4 Full Installation Overview

This chapter contains an overview of Full Installation features and options, which give you the ability to:

Dynamically partition disks

Install the base operating system and Worldwide Language Support (WLS) software at the same time

Install and configure the Logical Storage Manager (LSM) during a Full Installation

Identify physical disks by blinking the disk input/output light

Automatically resolve software dependencies during optional software selection

Invoke user-supplied files at predefined invocation points to further customize the installation process

Clone the installation characteristics of one system to other similar systems

Clone the services configured (network, internet, mail, and print services) on one system to other similar systems

Access a UNIX shell to perform file system and disk management tasks

If you are not interested in reading about the features of a Full Installation, go directly to Chapter 5, which describes the preinstallation tasks to perform before beginning a Full Installation.

4.1 Summary of Full Installation Features

The Full Installation can be invoked with a graphical or text-based interface. The interface presented depends upon the graphics capabilities of your system. The interfaces can be displayed in the United States English, Chinese, or Japanese languages. Both interfaces enable you to quickly and easily complete a Full Installation of the operating system. Both interfaces have a task oriented design, which steps you through each task of the setup process and lets you go backward and forward at any time. Section 6.7 summarizes the information you are required to supply and the decisions you have to make during the Full Installation.

A Full Installation creates new file systems and swap space on the disks and partitions you decide to use for the installation. Existing system and user-created files are overwritten on the disk partitions where the file systems and swap spaces are to be installed. You have the option to use default values for the disk layout and swap space allocation or to completely customize the locations of file systems and swap space.

Note

If your system currently is installed with a version of the operating system and was using the Advanced File System (AdvFS) as a file system type, you must run the advscan utility to reconstruct the /etc/fdmns directory after the Full Installation is complete. Refer to Section 7.6 for more information.

4.1.1 Dynamic Disk Partitioning

By default, the Full Installation process determines the file system layout based on your software selections. You do not need to calculate in advance the size of the file systems, nor do you need to repartition your disks in advance of the installation process to ensure a successful installation.

Unless you specify otherwise, the Full Installation process defaults to the following file system layout:

Installs the operating system on a single disk (dsk0) with the following layout:
- The / (root) file system is on the a partition.
- The /usr file system is on the g partition.
- The var area is a directory in the /usr file system.
- If WLS is installed, the i18n (internationalization) area is a directory on the g partition in the /usr file system.
- A single swap area is on the b partition.

All file systems are the Advanced File System (AdvFS) type.

The size of each disk partition depends on the size of the disk chosen for the installation and the number of subsets you chose to install. The option to customize your disk layout and partitions is always available during a Full Installation.

4.1.2 Installing Worldwide Language Support (WLS) Software

Tru64 UNIX is an internationalized operating system. The WLS software subsets provide support for various native languages and countries. Installing the WLS software subsets lets users work in their native language, and enables software developers to develop internationalized software. WLS software subsets are located on the Associated Products Volume 1 CD-ROM.

United States English is mandatory and is installed during every Full Installation. You have the option to install support for one or more additional languages. It is recommended to install WLS during a Full Installation to ensure that enough disk space is available. When you select one or more additional countries:

Mandatory software subsets for every country you select are installed automatically.

All subsets for every country you select are installed if you install all base operating system subsets.

All WLS base subsets (that is, those prefixed with IOSWW) that correspond to selected base operating system subsets are installed for every country you select.

Optional subsets for every country you select can be installed with the wwinstall script or the setld utility after the Full Installation completes.

WLS software is installed in the /usr/i18n (internationalization) directory, which can be a separate file system. By default it is part of the /usr file system.

WLS software subsets can be installed after a Full Installation by using the wwinstall command or the setld -l command. See the Installation Guide -- Advanced Topics for instructions.

4.1.3 Configuring the Logical Storage Manager (LSM)

You can install and configure the Logical Storage Manager (LSM) during the Full Installation process. LSM is a software product for host-based disk storage management that provides a powerful set of disk management tools and features for configuring and monitoring disk storage subsystems and for enhancing their availability and performance. These tools give system administrators the flexibility to manage storage space according to the needs of applications, databases, and users, without the limitations of standard UNIX partitions and physical devices. LSM offers the following features:

Online storage management provides the ability to manage a system's disks as a pool of storage space for creating LSM logical volumes.

Concatenation (disk spanning) enables the combination of multiple physical disks into a single, larger virtual disk (called a volume) for use by large file systems or databases.

Striping (RAID 0) improves a system's disk I/O performance by interleaving the data within a volume across several physical disks.

Mirroring (RAID 1) protects against data loss due to hardware malfunction by creating a mirror (duplicate) image of the data on another disk.

Root and swap mirroring enables mirroring of critical system disk partitions used for booting and running the system to ensure that no single disk failure leaves the system unusable.

Dirty region logging tracks regions on a mirrored volume that have changed due to I/O writes. Provides fast resynchronization of a mirrored volume after a system failure.

Encapsulation enables migration of existing data on disk partitions to LSM volumes.

Some of the advanced LSM features such as mirroring and striping require a separate software license. For more information on the benefits and configuration and management of LSM, see the Logical Storage Manager manual.

4.1.4 Disk Identification

To help you associate a disk device name with the physical disk, both installation interfaces provide a way to determine which physical disk has a particular device name by repeatedly blinking the input/output light on the disk. The blinking light can be used to identify the majority of disks. However, due to hardware limitations, not all disks can be identified in this manner.

If you need information about device naming conventions, refer to Appendix A.

4.1.5 Automatic Detection and Installation of Software Dependencies

If you decide to install optional software during a Full Installation, software dependencies automatically are checked. Dependency checking ensures that software required for the proper operation of the optional software also is installed. If such a relationship is detected, the dependent software is installed automatically and you are notified accordingly.

