a requirement/preference for Ignite to use a DHCP server on a different platform (Sun Solaris 9 on clustered SunFire V440s) which is running opsware for site-wide provisioning.

I think (from the documentation) this should be possible, but I would be interested in any real-world experience, or thoughts that you may have.

I'm not yet in a postion to test this yet (waiting for the kit!) but should have a TPOC setup to work on in the next week or so.

Cheers,

Tony.

[Tony Scully_3]

Sorry, forgot versions - planning to use an RP3440 running 11i v1 for the ignite server, and version B.5.4.50 of ignite code.

Cheers,

Tony.

[Steven E. Protter]

On a practical level, I've always used Ignite on the built in dhcp server, which sets up its own little dhcp server and hands out addresses.

Since Ignite client only boots off the built in lan card and I assign it a private lan it works well.

In my early days with the tool I did run through the client setup wizard which is part of the toolset. It worked find assigning DHCP addresses off of our Microsoft DHCP server. The real problem in my case was those adresses were the same network as my non-primary NIC card and HP-UX won't tolerate this.

If you get around that little problem an external DHCP server will work great.

SEP

[Bharat Katkar]

HI Tony,
I documented the process and works fine..
See the attached file.

[Tony Scully_3]

Steven,

Thanks for the reply - The plan is to have a backup/ignite/provisioning network. The DHCP server would be sitting on this network. Would the addresses given out by this have to be only temporary, and then change to the 'correct' address.

Bharat,

Thanks for the info - however I cannot see any DHCP setup in there - I may have missed something. Could you enlighten me further?

Cheers,

Tony.

[Bharat Katkar]

HI Tony,
In the doc i have explained about setting inetd.conf for bootp daemon. Secondly how to add entry in /etc/bootptab file by getting the MAC addresses from clients. Also i have mentioned about instl_adm command and how to create LanBoot Option for IA servers.
That's all, nothing else needs to be done.

Now your another
Que.The DHCP server would be sitting on this network. Would the addresses given out by this have to be only temporary, and then change to the 'correct' address. ?

Yes, that is possible you are allowed to retain the IP address given by Ignite Server or to change it with different one during installation.

Hope that helps.
Regards,

[Tony Scully_3]

Bharat,

Sorry - I'm still missing something here, your doc appears to detail the setup of bootp/dhcp on the Ignite server.

My issue is that we do not want to / cannot run the DHCP service on the Ignite box, there is already an Opsware server running DHCP for provisioning, and I need to 'point' the ignite installs at that DHCP server.

If I could run the DHCP on the Ignite box I would have (almost) no problems!

Cheers,

Tony.

[Karthik S S]

Hello Tony,

Did you get this working?? I am also looking for a similar solution, i.e I want to use Solaris DHCP to lease IPs to Ignite clients. Pl. respond if you have any inputs on this.

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=973569

Thanks,
Karthik S S

[Ken Grabowski]

Tony,

First things first, the version of ignite you want to use is very old. Current release is C.6.2.241. Strongly suggest you upgrade to that first.

On PA-RISC you should have no problem using any visable DHCP on the network for your ignite install. But you need to add I.P.'s to the file /etc/opt/ignite/instl_boottab. This file can contain temporary IP's assigned to the system(s) for their inital boot off of the ignite server. Then when the systems MAC address is found via DHCP and showen on the network information page, the ignite install will use the DHCP address to continue the installation.

You can also put the actual IP's and MAC addresses into the instl_boottab file, and the system will use that address from the initial ignite boot.

As I said, that is how it works for PARISC. If you add Itanium to the mix, then a DHCP/bootp file MUST be configured on the Ignite server. Itanium will only use the DHCP server as it's Ignite server.

Hope that answers your question.