Building an Install Tape

This section describes the golden image layout and building an example install tape. We recommend using only 90 metre DDS-1 tapes to make install tapes with Ignite-UX to ensure that the tape will work with any DDS drive. For details on other supported tape formats, see the release notes available from the Ignite-UX Web site.

The Golden Image

Golden system images in these examples were created on Series 700 and Series 800 systems running HP-UX 10.20 using:

/opt/ignite/data/scripts/make_sys_image

The archives are in tar format and are gzipped. The files are:

/var/tmp/archive_700.gz /var/tmp/archive_800.gz

This command has been run on these archives to get disk-space usage information (impacts) so that configuration information can be supplied:

/opt/ignite/lbin/archive_impact

DDS tape layout

A DDS install tape is constructed logically like this:

Table 10-1 DDS Install Tape Construction

LIF

A1/E

D/A2

...

LIF — A bootable tape starts with a Logical Interchange Format (LIF) volume containing all the components required to boot off the tape. It also includes the Ignite-UX toolset and configuration information that controls how Ignite-UX will operate. It includes config file information about the SD depot on the tape (should there be one) and all archives on the media.

A1/E — The next portion is either the first OS Archive (A1) or is Empty (E) if the installation is solely from the software depot.

D/A2 — The next portion is either a serial depot (D) or another OS archive (A2). There can only be one depot on a tape, and it must be the third file on the tape due to a SD restriction.

A3, A4,... — Beyond this, there may be other archives, limited only by the capacity of the tape. If more archives are needed, they can be put on a second medium.

LIF volume content

The make_medialif command is used to create the LIF volume. A typical LIF volume looks like this:

volume ISL10 data size 175771 directory size 
filename   type   start   size     implement  created
ISL        -12800 16      240      0          98/02/10 14:06:38
AUTO       -12289 256     1        0          98/02/10 14:06:38
INDEX      BIN    264     1        0          98/02/10 14:06:38
CONFIG     BIN    272     58       0          98/02/10 14:06:38
HPUX       -12928 336     800      0          98/02/10 14:06:38
INSTALL    -12290 1136    57503    0          98/02/10 14:06:45
INSTALLFS  -12290 58640   31774    0          98/02/10 14:06:48
INSTCMDS   BIN    90384   9873     0          98/02/10 14:06:51
SYSCMDS    BIN    100264  45901    0          98/02/10 14:07:02
SCRIPTS     BIN    146168   30       0           98/02/10 14:07:02

ISL — Initial System Loader. If it is run interactively, it issues a prompt and waits for user interaction. Otherwise it looks for the AUTO file. It is extracted by make_medialif from the default boot file: /opt/ignite/boot/boot_lif

AUTO — Autoexecute file defines the default (possibly automatic) boot behavior.

INDEX — Default INDEX file (it has the same function as /var/opt/ignite/INDEX does on an Ignite-UX server). The file CONFIG is referenced in this file.

CONFIG — Contains all software configuration information. You should begin with the default config file for that release (for example, for the Ignite-UX B.10.20, look in: /opt/ignite/data/Rel_B.10.20/config) Additional config files can be added via the -f option of the make_medialif command. Information in this file will allow complete access to all the archives and depots on the media.

HPUX — HP-UX bootstrap utility. It is also extracted from the default boot file.

INSTALL — 32-bit kernel booted by 32-bit install clients. With a 64-bit kernel, use the make_medialif -o 64 option to create a LIF volume called VINSTALL for V-class systems. For other 64-bit kernels, use the
-o 64w option to create WINSTALL files. Use the make_medialif -a option to create all NSTALL and INSTALLFS files.

INSTALLFS — The RAM file system used by install clients. Configuration information stored in the first 8KB of this file is accessible using instl_adm. If this is a 64-bit LIF volume, the file is called VINSTALLFS. For 64-bit systems, the file is WINSTALL .

INSTCMDS — gzip archive of the commands needed for disk layout. These commands run on the install kernel and inside the INSTALLFS.

