Apple 10.3 manual Automating Server Installation With a Disk Image

66

Alternatively, you can use the command line. After booting the target server, from an administrator computer, connect to the target server using SSH and follow the instructions in “Using the installer Command-Line Tool to Install Server Software” on page 85. If you have multiple servers onto which you want to install server software, boot them from an install disc, then open a Terminal window for each installation.

If the target server is an Xserve system with no built-in optical drive, you can use the optical drive on an administrator computer connected to the Xserve system using a FireWire cable.

Administrator computer

You start the Xserve in target disk mode, which is a technique that lets the target server appear as a FireWire hard disk on the administrator computer. (When you use this mode, you see a disk icon for each partition of the Xserve’s hard disk on the desktop of the administrator computer.) On the administrator computer, you install from an install disc onto one of the mounted Xserve volumes. In this case, you need to complete one installation before starting another one.

There are other ways to work with an Xserve system that has no built-in optical drive. For example, you can boot the server from an external optical drive connected to the Xserve system using a FireWire cable. You can also boot the server using the optical drive from a second Xserve system that is equipped with one. After startup in both these cases, you use an administrator computer to initiate server software installation.

Instructions for using target disk mode and external optical drives are in the “Quick Start” or “Xserve User’s Guide” that comes with Xserve systems.

Automating Server Installation With a Disk Image

If you need to install server software on a large number of servers or if you need to reinstall server software frequently, you can automate installation by using an installation image that resides on disk rather than on the installation discs.

See the system image administration guide for instructions on creating and deploying network install images created from a CD, a DVD, or an existing volume or partition.

Chapter 4 Installation and Setup Overview