HP XC System Software Installation Guide Version 3.2.1

IMPORTANT: Do not perform a global replace of the /etc/dhcpd.conf file with the
entire contents of the .ORIG backup copy because the new version of the /etc/dhcpd.conf
file might contain new or additional information that is not present in the backup copy.
4. Save your changes to the /etc/dhcpd.conf file and exit the text editors.
5. Restart the dhcpd service:
# service dhcpd restart
3.13 Task 12: Run the startsys Utility to Start the System and Propagate
the Golden Image
The first time the entire system is started with the startsys command, power to each node is
turned on, each node boots from its network adapter, and the SystemImager automatic installation
environment is downloaded. This environment automatically installs and configures each node
from the golden image. The startsys command might take several minutes to power on the
nodes on large-scale systems because of scale requirements.
The number of nodes to be installed influences the amount of time it takes to complete the process.
After all nodes are installed, they automatically reboot to the login prompt. This process can take
between two to three hours on a system with 1024 compute nodes.
This release uses the multicast file transfer technology to download software to client nodes
during their image installation. Multicast file transfer technology provides a fast and scalable
method of installing systems. Using multicast imaging sends data to many nodes simultaneously
that have been previously set up to listen to a multicast from the designated image server.
Multicast imaging provides very little resource drain on the image server as compared to other
file transfer technologies, and therefore, allows systems of all sizes to be installed relatively
quickly.
Multicast imaging uses the udpcast open source package, and the flamethrower functionality of
SystemImager. A series of udp-sender daemons are run on the image server, and each client
node runs a series of udp-receiver daemons during the imaging operation. The udp-sender
daemons are managed by the startsys command. The startsys command starts these
daemons when the --image_only or --image_and_boot options are entered on the command
line and then shuts these daemons down after the imaging operation is complete. Therefore, you
must use startsys when performing a full installation through the imaging operation.
Startup Procedure
Follow this procedure to start the system and propagate the golden image to all nodes; the
command-line options depend on the number of nodes in the system:
1. Determine whether you want to override files delivered in the golden image. This step is
optional, and typically during an initial system installation and configuration, it is not
necessary. However, be aware that you can modify the files delivered in the golden image,
and the HP XC System Software Administration Guide describes how to do so.
NOTE: If the hardware configuration is not homogenous (that is, not all nodes are the
same hardware model) and contains one or more HP ProLiant DL145 G2 nodes and they
are using InfiniBand PCI-X cards, add the additional kernel boot option noapic to the
grub.conf file as an override to the system image.
2. Make sure the XC.lic license key file is located in the following directory:
102 Configuring and Imaging the System