If I'm not mistaking, the whole installation process is divided in 3 phases :
phase a) the system is identified through sysidtool with informations coming from dhcp, network services, sysidcfg file, ... phase b) if the "install" keyword is not present in the kernel argument list, a menu is launched on the console asking to either 1. perform an interactive installation, 2. jumpstart/automated installation, 5. load a driver diskette (ITU) 6. open an interactive recovery shell phase c) the "real" installation process begins (either automatic or interactive) : - search for available disks for target - profile detection or interactive selection of the required actions - installation of solaris (begin script, installation, and finish script) - etc... - The 1st problem I see is that, If you want to perform a automated/jumpstart installation, you use the "install" kernel argument, and you don't go through the menu that permits to load the driver diskette (phase b). If the system you are installing needs a driver diskkette for its network connection, the installation will fail because there will be no access to the install media if the system you are installing needs a driver diskette for its hard disk controller, the installation will fail because there will be "no disk found". There is another bad scenario where you can see some disks, but not the ones on which you want the system to be installed. One good solution would be to add a "itu" keyword as kernel argument (like "install") that would automate the load of the itu/driver diskette (from whatever the source) And a source selection through a -B install_itu <nfs ip>:/export/itu_location In my opinion, looking for itu only if you don't find any disk is not a good idea, because many server (hp or dell) come with proprietary on-board raid controller for the internal disks (where you usually want to install the system), and you add a standard HBA for direct attached or san external disk bay. So it's possible to see some disks without loading a driver diskette (the external ones), but they're not the one you want to use for the installation. I think it's better to let the admin choose to load a driver diskette if he wants to with a keyword on the kernel argument list. putting a itu/driver load inside a begin script will not help in finding the disks, since the search for disks is done at the beginning of phase c (before the begin script is called). - The 2nd problem is on solaris 10 U2 (it's corrected on nevada), when you exit the itu/driver task ( phase b choice 5 ), you go directly into an interactive installation, no jumpstart is possible. I learned today that there is a workaround to this 2nd problem : exit the itu menu with control-c and not the e) choice. Guy This message posted from opensolaris.org
