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One of the new features of OpenSolaris is AI - the Automated Installer. If you were hoping to use your existing Jumpstart setup to install OpenSolaris over the network, get ready for some disappointment - it won’t work.
AI replaces Jumpstart for network installs. If you’re deploying OpenSolaris from scratch, this is fine - build one machine manually, set it up as an AI server, and roll out the rest. If you’ve got an existing Solaris infrastructure, however, this becomes a pain of a pain. An additional issue to take into account is that AI can only deploy OpenSolaris to SPARC machines which support WANBoot - so you’ll need to check your OBP versions.
This is the current matrix of what can be installed and how:
|
OS
|
Install methods
|
OS that can be installed
|
|
Solaris
|
Jumpstart
Jumpstart + JET
|
Solaris SPARC
Solaris x86
|
|
OpenSolaris
|
AI
Jumpstart
Jumpstart + JET (4.7)
|
Solaris SPARC
Solars x86
OpenSolaris SPARC
OpenSolaris x86
|
I’m sure lots of people are in no hurry to migrate their Jumpstart server to OpenSolaris - especially as it’s probably a SPARC box.
The big advantage of AI is that it’s very easy to get going. I’m going to work through deploying AI to demonstrate how simple it is. In this environment, the OpenSolaris machine that will be used as an AI server is also my workstation. I’ve got a Netra T1 running a complex Jumpstart + JET setup with lots of customisations - I don’t want to replace that, but I do want to use it’s DHCP server.
AI is managed via the installadm tool. It’s probably not installed on your OpenSolaris machine by default, so you’ll need to add it:
pfexec pkg install SUNWinstalladm-tools
Once you’ve got the tools in place, you need to setup the install server. Download an OpenSolaris image - but be careful! The Live CD ISO cannot be used to setup an AI server, you have to download the AI version of the ISO.
Head on over to http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Main/downloads to grab the relevant ISO.
Once you’ve got the ISO, you can setup the install server. It works based on services - each OS release for each platform is treated as a different service. The you add clients, and tell the client which service it will use to boot from.
I’m going to be sticking AI under /export - the traditional place in Solaris for shared filesystems. I just want to create one install service for OpenSolaris 06/09 x86, which I’ll call 0609×86.
The full command line is:
installadm create-service -n (service_name) \
-s (source_AI_ISO) (AI_service_data_directory)
Here’s the full command line along with the output:
root@grond:/export# /usr/sbin/installadm create-service -n 0609x86 \
-s /export/torrents/osol-0906-ai-x86.iso \
/export/aiserver/osol-0906-ai-x86
Setting up the target image at /export/aiserver/osol-0906-ai-x86 ...
Registering the service 0609x86._OSInstall._tcp.local
Detected that DHCP is not set up on this server.
If not already configured, please create a DHCP macro
named dhcp_macro_0609x86 with:
Boot server IP (BootSrvA) : 192.168.13.100
Boot file (BootFile) : 0609x86
GRUB Menu (GrubMenu) : menu.lst.0609x86
If you are running Sun's DHCP server, use the following
command to add the DHCP macro, dhcp_macro_0609x86:
/usr/sbin/dhtadm -g -A -m dhcp_macro_0609x86 -d :BootSrvA=192.168.13.100: \
BootFile=0609x86:GrubMenu=menu.lst.0609x86:
Additionally, if the site specific symbol GrubMenu
is not present, please add it as follows:
/usr/sbin/dhtadm -g -A -s GrubMenu -d Site,150,ASCII,1,0
Note: Be sure to assign client IP address(es) if needed
(e.g., if running Sun's DHCP server, run pntadm(1M)).
Service discovery fallback mechanism set up
Helpfully, installadm tells us what commands to run on our DHCP server. First we’ll need to add the GrubMenu symbol (it won’t exist by default) and then we can add in the DHCP macro for the service. Just copy and paste the two commands on your Jumpstart server.
With that out of the way, we can now setup a client. In this case, I have a Sun v20z with a MAC address of 00:09:3d:12:ff:80 on bge0.
