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3    Preparing for RIS Server Setup

This chapter provides the information you need before setting up a Digital UNIX RIS server. The topics include:

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3.1    Server/Client Compatibility

When installing Digital UNIX Version 4.0 or higher into a RIS environment and the RIS server is running a previous version of the operating system, you must perform the following procedure as superuser on the server:

  1. If your distribution media is CD-ROM, enter a mount command similar to the following:

    #  mount -rd /dev/rz4c /mnt

    This example uses a CD-ROM drive that is unit 4 and specifies /mnt as the mount point; if your drive is a different unit, substitute the device special file name for that unit.

    If you are uncertain of your CD-ROM's unit number, enter the file command, specifying the raw device, as follows:

    #  file /dev/rrz*c 

    /dev/rrz1c: char special (8/1026) SCSI #0 RZ25 disk #8 (SCSI ID #1)
/dev/rrz2c: char special (8/2050) SCSI #0 RZ25 disk #16 (SCSI ID #2)
/dev/rrz3c: char special (8/3074) SCSI #0 RZ25 disk #24 (SCSI ID #3)
/dev/rrz4c: char special (8/4098) SCSI #0 RRD43 disk #32 (SCSI ID #4)
/dev/rrz9c: char special (8/17410) SCSI #1 RZ57 disk #72 (SCSI ID #1)

    The CD-ROM device corresponds to an RRD device, in this example RRD43.

  2. To update RIS on the server, assuming the distribution media is mounted at /mnt enter the following:

    # /mnt/isl/utilupdate -r -m /mnt

    In the above example the -r copies the new RIS utility from the distribution CD to the server in /usr/sbin.

    The -m <directory> is the mount point of the distribution media. In this example it is /mnt. This is a required parameter.

    The command copies the existing files in /usr/sbin to files with a *.pre-V4.0 suffix, for example: /usr/sbin/setld is copied to /usr/sbin/setld.pre-V4.0.

When the script completes, the server can serve a Digital UNIX Version 4.0 or higher RIS client.

If the utility finds existing *.pre-V4.0 Digital UNIX files on your system, the existing utilities are updated with no changes to the *.pre-V4.0 files. If the server is already running Version 4.0 or higher, a confirmation is displayed and no copies will be made.

Support of differing bootstrap protocols restricts the use of the Digital UNIX and ULTRIX operating systems together in RIS environments.

Alpha-based clients can broadcast bootp requests. VAX-based or MIPS-based clients broadcast only Maintenance Operation Protocol (MOP) requests, which means they cannot boot from Digital UNIX servers.

After a client's operating system is installed and running, a server running Digital UNIX software can serve additional product subsets to a client running either an ULTRIX or a Digital UNIX operating system. The client loads the additional subsets by using the setld utility.

Figure 3-1 shows these relationships:

Figure 3-1: System Compatibility

  1. ULTRIX RIS clients cannot be booted by Digital UNIX RIS servers. This means that a Digital UNIX server cannot serve the ULTRIX base operating system over the network. However, after the ULTRIX operating system is up and running on the client, the Digital UNIX server can serve an ULTRIX client additional product subsets. The ULTRIX client loads additional product subsets by using the setld utility.

  2. A Digital UNIX RIS client can be booted by a Digital UNIX RIS server by using the bootp protocol. This means that a Digital UNIX server can serve both the Digital UNIX base operating system as well as additional product subsets to the Digital UNIX client over the network. The Digital UNIX client loads additional product subsets by using the setld utility.

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3.2    Using RIS with C2-Security Enabled

If a server is using ris with C2-Security enabled, the ris user file must be changed to ensure that the ris password does not expire. If the password expires, client access is denied. Perform the following steps on the server to modify the ris user file:

  1. Edit the file /tcr/files/auth/r/ris

  2. Set the current password field u_pwd to * (an asterisk).

  3. Set the u_succhg value to non-zero. This value is a time_t type printed with %ld.

  4. Set the u_life and u_exp fields to zero.

The following is an example of the modified user file /tcb/files/auth/r/ris: 

ris:u_name=ris:u_id#11:u_oldcrypt#0:u_pwd=*:u_exp#0:u_life#0:
u_succhg#79598399:u_suclog#79598399:u_lock@:chkent:

When these changes are made, the RIS password should never expire causing a denial of service to clients.

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3.3    Prerequisite Server Setup Tasks

Before you configure and install the RIS area and software on the server, you must perform the following tasks:

  1. Install the Digital UNIX operating system.

  2. Set up your Ethernet, FDDI, or Token Ring Local Area Network (LAN).

  3. Load and register the Digital UNIX Server Extensions (OSF-SRV) license.

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3.3.1    Installing the Digital UNIX Operating System on the Server

The Installation Guide describes how to install the Digital UNIX operating system on the server. It also lists all of the standard Digital UNIX supported software subsets with subset names, sizes, and descriptions of their contents. You will need this information to install the operating system, as well as to install RIS software.

Because RIS areas are created in /var/adm/ris, you may want to specify a separate /var file system during the installation to get extra disk space. To specify a separate file system for /var, you must perform a custom installation (not a default installation).

To be a RIS server, a system must have the Remote Installation Service and Additional Networking Services subsets installed. These subsets contain the tftp networking utility and the bootpd or joind bootstrap daemon.

Enter the following command to see if these subsets are installed:

#  /usr/sbin/setld -i | egrep "RIS|INET"

Information similar to the following should be displayed: 

OSFCLINET400    installed       Basic Networking Services
OSFINET400      installed       Additional Networking Services
OSFRIS400       installed       Remote Installation Service

The Basic Networking Services subset is mandatory and is installed automatically. If the Additional Networking Services and Remote Installation Service subsets are not installed, you must install them by using the setld utility.

See the Installation Guide for more information about using the setld utility to install subsets.

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3.3.2    Setting Up a Local Area Network

You must connect the RIS server and all of the client processors to a LAN using either Ethernet, FDDI, or Token Ring. The server and clients must all be on the same network or subnetwork unless the router connecting the networks or subnetworks can forward bootp requests.

For instructions on setting up a local area network, refer to the Network Administration guide.

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3.3.3    Loading and Registering the Server Extensions License

The Digital UNIX Server Extensions license (OSF-SVRor UNIX-SERVER) provides the right to use the RIS software on Digital UNIX systems. A product authorization key (PAK) accompanies the license. You must register the PAK information for your system before it can be configured as a RIS server. Register the PAK information by using the License Manager application. Refer to dxlicense(8) for additional information.

See the Software License Management guide and the License Manager online help page for more information about registering license PAKs.

After you enter the data, complete the server setup tasks described in Chapter 4.

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3.4    Distribution Media and Device Special File Names

The Digital UNIX distribution kit contains CD-ROM media. The device special file name for a CD-ROM reader is /dev/rznc, where the character n represents the unit number.

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3.5    Planning Disk Space for RIS

Before beginning an installation you must calculate the amount of disk storage required for the software subsets in the RIS areas on the server. If space on the server's system disk is an issue and your server's distribution media is a CD-ROM, you might want to create symbolic links from the RIS server area to the software on the CD-ROM. Section 4.1 briefly describes the advantages and disadvantages of establishing symbolic links instead of extracting the software subsets into the RIS server area.

See Chapter 1 for a description of the RIS area's contents. A given server can have multiple RIS areas, in which some of the subsets can be duplicated. To organize your RIS server's disk space, perform the following steps:

  1. Determine how many RIS environments you want.

  2. Choose the software subsets you want to install, organizing them by the environments where they are to be installed.

  3. Use the subset size information in the Installation Guide to ensure that you have adequate disk space.