Installation guide

You should consider the following limitations when deciding to implement a
dataless environment:
• Hardware limitation of the network – the majority of file system usage
performed by any of the clients is done via NFS. This will consume
network bandwidth, which, depending on the type and configuration of
the network, can become exhausted as more clients are added to the
environment.
• Hardware limitation on the file systems contained on the server – all
clients are configured to share a /usr file system and all client specific
data is contained in a /clients file system on the server. As clients are
added to the dataless environment, the demands on these file systems on
the server increase and may surpass the capabilities of the server.
• DMS may not be the best way to address centralized system management
requirements. The use of DMS introduces added system management
tasks in the server, and requires system setup and management on each
client system.
• Patch management and update installation are not fully supported in a
dataless environment. An installed dataless environment cannot be
modified after clients have been configured. All clients must be
deconfigured before any patches are applied or other changes made. When
a client is deconfigured, the client specific customizations that have been
made in the client’s writable file systems, such as system configuration
data, will be lost.
4.3.6 Alternate Root Installation May Change Host File Dates
During an alternate root installation of base operating system subsets, such as
is done using the dmu utility to set up a Dataless Management Services
environment, the file access dates on some of the files in the host server’s file
system may be changed to correspond to those from the subset’s file
inventory. When the release installed into the alternate root is different from
that installed on the host system, these changed dates appear invalid since
they may be newer (or older) than the actual file dates from the host system’s
installation kit.
This occurs when the pax utility is invoked by the setld utility to copy
symbolic links from the kit subsets, and the symbolic links target absolute
paths that correspond to actual files in the host system’s file system. The
pax utility attempts to adjust the dates for the symbolic link, but the file
system actually adjusts the dates for the target of the symbolic link.
The changed dates have no operational impact on the host system. The
content of the affected files has not been changed. However, because the
dates have changed, the behavior of utilities that examine file dates (such as
the find command or archivers) may be affected.
4–16 Base System Software Notes