NewPush » NIM http://newpush.com Server Hosting, Data Warehouse Hosting, Collaboration Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:25:44 +0000 en hourly 1 Installing RHEL from an AIX NIM masterhttp://newpush.com/2009/11/installing-rhel-from-an-aix-nim-master/ http://newpush.com/2009/11/installing-rhel-from-an-aix-nim-master/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:41:55 +0000 Balazs http://www.wdream.com/?p=419 Continue reading →]]> 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.
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