Description

The jumpstart installation image directory must be shared with Read Only permissions.

Sharing with Read/Write permissions will cause jumpstart installation errors.

While the jumpstart directory is shared Read/Write, jumpstart installations appear successful but the reboot may show a "bad address" message while configuring the network interface. See Example 1 below for details. Also, the /etc/hosts file will be missing the loghost entry. See Example 2 below for details.

Sharing the jumpstart image directory back as read only (share -F nfs -o ro,anon=0 /export) is not the complete solution. The jumpstart image has been corrupted. The links to the hosts and netmasks files within the jumpstart image directory structure were removed and replaced by hard coded files of the last jumpstart client installation. The jumpstart installation will completely fail unless these file links are recreated. See Example 3 below for details.

Example 1 shows the reboot messages after the install.

        Boot device: disk:a  File and args: kernel/unix
        SunOS Release 5.7 Version Generic_106541-04 [UNIX(R) System V Release 4.0]
        Copyright (c) 1983-1999, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
        configuring network interfaces:ifconfig: skinwalker: bad address
         hme0.                                               ^^^^^^^^^^^
        Hostname: skinwalker                                                

Example 2 shows that the /etc/hosts file of the jumpstart client is missing the loghost entry.

        # Internet host table
        #
        127.0.0.1       localhost
                                                 

Completed software installation

Solaris 2.7 software installation succeeded

Customizing system files
        - Mount points table (/etc/vfstab)
        - Network host addresses (/etc/hosts)

ERROR: Could not open file (/etc/hosts)

ERROR: Could not set up the remote host file (/etc/hosts)

ERROR: System installation failed
# 
Rebooting with command: boot                                          
Boot device: disk:a  File and args: kernel/unix
SunOS Release 5.7 Version Generic [UNIX(R) System V Release 4.0]
Copyright (c) 1983-1998, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Hostname: 
WARNING: /proc could not be mounted
/sbin/swapadd: expr: not found

WARNING - /usr/sbin/fsck not found.  Most likely the
mount of /usr failed or the /usr filesystem is badly
damaged.  The system is being halted.  Either reinstall
the system or boot with the -b option in an attempt
to recover.

syncing file systems... done
Program terminate                                                

Solution

What has occurred is the link to hosts and netmasks within the install image has been replace with hard coded files of the last client installed.

EXAMPLE -> Corrupted:

path_to_image...Solaris_2.7/Tools/Boot/etc/inet
# ls -l
total 26
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys           81 May 11 09:25 hosts
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys         4982 Apr 19  1999 inetd.conf
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          593 May 11 14:49 netmasks
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          372 Apr 19  1999 networks
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          980 Apr 19  1999 protocols
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys         2947 Apr 19  1999 services
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          305 Apr 19  1999 sock2path
                                                      

cd path_to_image...Solaris_2.7/Tools/Boot/etc/inet
# ls -al
total 34
drwxr-xr-x   2 root     sys          512 Apr 19  1999 .
drwxr-xr-x  24 root     sys         2560 Apr 20  1999 ..
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     other         29 Nov 23 17:53 hosts -> ../../tmp/root/etc/inet/hosts
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys         4982 Apr 19  1999 inetd.conf
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     other         32 Nov 23 17:53 netmasks -> ../../tmp/root/etc/inet/netmasks
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          372 Apr 19  1999 networks
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          980 Apr 19  1999 protocols
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys         2947 Apr 19  1999 services
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          305 Apr 19  1999 sock2path                                                      

To correct, remove the host and netmasks files in the installation image directory and recreate the links as in the following example.

# cd path_to_image...Solaris_2.7/Tools/Boot/etc/inet
# rm netmasks
# ln -s ../../tmp/root/etc/inet/netmasks netmasks
# rm hosts
# ln -s ../../tmp/root/etc/inet/hosts hosts
# ls -l
total 26
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     other         29 May 11 17:41 hosts -> ../../tmp/root/etc/inet/hosts
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys         4982 Apr 19  1999 inetd.conf
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     other         32 May 11 17:40 netmasks -> ../../tmp/root/etc/inet/netmasks
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          372 Apr 19  1999 networks
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          980 Apr 19  1999 protocols
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys         2947 Apr 19  1999 services
-r--r--r--   1 root     sys          305 Apr 19  1999 sock2path                                                        

share -F nfs -o ro,anon=0 /export