We need to run installadm to create the client, giving it the MAC address and telling it which install service to use. The command line is:
installadm create-client -e (MAC_address) -n (AI_service_name_to_use) \
-t (AI_service_data_directory)
Here’s the full command line with the output:
root@grond:/export# /usr/sbin/installadm create-client \
-e 00:09:3d:12:ff:80 -n 0609x86 \
-t /export/aiserver/osol-0906-ai-x86
Setting up X86 client...
Service discovery fallback mechanism set up
Detected that DHCP is not set up on this server.
If not already configured, please create a DHCP macro
named 0100093D12FF80 with:
Boot server IP (BootSrvA) : 192.168.13.100
Boot file (BootFile) : 0100093D12FF80
If you are running Sun's DHCP server, use the following
command to add the DHCP macro, 0100093D12FF80:
/usr/sbin/dhtadm -g -A -m 0100093D12FF80 -d :BootSrvA=192.168.13.100: \
BootFile=0100093D12FF80:GrubMenu=menu.lst.0100093D12FF80:
Note: Be sure to assign client IP address(es) if needed
(e.g., if running Sun's DHCP server, run pntadm(1M)).
Once again installadm will helpfully tell us what commands we need to run on our DHCP server to add the macros for this client.
Over on the Jumpstart server, here’s the output of dhtadm showing us the configured macros on the Sun DHCP server (with some line breaks to make it a bit more readable):
bash-3.00# dhtadm -P
Name Type Value
==================================================
dhcp_macro_0609x86 Macro :BootSrvA=192.168.13.100: \
BootFile=0609x86:GrubMenu=menu.lst.0609x86:
0100093D12FF80 Macro :BootSrvA=192.168.13.100: \
BootFile=0100093D12FF80:GrubMenu=menu.lst.0100093D12FF80:
v20z Macro :BootFile=0100093D12FF80: \
BootSrvA=192.168.13.101:
192.168.13.0
GrubMenu Symbol Site,150,ASCII,1,0
I’ve removed all of the other stuff that Jumpstart puts in there to clearly show the AI macros that have been added.
At this stage, we can just SSH into the V20z’s ILOM, power on the chassis, and go into the BIOS to change the boot order. PXEboot will then send out a DHCP request, and we’ll then see the OpenSolaris grub menu.
From that point onwards it’s a hands-off install. For more details on the entire process, have a read through the OpenSolaris Automated Installer Guide.
Having played around with AI for a bit now, I’m not that impressed to be honest. I can see that it could be easier for new users who’ve never touched Solaris before - as you can see, it doesn’t take much to setup an install server and configure clients.
However, there’s a big installed base of Solaris users out there, and they’ve all got Jumpstart. AI lacks the features, flexibility and power of Jumpstart - it’s not ready as a replacement just yet. So being forced to use it to be able to deploy OpenSolaris just means many existing Solaris shops won’t bother - integration with Jumpstart for OpenSolaris could well speed up it’s acceptance and adoption.
With so many Solaris users out there I think that OpenSolaris needs a lot of work to become a credible upgrade or migration path. Both AI and the new IPS packaging system show promise, but they’re a long way from being usable replacements to existing Solaris technologies.
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Last week Oracle held a marathon 5 hour webcast session, where they laid out their plans for Sun and their technologies. Sun’s website now redirects to Oracle, and although all the old Sun website links are still live, it’s now Oracle through and through.
The webcast held no surprises, really. As I mentioned previously about the Sun/Oracle merger and Larry’s talk on Oracle’s use of Sun technology, Oracle weren’t going to ditch Sun’s hardware line. The analysts were full of hysterics and gloom, but I’ve yet to meet an analyst who has the slightest clue of what’s going on. They’re paid to make noise and sell ‘research’, not to know what they’re talking about.
As predicted, there’s more investment in Sun’s hardware line, including lots more tasty new CMT processors, and a scaling up of the line to larger multi-socket machines. The high end gear will continue, as will the partnership with Fujitsu. SPARC continues to get a lot of investment and love, and will be a big focus going forwards. Amen to that.
