Solaris 7/8 net install

This post is copied from my old website

In the following, we assume that:
- you have a certain degree of *nix knowledge,
- you are root :),
- the Sparc we’re installing on is a SPARCstation-4 (with sun4m architecture),
- we’re installing Solaris 7 (but we give examples for 8 too).
(install-path) = /exports/install
(client-name) = sunsparc
(client-platform) = sun4m (or SUNW,SPARCstation-4 which is a symlink)
(client-ether) = 08:00:20:7d:01:01

:: Daemons which should be running ::

These daemons need to be running before you do anything:

in.rarpd -a
rpcbind
/usr/lib/nfs/mountd (not sure if this is started by install-scripts)
in.tftpd

tftpd is normally run by inetd:
—- /etc/inetd.conf —-
tftp dgram udp wait root /usr/sbin/in.tftpd in.tftpd -s /tftpboot
—- /etc/inetd.conf —-

:: Daemons which are started by install scripts ::

These daemons are started from the install scripts, if not, start them yourself:
rpc.bootparamd
/usr/lib/nfs/nfsd

:: Copying Packages ::

Now we’re going to copy the Packages to an install directory, and install
a boot-image in /tftpboot from which the sparc will boot.

Solaris 8:

From Binary CD1:
cd /cdrom/Solaris_8/Tools
./setup_install_server /exports/install

From Binary CD2:
cd /cdrom/Solaris_8/Tools
./add_install_server

Solaris 7:

From the Sparc cd:
cd /cdrom/Solaris_7/Tools
./setup_install_server /exports/install

The boot-image is found in:

this image is copied to /tftpboot in the following format: 0A000001.SUN4M,
which is a Symlink to inetboot.SUN4M.Solaris_2.7-1.

The first part of the symlink is the ip-address of the host in hex (big endian).
In this example, the ip-address is 10.0.0.1.

:: Adding client to configuration files ::

Now we will add the client to profile files in /etc.
We can let the install-scripts add them, but in this example we add them by
ourselves.

In /etc/ethers there should be a line saying:
—- /etc/ethers —-
sunsparc 08:00:20:7d:01:01
—- /etc/ethers —-

Now we’re going to add further information to configuration files:

Solaris 8:

cd /exports/install/Solaris_8/Tools
./add_install_client sunsparc sun4m

Solaris 7:

cd /exports/install/Solaris_7/Tools
./add_install_client sunsparc sun4m

Note that we run this from the install-path, not the cdrom-drive. After you’ve
run the script, when you run ‘share’ it should say something like this:

# share
- /exports/install ro,anon=0 “”
#

if not, make sure it does:

# share -o ro,anon=0 /exports/install

Please note the “anon=0″ as it is very important. Under Linux this option is
called “no_root_squash” and it means that uid=0 is not remapped to another user.
If you don’t, See Troubleshooting below.

Now run “boot net” from your sparc.

:: Troubleshooting ::

Q: System boots, displays banner, then hangs. When I check with tpcdump, I see
nfs activity, but that suddenly stop too (without resetting the connection)
A: You probably didn’t use the “anon=0″ option for the nfs-mount (See “Adding
client to configuration files”).

Q: System boots, but I’m prompted with “file: [kernel/unix]“.
A: Probably mountd isn’t running.

Q: System requests and gets ip via rarp, but when then waits. When I check with
tcpdump, I see request going to portmapper (udp port 111), but my portmapper
doesn’t reply.
A: You probably don’t run rpc.bootparamd.

Q: System says something like “Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP reply”.
A: Is your cable connected? Is a rarpd running on the network? Is your ethernet
address added to the configfile of the rarp daemon?

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