There is a request from QE team as well as from users to allow process of installation to be observed remotely. For LiveCD case, this requirement was satisfied by fix for bug 6431 which introduced support for new configuration parameter 'livessh'. Is set to 'enable', ssh access is enabled to LiveCD environment. The same feature should be available for Automated Installation.
Also, there is a need to be able to run the Automated Installer in debug verbose mode in cases when more information about installation process is desired - for instance when there is a failure to be evaluated or during testing. Based on this, there would be two parts to address those requirements: [1] enable ssh for AI --------------------- The suggestion is to take advantage of 'livessh' option introduced for LiveCD. If set to 'enable', AI would allow remote access using ssh by running following commands during boot: * generate ssh keys # /lib/svc/method/sshd -c * enable ssh SMF service # /usr/sbin/svcadm enable network/ssh [2] Enable debug verbose mode for Automated Installer ----------------------------------------------------- New option 'install_debug' would be introduced. If set to 'enable', AI engine would be run in verbose debug mode providing more information about installation process (captured in standard /tmp/install_log file). For x86, option would be defined in GRUB menu.lst file, it would be looked up in install.conf file for Sparc. Known Issues: ------------- Different mechanisms are used for x86 & Sparc - both have some disadvantages - please see bug 7789 for more details. Once bug 7789 is fixed, unified approach will be used for passing parameters for both architectures. Please let me know, if you think the proposal should be modified or different approach should be taken. Thank you very much, Jan
