In general, the golden image is created from a
system configured with all the software and customizations needed
to distribute it to a group of clients. The golden image can be saved
to media from the system and installed on individual systems. Or,
the golden image can be stored on another system and installed remotely
over the network.
You may have already created a system on which
you have configured modifications relating to your environment on
top of a base HP-UX operating system release. Critical patches are
installed onto the operating system. Local, common software is also
layered on the operating system. The resulting system is tested to
ensure proper operation in your environment.
These systems represent a prototype or starting
point for all users. The steps needed for installation customizations
are normally captured and are well known. They make good candidates
for a golden image as explained here. If a
system already exists, proceed to “Configuring the Ignite-UX Server to Recognize the Golden Image”.
Creating a system from which to create a golden
image from scratch involves the following steps described in this
section:
Once you have a system with the base operating
system, you may choose to place patches, applications, kernel configurations, etc. on the system, or just include
the core operating system. In our example, we only include the core
operating system.
Ignite-UX is capable of installing systems from
SD depots and/or archives. You may want to
use this capability when setting up your system, since you must have
a system installed before you can get an image.
A: Installing the HP-UX Operating System |
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Although this can be performed without an Ignite-UX
server by using swinstall from media, this example
of an HP-UX 11i v1 installation uses a network depot as the software
source.
On
the Ignite-UX server, set up the 11i v1 core operating system to be
distributed. Enter the following commands:
/opt/ignite/bin/make_depots -r B.11.11 \
-s server:/depots/11.11/B5725AA
where server is the
name of the server on which the depot is located.
/opt/ignite/bin/make_config -r B.11.11
The make_depots command copies
the HP-UX 11i v1 (B.11.11) software from the SD depot pointed to by
the -s option
(the pathname depends on the location of the SD depot you are accessing)
to the local Ignite-UX server.
The make_config command then
adds this software as a configuration available for Ignite-UX installations.
You can run make_config and point it to the remote
depot directly, if you prefer.
Prepare
the client system for installation by booting the client:
If the client is currently
running HP-UX, boot the system from the server
by entering
bootsys -v -w -f -i "HP-UX B.11.11 Default" \
client_hostname
where client_hostname is the name of the client.
If the client is not currently
running HP-UX, boot the system from the client console by entering
boot lan.ip_address install
at the boot admin prompt, where ip_address is the address
of your Ignite-UX server.
For example, if the IP address of the Ignite-UX
server is 10.2.70.9, the command is: boot lan.10.2.70.9 install.
Install
the client with the configuration you have just set up, HP-UX B.11.11 Default, and continue with the
next section.
B: Installing Critical Patches onto the Operating System |
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At this point, you should have a client installed
with the basic HP-UX 11.11 release. If you have patches that you want
to distribute to all users, install them now. This is normally done
using the standard SD tools.
For example, to install patch PHCO_34240:
Download
and unshar PHCO_34240 to obtain two files: PHCO_34240.depot
PHCO_34240.text
Install
the patch noninteractively:
swinstall -x autoreboot=true -x match_client=true \
-s /PHCO_34240.depot
This assumes you have already met the dependencies
of the patch to be installed (in this example, PHCO_34240). These
instructions can also be found in the PHCO_34240.text file.
D: Customizing the System |
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Perform any customizations you want to distribute
to all clients. These might include customized CDE login dialog boxes,
base /etc/passwd files, additional phone tools
and manpages, or corporate-wide default DNS and NIS setup. It would not include system,
workgroup or site-specific changes such as gateways, user accounts, or machine-specific networking; these are taken
care of by Ignite-UX later.
E: Creating the Golden Archive |
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Use the next steps to create the golden
archive from the system and configure Ignite-UX to use
it. The make_sys_image command is provided to create
the golden archive. For more information, see make_sys_image(1M).
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 | IMPORTANT: Do not use the system while make_sys_image is running in the next step. Device files are removed, and the host
and/or networking information on the system is reset. After the command
is complete, these files are put back. |
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On
the system, copy /opt/ignite/data/scripts/make_sys_image to /tmp.
Set
the permissions of /tmp/make_sys_image so you
can execute it.
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 | NOTE: By default, make_sys_image stores
the archive in the /var/tmp directory. You can also have make_sys_image save the archive to a remote server. Whichever method you choose,
you will need sufficient disk space to hold the archive. The amount
of disk space is approximately one half the amount of data contained
on your system (assuming a 50 percent compression ratio). |
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On
the Ignite-UX server, create a directory to store the golden archive:
mkdir -p /var/opt/ignite/archives/Rel_B.11.11
The -p option creates intermediate directories. It is best to keep the
naming convention Rel_B.11.11 (or
the release you are using). This directory must be NFS exported if
you are using NFS to transfer the archive to the client.
Optionally,
if you do not have enough disk space, or you want the archive created on a remote server, you may use the following options:
/tmp/make_sys_image -d directory_to_place_archive \
-s destination_system_IP_address
On
the system, run:
/tmp/make_sys_image [options]
By default, this creates a gzip-compressed tar archive in /var/tmp with the name hostname.gz (where hostname is the name of the client)
and all specific host information, device files, log files, and network
information are removed.
The make_sys_image command can build an archive
with the format of tar, cpio, or pax, compressed with a selectable compression
method. HP recommends using tar (default) for the
archive format and gzip (default) for compression.
To use the pax format with 11i v2, you must have
the PAX_Enh™ product installed. The pax format is not available for 11i v1.
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 | IMPORTANT: When using the pax command
you should consider the size of your files. Files included by the pax command with tar and cpio formats must be less than 8 GB on 11i v2 and 11i v3, and less than
2GB for 11i v1. Using the pax format will allow
large files in an archive – up to 2TB for 11i v2 and up to
16TB for 11i v3. |
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