Installing the Solaris Operating System Over a Network

The following procedure assumes that you have created an install server, which contains the image of the Solaris CD, and that you have set up the client system to be installed over the network.

Before you can install the Solaris operating system on a client system with a given network interface, you must first add the driver software packages to the install server. These software packages are generally available on the driver installation CD.

To Install the Solaris Software Over a GigaSwift Ethernet Network

1. Prepare the install server and client system to install the Solaris operating system over the network.

2. Find the root directory of the client system.

The client system's root directory can be found in the install server's /etc/bootparams file. Use the grep command to search this file for the root directory.

 # grep client_name /etc/bootparams client_name root=server_name:/netinstall/Solaris_2.7/Tools/Boot install=server_name:/netinstall boottype=:in rootopts=:rsize=32768 

In the previous example, the root directory for the Solaris 7 client is /netinstall. In Step 4, you would replace root_directory with /netinstall.

3. Use the pkgadd -R command to install the network device driver software packages to the diskless client's root directory on the server.

 # pkgadd -R root_directory/Solaris_2.7/Tools/Boot -d . SUNWced 

4. Shut down and halt the client system.

5. At the ok prompt, boot the client system using the full device path of the network device.

6. Proceed with the Solaris operating system installation.

7. After installing the Solaris operating system, install the network interface software on the client system.

This step is required because the software installed in Step 2 was required to boot the client system over the network interface. Often network interface cards are not a bundled option with Solaris. Therefore, after installation is complete, you will need to install the software in order for the operating system to use the client's network interfaces in normal operation.

8. Confirm that the network host files have been configured correctly during the Solaris installation.

Although the Solaris software installation creates the client's network configuration files, you might need to edit these files to match your specific networking environment. See "Configuring the Network Host Files" on page 234 for more information about editing these files.