Pretty much all of the software stack will stay and get integrated with Oracle’s offerings. I note with distaste that Oracle’s crappy Internet Directory remains the ‘enterprise’ offering for LDAP and identity management, with Sun’s LDAP products being pushed at smaller deployments. On the OS side, it’s a bit of Linux, and Solaris, Solaris, Solaris - Oracle recognise it’s the best commercial UNIX currently on the market, and that the feature set is unmatched.
Storage lives on, with Sun’s excellent Amber Road Storge 7000 Unified Storage boxes becoming ZFS appliances. Particularly exciting is their integration into OEM - imagine simple management of RMAN backups to ZFS appliances, giving low level snapshots and all sorts of goodness. I can see a lot of places going for that in a big way.
The big question for me was around OpenSolaris. No mention of it at all. It’s Open Source - that particular cat is out of the bag, and it’s not going away. So the question is what sort of effort will Oracle put behind it? Lots of new, OpenSolaris specific features - the new IPS packaging system and the Automated Installer - have potential, but aren’t up to scratch yet, and quite frankly don’t play well with existing Solaris infrastructure.
My bet is we’ll see less effort in re-inventing the wheel, and more focus on making OpenSolaris a more palatable Solaris 11. There’s a big Solaris installed base out there, and the focus on x86 and new features has so far meant that OpenSolaris isn’t really a credible upgrade path.
As I expected when I first heard the news, Oracle are going to be leveraging Sun’s technology and services and own and optimise the entire stack, from the silicon up to the application. This gives them a chance to really tune everything and to go head to head with IBM. May you live in interesting times, as they say.
Obviously there’s more, lots more. Oracle have handily posted up each section of the webcast so you can pick and choose which session you want to watch here. There are also a series of special short webcasts which focus on specific product areas - you can view them all here.
PS: as a side note, Thomas Kurian, who presented the Software Strategy webcast, managed to give one of the dullest presentations I’ve seen. Seriously, that was a really important session, but I almost nodded off a couple of times. Dire.
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OpenSolaris by default comes configured to pull packages from at least one repository – the main one at OpenSolaris.org. You can configure other repositories fairly easily – both Blastwave and Sunfreeware some available with IPS versions of their existing Solaris packages.
However, Sun also offer two extra repositories – one for those with a support contract for OpenSolaris, and one containing extra software – a bit like the old Extras CD that came with the Solaris media pack.
The main site for accessing all of this is https://pkg.sun.com If you don’t already have a Sun ID and password, you’ll need to follow the links from that page to register for them (don’t worry, it’s free). Then login, and you can see you’re presented with links to generate Certificates for the two repositories. Let’s assume you’re not a corporate user and don’t have a support contract, and concentrate on the Extras repository.
Click the link to generate the key and certificate for pkg.sun.com/opensolaris/extra and save them somewhere safe – you’ll be needing them again. For example, I tend to stick them in /var/ssl/pkg as well as keeping copies in my home directory.
Now what we need to do is add the Extras repository as a publisher in the package management system, and then link the key and certificate to that publisher.
So in this example we can accomplish this in one command (note the backslash to fit it across two lines):
$ pfexec pkg set-publisher -O https://pkg.sun.com/opensolaris/extra \
-k /var/pkg/ssl/OpenSolaris_extras.key.pem -c /var/pkg/ssl/OpenSolaris_extras.certificate.pem extra
All this does is:
- adds a new repository at https://pkg.sun.com/opensolaris/extra
- links the key (-k) /var/pkg/ssl/OpenSolaris_extras.key.pem to it
- links the certificate (-c) /var/pkg/ssl/OpenSolaris_extras.certificate.pem to it
- gives it the name ‘extra’ in the package manager
That’s all there is to it. Now you can use the standard OpenSolaris package management commands:
- pkg refresh will update the catalog with the packages from the new repository
- pkg install can be used to install them
And of course, if you’re using the OpenSolaris package manager gui, you can select the new repository from the drop-down list of available repositories, and then browse through from there.
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Excellent news has arrived from the HPC Developer OpenSolaris community, via Bruce Rothermal. Traditionally it’s been very hard to get involved in HPC - you need a lot of kit, a lot of software, and some knowledge to get it all setup.
