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Cool threads and hot nervesCommissioning Part 2: Linux, netbootSo after that two shots missed the target I pulled the netboot image 2) as described in the Ubuntu documentation and put it on the jumpstart server, i.e. the Sun Ultra: js_server:/tftpboot # uname SunOS js_server:/tftpboot # ll [..] lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Sep 20 21:50 C0A80A07 -> boot.img lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Sep 20 21:50 C0A80A07.SUN4V -> boot.img -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7842024 Jul 29 17:16 boot.img -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 214776 Sep 19 00:13 inetboot.SUN4V.Solaris_10-1 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 341 Sep 19 00:13 rm.192.168.10.7 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Sep 19 00:13 tftpboot -> . [..] js_server:/tftpboot # In the lab the images were also stored on the DHCP/TFTP server (Suse Linux). Since you have less files to maintain and less daemons manually to configure this is also what you probably want to do in a Linux-only environment:
tftp_server:/tftpboot # uname
Linux
tftp_server:/tftpboot # head -178 /etc/dhcpd.conf
[..]
subnet 192.168.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
option routers 192.168.10.21;
option broadcast-address 192.168.10.255;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option domain-name "lab.dirk";
option domain-name-servers 192.168.10.21:
option ntp-servers de.pool.ntp.org, ntp1.ptb.de;
[..]
group {
max-lease-time 14400;
deny unknown-clients;
host elephant { hardware ethernet 00:03:ba:d9:33:d2; fixed-address 192.168.10.7; }
[..]
}
}
tftp_server:/tftpboot # ls -Gg *SUN* *.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 215520 2006-09-27 17:54 inetboot.SUN4U.Solaris_10-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 214776 2006-09-27 17:51 inetboot.SUN4V.Solaris_10-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 7842024 2006-09-27 17:16 boot.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 24 2006-09-27 18:10 SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000 -> boot.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 24 2006-09-27 18:39 SUNW.Sun-Fire-T200 -> boot.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 27 2006-09-27 17:56 SUNW.Ultra-5_10 -> inetboot.SUN4U.Solaris_10-1
tftp_server:/tftpboot #
As opposed to the CD image, booting the boot.img over the network revelead a kernel boot message (boot net/ boot net:dhcp) on the serial console. But as you can see in the second line (Linux version 2.6.15-26-sparc6) the string SMP is missing and only CPU0 (5th line) is recognized, a waste! Dave Miller, Linux/UltraSPARC and primary maintainer of the networking part in the Linux kernel, has a boot log how it should look like (on a running system). Since on a UP system you normally can use a SMP kernel, too it's not understandable why Dapper Drake chose a UP kernel here. As you will see later for the installation every speed gain possible cannot hurt. +------------------------+ [!!] Partition disks +-------------------------+ | | | This installer can guide you through partitioning a disk for use by | | Ubuntu, or if you prefer, you can do it manually. If you do choose to | | use the guided partitioning tool, you will still have a chance later | | to see the results, customise it, and even undo the partitioning if | | you do not like it. | | | | Device to partition | | | | /dev/sda: SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 73.4 GB FUJITSU MAY2073RCSUN72G | | /dev/sdb: SCSI1 (1,1,0) (sdb) - 73.4 GB FUJITSU MAY2073RCSUN72G | | | | Use the largest continuous free space | | Manually edit partition table | | | | <Go Back> | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The netboot procedure is similar to the CD boot process. However after
the "non-keyboard" configuration you have to choose an Ubuntu archive mirror
and configure the network settings. Surprise, surprise: after this
the partitioner presented me with the disks to configure:
Now I knew what the partitioner is supposed to look like! +------------------------+ [!!] Partition disks +-------------------------+ | | | Disk space to partition: | | | | Resize SCSI1 (1,1,0), partition #2 (sdb) and use freed space | | Erase entire disk: SCSI1 (1,1,0) (sdb) - 73.4 GB FUJITSU MAY2073R | | Erase entire disk and use LVM: SCSI1 (1,1,0) (sdb) - 73.4 GB FUJI | | Manually edit partition table | | | | <Go Back> | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
I selected '/dev/sdb', chose 'Erase entire disk: SCSI1',
confirmed the warning saying that
this change has to be written to disk immediately. It said that it was
automatically
layouting sdb (#1 and #2 as ext3, #3 as swap), I confirmed it
and ... well, at least there was no activity in the 9600 bps window
and on the disk LEDs. After 20 minutes I lost my patience, pressed
ENTER twice, got still the blue ncurses screen, waited another 20 minutes,
pressed then ^C and it hung.
While shuffling through the menus before I realized that the Ubuntu netboot installer recognized sda and the Solaris partitions on it. So after booting into the 'Partition disks' menu, choosing 'Manually edit partition table', and voila, there was some free space (in this and the following diagrams there were some non-printable characters (Â) in my xterm which for readability reasons I omitted): +------------------------+ [!!] Partition disks +-------------------------+ | | | This is an overview of your currently configured partitions and mount | | points. Select a partition to modify its settings (file system, mount | | point, etc.), a free space to create partitions, or a device to | | initialise its partition table. | | | | Configure software RAID | | Configure the Logical Volume Manager | | Guided partitioning | | Help on partitioning | | | | SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 73.4 GB FUJITSU MAY2073RCSUN72G | | > #1 31.5 GB | | > #2 8.6 GB | | > 33.3 GB FREE SPACE | | SCSI1 (1,1,0) (sdb) - 73.4 GB FUJITSU MAY2073RCSUN72G | | | | <Go Back> | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
That smelled weird: free space on my Solaris disk?? Other than the time spent on
the installtion
there was nothing on the first disk presenting a value, also the ZFS pool was basically empty. To make the story short:
By selecting 'sda' and 'Automatically partition the free space' I was able to
finally create some partitions: 99 MB for /boot, 31.8 GB for / and
for swap 1.4 GB. After that, I sent a break in order to boot into Solaris. Solaris was still alive but
as I assumed the ZFS pool was completely gone.
+------------------------+ [!!] Partition disks +-------------------------+ | | | This is an overview of your currently configured partitions and mount | | points. Select a partition to modify its settings (file system, mount | | point, etc.), a free space to create partitions, or a device to | | initialise its partition table. | | | | SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 73.4 GB FUJITSU MAY2073RCSUN72G | | > #1 31.5 GB | | > #2 8.6 GB | | > #4 99.0 MB B K ext3 /boot | | > #5 31.8 GB F xfs / | | > #6 1.4 GB F swap swap | | SCSI1 (1,1,0) (sdb) - 73.4 GB FUJITSU MAY2073RCSUN72G | | | | Undo changes to partitions | | Finish partitioning and write changes to disk | | | | <Go Back> | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
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