SYSCMDS — gzip archive of commands used to load the software onto the system. There are different archives for each release.

SCRIPTS — gzip archive of all post_load and post_config scripts that are required. By default when loading a core archive (load_order is zero, which means it gets loaded first), the two scripts in /opt/ignite/data/scripts called os_arch_post_l and os_arch_post_c are executed.

Scripts like these are discussed in depth in the instl_adm(1M) manpage.

For more information on what happens during system boot and what files do what, see “System Bootup Sequence”.

Important Config Files

You need to consider two important config file concepts when building archives and bundles to be loaded onto a target system:

sw_source — specifies the access method to either an archive or a depot.
sw_sel — specifies the path of an archive or a bundle in a depot.

For details on these objects, see the instl_adm(1M) manpage.

Be sure to pass all user-generated config files through this command to check for syntax errors:

instl_adm -T -f cfg_file

Accessing a DDS Tape Archive

The best place to start when creating a config file for an archive is to use the template file supplied by Ignite-UX in /opt/ignite/data/examples/. Other files are available for HP-UX 11.0/11i 32- and 64-bit systems. This file can be copied elsewhere, say, to /var/tmp/archive.cfg, and then edited to suit your situation.

Assume that our tape will be used more for installing Series 700 systems than Series 800 systems. Hence, we will put the Series 700 archive on the tape first. In the diagram above, it will be A1. Since there will be a serial depot on the tape, the Series 800 archive will be located at A3.

To modify the config file to access the Series 700 archive, the following attributes need to be changed in /var/tmp/archive.cfg in the sw_source core archive stanza:

Table 10-2 Title not available (Accessing a DDS Tape Archive )

Attribute	Old Value	New Value
`source_type`	NET	MT
`change_media`	#change_media=FALSE	change_media=FALSE
`nfs_source`	nfs_source=`IP`:`depot`	#nfs_source=`IP`:`depot`

These changes will modify the source type from network (NET) access (which is either NFS, ftp or remsh) to magnetic tape (MT). Since the archive is going to reside on the same media, change_media is set to false by un-commenting that attribute. To avoid trying to NFS mount that directory, the nfs_source is commented out.

Since the template file already has conditional logic that provides for different Series 700 and Series 800 archives, we will use that to our advantage.

Inside the stanza enabled by HARDWARE_MODEL ~ 9000/7.* the following fields must be changed:

Table 10-3 Title not available (Accessing a DDS Tape Archive )

Attribute	Old Value	New Value
`archive_path`	B.10.20_700_CDE.gz	1
`impacts`	/ 27KB	(as reported by `archive_impact`)

The change in archive_path indicates that there is one EOF mark to skip on the tape and the archive will begin right after that mark. The archive will be the second file on the tape after the LIF volume. The impacts lines must be replaced with whatever was reported by archive_impact for the Series 700 archive.

Inside the same stanza the sw_sel and description strings can be changed to something more descriptive and applicable to your situation. The text inside the double quotes can be changed to whatever you like. They will be visible on the Ignite-UX UI. archive_type must match what was done by make_sys_image. See instl_adm(4) for more about archive_type.

Since we have only one Series 700 archive the entire stanza called golden image2 can be deleted. It was included in case you had two different types of archives, for example one for VUE and one for CDE. If more than one archive per architecture is on the media, it is advisable to use an exrequisite attribute between them so only one archive can be selected at one time.

In the stanza for the Series 800 (it is an else clause later in the file) the same sort of changes must be made. However remember that the Series 800 archive is in a different location on the tape. So these attributes need to change:

Table 10-4 Title not available (Accessing a DDS Tape Archive )

Attribute	Old Value	New Value
`archive_path`	B.10.20_700_CDE.gz	3
`impacts`	/ 27KB	(as reported by `archive_impact`)

The change in archive_path indicates that there are three EOF marks to skip on the tape (LIF volume, Series 700 archive, and the serial depot). The Series 800 archive is the fourth file on the tape. The impacts lines must be replaced with whatever was reported by archive_impact for the Series 800 archive.