Sun have solved all of this by making available a Virtual Machine Image for VirtualBox (or VMWare) which contains an entire HPC stack:
- Sun Grid Engine and Zones
- MPI and HPC Cluster Tools
- compilers, scripting languages, and more
The HPC Developer Stack provides a simple, easy way to start getting up to speed with the same technologies and tools that are used on monster installs like TACC’s Ranger.
Grab the download, fire up VirtualBox, and start getting involved in the world of HPC.
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I’m in a position to start ramping up my involvement in OpenSolaris, which has put me in the market for a new workstation. I’ve just had a shiny new Ultra 24 delivered as part of Sun’s extensive Try Before Buy program - so here’s a quick review.
Some Background
Back in the 90s Sun was wildly successful with their UltraSPARC II processor. They had a good crossbar architecture with UPA to plug it into, and with the recent absorption of Cray’s Superserver team, they’d got a scalable platform, in the form of the E10k.
Someone at Sun had the idea of nobbling the multi-processor bits of the chip, increasing yields, boosting speeds and reducing price. The UltraSPARC IIi was born. It got shoved into the fantastic Netra T1 1u server, and then Sun started looking at the IIi chip for their workstation lines.
Marrying the cheap IIi processor with the UPA crossbar and cheap PC components was a stroke of genius, and the resulting Ultra 5 pizza box and Ultra 10 mini tower workstations sold like hotcakes. They were just what people wanted - cheap, binary compatible UNIX workstations that just worked.
Some Opinion on Workstations
It’s that last point that’s important; UNIX workstations have a very different shelf life from a PC. You need balanced performance - a fast CPU is useless if your graphics and disk subsystem can’t keep up. The machine has to last 4-5 years in a typical environment - I worked with an international communications company who are still using Sun Ultra 10 workstations - over a decade after they were first introduced.
This is important, because if you take the PC economics too far, you end up with a machine that costs more than a PC, but still has to be replaced as often. Silicon Graphics got it wrong with their Visual Workstations, and Sun got it right with the Ultra 5 and 10. (You could argue the choice of OS there was more important than the components)
The Sun Ultra 24
It’s with that in mind that you should read on. My main desktop is a Silicon Graphics Fuel - packed with RAM, fast disks, and a dual head graphics card, it’s more than capable of running the 30+ apps I keep going.
As I posted on Siliconbunny a while ago (see Breathing new life into those old Silicon Graphics machines) the rise of web-centric apps means that older UNIX workstations will have a much longer working life than they’ve had before. IRIX and MIPS (and indeed, Silicon Graphics themselves) may no longer be with us, but the Fuel is just as usable as when it was first brought out.
So I won’t be repeating other people’s work on endlessly measuring the machine’s performance with meaningless benchmarks, and quoted random numbers as if they somehow provide a good measure of how good a bit of kit this is.
I’ve got the Ultra 24 for OpenSolaris development work, and given that it has an Intel x86 processor, it also makes it an ideal test bed for messing around with virtualisation. The bar is set pretty high - it needs to ‘just work’ and be as fast and slick as the Fuel, yet still provide the Solaris hacking environment my trusty Ultra 10 did.
First Impressions
On first unboxing the machine, my first impression was that this is a classic Sun workstation. Dull. Beige.
Seriously, guys - come on. Silicon Graphics gave you a beating for years with their great lineup of super sexy workstations and servers. If you’re justifying a more expensive machine, then make it at least look like it’s worth the extra money - because otherwise you’ll be losing out to cheap crud from Dell or HP. If you’re offering is essentially a PC, this is more important than ever.
The beige tower with the black DVD-ROM drive is instantly identifiable as the replacement for the Ultra 10. A tacky “Intel Inside” sticker on the front isn’t really impressing either. Apple don’t have to plaster their kit with Intel adverts - why are Sun doing it?
Taking it apart was pretty straightforward - a couple of thumb screws and the side slides off. Inside the case is a comprehensive map showing what goes where, and how to remove all the major components. There is a good range of PCI-E slots, which is going to prove very useful over the life of the machine - 10Gb ethernet and extra graphics cards will be added over time.
