Remotely installing SGI IRIX 6.5 from a GNU/Linux server

Davor Ocelic, docelic@spinlocksolutions.com // Created Apr 2007. // Last review Apr 2009., Feb 2008., ...
http://techpubs.spinlocksolutions.com/irix/remote-irix-6.5-installation-from-linux.html

An up-to-date, works-the-first-time guide to adjusting a Linux server to the purpose of remotely installing Silicon Graphics IRIX 6.5 operating system.

For best results, pay attention to every step and remark throughout the guide; with GNU/Linux-based install servers for Unix, the devil is all in the details.

Placing IRIX 6.5 software into a common directory on the Linux server:

Software from tarballs or CD Roms needs to be placed in a single directory on the Linux server (in this guide, /mnt/6/irix/ will be used as the location).

All dist/* files from each tarball or CD need to be copied into the installation directory. In the end, the directory should be full of *.sw, *.sw64, *.src, *.man, *.idb and similarly-named files. If your CDs or packages do not have the dist/ subdirectory, then the files are probably just in the parent directory, so copy them.

PC CD drives usually cannot read SGI CD-Roms which are saved in EFS filesystem and 512-byte block. (Filesystem itself is not the problem, the block size is). The solution is to dd CD-Roms verbatim to the disk - that will give you the .efs files, then mount them using mount -o loop and copy files out of them to a normal Unix directory.
Something like this for every CD:

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=img   # (Don't worry about read errors at the end)
mkdir -p mnt
mount -o loop -t efs img mnt
cp -a mnt/dist/* /mnt/6/irix/
umount mnt
rm img

After the copying, in addition to other files, in the installation directory you should also have files sa and mr, and directory miniroot/. They come from the first CD of the overlays - which is also correspondingly named "Installation tools and overlays". Directory miniroot/ contains kernel files for each of the supported SGI boards, and due to the way how the clients will retrieve those files, they must be moved from the miniroot/ subdirectory one level up, like this:

cd /mnt/6/irix
mv miniroot/* .

The name of the SASH shell from above ("sa") might vary, depending on how old your system or Irix release is; Extension .64 or no extension indicate 64-bit variant; ARCS indicates 32-bit.

If you will want to re-partition the disk(s) before installation, also copy file stand/fx.64 to the toplevel directory (/mnt/6/irix/). The stand/ directory and its files are also found on the first overlay CD.

You will surely want to repartition and change partition types if you are installing over an old Irix version that used the EFS filesystem (i.e. Irix 5.x). Otherwise, Irix 6.5 will honor the EFS setting, and then, during installation, it will require EFS packages which won't be present on any of your CDs -- preventing you from starting the installation.

Understanding the examples

In the config files, here's what the IP addresses and hostnames mean:

cyberstation (IP address 192.168.7.2) == Gnu/Linux install server
boyd (IP address 192.168.7.9, Hardware address 08 00 98 13 ad f7) == Irix client

GNU/Linux network configuration

To solve network problems that PROM has when talking to a Linux server, simply run the following on the server machine:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_no_pmtu_disc
echo "2048 32767" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range

Note that the above settings are not retained over a server reboot, so you'll want to add them to files such as /etc/sysctl.conf, /etc/bootmisc.sh or /etc/rc.local.

What GNU/Linux software will you need on the server and how to configure it properly?

Chances are that your GNU/Linux distribution already contains the appropriate versions of packages. Here, Debian GNU will be used for actual examples.

1. MaraDNS - DNS server (Homepage: http://www.maradns.org/, package maradns)
   You need a local DNS server running to solve a ton of possible quirky problems. Basically, you will have a way to tell the Irix client which DNS server to use, and that server must be able to resolve the hostname of the Linux install server to an IP. MaraDNS is a quick, file-based DNS server that you can install & configure in 2 minutes. Make sure the version you install is 1.2 or higher if you want to use my example configs!
   