It is important not to change anything else in the file, unless you are very sure of what you are doing. In particular, it is potentially dangerous to change the sw_category and other sw_source and sw_sel attributes not mentioned above.

Accessing the Serial Depot on a DDS Tape

Assume there is a depot (/var/tmp/depot) that contains all the applications you wish to install on top of the archive. It can be a mixture of Series 700-only applications, Series 800-only applications, and applications that can be loaded on both architectures. Use the make_config command to create config file information for this depot, and the config file is modified to reflect the ultimate destination of the depot.

Create config files by entering these commands:
make_config -s /var/tmp/depot -a 700 -c /var/tmp/depot_700_cfgmake_config -s /var/tmp/depot -a 800 -c /var/tmp/depot_800_cfg
On a tape, the depot must be the third file so there is no need to specify a path to the depot.
Change both config files by removing these attribute lines:
```
sd_server = IP_address
sd_depot_dir = /var/tmp/depot
```
Change this attribute in both files:
Table 10-5 Title not available (Accessing the Serial Depot on a DDS Tape)
Attribute Old Value New Value
source_type NET MT

The deleted information is not needed when accessing a serial depot on a tape. The change to source_type indicates that the depot is located on a tape instead of over the network.
Create the Serial Depot. The depot put on a DDS tape is known as a serial depot. It can exist as a regular file, but it cannot be accessed remotely.
To create a serial depot from /var/tmp/depot and store it in /var/tmp/serialdepot, enter:
swpackage -s /var/tmp/depot -x target_type=tape \ @ /var/tmp/serialdepot
Assembling the DDS Tape. Now that all the components of the tape are done, create the LIF volume in /var/tmp/lifvol using the make_medialif command:
make_medialif -f /opt/ignite/data/Rel_B.10.20/config \ -f /var/tmp/archive.cfg -f /var/tmp/depot_700_cfg \ -f /var/tmp/depot_800_cfg -l /var/tmp/lifvol
This creates the LIF volume that includes all the configuration information, including defaults Ignite-UX provides and information on the archives and depot. For HP-UX 11.0 systems, also use the -a option to include all INSTALL and INSTSALLFS files.
Modify INSTALLFS Config. Change configuration information in INSTALLFS. To set run_ui and control_from_server variables using instl_adm to TRUE and FALSE, respectively, based on our scenario:
instl_adm -d -F /var/tmp/lifvol > /var/tmp/cfg
vi /var/tmp/cfg #Add/change the two variables
instl_adm -T -F /var/tmp/lifvol #Check syntax
instl_adm -d -F /var/tmp/lifvol #Verify changes
Make a New Device File. DDS-1 density is used so that the tape is more readily readable by all DDS tape devices, which are notorious for being finicky at times. To create a device with these characteristics, enter:
ioscan -fC tape #get the hardware path
mksf -v -H hardware_path -b DDS1 -n -a
You can also create this file using SAM:
1. Click: Peripheral Devices -> Tape Drives
2. Select (highlight) the tape drive you want to use:
  Actions -> Create Device Files -> Create Custom Device File
3. Change DENSITY to DDS1; turn off Compressed Mode and Rewind on Close
4. Click: OK
Create the Install Tape. Create the tape using a DDS-1 density, no compression, no rewind device file (for example /dev/rmt/c0t3d0DDS1n):
mt -t /dev/rmt/c0t3d0DDS1n rewdd if=/var/tmp/lifvol of=/dev/rmt/c0t3d0DDS1n obs=2kdd if=/var/tmp/archive_700.gz \ of=/dev/rmt/c0t3d0DDS1n obs=10kdd if=/var/tmp/serialdepot \ of=/dev/rmt/c0t3d0DDS1n obs=10kdd if=/var/tmp/archive_800.gz \ of=/dev/rmt/c0t3d0DDS1n obs=10kmt -t /dev/rmt/c0t3d0DDS1n rew

The tape is now ready for installations.