SUMMARY: Sys-unconfig

From: Aideen McConville <aideen_at_persimmon.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 16:20:02 +0000 (GMT)

Many thanks to Dr. Tom Blinn <tpb_at_doctor.zk3.dec.com> for the answer
and for other useful information too.

I wanted to re-create FIS state on a system. See end of message for
original question.

Method 1
--------
The easy way (if you're happy to reinstall unix)

>>> set boot_osflags h

before booting (and installing) from the distribution CD. Once the s/w
is installed the system will halt. The next time it's booted it will
configure the installed s/w, prompt for hostname and root password and
build a kernel (prompting for options).

Method 2
--------
If you want to do something similar to Solaris sys-unconfig
i.e. de-configure the system and have it prompt for hostname and root
password again without re-installing unix, here's Dr. Tom's advice:

----------
You can remove the relevant data from places like /etc/rc.config and the
/etc/passwd file. Then you can go into the /sbin/it.d/rc23.d directory
and link in the scripts from /sbin/it.d/bin that gather the information
at boot time.

This will NOT return the systems to a "FIS" state, but it will mean that
on the next reboot, the person booting the system would be asked for the
root password and the hostname.

And no, there no automated procedure delivered as part of the system that
will do this for you. It's a manual process, and there's LOT more to it
than what I've described. (You can read the "it" reference page for more
on one-time installation task processing; you can examine the scripts in
the /sbin/it.d/bin directory; you could look at a "FIS" disk before you
booted the system for the first time by moving it to another system.)

----------

More useful info from Dr. Blinn:

Re: Halting the system after loading the software subsets.

If you read the isl/.profile script on the installation media, you can
see how it's handled (look in the Main routine shortly after it calls
Cleanup).

If you then re-mount the freshly installed disk (e.g., from another host
or booted from a different disk in the same host), you can install well-
behaved product kits on top of the image, and they will configure when
you do finally boot the system. The FIS folks sometimes have to tweak
the LP kits to get them to work correctly installed this way. (Note you
must use the -D option with setld to install a kit to an alternate root;
this works BEAUTIFULLY with the base OS kit, since the whole installation
of the base OS is ALWAYS done to an alternate root, that is, to the disk
mounted on /mnt from the install environment; other kits may not work in
this mode if they are set up wrong.)

You can do clever things by adding additional scripts for "it" to run at
boot time.

If you do need to have things run once when the system is all the way up
to multi-user mode, then you should look at putting them in rc3.d and do
the script so it removes itself when it's done running.

Note that if you add a script, there is a file in /sbin/it.d/data that
is used to control the order of running the scripts from rc23.d, so you
do need to register your new script in the right place to have it work.

Enjoy..

Tom
----------

Original question:

> Hello,
>
> Does DU/Tru64U have anything comparable to Solaris' sys-unconfig?
>
> I'd like to return a few of our systems to Factory Installed Software
> (FIS) state. i.e. Unix loaded but no hostname or root passwd
> configured.
>
> Thanks,
> -- Aideen

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aideen McConville (System Administrator) Phone: +44 1223 578761
Persimmon IT Fax: +44 1223 322501
Block C, The Westbrook Centre, Milton Road
Cambridge, UK CB4 1YG http://www.persimmon.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Fri Mar 12 1999 - 16:22:46 NZDT

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