Summary
The AIX NIM server allows a very flexible automated installation process to deploy hundreds or AIX nodes as well as LPARs in a matter of hours. It is possible to achieve similar results using the RHEL kickstart system. This article is about a way of automating the RHEL 5 deployment directly from AIX 6.1 NIM.
Process
- Copy the RHEL 5 DVD to an NFS file system. E.g.
/nfs/rhel5 - Configure the NIM server to offer the correct boot image in
/etc/bootptab:
rhel-host1.domain.com:bf=/nfs/rhel5/images/netboot.img:ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:ht=ethernet::sa=xxx.xxx.xxx.yyy:sm=255.255.255.0:
rhel-host2.domain.com:bf=/nfs/rhel5/images/netboot.img:ip=xxx.xxx.xxx.zzz:ht=ethernet::sa=xxx.xxx.xxx.yyy:sm=255.255.255.0
- Configure TFTP on the NIM server in
/etc/tftpaccess.ctl:
# NIM access for network boot
allow:/usr/lpp/sysback/netinst/boot
allow:/tftpboot
allow:/nfs/rhel5/images
- Restart TFTP and reload INETD:
stopsrc -s tftpd
startsrc -a -n -s tftpd
refresh -s inetd
- Boot the network client with SMS: remote ip setup (with client ip, server ip, router ip, subnet mask, ping test), multiboot setup (with ethernet as first boot device)
- Follow the regular RHEL install process. (This is where you can get kickstart going.)
- Reboot the system and reset the boot order.