   
   Configuration:
   - See working example /etc/maradns/mararc
   - See working example /etc/maradns/db.spinlock.hr
   - As seen, make sure DNS server binds to network IP, and test with shell command:
    
          askmara Acyberstation.spinlock.hr. 192.168.7.2
   
   - If you want to be ultra-fast with configuration, wget and run http://hcoop.net/~docelic/vice-setup-maradns . This script tries to auto-detect values and create config in /etc/maradns/ . The script was created earlier for a different purpose but you see, MaraDNS is quick solution to every ad-hoc DNS problem.
   
   Note: when configuring the DNS to resolve your installation server's address, you must use the same hostname that you see when you type 'hostname' in the server's shell. Technically, DNS would resolve any name you specify, but bootp (our next point) will ignore requests for which it thinks are not directed to its own host.
   
   
2. Bootp server (Homepage: ftp://ftp.ntplx.net/pub/networking/bootp/, package bootp)
   
   Configuration:
   - /etc/inetd.conf: bootps  dgram udp wait  root  /usr/sbin/bootpd  bootpd -i -d 4 -t 120
   - /etc/bootptab: boyd:ha=08009813ADF7:dn=spinlock.hr:ds=192.168.7.2:hd=/mnt/6/irix:td=/
   
   
   ("boyd" is Irix client name, ha= is its hardware address (use "printenv" in PROM and see "eaddr"), then there is the domain the machine belongs to, and the name server to use (just to resolve Linux server name, nothing else). Then hd= path to all Irix files).
   
   IMPORTANT: You must use client hostname and not an IP as the first field in /etc/bootptab, and you must have the entry for that client hostname in server's /etc/hosts.
   
   If you later during installation get log reports like "ignoring request for server... ", it means you made one or more of the following errors:
   - did not use client hostname in /etc/bootptab
   - did not use server hostname in Irix's "remote server: " prompt during installation
   - did not use the exact install server's hostname in DNS config
   
   
3. Tftp server (Homepage: ftp://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/Networking/netkit/, package tftpd)
   
   
   Configuration:
   - /etc/inetd.conf: tftp                       dgram     udp         wait       nobody   /usr/sbin/tcpd   /usr/sbin/in.tftpd /
   
   
4. Rsh server (Homepage: ftp://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/Networking/netkit/, package rsh-server)
   
   
   Configuration:
   - /etc/inetd.conf: shell     stream   tcp    nowait   root    /usr/sbin/tcpd   /usr/sbin/in.rshd
   - /etc/hosts.equiv: cyberstation boyd (these are two hostnames, and each hostname needs to go in its own line, not in one line like shown)
   - Add user "guest" to the system, and create ~guest/.rhosts with 1-line content: boyd.spinlock.hr root
   - Set guest user's shell to /usr/local/bin/kshwrap, and create that file to contain:
          #!/bin/sh
        exec /bin/mksh
   - Chmod the kshwrap script to 755
   
   This is much better solution than having to replace system's /bin/sh shell with Korn shell, like some other folks have advised. Replacing /bin/sh with Korn shell makes your system unbootable and causes enough problems that it's not possible to permanently have it that way.
   
   
5. Enhanced version of the Korn Shell (Homepage: http://mirbsd.de/mksh/, mksh)
   
   
   Configuration:
   - Nothing, just install it, make sure /bin/mksh is there. (Location isn't fixed, but if you change it, make sure you adjust my example configs which use it).

Monitoring log files on GNU/Linux install server

tail -f /var/log/{syslog,messages,auth.log}

Starting installation from IRIX client

• Turn on the machine
• Press ESC on "Starting up the system" to bring up menu
• Go to Prom shell
• bootp():/fx.64 -x (invoke disk partitioner and partition)
• Go back to main menu, choose "Install system software"
• Choose "Remote directory", put hostname "cyberstation", directory "/".
• When inst starts, make sure it opened the distribution by doing from 192.168.7.2:/mnt/6/irix/
  
• If you want the generic installation, run keep conflicting and go
• Reboot and you will be in your new shiny IRIX 6.5 installation
  

I hope this is all. Comments welcome.

docelic-AT-spinlocksolutions.com
http://www.spinlocksolutions.com/ - Advanced Unix-based networks for commercial and education sectors.
http://techpubs.spinlocksolutions.com/