Jumpstart

From Syscore

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Building Sun Solaris servers with Jumpstart

Syscore uses Jumpstart, a feature of the Solaris OS, to build new Solaris servers on both the SPARC and x86 platforms using a combination of DHCP and NFS. This is a client/server technology, where the client is the box being loaded with Solaris, and the server is the Jumpstart server which serves the Solaris packages and build scripts used by the client. Our Jumpstart server is jumpcore.umbc.edu.

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Workflow Example

  • A new or existing server is installed in a rack and cabled up with power, ethernet, and serial console (if appropriate). The ethernet connection is configured by Physical Networks to be on the desired production VLAN.
  • Gather information about the server, such as its MAC address, archetecture (SPARC or x86), and production IP address. Be sure that DNS entries exist for the server you are building, and the hostname is in the /etc/hosts distributed by cfengine
  • SSH to jumpcore.umbc.edu, become root, and change directory to /jumpstart/bin/
  • Execute the js program in that directory with the appropriate options. Run js -h to view these options and see definitions and examples of how to use them. This program creates the DHCP server config and generates Jumpstart Profile for the server you wish to build. For x86 systems, it also creates a menu.lst file with the server's MAC address appended and a symlink in /tftpboot
  • Boot your server so that it boots off the network:
  • For SPARC systems at the ok OBP prompt: boot net:dhcp - install
  • For x86 systems with a PXE-capable BIOS, net booting is typically enabled by pressing the F12 key when the BIOS start up screen appears.
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Jumpstart Setup Script Examples

The js script takes the following parameters. Specifying all of them is necessary: 

[root@jumpcore]/jumpstart/bin>./js -h
Usage: ./js [-a arch] [-H hostname] [-m mac] [-n netmask] [-v version]
       -a   Architecture of machine (eg: sparc, x86)
       -H   Hostname of server (eg: foo.umbc.edu)
       -m   Ethernet MAC address of server (eg: 8:0:20:d9:28:36)
       -n   Netmask of server IP (eg: 255.255.255.0)
       -v   Solaris version to install (eg: 9, 10, 11...)
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Notes and Caveats

  • Jumpstarting an X86 system requires that system to have a PXE-capable BIOS. Pretty much any modern X86 server-class machine will have this. Note that older Dell servers may not have this and will have to be booted off a CDROM.
  • Jumpstarting a SPARC-based system will require a DHCP-capable OBP (OpenBoot PROM) revision. Any new Sun SPARC system has this, and OBP patches from http://sunsolve.sun.com/ are available to update older systems with this capability. Generally, if the OBP version reported by the banner OBP command or the prtconf -V Solaris command reports a version of 3.24 or higher, DHCP capabilities are present in the OBP.
  • DHCP forwarding must be turned on for the VLAN (IP network) that the server is on. For most of the networks Syscore uses, this is already in place. If you are installing a machine on a network that does not have DHCP forwarding set, open a ticket with Phys Net to have a "DHCP helper address" put in the VLAN's configuration that points to the IP address of jumpcore.umbc.edu.
  • NFS and TFTP traffic must be allowed to pass to and from the VLAN you are installing the machine from and jumpcore.umbc.edu.
Retrieved from "http://www.umbc.edu/oit/iss/syscore/wiki/Jumpstart"