Installation Guide and Reference

Initializing and Booting a Diskless or Dataless Machine

This procedure describes how to use NIM to configure and boot a machine as a diskless or dataless client in the NIM environment.

Prerequisites

1. The NIM master must be configured, and the resources for diskless and dataless clients must be defined. See Configuring the NIM Master and Creating Resources to Support Diskless and Dataless Clients Only.
2. The NIM client must already exist in the NIM environment. To add the client to the NIM environment, use the Adding a Diskless or Dataless Client to the NIM Environment procedure.

From Web-based System Manager

1. Select the Machines container.
2. In the contents area, select the diskless or dataless machine you want to initialize.
3. From the Selected menu, choose Initialize Machine Resources.
4. Use the dialog to specify or select the resources to use for initialization. You will specify either the Home resource or Shared Home resource for the machine, but not both.
5. After completion of the initialization operation, use the Booting a Machine Over the Network procedure to boot the client machine over the network.
   Note
   On older model rspc systems, it may be necessary to permanently set the bootlist from the firmware menus to make the client always boot over the network. For other systems, the bootlist is automatically set the first time the machine is booted as a diskless/dataless client.
6. After the client boots over the network and performs some initialization, the client will display instructions for you to select the console for the machine.

From SMIT

1. On the NIM master, enter the smit nim_dd_init fast path.
2. Select the client to be initialized from the list of clients displayed on your screen.
3. Supply the values for the required fields. Use the help information and the LIST option to help you specify the correct values for the initialization options.
4. After completion of the initialization operation, use the Booting a Machine Over the Network procedure to boot the client machine over the network.
   Note
   On older model rspc systems, it may be necessary to permanently set the bootlist from the firmware menus to make the client always boot over the network. For other systems, the bootlist is automatically set the first time the machine is booted as a diskless/dataless client.
5. After the client boots over the network and performs some initialization, the client will display instructions for you to select the console for the machine.

From the Command Line

1. To initialize the client resources for diskless clients, enter the following on the NIM master:

   nim -o dkls_init -a spot=SPOTName -a root=RootName \
   -a dump=DumpName -a paging=PagingName ClientName

2. To initialize the client resources for dataless clients, enter the following on the NIM master:

   nim -o dtls_init -a spot=SPOTName -a root=RootName \
   -a dump=DumpName ClientName

   Note
   For detailed information about other attributes you can specify for the dkls_init and dtls_init operations, see dkls_init and dtls_init.
3. After completion of the initialization operation, use the Booting a Machine Over the Network procedure to boot the client machine over the network.
   Note
   On older model rspc systems, it may be necessary to permanently set the bootlist from the firmware menus to make the client always boot over the network. For other systems, the bootlist is automatically set the first time the machine is booted as a diskless/dataless client.
4. After the client boots over the network and performs some initialization, the client will display instructions for you to select the console for the machine.