ULTRIX Guide to Installing ULTRIX

This document is the "ULTRIX Guide to Installing ULTRIX" for Version 4.3 of ULTRIX and ULTRIX Worksystem Software, published by Digital Equipment Corporation in August 1992.

It serves as a comprehensive manual detailing the procedures for installing and upgrading the ULTRIX operating system on various supported Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) processors.

Key areas covered include:

• Installation Types: Explaining basic, advanced, and upgrade installation paths, with guidance on when to choose each.
• Pre-Installation Planning: Detailed instructions for preparing the system, including hardware checks, verifying software distribution kits, and crucial disk space planning (for root, swap, crash dump, /var, and /usr file systems), particularly for advanced installations.
• System Booting: Processor-specific, step-by-step instructions for booting a wide range of DEC systems (e.g., DECstation, DECsystem, MicroVAX, VAXstation, VAX) from various media such as TK50 tape, CD-ROM, or over the network.
• Software Loading: Procedures for loading mandatory and optional software subsets onto the system.
• Kernel Configuration: Guidance on specifying kernel options for the system's configuration file.
• System Upgrades: A dedicated section outlining how to upgrade existing ULTRIX systems (Version 4.2 or higher) without a complete reinstallation, covering local, Remote Installation Services (RIS), and Diskless Management System (DMS) environments.
• System Management: Describing the standalone ULTRIX environment for limited system management activities like recovering damaged file systems and performing disk maintenance.
• Software Subset Management: How to add or delete software subsets after initial installation using the setld utility.

The guide assumes the user has a basic understanding of ULTRIX file systems and commands.