ULTRIX Guide to Diskless Management Services

This document, the "ULTRIX Guide to Diskless Management Services" (Order Number: AA-MF01B-TE, June 1990), provides instructions for installing and maintaining a diskless server area using the dms utility on ULTRIX systems (Version 4.0 or higher).

The guide explains how a server processor provides diskless management services, allowing client processors to boot over the network and access software from a shared diskless server area.

Key topics covered include:

• Overview: Describes the diskless server environment, its components (server, distribution device, Ethernet), and the dms utility, along with the required file systems (dlenv for common root areas and dlclient for individual client root/swap areas).
• Setup Preparation: Details prerequisites such as installing ULTRIX, setting up local area networks (LAN) and Network File System (NFS), planning disk allocation for server and client data, and gathering client information (hostnames, IP addresses, hardware Ethernet addresses, swap configurations).
• Server Setup: Guides the user through allocating disk partitions using dms and installing ULTRIX and other software products into the newly established diskless server area.
• Management and Maintenance: Provides procedures for adding, booting, modifying, and removing individual diskless clients. It also covers listing registered clients and installed software products, rebuilding or copying client kernels, creating links to the /usr/hosts directory, managing multiple clients using the dms database, and maintaining the overall diskless environment (e.g., controlling file system growth, managing software subsets).
• Troubleshooting: Offers suggestions for diagnosing client booting problems by checking server areas and describes the client crash dump process.
• Client Customization: Explains how to customize diskless client setups, including rwhod command usage, configuring mail reading, and reconfiguring client kernels.

The manual is intended for system managers responsible for installing and maintaining diskless server environments.