HP XC System Software Installation Guide Version 3.2

As part of the initial software installation, the head node is configured as the golden client, which
is the node that represents the configuration from which all other nodes are replicated. Next, a
golden image is created from the golden client, which is a replication of the local file system
directories and files, starting from root (/). The golden image is stored on the image server, which
is also resident on the head node in this release.
When nodes are instructed to PXE or network boot from the network adapter attached to the
administration network, an installation process starts on the client nodes that does the following:
• Partitions the local disk
By default, the first disk is partitioned because in this release, disks other than the first disk
are not supported because of restrictions in the image replication environment.
• Creates file systems
• Downloads the golden image
• Installs the appropriate boot loader
When the automatic installation process completes, each node is rebooted and continues its
configuration process, eventually ending with the login prompt.
3.1.4 System Configuration and Imaging Log Files
A record of the configuration process is stored in the /var/log/nconfig.log file.
Logging of the system imaging process is stored in the following files:
• /hptc_cluster/adm/logs/imaging.log
• /var/log/systemimager/rsyncd
• /hptc_cluster/adm/logs/startsys.log
The /hptc_cluster/adm/logs/imaging.log file contains log information produced during
the imaging and node configuration processes.
Use the information in this file to diagnose imaging issues such as nodes not booting correctly
or failing during the imaging operation. The node configuration portion of the log file provides
useful information during the first boot after a node has been imaged. If a node configuration
fails, the node is put into single-user mode with network access. The node is not allowed to join
the HP XC system without user intervention. The node or nodes that are put into single-user
mode are listed in the imaging.log file.
Two system services that are based on syslog-ng log the UDP based information sent by each
client during installation and the node configuration phase (which is called the nconfigure phase).
The hptc-ire-serverlog service runs persistently on the imaging server. It is responsible
for accepting UDP messages from the imaging client and from the hptc-ire-clientlog
service running when a node is running through its nconfigure phase. The hptc-ire-clientlog
service is managed by autoinstall and the nconfig process. It is only started during these processes
and turned off after the processes have been completed.
The rsync log daemon is responsible for logging start and completion time stamps for imaging
and golden image updates in the /var/log/systemimager/rsyncd file. The information is
sent through TCP for reliability. This is a required service because imaging completion timestamps
are used to generate the per node entries in the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg file that denote a
system has imaged successfully.
3.2 Task 1: Prepare for the System Configuration
Use the following list of items to prepare for the system configuration phase:
1. Know where you stored the XC.lic license key file because you will copy or move it to the
head node.
2. Be prepared to supply the information listed in Table 3-1, which is required by the
cluster_prep command.
3.2 Task 1: Prepare for the System Configuration 55