Managing Systems and Workgroups: A Guide for HP-UX System Administrators

Setting Up and Administering an HP-UX NFS Diskless Cluster
NFS Diskless Questions and Answers
Chapter 10936
The HP proprietary “DUX” technology, which NFS Diskless replaces,
required a configuration process on the server which converted key
system files (hp-ux, /etc/checklist, and others) into
context-dependent files (CDFs) and modified the server’s kernel to enable
diskless functions.
NFS Diskless does not require any modification of the server’s file
system. The only side effects of adding a diskless client are:
• Various boot services (BOOTP, TFTP, rbootd, NFS, etc) are
configured.
• The kernel is configured for NFS (if necessary).
These tasks are performed automatically when you use SAM to add the
first client to your system.
Question: Do I install software for clients onto the client or the server?
Answer: Software for diskless clients should be installed on the server, and
propagated to clients using NFS mounts.
Use the swcluster (1M) command to do this. swcluster runs other
Software Distributor (SD) commands such as swinstall to set up NFS
mounts, and creates /etc/fstab entries to NFS-mount the proper
directories from the diskless server to the clients. It also creates an
“installed product database” (IPD) on the client which tracks installed
software and allows it to be configured.
Question: Once I have a cluster, how do I install additional software?
Answer: Use swcluster (1M). See “Software Administration” in section 4 of the
NFS Diskless Concepts and Administration White Paper for more
information. It’s in /usr/share/doc/NFSD_Concepts_Admin.ps on most
10.x systems.
Question: Who creates shared roots and how are they named?
Answer: When the SAM fileset (SystemAdmin.SAM) is installed in the server’s root
directory, it creates a shared root named
/export/shared_roots/OS_700 (if this is a Series 700 system). This
shared root is a symbolic link to the root directory (/).