4.1.6 Invoking User-Supplied Files to Perform Customizations

User supplied files can be invoked during a Full Installation to further customize the system beyond what is possible during a regular Full Installation. User-supplied files can contain scripts, executables, or programs.

The Full Installation process looks for the files at three different process points:

Before the installation interface is displayed

After software is installed

After the system reboots, but before the tailored kernel build and configuration phase

When a user-defined file is found, it is executed. With these hooks in the installation process, you have the potential to fully automate the Full Installation process, perform customizations on the system, and handle special installation situations. If you want to take advantage of this feature, see the Installation Guide -- Advanced Topics for file naming conventions, example scripts, and instructions for preparing and moving the files to the right locations so the Full Installation process can find them.

4.1.7 Installation Cloning

Installation Cloning lets you duplicate the installation characteristics from a model system onto one or more systems with the same or similar hardware configuration.

When you install the operating system, the Full Installation process automatically generates a configuration description file (CDF) named install.cdf that contains installation setup data you specified. The CDF is located in the /var/adm/smlogs directory. The install.cdf file contains all the installation information required to duplicate the Full Installation on another system.

Note

Installation Cloning is not supported between different releases of the operating system. CDFs created by earlier versions of the operating system are not compatible with the current version.

Refer to the Installation Guide -- Advanced Topics for information about acceptable differences between hardware configurations and for instructions about preparing and moving the install.cdf file to the right location so that it can be invoked during a Full Installation.

4.1.8 Configuration Cloning

Configuration Cloning lets you duplicate the network, printer, and mail services (among other configuration items) from an already configured system onto one or more systems. Configuration Cloning is practical when more than one system has to be configured in a similar fashion. To achieve a fully automated installation and configuration of another system, Configuration Cloning can be combined with Installation Cloning to completely eliminate the need to manually perform configuration tasks after the system is installed.

When a system that is designated to be a model system has been configured the way you want it, you manually use the sysman -clone -save command to save a snapshot of the system configuration data in a CDF called config.cdf. The CDF is saved by default in the /var/adm/smlogs directory.

Note

Configuration Cloning is not supported between different releases of the operating system. Configuration CDFs created from older versions of the operating system are not supported for use on the current and future releases.

Refer to the Installation Guide -- Advanced Topics for information about creating, editing, and moving the config.cdf file to the right location so that it can be invoked during a Full Installation.

4.1.9 Access to a UNIX Shell for Experienced Administrators

Both Full Installation interfaces provide access to a UNIX shell in single-user mode with superuser privileges. The UNIX shell provides a way to recover from serious problems such as / (root) file system corruption and enables you to perform general file system and disk maintenance tasks during the installation. It is recommended that only experienced users choose the UNIX shell option.

When you start the Full Installation process using the text-based interface, the UNIX shell is presented as an option from the first menu. Choosing the UNIX shell option exits the installation procedure. Be aware that if you already have navigated through the text-based interface and then invoke the UNIX shell, any selections you have made are lost and you have to start again.

If you are using the graphical interface, you access the UNIX shell from the File menu. The graphical installation procedure remains available and you can go back and forth between the Full Installation procedure and the UNIX shell as necessary. Any installation selections you have made up to this point are retained.

The distribution media contains file systems that are laid out just as the software would be installed on the system and contains directly accessible /, /usr, and /var areas. This format makes many commands and utilities available in the UNIX shell even if your operating system is not yet fully functional. In effect, the mounted distribution media is a functional file system.

Caution

Any changes you make to the system from the UNIX shell affect the live system and the subsequent installation. For instance, if you have already assigned file systems to certain disks and partitions and then use the UNIX shell to edit a disk label, you may adversely affect your choices.

Refer to the Installation Guide -- Advanced Topics for more information about the various maintenance procedures that can be performed from the UNIX shell environment.

4.2 Full Installation: Defaults and User Options

Table 4-1 shows the installation process defaults in relation to options you can choose.

Table 4-1: Custom Option Selections

Installation Item	Choices Offered to the User	Default Settings
Base operating system software subsets	Install mandatory software subsets only, mandatory plus your choice of optional software subsets, or all software subsets.	Install mandatory base operating system software subsets only.
Worldwide Language Support (WLS) subsets	Install support for one or more languages in addition to United States English.	Install support for United States English only.
Disk selection	The `/`, `/usr`, and `/var` file systems and up to two swap areas can be distributed on a single disk or across multiple disks as you choose.	The `/` and `/usr` file systems and one swap area are on the same disk; `var` and `i18n` (if needed) are directories under `/usr` ^{[Footnote 2]} .
Partition table	Create a custom partition table (for one or more disks)	Create a recommended partition table for a single disk based on software subset selection and disk size.
File system locations	Create a customized file system layout. Although the `/` file system is always on the `a` partition, all other file systems and swap areas can be located on any disk partition on any disk.	The `/` file system is on the `a` partition; `/usr` is on the `g` partition, and swap space is on the `b` partition.
File system types	Choose between UFS or AdvFS ^{[Footnote 3]} as the file system type for `/`, `/usr`, `/var` and `i18n`.	Install one file system type for all file systems. AdvFS is the default file system type. There is no default in the text based interface.
Swap space	Allocate up to two swap areas on any disk or partition.	Allocate one swap area on the `b` partition.
Logical Storage Manager	Install into LSM volumes at the time the system is installed. If LSM is selected, you must choose (and possibly create) a partition for the LSM private region.	The LSM private region is created automatically if you decide to install LSM.
Kernel Component Options	Build mandatory only, mandatory plus some optional, or all kernel components into the kernel.	Build mandatory kernel components into the kernel.