On Thu, 9 Jul 2009, Sundar Yamunachari wrote: > Alok Aggarwal wrote: >> We've had some discussion around media options in >> regards to the some of the forthcoming installers. >> >> While the text installer options are going to be discussed in the meeting >> tomorrow, I wanted to capture >> the results of the discussion wrt bootable AI and >> regular AI image here. >> >> Currently the only known consumer for a bootable AI >> image on x86 is the VMC project. The requirements the VMC >> project has on a bootable AI image are listed in the >> func spec - >> >> http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/caiman/VMC/ >> >>> From a high level, the project would like to - >> >> - boot the AI image standalone (without the need for >> an AI server) >> - have the auto-installer service obtain a manifest >> to install from, from a well defined location >> - kick off an IPS based install and once down shutdown >> the VM >> >> Given these requirements, I think it makes a lot of >> sense to combine the bootable AI and regular AI images >> for x86. > It is good idea to keep the number of of images small. What are the > differences (in terms of files) between regular AI image and bootable AI > image? How much additional space does the bootable AI image needs compared > to the regular AI image.
I haven't yet looked at the differences between the package set for a regular AI image vs a bootable AI image. That said, I don't expect there to be many differences between the two. The current AI image boots to a certain level but then needs a server to procure solaris.zlib/solarismisc.zlib from as well as a manifest to install from. So, if you're in a serverless setup, none of these steps can be carried out - I think that will be one of the main changes as part of this work. It should not change the sets of packages needed to bring the system up. >> How would it work? >> ------------------ >> >> DC would be changed such that all x86 images created >> are bootable. The choices of a media based boot, network >> based boot (no AI) and network based boot with AI would be provided in >> the GRUB menu. > What are the X86 images you are referring here -- livecd image and AI > image? Are the choices "network based boot" and "network based boot with > AI" grub menu choices? Strictly referring to the AI image here. And, yes, the choices will be presented via the grub menu. >> Media based boot would be the default selection. At the time the AI image >> is setup on the AI server using installadm, network based boot (no AI) >> would be made the default selection. >> If a hands off installation is intended, the "default" >> parameter in the GRUB menu.lst on the AI server can be tweaked to >> indicate network based boot with AI as the default [1]. > Who sets up the default selection in the above cases? The default selection in the case of the AI server being set up will be set up by installadm. >> In the case of a media based boot, the machine would >> boot off of the media and the auto-installer service >> would look for a "default" manifest to install from >> (discussion of a default manifest is deliberately omitted >> for now). Installation would be performed depending upon >> what is specified in the manifest. > When booting from media, will the network be setup? I am assuming that it > will be the case since the AI needs to do the installation from the IPS > repo. Yes, it will have to be. Alok
