Simple Network Solutions

These solutions use a single Ignite server that supports network boot, installation, and recovery. The Ignite server and the client systems must be on the same subnet, and no other boot or installation servers can be on that subnet.

Questions you will have to answer when configuring a simple network are:

Decision trees for Ignite-UX server configuration follow. Do not treat them as strictly yes-or-no exercises. Your environment may require choosing multiple methods from the decision trees, and although you may be able to use an option, you might reject it because it is not the best answer for your environment. Also, keep in mind that these decision trees cover booting, so only the initial IP address is affected. For more information, see “Network Booting and IP Addresses”.

A decision tree for network booting PA-RISC systems is shown in Figure 2-1. A decision tree for network booting Itanium-based systems is shown in Figure 2-2. The decision trees assume the network boot clients are on the same subnet as the Ignite-UX server, and that you will always use the install option to the boot console handler (BCH) boot command for PA-RISC systems. Further, the decision tree for network booting Itanium-based systems assumes there is only one DHCP server on your subnet configured to answer boot requests, and that it is running HP-UX.

If you want to boot a system without using the network and your Ignite-UX server, see the decision tree shown in Figure 9-2 “Decision Tree for Booting From Media and Installing HP-UX From the Server ”.

	NOTE: A lot of clients can only be booted using their built-in LAN interfaces. Other LAN interfaces might not be supported for boot. For more information about LAN interface boot support, consult the hardware documentation for the system or the add-in LAN card.

Use the following decision tree when configuring an Ignite-UX server for PA-RISC clients:

Figure 2-1 Decision Tree When Configuring a Server for Booting PA-RISC Systems

Configure instl_boottab for registered clients - To network boot registered PA-RISC clients, the server uses the instl_bootd daemon to answer boot requests, and has clients’ IP addresses and LAN addresses registered in /etc/opt/ignite/instl_boottab. The process of configuring an Ignite-UX server for registered PA-RISC clients is described in “Configuring the Ignite-UX Server for PA-RISC Clients”. See the Ignite-UX Quick Start Guide available at http://www.docs.hp.com if you are new to HP-UX.

Configure instl_boottab for anonymous clients - Network booting anonymous PA-RISC clients is similar to booting registered PA-RISC clients; the difference is that some IPs in the /etc/opt/ignite/instl_boottab file are not associated with any clients’ MAC addresses, and so may be assigned to clients as requests come in. See “Configuring an Ignite Server to Boot Anonymous PA-RISC Clients” for more information.

See the decision tree for booting stand alone systems - This decision tree can be found in Figure 9-2.

Use the decision tree below when configuring an Ignite-UX server for Itanium-based clients.

Figure 2-2 Decision Tree When Configuring a Server for Booting Itanium-Based Systems

Configure individual entries in bootptab — To network boot registered Itanium-based clients, the server uses the bootpd daemon to answer boot requests, and has clients’ IP addresses and LAN addresses registered in /etc/bootptab. One drawback to this option is that you must configure an entry for every system that needs to boot. The advantage of this method is that it works on all versions of HP-UX. See “Configuring the Ignite-UX Server for Itanium-Based Clients” for details. See the Ignite-UX Quick Start Guide available at http://www.docs.hp.com if you are new to HP-UX.

Configure a DHCP device group for anonymous clients - Configuring an Ignite-UX server to boot anonymous Itanium-based clients requires sophisticated considerations; see “Configuring an Ignite Server to Boot Anonymous Itanium-Based Clients”. This option is only available for Ignite servers running HP-UX 11i v2 and later.

Consider replacing bootpd with instl_bootd- The instl_bootd daemon can support anonymous Itanium-based clients and provide enough information for them to boot. The instl_bootd daemon can also be configured for registered clients. You might consider running instl_bootd if you have PA-RISC and Itanium-based clients on one subnet, since this would allow you to manage client IP addresses in one place: /etc/opt/ignite/instl_boottab. The drawback to this arrangement is that an Ignite-UX server configured this way cannot provide DHCP services. This method is not recommended for an environment that consists mainly of Itanium-based systems - use DHCP or bootpd in that case. See “Replacing bootpd with instl_bootd” for more information.

See the decision tree for booting stand alone systems - This decision tree can be found in Figure 9-2.