The major plus here is the SATA drive slots - they take SPUD brackets! I whipped a drive out of a Netra D130 storage tray, removed the SPUD, fitted it to a SATA drive, and it slid right in. Every Sun shop I know has piles of old 4gb and 9gb SCSI drives with SPUDs - now you’ve got a use for them.
The major minus here is the memory slots. There are only 4 (DIMMs installed in matched pairs). With current 2GB DIMMs that gives you a max of 8GB of RAM - which is really weak. The Ultra 10 could handle up to 1GB, at a time when workstations were usually shipping with a max of 256mb. Given laptops take 8GB of RAM now, and that 8GB is the max in my Fuel, I’m really unimpressed with this. I’m hoping that there isn’t a chipset limitation that would stop the machine using 4GB DIMMs later on, because being limited to only 8GB (on a machine that’s ripe for virtualisation work) is - frankly - a crippling limitation.
With the cover off I whipped out the 1GB RAM the Ultra 24 was shipped with, replacing it with 4GB in 2 2GB DIMMs. I also added a couple of GFX1600 cards, which can convert the two DVI outputs from the Nvidia Quadro card to OpenLDI, for use on my SGI 1600SW screens.
Despite their age, the 1600SW remains the greatest display known to man. If you’re using a machine for long periods of time, nothing else will even come close. Any box that can’t be plugged into a 1600SW is dead to me.
Booting up and the OS
Time out.
Dear Sun,
You have OBP, which is - and remains - awesome. I understand you can’t use this with x86. Silicon Graphics solved this with ARCS, and a nice intuitive and powerful graphical UI for booting and configuring their Visual Workstations.
Apple have bypassed the whole legacy BIOS mess with EFI, and it is truly sweet.
So why I am seeing the same crappy AMI BIOS that’s on my £200 laptop when I turn on the Ultra 24?
Fix this, and fix it now.
Really, this is pretty crappy. It drives home the fact that, for all Sun’s engineering, you’re driving a standard (and expensive) PC. That is not the way to re-inforce the brand or display added value. Please, fix it.
You’ll just have time to gag at the rubbish low-res Sun logo (come back, OBP boot banner, I miss you!) before the machine starts a handful of irritating Intel initialisation messages. I don’t care about Intel’s management interface, and I really don’t care about PXE boot - just hide this stuff and make it go away.
Then you’re dropped into the shiny Grub, offering you a boot route into the pre-installed Solaris 10 OS. Pre-installed Solaris sucks, always - fix that default partitioning guys! Besides, I’m here to slap on OpenSolaris - so in goes the LiveCD and away the machine boots.
OpenSolaris starts up surprising quickly. Most impressive, though, is that it recognises the freakish 1600×1024 resolution of the 1600SW straight away, booting cleanly into the GUI. Colour me impressed - this is the sort of slick “it just works” experience I expect.
OpenSolaris has come along in leaps and bounds, and the installation is both fast and painless. Another reboot, and I can login to the desktop. A few quick clicks and I’ve got an extended desktop across both 1600SW screens.
Yes, I know that this is more a feature of OpenSolaris than the Ultra 24 - but the OpenSolaris community need to be congratulated on this level of ease of use. It’s almost as slick as the IRIX GUI, and that’s really saying something.
Loading up loads of apps and starting to push the machine, and it’s clear that there’s a lot of X server optimisation still to be done. Hesitation, window tearing, artifacts - under load, OpenSolaris just doesn’t seem to perform as well as IRIX on the desktop. Is this Nvidia drivers, or X server optimisation, or both? It’s an issue, but it’s not the Ultra 24’s problem, and I can’t fault it here.
Verdict
The Sun Ultra 24 is a cracking workstation. It’s fast, it’s quiet, and with OpenSolaris it just works. It’s got good room for expansion, although the limited RAM slots could prove to be an issue - especially if you’re playing with virtualisation.
As an entry level UNIX workstation, however, it excels, and is a worthy successor to the line of machines that the Ultra 10 first kicked off.
