Re: Image Catalog over NFS

Le 09/12/2024 à 21:32, Patrik Schindler a écrit :

Hello Marc,

Am 09.12.2024 um 18:49 schrieb Marc Rauzier <marc.rauzier@xxxxxxxxx>:

Wouldn't it be possible to prepare the image catalog with VFYIMGCLG TYPE(*UPGRADE) NFSSHR(*YES) so that the VOLUME_LIST file and BOOTP subdirectory and appropriate files are created? You could try to run this command just after the Save21.

Mh, I had wondered about the Netboot setting I can see in the HMC when powering on an LPAR. I've been told this is for AIX only, so I did not care to dig into it.

Is this related to what you describe, or are we talking different things?

Indeed, network boot is possible for IBM i. I did it several times before retiring 3 years ago. At this time the NFS/TFTP server was an IBM i and I did not have the opportuniy to test with a Linux server. Diego did it as he says in another post.

The difference I can see with AIX is that we don't use NIM servers on IBM i so differences might exist. There is a bit more information here https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-i-network-installation-using-hmc

If you can set up an NFS and TFTP server on Linux (which I am quite sure is possible),

In fact I already have set up the necessary infrastructure to PXE-boot PCs into a RAM-disk based Linux live system with DHCP, tftp and NFS. Extremely handy for preparing new servers or recovery after catastrophic disk failures have been repaired.

The most interesting part is DHCP configuration to supply the correct flags to the requesting machine, and the correct configuration in the pxelinux.cfg about paths on the tftp- and NFS servers. Which is not applicable to POWER hardware, I presume.

you could try to run a network install from your Linux server as described in this redbook https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpapers/pdfs/redp4937.pdf. Although everything is done with an NFS and TFTP server running on an IBM i system, maybe it will work the same from a Linux one.

Thank you. This is a very interesting approach! Will definitely have a look at this!

Welcome! I can't remember hwo many times I used this particular redbook!

:wq! PoC