Jumpstart / Flar problems Solaris 10 8/07

s93366 · October 26, 2007, 10:27am

Hi,

Im trying to make a jumpstart dvd using an flar archive.

I have done this before on earlier releases of Solaris 10 (Sparc). Im now trying to do the same with the 8/07 release..

Problem :
After the server is installed (during first boot ) the Select keyboard layout dialog appears. I have no idea why. Im using the keyboard=US-English parameter in the sysidcfg file.

I get no questions during the jumpstart/flar unpacking phase.

Anyone know if they changed something? I cant find anything in the manpages etc.

If anyone know what makes that dialog pop I can just make sure it dosent run (if its in smf etc? )

Any help or pointers would be very appreciated!

Thx,
Peter

reborg · October 26, 2007, 12:07pm

I'm guessing here becasue I only have SPARC solaris boxes to hand where the keyboard keyword is not used, but I would guess that the reason that it is not working is bacuse that value is used only when configuring the Xsun Xserver but Xorg is being used in you installation.

My suspicion stems mainly from this section of the sysidcfg manpage as kdmconfig is not used to configure the X.org Xserver.

     The following keywords apply only to x86 platforms. For  all
     these  keywords, use kdmconfig -d to create or append to the
     sysidcfg file. See kdmconfig(1M)

Although there is nothing in the documentation to suggest that this is the case.

keyboard Keyword

The sysidkdb tool configures your USB language and its corresponding keyboard layout.

The following procedure occurs:

*

If the keyboard is self-identifying, the keyboard language and layout automatically configures during installation.
*

If the keyboard is not self-identifying, the sysidkdb tool provides you with a list of supported keyboard layouts during installation, so that you can select a layout for keyboard configuration.
Note -

PS/2 keyboards are not self-identifying. You will be asked to select the keyboard layout during the installation.

You can configure the keyboard language and its corresponding keyboard layout information by using the keyboard keyword. Each language has its own keyboard layout. Use the following syntax to select a language and its corresponding layout.

keyboard=keyboard_layout

For example, this entry sets the keyboard language and its corresponding keyboard layout for the German language:

keyboard=German

The value provided for keyboard_layout must be a valid value. Otherwise, an interactive response is required during installation. The valid keyboard_layout strings are defined in the /usr/share/lib/keytables/type_6/kbd_layouts file.

s93366 · October 28, 2007, 6:50pm

Thanks for the answer.

I started out with no keyboard entry in the sysidcfg file (and got the same problem) so I tried added the keyboard= but it didnt make any difference. So thats not the problem.

I heard there were some bugs with the NFSv4 domain setting that sounded like the same problem I have now with the keyboard. The solution for that was to remove it from the sysidtools config files under /etc/.sys* (cant remember the exact name of the files)

Have not verfied this yet.
Will give it a try tomorrow.

(Im using a SunFire V210 with serial console and no keyboards attached. Im also using the latest firmwares)

/Peter

s93366 · October 29, 2007, 5:40am

Problem resolved!
I removed the /usr/sbin/sysidkbd line from /etc/.sysidconfig.apps file before flarcreate

Will look more into this later.

Cheers,

/peter

Naanu · November 5, 2007, 9:00pm

hey s93366,

i am facing a similar issue but i get asked all the questions from timezone to domain stuff..etc..
I initially thought it might be because it could not find the sysidcfg file on the network. But without that it would not have got the system-name and other details. Only after the first reboor after the flar is uncompressed, i start getting asked these questions. Do you think it might be the same issue too?

Below was my voe.

s93366 · November 8, 2007, 10:06am

No idea.

Only had problems with the keyboard thing.
Check the /etc/.sysIDtool.state and/etc/.sysidconfig.apps

I havent had the time to read up on the exact meaning and functions of these files yet but it seems they are responsible for the dialog boxes (maybe someone here have more knowledge about these files?).

How do you deploy the flar archive? Jumpstart or DVD ? is it X86 or Sparc?

If you are using jumpstart with for example dhcp (boot net:dhcp - install) you may end up with most of the network config from the dhcp server and no questions are asked (hostnames and IP)... So are you sure it finds the correct sysidcfg file?.

Im suspecting my problem was related to doing an upgrade from an older solaris release and then flaring it. Im not having these problems when installaing the 07/08 from jumpstart (without flar)