"Dumb" client pull install?

[jmb]

Does anyone have a process for tightening down a new server pull install? The admin would only need to interrupt a boot, then enter "boot lan (x.x.x) install" and then walk away. Too optimistic? I know there are issues like password and timezone, but possibly this could be handled in the server setup.

In researching, I've not come across very much on this. Thanks for any suggestions!

[Sanjay_6]

Hi,

Try this,

http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/fsearch/framedisplay?top=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90834/B2355-90834_top.html&con=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90834/00/00/48-con.html&toc=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90834/00/00/48-toc.html&searchterms=install%7cautomating&queryid=20040409-135651

Hope this helps.

Regds

[Steven E. Protter]

Thats actually a pretty common scenaario.

You simply set up the server side to allow you to build an image for the client in advance.

The scenario is.

1) Boot off INTERNAL LAN(very important)
2) boot lan.ip_addy install
3) At the menu, choose what image or configuration you want to use.

Doc:
http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/fsearch/framedisplay?top=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90834/B2355-90834_top.html&con=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90834/00/00/39-con.html&toc=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90834/00/00/39-toc.html&searchterms=Golden%7cImage%7cConfiguration%7cIgnite&queryid=20040409-141047
http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/fsearch/framedisplay?top=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90153/B2355-90153_top.html&con=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90153/00/00/61-con.html&toc=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90153/00/00/61-toc.html&searchterms=Golden%7cImage%7cConfiguration%7cIgnite&queryid=20040409-141047


some threads
http://us-support.external.hp.com/emse/bin/doc.pl/emse/bin/doc.pl/distrib_redir=0+1081541416|*?rn=25&source=7000&hpl=1&from=forums&searchcategory=ALL&todo=search&origin=0&wpa=forums1.itrc.hp.com%3A80&searchcriteria=allwords&submit.x=4&submit.y=6&searchtext=Ignite+Golden+Image+Configuration&esc=us-support2.external.hp.com&chkServStor=on&presort=rank

SEP

[jmb]

I understand about the normal pull. I'm referring to eliminating the selections at the client side. As in: enter the install command, and walk away.

[Steven E. Protter]

Assuming the Ignite client is on the network with some version of HP-UX this is kind of possible.

Its possible through server side push.

/opt/ignite/bin/ignite

Add the client if its not there. Do the setup, choose the image.

Start the install, it runs, it boots, it comes up a few hours later the way you want it.

Choosing and image is usually necessary.

In your INDEX file you can set a default image settings. As far as pilotless installs on the client side goes, I haven't figured that out yet.

SEP

[jmb]

Steven, I appreciate the ideas for pushing, but that's not what I'm after. It sounds like you've also looked into what I'm trying to do, and so far have not been able.

Well, I will continue testing. There's a lot to learn here, and I might be able to make some progress; at least reduce the interaction on the client to a bare minimum.

[jmb]

After some more testing, the pull install is now asking just 1 question after the "interact with IPL?" question, and that's because "the disk appears to contain an existing fileystem...". So I want to force an ignore on that if I can.

However, now I've hit another wrinkle. I set the root password in config.local, but I cannot use that password to log in to the newly installed client. btw, the new password was just like the old one. I've verified the syntax on both sides. The ignite ran without any apparent problem.

Any experience with that? (I can workaround, and reboot into single user, but that's not my question.) I do have shadow passwords installed in the image.

[Bill Hassell]

For password issues, there will always be problems shifting between Trusted, untrusted and shadow passwords. Change your root password to no more than 8 characters and all the security scenarios should work the same for root's password.

[Scot Bean]

1. You can setup a default image in the INDEX file. This image will always be selected. You do this with a =YES after the specification paragraph.

2. There is a configuration option called "run_ui=false" that will turn off the interactive prompts. This would probably need to be set early on in the INSTALLFS settings.

3. Here's the "man 4 instl_adm" entry on the password:

root_password = cplx_string
Specifies cplx_string as being the encrypted password to be stored in the final /etc/passwd file for the root user, or in the protected password file /tcb/files/auth/r/root if an archive of a trusted system has been loaded.

[jmb]

This is now working, and I'm just providing an update for anyone wanting similar. These are the settings from instl_adm -d:

run_ui=false
control_from_server=false
init_hp_lanadmin_args="-X 100FD"
env_vars+="INST_ALLOW_WARNINGS=1"
env_vars+="INST_BATCH_MODE_TIMEOUT=0"

There are other settings that can be handled within the config files. It takes some digging, but the info is out there.

The lanadmin args are there so the ignite does not drop back to half duplex. That means the difference literally between 30 minutes and 7 -8 hours.

After setting the correct info in the Ignite server config files, the client now only requires the "boot lan....", followed by "n" to the IPL question, and the rest is automatic. Pretty neat.